The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe
(after the
1906 French Grand Prix
The 1906 Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France, commonly known as the 1906 French Grand Prix, was a motor race held on 26 and 27 June 1906, on closed public roads outside the city of Le Mans. The Grand Prix was organised by the Automobile C ...
triangle circuit) located in
Le Mans,
Sarthe
Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, is a semi-permanent
motorsport race course
A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also ...
, chiefly known as the venue for the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
auto race. Comprising private, race-specific sections of track in addition to public roads which remain accessible most of the year, its present configuration is long, making it one of the longest circuits in the world. The capacity of the race stadium, where the short ''Bugatti Circuit'' is situated, is 100,000. The
Musée des 24 Heures du Mans
The Museum of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ) is a motorsport museum located at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France. It was founded in 1961 as the Automobile Museum de la Sarthe. In 1991, it was taken over by the organizers of the 24 ho ...
is a motorsport museum located at the main entrance of the venue.
Up to 85% of the lap time is spent on full throttle, putting immense stress on engine and drivetrain components. Additionally, the times spent reaching maximum speed also mean tremendous wear on the brakes and suspension as cars must slow from over to around for the sharp corner at the village of
Mulsanne
Mulsanne () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France.
Population
Motor racing
The Circuit de la Sarthe, which is used in the sports car endurance race 24 Hours of Le Mans, features the l ...
.
Track modifications
The
road racing track, which was a triangle from Le Mans down south to
Mulsanne
Mulsanne () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France.
Population
Motor racing
The Circuit de la Sarthe, which is used in the sports car endurance race 24 Hours of Le Mans, features the l ...
, northwest to
Arnage, and back north to Le Mans, has undergone many modifications over the years, with ''CIRCUIT N°15'' being in use since 2018. Even with the modifications put in place over the years, the Sarthe circuit is still known for being very fast, with prototype cars achieving average lap speeds in excess of .
In the 1920s, the cars drove from the present pits on ''Rue de Laigné'' straight into the city, and after a sharp right-hand corner near the river
Huisne
The Huisne () is a long river in France. It is a left tributary of the river Sarthe, which it meets in Le Mans. Its source is near the town of Pervenchères, in the Orne department.
The Huisne flows through the following departments and towns:
...
Pontlieue bridge (a hairpin permanently removed from the circuit in 1929), before exiting the city again on the rather straight section now named ''Avenue Georges Durand'' after the race's founder. Then long and unpaved, a bypass within the city shortened the track in 1929, but the city was only bypassed completely in 1932, when the section from the pits via the
Dunlop Bridge
The Dunlop Bridge is a landmark advertising footbridge. There are several of them, situated at a number of different motor racing circuits around the world. The oldest surviving example of this bridge is at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the home of ...
and the Esses to Tertre Rouge was added. This classic configuration was long and remained almost unaltered even after
the 1955 tragedy. Its frighteningly narrow pit straight was further narrowed to make room for the pits and was part of the road itself, without the road becoming wider around the pits, and no separation. The pit straight then was about wide, further widened in 1956 after the tragedy, but the race track and pits were not separated for another 15 years.
![Le Mans walker 023](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Le_Mans_walker_023.jpg)
Car speeds increased dramatically in the 1960s, pushing the limits of the "classic circuit" and sparking criticism of the track as being unsafe after several trials related fatalities occurred. In 1965, a smaller, but permanent,
Bugatti Circuit was added which shares the pit lane facilities and the first corner (including the famous Dunlop bridge) with the full "Le Mans" circuit. For the 1968 race, the Ford chicane was added before the pits to slow down the cars. The circuit was fitted with
Armco
AK Steel Holdings Corporation was a steelmaking company headquartered in West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio. The company, whose name was derived from the initials of Armco, its predecessor company, and Kawasaki Steel Corporation, was a ...
for the 1969 race. The "Maison Blanche" kink was particularly harrowing, claiming many cars over the years (including three Ferrari 512 variants) and several lives, including the legendary John Woolfe in 1969 behind the wheel of a 917 Porsche. The circuit has been modified ten more times — 1971, a year when prototypes were averaging over , was the last year the classic circuit was used. That year, Armco was added to the pit straight to separate the track from the pits. In 1972, the race track was considerably revamped, at a cost of 300 million
francs
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...
, with modification of the pit area and the first and final straights, the addition of the quick
Porsche curves bypassing "Maison Blanche", the signalling area was moved to the exit of the slow Mulsanne corner, and the track was resurfaced.
![Circuito de la Sarthe-curva dunlop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Circuito_de_la_Sarthe-curva_dunlop.JPG)
In 1979, due to the construction of a new public road, the profile of "Tertre Rouge" had to be changed. This redesign led to a faster double-apex corner and saw the removal of the second Dunlop Bridge. In 1986, construction of a new roundabout at the Mulsanne corner demanded the addition a new portion of track in order to avoid the roundabout. This created a right hand kink prior to Mulsanne corner. In 1987, a chicane was added to the very fast Dunlop curve, where cars would go under the Dunlop bridge at . Now they would be slowed to .
![United-autosports-le-mans-test-087](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/United-autosports-le-mans-test-087.jpg)
Le Mans was most famous for its long straight, called ''
Ligne Droite des Hunaudières'', a part of the ''route départementale'' (for the
Sarthe
Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...
''département'') D338 (formerly
Route Nationale
A ''route nationale'', or simply ''nationale'', is a class of trunk road in France. They are important roads of national significance which cross broad portions of the French territory, in contrast to departmental or communal roads which serve m ...
N138). As the Hunaudières leads to the village of Mulsanne, it is often called the ''Mulsanne Straight'' in English, even though the proper ''Route du Mulsanne'' is the one from or to Arnage.
After exiting the Tertre Rouge corner, cars spent almost half of the lap at full throttle, before braking for Mulsanne Corner. The Porsche 917 ''long tail'', used from 1969 to 1971, had reached . After engine size was limited, the top speed dropped until powerful turbo engines were allowed, like in the 1978
Porsche 935, which was clocked at . Speeds on the straight by the Group C prototypes reached over during the late 1980s. At the beginning of the
1988 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 56th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 11 and 12 June 1988. It was also the fifth round of the World Sports-Prototype Championship season.
Race
The Porsches were able to turn up the turbo boost in q ...
race,
Roger Dorchy
Roger Dorchy (born 5 September 1944) is a French former racing driver. He is known for holding the top speed record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, setting a top speed of with a WM-Peugeot at the end of the Mulsanne Straight at the 1988 24 Hours of L ...
driving for
Welter Racing
Welter Racing is a French sports car maker that mainly enters in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, since 1990 under the name of Rachel and Gérard Welter, Peugeot's late head of design or Rachel Welter (his wife).
History
was well versed in endurance ci ...
in a "Project 400" car, which sacrificed reliability for speed, was clocked by radar travelling at .
Jean-Louis Lafosse
Jean-Louis Lafosse (15 March 1941 – 13 June 1981) was a French racing driver. He was most closely associated with the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, in which he finished second in 1975 and 1976.
In the European Touring Car Championship, he won the 19 ...
and
Jo Gartner would ultimately suffer from fatal high speed accidents in 1981 and 1986, respectively, leading to concerns with the growing speeds on the straight.
As the combination of high speed and high downforce caused tyre and engine failures, two roughly equally spaced
chicane
A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
s were consequently added to the
Mulsanne Straight before
the 1990 race to limit the maximum achievable speed. The chicanes were also added because the
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backs ...
decreed it would no longer sanction a circuit which had a straight longer than , which is roughly the length of the ''Döttinger Höhe'' straight at the Nürburgring
Nordschleife. The fastest qualifying lap average speed though only dropped from in 1992. In 1994, the Dunlop chicane was tightened.
In 2002, the run to the Esses was reconfigured in the wake of renovations to the Bugatti Circuit. The Le Mans circuit was changed between the Dunlop Bridge and Esses, with the straight now becoming a set of fast sweeping turns. This layout allowed for a better transition from the Le Mans circuit to the Bugatti circuit. This layout change would also require the track's infamous carnival to be relocated near the Porsche curves, and in 2006, the ACO redeveloped the area between the Dunlop Curve and Tertre Rouge, moving the Dunlop Chicane in even tighter to create more run-off area, while also turning the area after the Dunlop Chicane into an even larger set of fast, sweeping turns, known as the Esses en route to Tertre Rouge. As part of the development, a new extended pit lane exit was created for the Bugatti Circuit. This second pit exit re-enters the track just beyond the Dunlop Chicane and before the Dunlop Bridge.
Following the fatal crash of Danish driver
Allan Simonsen
Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barc ...
at the 2013 race at the exit of Tertre Rouge into D338, Tertre Rouge was re-profiled again. The radius will be moved in approximately for safety reasons with new tyre barriers at the exit.
The current version of the track has been in use since 2018.
Image:Circuit De La Sarthe map.JPG, An on site map of the circuit
Image:Dunlop curves 2006 run off modifications.JPG, The area before the Dunlop bridge, modified for 2006
Image:Circuit de la Sarthe Ford Chicanes.jpg, The Ford Chicanes
Image:Mulsanne Le Mans.jpg, A large portion of the track still consists of Sarthe Route Départementale D338.
Image:Le Mans location map.jpg, Circuit location between Le Mans and Mulsanne, France
Layout evolution of Circuit de la Sarthe
File:Circuit-de-la-sarthe-1906-(openstreetmap).png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1906)
File:Circuit-de-la-sarthe-1911-1913-(openstreetmap).png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1911–1913)
File:Circuit-de-la-sarthe-1906-1921-(openstreetmap).png, Comparison of Circuit de la Sarthe layouts between 1906 and 1921
File:Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 1921-1928.png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1921–1928)
File:Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 1929-1931.png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1929–1931)
File:Circuit de La Sarthe Le Mans 1932-1967.png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1932–1967)
File:Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 1968-1971.png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1968–1971)
File:Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 1972-1978.png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1972–1978)
File:Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 1979-1985.png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1979–1985)
File:Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 1986.png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1986)
File:Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 1987-1989.png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1987–1989)
File:Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 1990-2001.png, Circuit de la Sarthe (1990–2001)
File:Circuit de la Sarthe track map.svg, Circuit de la Sarthe (2002–present)
File:Le Mans Circuit comparison.png, Layout evolution of Circuit de la Sarthe
Lap records
Fastest race laps of Circuit de la Sarthe
The official fastest race lap records at the Circuit de la Sarthe for different classes are listed as:
Speed record
In
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
, Team WM Peugeot were well aware of their slim chance of winning the 24-hour endurance race outright, but they knew that their
Welter Racing
Welter Racing is a French sports car maker that mainly enters in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, since 1990 under the name of Rachel and Gérard Welter, Peugeot's late head of design or Rachel Welter (his wife).
History
was well versed in endurance ci ...
designed car had exceptional straight line aerodynamics. Thus they nicknamed their 1988 entry "Project 400" (aiming to be the first car to achieve a speed of on the famous straight), although the official team entry was named WM Secateva.
Roger Dorchy and Claude Haldi would be the drivers of car 51 while Pascal Pessiot and Jean-Daniel Raulet would drive the team's other car (#52). The latter lasted only 22 laps, and car 51 went into the pits around 17:00 in the afternoon with engine problems. After spending 3.5 hours in the pits, the team had the car back on the track and they decided to go for it. The plan worked: with Roger Dorchy behind the wheel the WM P87 achieved the speed of . The Peugeot retired shortly after that (on lap 59) with an overheating engine. By then it had outlasted two other Group C1 entrants.
Since Peugeot had just launched its new model 405, the team agreed to advertise the new record as "405". This has led to many people mistakenly stating the record as only , but Dorchy's best run down the Mulsanne straight was clocked at .
Bugatti Circuit
Bugatti Circuit is a permanent race track located within Circuit des 24 Heures, constructed in 1965 and named after
Ettore Bugatti
Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti (15 September 1881 – 21 August 1947) was an Italian-born French automobile designer and manufacturer. He is remembered as the founder and proprietor of the automobile manufacturing company Automobiles E. Bugatti, wh ...
. The circuit uses a part of the larger circuit and a separate, purpose-built section. The sections of track on the Bugatti Circuit that are on the Circuit des 24 Heures include the Ford Chicane at the end of the lap, the pit complex, and the straight where the
Dunlop Tyres
Dunlop Tyres is a brand of tyres which is managed by different companies around the world. It was founded by pneumatic tyre pioneer John Boyd Dunlop in Dublin, Ireland, in 1890.
The brand is operated by Goodyear in North America (passenger c ...
bridge is located. At this point in the overlapping section of the tracks there is a left-right sweep that was added for motorcycle safety in 2002. Vehicles turning to the left continue onto the Circuit des 24 Heures, toward Tertre Rouge and Mulsanne, vehicles turning to the right at La Chapelle will continue the Bugatti Circuit. The infield section features Garage Vert, a back straight, the 'S' du Garage Bleu, and Raccordement, which joins back at the Ford chicane.
The track was home base for
Pescarolo Sport
Pescarolo Sport was a motorsport team based in Le Mans, France and founded in February 2000 by French racing driver Henri Pescarolo and his friend and partner, French publisher François Granet. They raced in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours ...
, founded by famous French driver
Henri Pescarolo
Henri Jacques William Pescarolo (born 25 September 1942) is a former racing driver from France. He competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans a record 33 times, winning on four occasions, and won a number of other major sports car events including the 2 ...
. The circuit currently hosts the
24 Hours of Le Mans motorcycle race, and a round of the
MotoGP Championship. The circuit also holds French motor club races and in the past has hosted rounds of the
International Formula 3000 Championship
The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become t ...
and
DTM (German Touring Car series).
In addition to motor racing, it is the venue for th
24 rollers a 24h race on inline skates or quads.
The Bugatti Circuit was used for the
1967 French Grand Prix
The 1967 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans on 2 July 1967. It was race 5 of 11 in both the 1967 World Championship of Drivers and the 1967 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race ...
, though it would prove to be the only time the
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
World Championship would use the circuit, and is the current host of the
French motorcycle Grand Prix. It also forms the final round of the
FIA European Truck Racing Championship
The FIA European Truck Racing Championship is a motorsport Truck racing, truck road racing series for tractor unit, semi-tractors which is sanctioned to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and is organised by ETRA Promotion GmbH.
C ...
, and was part of the
World Series by Renault
The Renault Sport Series (formerly known as World Series by Renault) is a motor racing series. The series latterly consisted of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and used to contain the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. ...
and
1988 Superbike World Championship season
The 1988 Superbike World Championship was the inaugural FIM Superbike World Championship season. The season started on 3 April at Donington Park and finished on 3 October at Manfeild Autocourse after 9 rounds.
American Fred Merkel won the riders ...
s.
Fastest race laps of Bugatti Circuit
The official fastest race lap records at the Bugatti Circuit are listed as:
Layout evolution of Bugatti Circuit
File:Circuit Le Mans Bugatti.png, Bugatti Circuit (1965–1985)
File:Bugatti Circuit 1991-1996.png, Bugatti Circuit (1989–1996)
File:Bugatti Circuit.svg, Bugatti Circuit (2008–present)
File:Circuit Bugatti - Le Mans.jpg, Layout evolution of Bugatti circuit from 1965 to 2008
Events
; Current
* April:
FIM Endurance World Championship
The Endurance World Championship ( FIM EWC) is the premier worldwide endurance championship in motorcycle road racing. The championship season consists of a series of endurance races (with a duration of six, eight, twelve or twenty-four hours) h ...
''
24 Heures Motos'',
Sidecar World Championship
FIM Sidecar World Championship is the international sidecar racing championship. It is the only remaining original FIM road racing championship class that started in 1949.
It was formerly named Superside when the sidecars moved from being part o ...
,
Fun Cup
The Fun Cup is a one-make racing series created by Franz Dubois in 1997 in Belgium. The cars are identical, 180 bhp, 799 kg (1700 lb) Volkswagen Beetle replicas with all major components sealed to ensure the cars are technically i ...
* May:
Grand Prix motorcycle racing ''
French motorcycle Grand Prix'',
MotoE World Cup
The FIM Enel MotoE World Championship (formerly known as the MotoE World Cup) is a class of motorcycle racing that uses only electric motorcycles. The series is sanctioned by the FIM and the inaugural season in 2019 was due to support MotoG ...
* June:
FIA World Endurance Championship ''
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
'',
Michelin Le Mans Cup
The Le Mans Cup, previously the GT3 Le Mans Cup and currently known as the Michelin Le Mans Cup under sponsorship, is an international sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club ...
,
Ligier European Series
* July:
Le Mans Classic
* September:
European Truck Racing Championship
The FIA European Truck Racing Championship is a motorsport truck road racing series for semi-tractors which is sanctioned to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, Interna ...
''24 Heures Camions Le Mans''
* October:
Porsche Sprint Challenge France
; Former
*
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB- FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The s ...
(2006, 2008)
*
EuroBOSS Series
The BOSS GP Series is a motor racing series in Europe. The category originated in 1995 as the BOSS Formula series and evolved into the EuroBOSS Series.
BOSS is an acronym that stands for ''Big Open Single Seaters''.
History
The BOSS series w ...
(2002–2004)
*
FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship (2014–2019)
*
FFSA GT Championship
The FFSA GT Championship (''Championnat de France FFSA GT'') is a French Grand Touring-style sports car racing series that began in 1997. It is the main event of the ''Championnat de France des Circuits'' (formerly called ''Super Série FFSA'' a ...
(1998–1999, 2001–2006, 2012–2015)
*
French F4 Championship
French F4 Championship, formerly known as Formula Renault Campus France, Formula Campus, Formul'Academy Euro Series, F4 Eurocup 1.6 is a form of open wheel racing founded in 1993 by Louis Drouet. It is based in France and aims at karting graduate ...
(2012–2016)
*
Formula 3 Euro Series
The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...
(2003, 2006, 2008)
*
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
''
French Grand Prix
The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championsh ...
'' (1967)
*
Grand Prix motorcycle racing ''
Vitesse du Mans motorcycle Grand Prix'' (1991)
*
International Formula 3000
The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become ...
(1986–1991)
*
International Sports Racing Series The FIA Sportscar Championship was a sports car racing series created by John Mangoletsi and was eventually taken control of by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a series similar to the FIA GT Championship, concentrating ...
(1998)
*
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (formerly known as Racecar Euro Series and Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series) is an official NASCAR stock-car racing series based in Europe. It is one of NASCAR's three international-sanctioned series, alongside the ...
(2009–2014)
*
Superbike World Championship
Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing.
The championship was founded i ...
(1988, 1990)
*
World Series by Renault
The Renault Sport Series (formerly known as World Series by Renault) is a motor racing series. The series latterly consisted of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and used to contain the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. ...
(2005–2006, 2008–2009, 2015)
Race results
Weather and climate
Météo France
Météo may refer to:
*Weather in French
* Météo-France, the French national meteorological service
* MétéoMédia, a 24-hour Canadian French-language cable television specialty channel and web site
* Météo Suisse
MeteoSwiss (german: Me ...
runs a weather station in Le Mans, which exhibits an
oceanic climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Cfb''). With both the 24-hour races and the French MotoGP round being run before the peak of summer, high-profile races often have cool temperatures both in terms of ambient and track conditions with rainfall being a potential factor. Although nights cool off, sometimes into the single-digits, during the 24-hour car race,
air frost
Freezing, available onlinlibrary.wmo.int/ref> or frost occurs when the air temperature falls below the freezing point of water (0 °C, 32 °F, 273 K). This is usually measured at the height of 1.2 metres above the ground surface ...
s have never been recorded in June.
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Official websiteRacingCircuits.info's history of Circuit de la SartheTrackpedia's guide to driving Le MansSatellite Picture by Google MapsHistory and track maps 1921–2006Trackpedia's guide to Le Mans BugattiTrack Reviewers reviews of Le Mans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Circuit De La Sarthe
Le Mans
Sports venues in Sarthe
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Le Mans
Buildings and structures in Le Mans
Le Mans
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1923 establishments in France
Sport in Le Mans
Tourist attractions in Sarthe