Circuit Des 24 Heures Du Mans
September 5

Driving up the N138, there's a roundabout at the north end of the town of Mulsanne. Straight on takes you up the Mulsanne Straight of the Le Mans circuit (not to be confused with the track itself since this most famous part of the track goes down a 2-lane road.

If you turn left at the roundabout you see a cut-off where the finishing corner of this 5mile long straightaway turns right onto another public road. They added this cutoff and a large sand trap on the outside of the turn a few years ago since it was such a dangerous spot.

Looking down the Mulsanne Straight.

They also added two chicanes along the Straight since people kept getting killed at 200mph.
They're just fenced off 364 days per year.

We arrived while some bikes were practicing. So we wandered in.

Directly at the entrance to the track, the museum beckons.

4 model diorama depict the pits in the 1920, 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s.
Hokey but then digital film is free.

The bulk of the museum is production cars. There are some prototypes and race cars but you'll need to scroll down to see those.

Most of the cars are of French manufacture. We've only included those here. There's also a couple of Cadillacs, a Tatra, and even a Rambler that was made into a limousine for DeGaulle.

1887 DeDion Bouton steam tricycle.
The small handle by the big brake is the steering wheel.

1899 Amedee Bollee. One cylinder. Outside-mounted circular radiator.

1900 Panhard Levassor.

1901 Amedee Bollee.

1901 Darracq.

1902 DeDion Bouton.

1904 Brouhot.
Note the radiator looking like a Packard but years before Packard was born.

1906 Corre.

1906 Lion Peugeot. Factory owned by the sons of the Peugeot brothers.

1908 Krieger. Electric 9-passenger. 12mph. 40 mile range.

Direct drive motors on the front wheels.

1912 Amedee Bollee.

1913 Lorraine with a Dietrich body.

1914 Saiga.

1919 Citroen.

1924 Bugatti Type 44.

Cylinder head made from a billet of aluminum.

1929 Bugatti Type 40.

1930 Tracta.

1931 Citroen. This car drove from Beruit to Peking in 1932
including a 13,000ft. pass in the Himalayas.

1936 Talbot.

1937 Amilcar.

1937 Peugeot Darl'Mat.
A production sporting version sold by the Paris Peugeot dealer, Darl'Mat.
Sort of an early-day Yenko Stinger with custom bodywork.

1938 Bugatti Type 57.

1938 Rosengart. Wow. 1938.

1952 Hotchkiss Gregoire.

1955 Isetta Velam.

Several Prototypes are also on display.

1941 Panhard with a Gregoire aluminum body.
It was the basis of the Dyna after WWII.

1942 Tudor by Gregoire. Electric.
In 1942 it was driven 250km at 26 mph - a world distance/speed record at that time.

1952 by Gregoire. CX of 0.20.
A running prototype with a Socema gas turbine engine.
100 hp at 25,000 rpm.

1955 by Gregoire. FWD.
12 of these were built and sold to customers.

1965 Ferrari. Body by Pininfarina.
Design study for the 206 GT Coupe.

1970 Citroen. Production study with a 1-rotor 1liter Wankel rotary engine

And, of course, race cars.

1942 Bentley.

1949 Ferrari 166MM.

1951 DB Panhard.

1952 Renault 4CV.

1960 DB Panhard.
Please don't ask why it has two different numbers.

1962 Bonnet Djet.

1962 Panhard.

1966 Peugeot.

1967 Ford GT 40.

1971 Porsche 917 LH.

1974 Matra Simca.

1977 Porsche 935.

1978 Renault.

1983 Rondeau Type M 382.

1983 Rondeau Type M 482.

1988 Jaguar.

1991 Mazda. 4-Rotor.

1992 Peugeot.

1994 Toyota.

1998 Porsche 911.