page_title: Circuit de la Sarthe
section_title: Track modifications
hierarchical_section_title: Circuit de la Sarthe / Track modifications
caption_attribution_description: English: Le Mans 1977 Dunlop Bridge
context_page_description: The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 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 13.626 kilometres 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 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 320 km/h to around 100 km/h for the sharp corner at the village of Mulsanne.
context_section_description: The road racing track, which was a triangle from Le Mans down south to Mulsanne, 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 240 km/h (150 mph).
  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 Sarthe 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 17.261 kilometres (10.725 mi) 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 and the Esses to Tertre Rouge was added. This classic configuration was 13.492 kilometres (8.384 mi) long and remained almost unaltered even after the 1955 tragedy. Its frighteningly narrow pit straight was further narrowed off 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 12 feet (3.7 m) wide, further widened in 1956 after the tragedy, but the race track and pits were not separated for another 15 years.
  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 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 240 km/h (150 mph), 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, 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.
  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 180 mph (290 km/h), now they would be slowed to 110 mph (180 km/h).
  Le Mans was most famous for its 6 km (3.7 mi) long straight, called Ligne Droite des Hunaudières, a part of the route départementale (for the Sarthe département) D338 (formerly Route Nationale 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 362 km/h (225 mph). After engine size was limited, the top speed dropped until powerful turbo engines were allowed, like in the 1978 Porsche 935
caption: Dunlop Bridge in 1977
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