The Sarthe Automobile Museum is over, welcome to the Musée des 24 Heures-Circuit de la Sarthe ! Located at the circuit’s entrance since 1991, the old Museum has been refurbished and has officially opened last Monday. Media days took place today and you can find many pictures here. The name, but also the philosophy, has changed as the 24 Hours have become the thread for the visit. The museum has a strong partnership with the Conseil Général de la Sarthe (General Council of the Department Sarthe), which owns the Museum, and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO).

This has been the third version of the Le Mans Museum: the first Museum, located in the Village within the circuit compound, has opened to the public in 1961. This glass-walled building is now being demolished. The museum has then reopened in 1991 with an appropriate scenography at the circuit’s entrance. As the museum has become too small and as the area dedicated to the 24 Hours was limited though being the main purpose of visitors, it has been necessary to fully restore the museum with a key idea: “to arouse again visitors’ interest for the automobile museum with a specific direction towards the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

After an invitation to tender, the museum’s new design has been entrusted to Cabinet XLC, managed by Xavier Leroux-Cauhe and Jacky Le Gallée. The agency focused its work on great names of the 24-hour race, on the atmosphere and the roots of the race, on technological innovations.

The 0.000 km START sign leads to the “24 Hours of Le Mans’ heroes” gallery – there are of course 24 of them – in large-sized pictures on each side of the gallery. This portrait gallery begins with the founders Charles Faroux and Georges Durand and finishes with Tom Kristensen, record-holder for victories.

The visit leads to cars of all eras, perfectly displayed, including many exceptional cars. Movies are showed all along the course and visitors can look at posters, clippings, dioramas, period showcases and many more jewels…

The visit ends with the legends’ alley with about fifty cars (exactly 52) which entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including a Porsche 917, a Peugeot 905, a Bentley EXP Speed 8, a Renault Alpine, a Matra 670 and many more cars.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans fans should absolutely not miss the museum. The museum opens from March to December and also during winter holidays.

Claude Foubert and Cécile Bonardel