As petrolheads, we all have 'bucket list' items that we tick off in life. For many, that list includes a visit to the Circuit de la Sarthe, on the outskirts of the city of Le Mans. Obviously, attending the 24 Hour race, or even Classic Le Mans, held every two years, would be a priority, but just visiting this great race track is itself pretty awe-inspiring.
I'm not a big fan of museums, but I was excited to visit Le Mans museum. We'd hired a rental car in Amsterdam and driven down to the city of Rouen the night before. This was part of a road trip that would eventually take us as far south as Montpellier, before before working our way north once more up the East side of France.
Rouen, as many of you will know, had its own impressive racing circuit, which hosted the French Grand Prix on five occasions, the last being 1968. The drive from Rouen to Le Mans took us a couple of hours. I was surprised to discover the race track is actually on the edge of town. In fact, its neighbours could probably look out their windows and watch the cars drive by. Not sure what they do when the race takes place. I guess they either leave town, or just don't sleep.
The museum is right next to the race track. Its nicely laid out, starting off with a section which I assume is changed regularly, and which on our visit featured the history of childrens miniature cars, which are a tradition of the race.
From there, we enter the museum main section, which flows mostly in chronological order, beginning with the modern cars and gradually working through to the old stuff. In addition are various vintage and classic road cars, old trucks, etc. Basically, anything to do with French motoring history. Its a really enjoyable museum to visit.
This chapter focuses on our Le Mans museum visit, and these are the snaps I took. As usual, we had limited time, so I grabbed photos as I passed through, and only on occasion did I photograph the information sheet for each vehicle. But I know you smart folk will be able to ID most of what is featured.
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