Mulsanne Straight

Part of the Mulsanne straight.

The Mulsanne Straight is 6 km (3.7 mi) long and forms part of the Circuit des 24 Heures around which the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race takes place.

French name

When race meetings are not taking place the Mulsanne Straight is part of the national road system of France. It is called Ligne Droite des Hunaudières, a part of the route départementale (for the Sarthe département) D338 (formerly Route Nationale N138). The Hunaudières leads to the village of Mulsanne which is the reason for its English name (though the French Route du Mulsanne is the name for the road from Arnage to Mulsanne ).

Speed and chicanes

For general circuit modifications see, see Circuit de la Sarthe.

After exiting the Tertre Rouge corner, cars would spend almost half of the lap at full throttle, before braking for Mulsanne Corner. The Porsche 917 long tail had reached 362 km/h (225 mph), but after engine size was limited, the top speed dropped until the Group C allowed powerful turbo engines. Speeds on the straight by the Group C prototypes reached over 400 km/h (250 mph) during the late 1980s, and the combination of high speed and high downforce caused tyre and engine failures, as this circuit was extremely hard on both tyres and engines before 1990, less so since. Due to safety concerns after the extremely high speeds reached at the end of the straight (in the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans race, Roger Dorchy driving for Welter Racing was clocked by radar travelling at 405 kilometres per hour (252 mph)) and a number of hideously violent, sometimes fatal accidents in the 1980s (Jean-Louis Lafosse in 1981 and Jo Gartner in 1986) two roughly equally spaced chicanes were consequently added to the straight before the 1990 race to limit the achievable maximum speed. The chicanes were added in 1990 also because the FIA decreed it would no longer sanction a circuit which had a straight longer than 2 kilometres (1.2 mi).

Spectator access

In the past spectators could obtain magnificent views of cars racing along the straight during the Le Mans, including while dining at various restaurants—such as Restaurant de 24 Heures and les Virages de L'Arche—located very close to the road. However, in 1990 the viewing experience obtained at both restaurants was diminished with the introduction of the chicanes. Today due to safety concerns spectators are kept well away from the edge of the straight by marshals and police and while guests can dine at Auberge des Hunaudières, Shanghai des 24 Heures and the Hôtel Arbor, and hear the cars pass, the view is obscured by green covers attached to the safety fencing.

See also

• The Bentley Mulsanne is named after the straight.