24 Hours of Le Mans facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

This page is about the sports car race in France. For the motorcycle race, see 24 Hours of Le Mans (motorcycle race). For other uses, see 24 Hours of Le Mans (disambiguation). For the 2025 race, see 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Quick facts for kids
24 Hours of Le Mans
FIA World Endurance Championship


Venue	Circuit de la Sarthe
Location	Le Mans, France 47°57′00″N 00°12′27″E / 47.95000°N 0.20750°E / 47.95000; 0.20750
First race	1923
First WEC race	2012
Last race	2025
Distance	13.626 km/ 8.467 mi
Duration	24 hours
Most wins (driver)	Tom Kristensen (9)
Most wins (team)	Joest Racing (13)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Porsche (19)

The 24 Hours of Le Mans (in French: 24 Heures du Mans) is a world-famous sports car race that takes place every year near the city of Le Mans, France. It's an endurance race, which means it's all about which car can last the longest and go the farthest.

Many people consider it one of the most important races in the world. It's part of the famous Triple Crown of Motorsport, along with the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. First held in 1923, it is the world's oldest active endurance race.

Unlike most races where the fastest car wins, the winner of Le Mans is the car that covers the greatest distance in exactly 24 hours. Teams have to balance speed with making sure their car doesn't break down. The race is held on the Circuit de la Sarthe, which uses a mix of a permanent racetrack and public roads that are closed for the event.

What Makes Le Mans Special?
The 24-Hour Race
- Racing Classes
- Garage 56: A Spot for Innovation
Traditions of Le Mans
The Famous Circuit
History of the Race
Famous Winners
Images for kids
See also

What Makes Le Mans Special?

When Le Mans started, most races were about pure speed. Le Mans was created to be a different kind of challenge. It was designed to test how reliable and well-built a car was, not just how fast it could go. This pushed car companies to invent new technologies to make their cars last longer and use less fuel.

The track itself is a major test. It has very long straight sections, like the famous Mulsanne Straight, where cars need great aerodynamics to reach incredible speeds. But because parts of the track are public roads, the surface is rougher than a normal racetrack, which puts a lot of stress on the cars.

Over the years, this focus on endurance has led to amazing innovations, like more fuel-efficient engines and hybrid systems, many of which are now used in regular road cars.

The 24-Hour Race

The pits where teams work on the cars during the day.

The race happens in mid-June, when the days are long and the nights are short. The weather can be unpredictable, with hot sun one moment and heavy rain the next. The race starts in the afternoon on a Saturday and ends at the exact same time on Sunday.

Winning cars often travel over 5,000 kilometers (about 3,100 miles). That's like driving across the United States! To do this, teams need to be smart about managing their fuel, tires, and brakes.

Drivers also have to endure a lot. They usually drive for over two hours at a time before taking a break. During a pit stop, a new driver takes over while the other one rests. Regulations say that three drivers must share each car.

Racing Classes

GTE cars, which look like road-legal sports cars, race up the hill to the Dunlop Bridge.

Even though all the cars are on the track at the same time, they don't all compete against each other. They are split into different groups called "classes" based on the type of car. There are winners for each class, plus an overall winner of the entire race.

There are three main classes today:

Hypercar: These are the fastest and most advanced cars, built specifically for racing. They are the top-level prototypes and often feature hybrid technology.
LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype 2): These are also fast, custom-built race cars, but they have stricter rules than Hypercars to keep costs down. All LMP2 teams use the same engine.
LMGT3 (Le Mans Grand Touring 3): These cars are based on high-performance sports cars that you could buy for the road, like a Porsche 911 or a Ferrari. They are modified for racing but are not as fast as the prototypes.

Garage 56: A Spot for Innovation

A NASCAR stock car, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, raced at Le Mans in 2023 as a special "Garage 56" entry.

Le Mans saves one spot on the starting grid, called "Garage 56," for a special, innovative car. This car isn't there to win but to test new technology.

Past Garage 56 entries have included:

The strange-looking DeltaWing in 2012, which used half the fuel of other cars.
The Nissan ZEOD RC in 2014, a hybrid that completed a full lap using only electric power.
A modified car in 2016 driven by Frederic Sausset, a driver who had lost both his arms and legs.
A modified NASCAR stock car in 2023, which was a huge hit with the fans.

Traditions of Le Mans

Track marshals wave flags on the final lap to celebrate with the finishers.

Le Mans is full of history and cool traditions.

The French Flag: The race is started by waving the French tricolor flag, often after jets fly over, leaving trails of blue, white, and red smoke.
The Le Mans Start: In the old days, drivers would have to run across the track, jump into their cars, and start them. This was exciting but dangerous, so it was stopped in 1970. Now, the race begins with a "rolling start," where cars follow a safety car for one lap before the green flag waves.
Champagne Spray: In 1967, winning driver Dan Gurney was so excited that he shook his bottle of champagne and sprayed it all over everyone on the podium. This started a tradition that is now seen in motorsports all over the world.

The Famous Circuit

A map of the Circuit de la Sarthe. The smaller Bugatti Circuit is shown with a dashed line.

The track, called the Circuit de la Sarthe, is over 13.6 kilometers (8.4 miles) long. It's a unique mix of a permanent, professional racetrack and public roads that are closed just for the race.

The most famous part of the track is the Mulsanne Straight. It used to be a single, 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) straight where cars could reach incredible speeds. In 1988, a car was timed at 407 km/h (253 mph)! For safety, two chicanes (sharp turns) were added in 1990 to break up the straight and slow the cars down. Even with the chicanes, cars still reach speeds over 320 km/h (200 mph).

History of the Race

1923–1939: The Early Years

The first race was held in 1923. Early on, it was dominated by car brands like Bentley, Bugatti, and Alfa Romeo. Car designers quickly realized that smooth, aerodynamic shapes helped them go faster on the long straights. The race was paused in the late 1930s and 1940s because of World War II.

1949–1969: The Golden Age and a Great Rivalry

A Jaguar D-Type, which won Le Mans multiple times in the 1950s.

After the war, the race returned and became more popular than ever. Big car companies like Ferrari, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz sent factory teams to compete.

This era also saw the race's most tragic accident. In 1955, a car crashed into the crowd, causing many deaths. This led to major safety improvements at racetracks around the world. The pit area at Le Mans was completely rebuilt to be safer.

The 1960s are famous for the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari. After years of Ferrari dominance, Ford built the legendary GT40 and won the race four years in a row, from 1966 to 1969.

1970–1993: Prototypes and Porsches

The Porsche 962 was a dominant car in the Group C era of the 1980s.

In the 1970s and 80s, cars became even faster and more specialized. This was the era of "prototype" race cars that looked nothing like road cars. Porsche became the king of Le Mans, winning many times with its powerful 917, 956, and 962 models.

In 1991, Mazda made history by winning with its 787B, which was powered by a unique rotary engine. To this day, it's the only non-piston engine car to ever win Le Mans.

1994–2013: New Rules and New Champions

The Audi R10 TDI was the first car with a diesel engine to win Le Mans, which it did in 2006.

After the prototype era, rules changed to allow cars based on road-going "supercars" to compete. This led to wins for cars like the McLaren F1 GTR.

The 2000s were dominated by Audi. Their R8 prototype was nearly unbeatable. In 2006, Audi made history again by winning with the R10 TDI, the first diesel-powered car to ever win the race. In 2012, Audi won with the R18 e-tron quattro, the first hybrid car to win.

2014–Present: The Hybrid and Hypercar Era

The Porsche 919 Hybrid (front) and Audi R18 (back) were two of the most advanced hybrid race cars.

Porsche returned to Le Mans in 2014 and won three times in a row with its high-tech 919 Hybrid. After Porsche and Audi left, Toyota finally achieved its first Le Mans victory in 2018 and went on to win five times in a row.

In 2021, the new Hypercar class was introduced, bringing in new manufacturers like Ferrari, Peugeot, and Cadillac. In 2023, Ferrari returned to the top class after 50 years and won the race, ending Toyota's winning streak. The new rules have made the race more exciting and competitive than ever.

Famous Winners

Tom Kristensen is the most successful driver in Le Mans history with nine victories.

Most Wins by a Manufacturer: Porsche holds the record with 19 overall victories. Audi is second with 13, and Ferrari is third with 11.
Most Wins by a Driver: Tom Kristensen of Denmark has won the race a record nine times. Before him, Jacky Ickx of Belgium held the record with six wins.
The Triple Crown: Only one driver in history, Graham Hill, has ever won the Triple Crown of Motorsport: the Indianapolis 500, the Monaco Grand Prix, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Images for kids

The pits at dawn
The pits at night
A fly-over with jets trailing the blue, white, and red colors of the French flag.
The driver parade is a popular tradition where fans can see the drivers up close in the town of Le Mans.
The rolling start of the 2008 race.
Modern race cars from different classes, like this Porsche 963 Hypercar and Ford Mustang GT3, compete on the track at the same time.