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Le Mans: The 24 Hours Circuit, the M24 Museum and the Plantagenet City

Pays de la Loire, France

easy
sports

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Le Mans Endurance Fan

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250

XP

+100 France

= 350 total

2 days

Le Mans: The 24 Hours Circuit, the M24 Museum and the Plantagenet City

easy
sports

250 + 100 XP

Since 1923 the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been raced on the Circuit de la Sarthe, 13.626 km of which three quarters are public roads south of the city, open to traffic the rest of the year; on 28 May 2026 the circuit's museum reopened as M24, 8,600 m² and more than 120 cars. In the city itself, the Cité Plantagenêt sits inside a late-Roman wall that ran 1,300 m and is very well preserved over about 500 m, with eleven towers and three posterns still standing along the Sarthe below the cathedral of Saint-Julien.

Required Activities

1

of 4

Work through the 8,600 m² of M24 at the circuit gates and find a car from each of its six disciplines — endurance, Formula One, rallying, IndyCar, motorcycle racing and Can-Am — among the 120-odd vehicles on the floor

2

of 4

Drive the public-road three quarters of the racing circuit, down the Hunaudières straight to the Mulsanne corner and on through Arnage, and pick out the two chicanes added in 1990 that ended the 400 km/h runs

3

of 4

Walk the west face of the Roman wall along the Sarthe, past its eleven surviving towers and three posterns, and pick out the geometric patterns laid in coloured brick and stone that earned Le Mans the name of the red city

4

of 4

In the cathedral of Saint-Julien find the Ascension window in the nave, made around 1120 and the oldest stained glass still in place in the building, then step outside to the place Saint-Michel and put your hand on the 4.55 m sandstone menhir leaning against the cathedral's west flank

  • Work through the 8,600 m² of M24 at the circuit gates and find a car from each of its six disciplines — endurance, Formula One, rallying, IndyCar, motorcycle racing and Can-Am — among the 120-odd vehicles on the floor

  • Drive the public-road three quarters of the racing circuit, down the Hunaudières straight to the Mulsanne corner and on through Arnage, and pick out the two chicanes added in 1990 that ended the 400 km/h runs

  • Walk the west face of the Roman wall along the Sarthe, past its eleven surviving towers and three posterns, and pick out the geometric patterns laid in coloured brick and stone that earned Le Mans the name of the red city

  • In the cathedral of Saint-Julien find the Ascension window in the nave, made around 1120 and the oldest stained glass still in place in the building, then step outside to the place Saint-Michel and put your hand on the 4.55 m sandstone menhir leaning against the cathedral's west flank

Before you go

M24 opens 10:00 to 19:00 from 1 May to 30 September and 10:00 to 18:00 from 1 October to 30 April, closed 25 December and 1 January; book ahead in race weeks. The public-road sections of the circuit are closed to traffic for about ten days a year around race and test days, so check the ACO calendar before planning to drive them.

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Challenge Location

XP Breakdown

Challenge XP

250 XP

France country bonus

+100 XP


Potential total

350 XP

Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.

Stop 8 of 9 · Le Mans

South to the Loire Châteaux from Cherbourg

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