Amazing. This jewel of our sporting heritage has been designated the French people’s favorite monument for the year 2024.
The show “The French people’s favorite monument” presented by Stéphane Bern on France 3 rewards each year a jewel of our heritage from a selection of 14 sites in our regions whose diversity can sometimes be surprising. This year, Internet users had to choose between Le Corbusier’s avant-garde housing development or the Château de Fontainebleau, “the residence of the Kings” of Île-de-France. Among the historic sites and old stones, a radically different site was present in the selection. Surprise, it was this one that won the public’s heart!
Succeeding the castle of Sedan, voted last year the favorite monument of the French, this site which has hosted the most prestigious of car races for over a century won the title this Wednesday, September 18. It is the legendary circuit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “The 24 Hours of Le Mans is these 100 years of duel, of great brands, of legends, of legendary drivers” rejoiced Pierre Fillon, the president of the organizing company on France Bleu Maine, when the news was announced.
The adventure of this crazy race that you have to see at least once in your life began on May 26, 1923, when the automobile journalist Charles Faroux, the engineer Georges Durand and the industrialist Emile Coquille, three members of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), launched a new kind of sporting event, initially called the “Grand Prix d’Endurance”: a 24-hour circuit race without stopping or pausing, so that manufacturers could test their models. 33 cars equipped with two people will participate in this first race with courage and audacity, with the aim of winning the Rudge-Whitworth Cup. Chenards and Walckers, Lorraine-Dietrichs, Bugattis, a Bentley… The general public was able to admire prestigious vehicles parading on this permanent circuit in Sarthe, more than 17 km long. The success was immediate, a legend was born.
Since then, the best drivers have been fighting to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Movie stars have even taken part, from Paul Newman to Michael Fassbender in a Porsche 911, including Jean-Louis Trintignant and Patrick Dempsey. The public, hundreds of thousands of spectators sometimes from very far away, flock to the gates every year to admire the greatest teams. The 24 Hours of Le Mans have become a springboard for experimenting with cutting-edge technologies. “We were the first to have hybrid, we are going to develop hydrogen, we are going to move towards a zero-emission race,” added the president of the ACO on France Bleu Maine.
Finally, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is not just a circuit that is the pride of Sarthe and the entire Pays de la Loire region. It is also a museum that houses a permanent exhibition of more than 100 collector’s vehicles and 350m² of temporary exhibitions. In the weeks that followed, the president of the ACO confided that they were going to make it “one of the largest motorsport museums in the world”… A word to the wise!