FAQ #15

Q: How fast do the race cars drive?

A: The speed record was sat back in 1988 with a WM-Peugeot driving with 407 km/h down the Mulsanne straight.

Nowadays the cars seldom exceeds 350 km/h mainly due to the two chicanes build on the Mulsanne straight for the race in 1990. Today the top speed is often reached just before braking for the Indianapolis corner.

At Le Mans the fastest cars exceeds speeds at over 300 km/h four times a lap: First part of the Mulsanne straight, second part of the Mulsanne straight, just before the Indianapolis corner and the on the way to the Porsche curves. In proportion to this when the cars approaches the Arnage corner the cars uses first or second gear. That huge speeddifferences is not a often sight on racetracks elsewhere.

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