24 Hours of Le Mans
annual sports car race held in France
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 24 Heures du Mans; French pronunciation: [vɛ̃t.katʁ‿œʁ dy mɑ̃]) is an endurance sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. First run in 1923, it is the oldest active endurance racing event in the world and is widely considered one of the world's most prestigious races. It is part of two informal "Triple Crown" series: the Triple Crown of Motorsport (with the F1 Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500) and the Triple Crown of endurance racing (with the Florida-based 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring).
Unlike fixed-distance races whose winner is determined by minimum time, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is won by the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours. The cars on this track are able to achieve speeds of 366 km/h (227 mph), and reached 407 km/h (253 mph) on the main straight in 1988 – instigating the addition of more chicanes to the track to reduce speed reached. Racing teams must balance the demands of speed with the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without mechanical failure. The race is organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). It is held on the Circuit de la Sarthe, composed of closed public roads and dedicated sections of a racing track.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans was often part of the World Sportscar Championship from 1953 until that series' final season in 1992. In 2011, it was a part of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.
“24 Hours of Le Mans” enters the record as annual sports car race held in France. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hours, Mans and annual can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“24 Hours of Le Mans” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hours, Mans and annual provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q187579. VIAF identifies the subject as 139782736. The Library of Congress control number is n2008048270. Authority coordinates are 47.950, 0.207. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923, 1988, 1953 and 1992.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “24 Hours of Le Mans”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 24 Hours of Le Mans primary sources, 24 Hours of Le Mans archive and Hours research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “24 Hours of Le Mans”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “24 Hours of Le Mans” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.