Le Mans

Le Mans is a city in France, located at the Sarthe River. It is the préfecture (capital) of the Sarthe département.

It was founded in the 3rd century CE by the Romans as Vindinium.

The city is best known for its connection with motorsports. There are actually two separate racing tracks at Le Mans, though they share certain portions. The smaller is the Bugatti Circuit (named after the Bugatti car company), a relatively short permanent circuit which is used for racing throughout the year. The longer and more famous Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe is composed partly of public roads, which are closed to the public when the track is in use for racing, and plays host to the famous 24 hours of Le Mans sports car race.

The culinary specialty of Le Mans is the rillettes.