You might have visited the museum at Le Mans in the past and revelled in the lines of historic race cars and archive imagery on display. It was a good museum but arguably hadn’t moved with the times in the way that the circuit or the race itself has. It no longer felt world class.
Now all that is about to change. What was called Musée des 24 Heures du Mans has been closed since July while it undergoes a comprehensive facelift and extension to increase the exhibition space by approximately one third to 8600 square metres. The original building has been facelifted and reroofed in zinc, while a green roof has been added to the new extension.
When it opens in late May 2026, it will become M24 – Museum of Motorsport, created in collaboration with Richard Mille, founder of the eponymous watch company. It will retain its focus on endurance racing but will also include elements of Formula 1, rallying and IndyCar.
The museum first came into existence in 1961, thanks to the then-president of the ACO, Jean-Marie Lelièvre, championing the construction of a museum next to the circuit. It was revamped in 1991 by the local council and taken over by the ACO in 2017. In 2022, a new organisation to oversee the museum, MACO, was created as the result of the collaboration between the ACO and Richard Mille.
Between 2018 and 2024, attendance tripled to an impressive 208,500 visitors a year but the target for M24 is to build to 300,000 within the next two or three years. As of late April, all construction work – which we’ve been following closely since it began in January 2025 – has been completed and the building is in the final stages of being kitted out for its official opening.
From the front entrance of M24, visitors will pass through various themed areas, including Scrutineering, The Start, The Night and The Victory, all focused on Le Mans and endurance racing. Visitors will then move through to the second section of the museum, celebrating other disciplines of motor sport. There will also be a new restaurant and, of course, a gift shop.
Some of the cars that will be on display are owned by the ACO, such as the 1924 Le Mans winning Bentley featured in this issue, but many will be from Richard Mille’s personal collection, as he explains: “I’ve been excited about beautiful cars ever since I was a small boy. And, I admit, I’m madly in love with motor sport! Through my career, I’ve been lucky enough to live this passion to the full and build up a collection that reflects the history of motor sport.
“Today, they deserve to be shared with the greatest number of enthusiasts. They needed a setting. A showcase. The 24 Hours of Le Mans Museum was the obvious choice. Le Mans and its iconic circuit.”
For more information, visit www.M24-musee.com.
