1967 French Grand Prix

The 1967 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at the Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans on July 2, 1967. It was the first French Grand Prix to be held in Le Mans since the first ever running of the race in 1906 and as of 2012 is the only time the Bugatti Circuit has been used for the Grand Prix.

The new Bugatti circuit used the main pit straight at Le Mans, which back in 1967 did not have the Dunlop Chicane, but then turned right at "La Chapelle" into an infield section comprising the third gear "Le Musée" right hander and the second gear "Garage Vert" corner which led onto the back straight, who's only distinctive feature was the "Chemin Aux Boeups" left hand kink (now a left-right chicane) some two-thirds along, before heading back to the pit straight via the "S Bleu" and "Raccordement" corners near the entrance to the pits. The circuit was seen as somewhat boring and was universally unpopular with both drivers and crowds with only a reported 20,000 attending the race, with some of the drivers reported to have privately wished the race was run on the full 13.461 km (8.378 mi) long Circuit de la Sarthe where the 5.7 km (3.5 mi) Mulsanne Straight was 1.3 km (0.8 mi) longer than the entire Bugatti circuit.

At the time, circuit lengths of 10 km (6.2 mi) or longer were common in Grand Prix racing with the 14.120 km (8.770 mi) Spa-Francorchamps used for the Belgian Grand Prix, and the infamous 22.835 km (14.189 mi) Nürburgring used for the German Grand Prix, so many of drivers felt using the full 24 Hours circuit should have been considered as the venue by the Automobile Club de France.