The Bugatti Circuit incorporates two distinct sections. The first portion, shared with the grand circuit, runs from the Ford Chicane past the pit complex and along the straight beneath the Dunlop Tyres bridge. At this point a left-right sweep — added in 2002 for motorcycle safety — allows Bugatti Circuit traffic to peel away into an infield loop that the full Le Mans circuit does not use. The infield section features Garage Vert, a back straight, the S du Garage Bleu, and the Raccordement section that rejoins the lap at the Ford Chicane to complete the approximately 4.2 km loop.
The chicane variant refers to the Ford Chicane that guards the pit complex entrance, a feature added to the Le Mans layout in 1968 to reduce speeds before the pits and retained in the Bugatti Circuit's lap because the two tracks share that section of asphalt. The 2002 reconfiguration of the Dunlop Curve on the shared section also altered the way vehicles transition from the full Circuit de la Sarthe to the Bugatti layout, replacing a simple straight with fast sweeping curves and creating a new extended Bugatti pit lane exit that re-enters the track just after the Dunlop Chicane and before the Dunlop Bridge.
The Bugatti Circuit was inaugurated in 1965 to provide a permanent, purpose-built racing facility at Le Mans independent of the semi-public roads that form the rest of the 24-hour circuit. Its most prestigious single appearance in top-level car racing came at the 1967 French Grand Prix, the only occasion on which the Formula One World Championship used the venue. The race was won by Jack Brabham driving a Repco-engined Brabham.
In subsequent decades the circuit became home to a wide range of support categories. The International Formula 3000 Championship used it between 1986 and 1991. The circuit was also the operational base of Pescarolo Sport, the endurance racing team founded by former Le Mans winner Henri Pescarolo.
The DTM German Touring Car series visited in 2006 and 2008. The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series held rounds there between 2009 and 2014. The circuit has also hosted rounds of the World Series by Renault, the Superbike World Championship, and many editions of the Porsche Carrera Cup France.
The Bugatti Circuit today is primarily associated with motorcycle racing, hosting the 24 Heures Motos FIM Endurance World Championship round in April and the French Grand Prix MotoGP round in May. The French motorcycle Grand Prix was held on the Bugatti Circuit as early as 1991 under the Vitesse du Mans name and has been a permanent fixture of the MotoGP calendar for many years.
The circuit also hosts the annual 24 Rollers, a 24-hour inline skating and quad race that draws a large amateur field. Club-level car and motorcycle events fill the calendar throughout the rest of the year. The European Truck Racing Championship round, known as the 24 Heures Camions, takes place in September. The Fun Cup France series and various Porsche challenge categories round out the racing schedule across spring and autumn.
In the sim racing world, the Bugatti Circuit appears as a distinct layout option at the Le Mans venue, allowing drivers to experience the infield-only loop as a compact, flowing track separate from the full endurance layout. The shared pit complex and the Ford Chicane connection points give the Bugatti lap a distinctive character — technical and relatively tight by Le Mans standards — that contrasts sharply with the high-speed sweeps and the long Hunaudieres run that define the grand circuit.
The Bugatti Circuit occupies an unusual position in motorsport geography: a full-time permanent track nested inside one of the world's most famous endurance circuits, sharing infrastructure while running an entirely different rhythm of events. Its 1967 Formula One moment remains a historical footnote at a venue better known for 24-hour endurance, but the circuit's sustained role as the home of the French MotoGP — one of the most attended rounds on the Grand Prix motorcycle calendar — underlines its ongoing relevance. For the Le Mans complex as a whole, the Bugatti Circuit enables year-round activity that would be impossible if the venue depended solely on events using the full semi-public road circuit.