First, the good news. We’ll be accelerating more than braking: In total, a pro makes only eleven braking maneuvers on the 13.629-kilometer track. But first, full throttle. Up to the Dunlop corner, we accelerate to almost 300 km/h, jump from fifth to second gear, push through the curve, accelerate again to the Chapelle corner, from where we can see the legendary Tertre Rouge right-hander. Now it’s time to squeeze everything we can out of the car as we enter the Hunaudières, or Mulsanne Straight in English. Originally, the public road known as Ligne Droite des Hunaudières was a six-kilometer-long straight that made top speeds of more than 400 km/h possible. But when FIA ruled in 1990 that no straight could be longer than two kilometers, the circuit was modified to include two chicanes.
