1967 French Grand Prix

The 1967 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans on 2 July 1967. It was race 5 of 11 in both the 1967 World Championship of Drivers and the 1967 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the first French Grand Prix to be held in Le Mans since the race in 1929, and is the only time the Bugatti Circuit has been used for the Grand Prix, though the circuit continues to host the French motorcycle Grand Prix.

The new Bugatti circuit opened in 1965 and used the main pit straight at Le Mans, which back in 1967 did not have the Dunlop Chicane. After the start and the Dunlop Curve, instead of the left turn at the Esses at the bottom of the hill, the Bugatti Circuit instead turned right at "La Chapelle" into an infield section comprising the third gear "Le Musée" left hander and the second gear "Garage Vert" corner which led onto the back straight, whose only distinctive feature was the "Chemin Aux Boeufs" 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 Bugatti circuit was seen as somewhat boring and was universally unpopular with both drivers and crowds, with only a reported 20,000 attending the race. Some of the drivers were reported to have privately wished the race was run on the full 13.461 km long Circuit de la Sarthe, where the 5.7 km Mulsanne Straight was actually 1.3 km longer than the entire Bugatti circuit. At the time, circuit lengths of 10 km or longer were common in Grand Prix racing, including the 14.120 km Spa-Francorchamps used for the Belgian Grand Prix and the 22.835 km Nürburgring used for the German Grand Prix, so many drivers felt that using the full 24 Hours circuit should have been considered as the venue by the Automobile Club de France.