FORMULA One legend Lewis Hamilton has agreed to be the patron of the new M24 motorsport museum, opening later this week in Le Mans, home of the iconic 24-hour race.

The seven-time F1 World Champion, racing this year for Ferrari, has given his backing to the new attraction, which opens its doors to the public on Thursday May 28.

Sited at the main entrance to the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans – itself voted France’s favourite monument in 2024 – the 8,600-square metre museum celebrates all manner of motorsport.

“What’s been built here is more than a traditional car museum,” says Lewis, who finished second in yesterday’s incident-packed Canadian Grand Prix. “It’s a home for motorsport, a place that tells stories of races, of people and technology that have made Le Mans and motorsport so special.

“M24 also brings together an incredible collection of race cars and memorabilia, including one of the biggest collections of F1 cars anywhere in the world. Alongside other legendary cars, they make this place truly unique.”

Museum chiefs say the attraction will use the Le Mans race as a doorway into the wider sport, both for aficionados and newcomers, letting the collection of 100 vehicles – remarkably all in working order – tell their own stories.

The exhibition spaces will cover not just the 24-hour endurance event but also Formula One, IndyCar, rallying, Can-Am, motorcycling, and the engineering, rivalries and people that connect them. It has been designed, say organisers, “to behave less like a traditional museum and more like a theatrical reconstruction of a Le Mans weekend.”

Among highlights are the 1924 Bentley 3L – the oldest surviving Le Mans winner – plus the Porsche 917 LH, the Mazda 787B, the Toyota TS050, Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari F2002, and the Rudge-Whitworth cup presented to the first 24 Hours of Le Mans winners in 1923.

Visitors can meet their idols in Champions Alley, an area which pays tribute to 35 motorsport legends including Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Jacky Ickx, Tom Kristensen, Michèle Mouton, Odette Siko and Sébastien Loeb.

Meanwhile, no fewer than 4,800 1/43-scale models will document every car that has started the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 1923, plus the likes of the Mercedes W09 with which Lewis Hamilton won his fifth Formula One World Championship in 2018.

In addition to general admission, 90-minute guided tours – with general or focused themes – will be on offer and a special bundle will include a two-hour guided tour of the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, revealing all the secrets of the world’s greatest endurance race.

Once or twice a month, M24 will also open the doors to its workshop, where the vehicles in the collection are restored and maintained. Family and school workshops are also planned.

For opening hours, availability and updates, race off to the official M24 website. This year’s main 24 Hours of Le Mans race, the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, takes place over the weekend of June 13-14.

Images in this post courtesy of M24 – The Motorsport Museum.