Montlhéry is a commune of the Essonne département, in France. Population (1999): 5,676. The commune (in French: commune, word appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, gathering of people sharing a common life, from Latin communis, things held in common) is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. ... The French département of Essonne is part of the région of Île-de-France. ... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties and are now grouped into 22 metropolitan and four overseas régions. ...

Montlhéry is the site of an automobile race track, sometimes referred to as the 'French Indianapolis', because it is laid out as a high speed oval. A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ... A race track (or racetrack), is a purpose-built facility for the conducting of races. ... Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana (a separate city completely surrounded by Indianapolis), is the second-oldest surviving auto racing track in the world (after The Milwaukee Mile), having existed since 1908. ... An oval or ovoid was originally an egg shape (from Latin OVVM); it is now usually used to refer to ellipses, but can also mean any similar shape, such as egg shapes or race-course shapes (a semicircle on either side of a quadrilateral). ...

External links

• City council website (http://www.ville-montlhery.fr) (in French)
• Website about Montlhéry (http://www.montlhery.com/welcome.htm)