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Has anybody any info on traveling by car to le mans for the 24hr race? Cost,Campimg,Sailing etc? is it worth the travel for the weekend.Thinking of a lads beer weekend! Any opinions welcome.
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How to do Le Mans.
1. Phone and book your ferry now - this minute, before you read the next points - Portsmouth Le Havre (don't know if they still do Caen, but if they do, it's better). It books up awfully early. Out Fri night, back Sunday night. I'm told that the Calais - Le Mans drive is too much stress.
2. Arrive Caen/LH 6:30 or some other godforsaken hour on Sat AM. Breakfast asap, then tank on down to Le Mans.
3. Get a GOOD map of the local area round the circuit. Loads of roads closed, so knowing your way round is vital. You will need to drive to get from one part of the circuit to another.
3a. Find Carrefour - sorry, but I have absolutely NO idea where it is - we just drive round and round till we bump into it. Some research before you leave would certainly help here (and in point 3). Load up with ridiculously cheap beer, wine, spirits, liqueurs. Oh and food. Barbeques are a good idea.
4. Get a car parking ticket in the first car park you go to and it applies all over the circuit.
5. Pay to enter ( I guess by now it'll be £50 or so ). Go in, watch the start. When you leave the circuit, KEEP YOUR PASS OUT TICKET. (Tattoo this on the foreheads of every member of your party to avoid problems)
6. For the next 24 hours, aimlessly wander around and drink. Look longingly at the Hawaiiian Tropic girls. Either boil to death in the heat or drenched in the constant rain (it's either one extreme or the other; no half measures ever). Get your driver to move round the circuit from time to time. Arnage is a good viewing point for red-hot brakes all night. Get VERY tired and wish you hadn't bothered coming. Mulsanne is a must.
7. Either sleep in your car (me) or take a one man tent (my mate) and pop it up in a spare yard or two in the campsite without paying. Go to bed after midnight (you will) and get up before 7am (you will) and you might not get rumbled (he never has)
8. Watch the end of the race. Phone wife at home to find out who won (not joking).
9. This is optional, but we do it every time. Play football, frisbee, etc "until the traffic dies down" but actually until getting to the ferry becomes much too tight for time. Then arrive in cloud of blue tyre smoke to catch ferry at the last minute.
10. Ferry back with the rest of the UK contingent on its way back from Le Mans eager to damage their livers a little more.
11. Arrive in Portsmouth at some godforsaken hour on Monday morning.
12. Part with the phrase "that's definitely the last time, it's too tiring"
13. Repeat next year.
V
PS, alternatively, and cheaper, walk on a treadmill for 48 hours in a room with the heating full on, drink loads of beer, don't sleep and play white noise though speakers as loud as possible. Pretty much the same effect.
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ROFLMAO!
:o)
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Having done Le Mans now for a few years (since 97) I can concur with much of what Vin says, but would amend as follows:
1. Go for longer than just the race. I used to travel overnight on Tuesday to arrive lunchtime Wed, but now I go the previous Sunday. There is a wonderful social life, and the weather is usually very kind.
2. Excellent maps and other advice can be found at www.clubarnage.com (which I happen to moderate!), and specifically at www.clubarnage.com/yabbse/index.php?board=2;action...4
3. Driving from one part of the circuit to another during the race is a slow process - we take bikes
4. Entry this year is probably around ?50 rather than £50. This gets you virtually everywhere, and includes entry for the pre-qualifying weekend (which I depart for tomorrow!)
5. If you get there earlier in the week there is night practice on Wed and Thursday evenings These are by far the easiest times to get to Mulsanne and Arnage, and the cars are close to race speeds, even though they aren't racing. Glowing brake discs not to be missed...
6. Campsite tickets are hard to come by, and even regulars who apply a year or more in advance are not guaranteed their order. it is a lottery, but I seem to have got a "standing order" for camping tickets, with the ACO allocating me the same every year without me even asking!
7. Depending on the site, campsite facilities are minimal to say the least, so some baby wipes and a nose peg are useful accessories.
8. Leave before end of race - who goes there for the racing? You can avoid the jams through Le Mans that way, and this year get to somewhere sensible to watch England playing France on the Sunday evening, before getting your ferry back. Alternatively plan to stay on the campsite overnight on Sunday - there is a great social atmosphere, fireworks, burn outs etc etc - but beware the pikeys who are like locusts over the campsites once the race is over.
9. From Berkshire I used to do Portsmouth - Caen, which gives about 100 miles to drive the other side. However, costs inflate dramatically (car + caravan) so I now do Dover Calais which not only is cheaper but also quicker, door to door. French roads are (usually) great to drive but they are introducing a lot more speed detection technology.
All in all it is a great "lads" break. I went once because someone dropped out, and I now organise a group 10 or more strong.
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btw probably the only source of camping tickets now would be www.eBay.co.uk (t vastly inflated prices of course), but there is a sell/swap section on www.clubarnage.com where you could also be lucky
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Excellent post Vin.
Haven't done Le Mans for 20 years. We stayed at a hotel about 20 miles away. On advice from the locals in the bar we bought 2 tickets among 4 of us. So 2 of us dropped the other 2 off, kept the car (Citroen CX Gti) so no car park fees, and swapped over at pre-arranged times using the pass-out tickets. The all-consuming racket as the cars powered past the grandstand feet away from the concrete barrier was stunning. No idea which car was in what position. Don't go and expect to follow the race. My French is passable but the commentary was too idiomatic for me to follow. There used to be an excellent museum which is worth a visit if it's still there. Great international atmosphere and friendly folk everywhere. Our lunchtime break was to get some bread and rillette and a bottle of vile cider, eat at the local gravel pit and plunge in to cool off (it was hot) until changeover time. The trip was extended to do a bit of touring and we ended up at Quiberon. An outstanding few days.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Using new fangled technology, you can now follow the entire race in English on Radio le Mans, set up especially for the event.
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Using new fangled technology, you can now follow the entire race in English on Radio le Mans, set up especially for the event.
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Take a small (pocket sized) FM radio with some headphones. Much cheaper than buying headphones with built in radio on site.
Radio Le Mans is excellent with interviews etc.
Little chance of a stand seat this year, unless you buy one from a fan with noshows.
When I went 4/5 years ago I think we made a big mistake going through the town.
We travelled in an XJS V12 with top down on a hot weekend - Excellent!!!!.
En route back we had to run the gauntlet of English fans having a beer or two and firing water pistols at us in the traffic.
Great fun even in the holding area for the ferry admiring the machinery. Lots of sleeping bags on the floor on the way back cos not many other travellers. Then lots of salutes up the A3 north toward London.
Do it!!!. Le Mans is taken over by Brits for the weekend.
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