Le Mans 24 experience just getting worse
Discussion
I've been a regular to the 24hr over many years and upped my status to ACO member in 2015. Having just got back for the 'big year' I feel that, in my view, the event is getting made worse by the ACO for the everyday fan..Unless you have deep pockets for hospitality the experience is being degraded everytime and the ACO is just after corporate/big pocket money / fleece fans as much as possible.
Racing aside, which was fine, the bits I could manage to get to see, this has been possibly the worst motor racing event I have ever visited. While I can see the ACO has made attempts to invest in areas around the track, reducing dust in many areas with paved/tarmacked roads, overall the experience for me has not been a good one from the first moment I received communication from the members office to leaving on Saturday evening. So bad was the experience that not only could I not make of the use of the members area that I did not come to the circuit on Sunday as the circuit felt unsafe due to overcrowding, lack of available viewing locations and lack of adequate facilities to service the overcapacity crowd. Others will certainly have had different experiences but here’s some thoughts on why it was so bad for me and that I've put to the ACO members office to express my disappointment:
Communication
Overall the communication leading up to the event has been misleading and confused. Particularly around the changes to the onsite experience but also the intention around parking and camping. For example the ACO didn’t communicate to members that parking blanc was being removed until very very late in tickets being on sale. The ACO also communicated that other parking zones would be opened up/being actively worked upon. This was not the case and led to me not being able to purchase a parking pass near the main circuit entrances - I didn't buy an expo parking place when I could because of the poor comms. My fault I suppose but when the ACO says other options are being worked on I shouldn't have believed them.. much in the way the camping tickets were a farce. One further example of poor communication was when we all received a sales email for the grand expo.. it basically looked like you had to buy a ticket to get into it, only by clarfying with the ACO did it turn out that you could get in with your general entrance ticket.. I'm sure a few people will have bought tickets by mistake and fell for that little ACO trap.
Onsite the public address system/ announcements were mostly poor quality throughout the racing I watched. Another example of bad quality was on Friday evening during the opening celebration on the start/finish line - the sound continued to break up – resulting in a poor show with dancers starting a dance about 4 times to get something going. The address system was so poor that most of the time I had no clue what was happening. Usually it's so loud that you just get bombarded by the system.
Net is that the Marketing/comms & ontrack sound enginneers need to do a better more professional job - this isn't the local village fete, people are spending real amounts of money to go to the event - it sound be the best quality all around.
Ticketing
The ticketing website is full of bugs and is slow to respond. The payment gateway needs looking into as I tried 3 different credit cards and finally got a payment to work on my 4th card. Contacting my card issuers the fault lays with the ACO’s system and not because my cards were either blocked or had no available credit.
Parking
I was frustrated to see that parking blanc has been removed for members – another degradation of a members perk. The communication around this said it was to enable an expansion of track side experiences – what I later found out was that the expansion was actually cutting out a big swathe of camping and viewing areas just south of the Ferris wheel and replacing with squashed looking hospitality areas (these new hospitality areas had a viewing area at the top of the bank which then effectively removed any good vantage points on that stretch when combined with the new porsche branded bridge that also blocks the view down the track)
Having been forced into the free parking areas to park in Etamat or Actisud I was even more frustrated to find that the ACO actively decided to open up Actisud first rather than Etamat to make sure free parkers who had to turned up early had to walk even further to the track – not a great experience and just shows that the ACO doesn't think about fan experience at all
Members area – La Chapelle
Oversold, not enough seating for capacity of attendees nor for an enjoyable viewing area – I had to stand for 3 hours before the race to be able to be 5 people back from the front of the track
While I appreciate the ACO has tried to expand the area it actually needs to be double the size, with double the facilities and seating areas. Rather than trying to make it look pretty with dying shrubs/plants thought could have been put in to make it a practical place. For example rather than have a big border of plants the border in places could have been a big long bench seat which would have solved some of the seating issues in part.
Aggressive security – not directed to me but I witnessed 4 security pouncing on 1 person who had stood in the disabled access area – it’s aggressive and unnecessary – ask politely first and then if ignored fine to be more robust. Don’t just jump ontop of someone who hasn’t even realised where they were standing.
Limited toilet facilities for numbers permitted to enter – it was in some cases better to get out and find another toilet but these were also backed up
I tried three times to visit the members area and each time was exactly the same – no where to sit, queues to get to anything and overall a squashed area. The result was not to come back to the members area again – I raised this with onsite manager on saturday to ask for a refund as the location was unusable - she took notes and said to email the ACO but I suspect I won't get this back..
Overcrowding
Far too many tickets had been sold for the overall event – resulting in dangerous overcrowding throughout – for example at one point it took 20mins to queue to get across the Dunlop bridge - I recognise that it is always busy at the 24hr but this was next level bonkers busy - excessively busy
Refreshments
Food – has gone way downhill from previous years – the food options for quick take away options has practically been reduced to burger/chicken/sausage and chips, everything with chips and more chips. Yes there are a few baguette locations around but they are few and far between - but I'd like to see the variety that there once was found at the event.. there was one hogroast place I found or the more formal restaurants but for quick bites the options really did get much more limited.
Beer – again has been reduced really to just Carlsberg as the only beer at the event – you can just about find 1 or 2 others at certain spots but you really have to seek out those locations – not a great experience.. am assuming the ACO did a deal and someone at the ACO likes Carlsberg - I don't mind it but I'd like choice..
Village
Manufacturers area – the village has become soulless – with manufacturers’ booths/stands looking more like a automotive trade stand/conference than anything fun for fans. A few cars on display that you easily see at their sales rooms
Loss of traditional small boutique stalls – feels like all the small stalls have been forced away from the 24hr – there used to be an entire village of small vendors selling everything from teamwear to autoparts, art etc – the blandness as resulted in just a few of these left I suspect because the ACO likely put the pitch costs up so dramatically that many of these vendors were unable to afford to come – the result is a soulless experience for the fans
Hydrogen Village – a real disappointment – it was not really a village – it was so small that at first we missed it on the way around the circuit.. it was more accurate to describe as a couple of tents with a few cars and a very dry teaching area. I came away fairly bored of what I had seen/experienced
I'm sure I'll get lots of people telling me not to moan/shut up - all I'll say is that you may have had a great time, but I'll stress that this was my experience and my point of view... others may have had a really cracking time and everything was hunky dory.. I suspect there are many who probably had a similar experience / observed some of what I've explained above and interested to see what others really thought for this years event...
Ken
Racing aside, which was fine, the bits I could manage to get to see, this has been possibly the worst motor racing event I have ever visited. While I can see the ACO has made attempts to invest in areas around the track, reducing dust in many areas with paved/tarmacked roads, overall the experience for me has not been a good one from the first moment I received communication from the members office to leaving on Saturday evening. So bad was the experience that not only could I not make of the use of the members area that I did not come to the circuit on Sunday as the circuit felt unsafe due to overcrowding, lack of available viewing locations and lack of adequate facilities to service the overcapacity crowd. Others will certainly have had different experiences but here’s some thoughts on why it was so bad for me and that I've put to the ACO members office to express my disappointment:
Communication
Overall the communication leading up to the event has been misleading and confused. Particularly around the changes to the onsite experience but also the intention around parking and camping. For example the ACO didn’t communicate to members that parking blanc was being removed until very very late in tickets being on sale. The ACO also communicated that other parking zones would be opened up/being actively worked upon. This was not the case and led to me not being able to purchase a parking pass near the main circuit entrances - I didn't buy an expo parking place when I could because of the poor comms. My fault I suppose but when the ACO says other options are being worked on I shouldn't have believed them.. much in the way the camping tickets were a farce. One further example of poor communication was when we all received a sales email for the grand expo.. it basically looked like you had to buy a ticket to get into it, only by clarfying with the ACO did it turn out that you could get in with your general entrance ticket.. I'm sure a few people will have bought tickets by mistake and fell for that little ACO trap.
Onsite the public address system/ announcements were mostly poor quality throughout the racing I watched. Another example of bad quality was on Friday evening during the opening celebration on the start/finish line - the sound continued to break up – resulting in a poor show with dancers starting a dance about 4 times to get something going. The address system was so poor that most of the time I had no clue what was happening. Usually it's so loud that you just get bombarded by the system.
Net is that the Marketing/comms & ontrack sound enginneers need to do a better more professional job - this isn't the local village fete, people are spending real amounts of money to go to the event - it sound be the best quality all around.
Ticketing
The ticketing website is full of bugs and is slow to respond. The payment gateway needs looking into as I tried 3 different credit cards and finally got a payment to work on my 4th card. Contacting my card issuers the fault lays with the ACO’s system and not because my cards were either blocked or had no available credit.
Parking
I was frustrated to see that parking blanc has been removed for members – another degradation of a members perk. The communication around this said it was to enable an expansion of track side experiences – what I later found out was that the expansion was actually cutting out a big swathe of camping and viewing areas just south of the Ferris wheel and replacing with squashed looking hospitality areas (these new hospitality areas had a viewing area at the top of the bank which then effectively removed any good vantage points on that stretch when combined with the new porsche branded bridge that also blocks the view down the track)
Having been forced into the free parking areas to park in Etamat or Actisud I was even more frustrated to find that the ACO actively decided to open up Actisud first rather than Etamat to make sure free parkers who had to turned up early had to walk even further to the track – not a great experience and just shows that the ACO doesn't think about fan experience at all
Members area – La Chapelle
Oversold, not enough seating for capacity of attendees nor for an enjoyable viewing area – I had to stand for 3 hours before the race to be able to be 5 people back from the front of the track
While I appreciate the ACO has tried to expand the area it actually needs to be double the size, with double the facilities and seating areas. Rather than trying to make it look pretty with dying shrubs/plants thought could have been put in to make it a practical place. For example rather than have a big border of plants the border in places could have been a big long bench seat which would have solved some of the seating issues in part.
Aggressive security – not directed to me but I witnessed 4 security pouncing on 1 person who had stood in the disabled access area – it’s aggressive and unnecessary – ask politely first and then if ignored fine to be more robust. Don’t just jump ontop of someone who hasn’t even realised where they were standing.
Limited toilet facilities for numbers permitted to enter – it was in some cases better to get out and find another toilet but these were also backed up
I tried three times to visit the members area and each time was exactly the same – no where to sit, queues to get to anything and overall a squashed area. The result was not to come back to the members area again – I raised this with onsite manager on saturday to ask for a refund as the location was unusable - she took notes and said to email the ACO but I suspect I won't get this back..
Overcrowding
Far too many tickets had been sold for the overall event – resulting in dangerous overcrowding throughout – for example at one point it took 20mins to queue to get across the Dunlop bridge - I recognise that it is always busy at the 24hr but this was next level bonkers busy - excessively busy
Refreshments
Food – has gone way downhill from previous years – the food options for quick take away options has practically been reduced to burger/chicken/sausage and chips, everything with chips and more chips. Yes there are a few baguette locations around but they are few and far between - but I'd like to see the variety that there once was found at the event.. there was one hogroast place I found or the more formal restaurants but for quick bites the options really did get much more limited.
Beer – again has been reduced really to just Carlsberg as the only beer at the event – you can just about find 1 or 2 others at certain spots but you really have to seek out those locations – not a great experience.. am assuming the ACO did a deal and someone at the ACO likes Carlsberg - I don't mind it but I'd like choice..
Village
Manufacturers area – the village has become soulless – with manufacturers’ booths/stands looking more like a automotive trade stand/conference than anything fun for fans. A few cars on display that you easily see at their sales rooms
Loss of traditional small boutique stalls – feels like all the small stalls have been forced away from the 24hr – there used to be an entire village of small vendors selling everything from teamwear to autoparts, art etc – the blandness as resulted in just a few of these left I suspect because the ACO likely put the pitch costs up so dramatically that many of these vendors were unable to afford to come – the result is a soulless experience for the fans
Hydrogen Village – a real disappointment – it was not really a village – it was so small that at first we missed it on the way around the circuit.. it was more accurate to describe as a couple of tents with a few cars and a very dry teaching area. I came away fairly bored of what I had seen/experienced
I'm sure I'll get lots of people telling me not to moan/shut up - all I'll say is that you may have had a great time, but I'll stress that this was my experience and my point of view... others may have had a really cracking time and everything was hunky dory.. I suspect there are many who probably had a similar experience / observed some of what I've explained above and interested to see what others really thought for this years event...
Ken
I can fully understand your points.
I'd never been before despite being 51 and trying for about 20 years! We loved it, but of course we don't have any previous to compare it to.. we were the only people we met who had not been before.
I would say as with most large events as they evolve, and if they're successfull will become more commercialised, it will lose some of its earlier "charm" as the accountants take over.
We just chucked small rucksacks on and walked over 20K steps a day exploring and getting to see what we could at numerous vantage points, no grandstand tickets etc. did a lot of peeing up fences.
In a way I'm glad we'd not been before as hopefully now we've got years of going to look forward to.
I'd never been before despite being 51 and trying for about 20 years! We loved it, but of course we don't have any previous to compare it to.. we were the only people we met who had not been before.
I would say as with most large events as they evolve, and if they're successfull will become more commercialised, it will lose some of its earlier "charm" as the accountants take over.
We just chucked small rucksacks on and walked over 20K steps a day exploring and getting to see what we could at numerous vantage points, no grandstand tickets etc. did a lot of peeing up fences.
In a way I'm glad we'd not been before as hopefully now we've got years of going to look forward to.
Edited by mikeN54 on Friday 16th June 11:42
I totally agree. I'd add one further complaint which I didn't see above.
My time was spent almost entirely between T15 and the George Durrand ACO Clubhouse. The same problems you found occurred here. In addition though, the vendors suffered significant loss of data signal, leading to having to try and pay 3 or 4 times via card as the connection timed out. This issue didn't raise its head until Thursday, but from that evening onwards, the shear number of phones all connected to the same mast obliterated the ability to guarantee taking payment. The poor bugger at the burger stand opposite T15 had two queues, one taking orders and one desperately trying to get paid. I saw him give up on one occasion and wave the punter off with a free pint as they just couldn't get it to work.
They really need to sort out some kind of merchant WiFi so the card payments aren't annihilated by the crowds.
Some Air conditioning in the museum would have been nice too, you felt the very strong desire to rush round the sweatbox and get out, rather than enjoying the magnificent assembly of cars.
My time was spent almost entirely between T15 and the George Durrand ACO Clubhouse. The same problems you found occurred here. In addition though, the vendors suffered significant loss of data signal, leading to having to try and pay 3 or 4 times via card as the connection timed out. This issue didn't raise its head until Thursday, but from that evening onwards, the shear number of phones all connected to the same mast obliterated the ability to guarantee taking payment. The poor bugger at the burger stand opposite T15 had two queues, one taking orders and one desperately trying to get paid. I saw him give up on one occasion and wave the punter off with a free pint as they just couldn't get it to work.
They really need to sort out some kind of merchant WiFi so the card payments aren't annihilated by the crowds.
Some Air conditioning in the museum would have been nice too, you felt the very strong desire to rush round the sweatbox and get out, rather than enjoying the magnificent assembly of cars.
Overall I was really happy with this event and it was one of the best. The downers for me were the bottlenecks trying to get across the circuit (Dunlop bridge etc.) and behind Dunlop grandstand was standstill at times. Travelling to Mulsanne was a PITA with long queues and lots of queue jumping. There were no signs guiding you to the shuttle services, you had to look at a map and then guess your way there. Running out of the centenary merchandise like the caps was not great either. Everything else was good. The race was great and the food was awesome.
To be fair, while correct, most of your point are nothing new and just a continuation of what's gone before, emphasisedby the "anniversary panic".
ACO communication has never been exactly good but did 'sort of' work, just because it was "do what we did last eyar all over again", with maybe one camp site opening/one closing. This year I don't think there was ever actually a plan, just endless reaction:
"The corporates want more space!"
"OK, well, umm, give them Bleu!"
"Where are the Bleu campers going to go?"
"OK, well, umm, lets try and find another field and use that?"
And the experience has seen a creeping corporate take over year on year, taking over more previously public campsite space and more previous public spectating areas.
As for "The Village" that's always been a wastland. OK the previous use of the space wasn't great, a random warren of stalls with few toilets and it did need a refresh...but it didn't need turning into about a 1/4 the number of retail spaces that the ACO then wanted to charge 10x as much for. Queue the loss of all the interesting/quirky stuff and either large auto industry car show stands, or shops selling expensive watches that cost more than the average fans car/house but can probably cover their costs by only selling a couple of watches across the whole weekend.
I'm with giveitfish on the loss of the Mulsanne/Arnage drinks stands though. Having gotten up at 3AM to catch the bus there was usually a bit of a wall/chilly spell around 5/6AM and a (luke warm, half full - it IS France) cup of coffee and croissant really hit the spot to keep you going.
ACO communication has never been exactly good but did 'sort of' work, just because it was "do what we did last eyar all over again", with maybe one camp site opening/one closing. This year I don't think there was ever actually a plan, just endless reaction:
"The corporates want more space!"
"OK, well, umm, give them Bleu!"
"Where are the Bleu campers going to go?"
"OK, well, umm, lets try and find another field and use that?"
And the experience has seen a creeping corporate take over year on year, taking over more previously public campsite space and more previous public spectating areas.
As for "The Village" that's always been a wastland. OK the previous use of the space wasn't great, a random warren of stalls with few toilets and it did need a refresh...but it didn't need turning into about a 1/4 the number of retail spaces that the ACO then wanted to charge 10x as much for. Queue the loss of all the interesting/quirky stuff and either large auto industry car show stands, or shops selling expensive watches that cost more than the average fans car/house but can probably cover their costs by only selling a couple of watches across the whole weekend.
I'm with giveitfish on the loss of the Mulsanne/Arnage drinks stands though. Having gotten up at 3AM to catch the bus there was usually a bit of a wall/chilly spell around 5/6AM and a (luke warm, half full - it IS France) cup of coffee and croissant really hit the spot to keep you going.
We arrived at BSJ on Wednesday am and were shocked how busy it was already. Luckily, we stopped at Carrefour on the way, so picked up any merch we wanted, so didn't need to go into any of the on site boutiques. We also stayed mostly down by the kart track and BSJ / Porsche curves to watch the racing where it wasn't overly busy. We couldn't get grandstand seats this year, which I think I am glad about, although we will probably get them again next year. I have joined the ACO in preparation for next year, so I can get our own tickets rather than rely on crappy agencies, and added the members area access for next year, but reading the above, that may not have been the best idea. Glad I went this year, especially for the centenary, and did the track walk, although the Mulsanne in the storm nearly killed me, and will definately be back. All we can hope is that next year isn't quite as busy !
We didn’t even attempt Dunlop bridge, it was roasting and the bottleneck was massive.
On the plus side we ate out at arnage and Le Mans centre at the parade which we don’t normally do.
It was oversold without doubt but all of the minus’s of this year were blanked out by the race, quality this year.
On the plus side we ate out at arnage and Le Mans centre at the parade which we don’t normally do.
It was oversold without doubt but all of the minus’s of this year were blanked out by the race, quality this year.
I used to go in the 90s and 00s. I think I went about 10 times until the cars got a bit quiet...
However this year, I decided to go with some friends and found the event great!
I did not book a parking space but arrived on Saturday around lunchtime and went to park in Etamat which was not too bad. We had a BBQ there (and a few Belgian beers) and went to the race around 2-3 pm. We carried a few cans with us and had no problems with security. We then went to the S before tetre rouge and manage to find a vantage point under the trees. Had more beers (the ones we smuggled through security), and stayed there until 7 pm. Went back to Etamat and had another BBQ and a piss (not at the same time!). More Belgian beers. Went back with a few beers in our bags at 8-9 pm and saw that there was a concert going on so went there. Listen to a few songs until the rain came down pouring! Went back to tertre rouge / S to see the carnage. Stay there until the firework started, went to see that and the drone show. Was really good! Went back to see more racing and headed back for a quick sleep in the car as we ran out of beers and were getting tired around 2 am. Went back early to the track....was really quiet at 8-10 am. Went to the toilet near the game zone (no queue) and had a few beers at the comptoir pub (no queue). Watch more racing (it was getting very busy by then). Went to the museum around 2 pm (5mn queue). The museum was excellent...all winners cars...amazing and then tried to watch the end from Dunlop courbe (was getting very busy between 3 and 4pm). Went straight after the race finished....no queues....
However this year, I decided to go with some friends and found the event great!
I did not book a parking space but arrived on Saturday around lunchtime and went to park in Etamat which was not too bad. We had a BBQ there (and a few Belgian beers) and went to the race around 2-3 pm. We carried a few cans with us and had no problems with security. We then went to the S before tetre rouge and manage to find a vantage point under the trees. Had more beers (the ones we smuggled through security), and stayed there until 7 pm. Went back to Etamat and had another BBQ and a piss (not at the same time!). More Belgian beers. Went back with a few beers in our bags at 8-9 pm and saw that there was a concert going on so went there. Listen to a few songs until the rain came down pouring! Went back to tertre rouge / S to see the carnage. Stay there until the firework started, went to see that and the drone show. Was really good! Went back to see more racing and headed back for a quick sleep in the car as we ran out of beers and were getting tired around 2 am. Went back early to the track....was really quiet at 8-10 am. Went to the toilet near the game zone (no queue) and had a few beers at the comptoir pub (no queue). Watch more racing (it was getting very busy by then). Went to the museum around 2 pm (5mn queue). The museum was excellent...all winners cars...amazing and then tried to watch the end from Dunlop courbe (was getting very busy between 3 and 4pm). Went straight after the race finished....no queues....
Definitely a lot busier than previous years and loss of “local” all night service at Arnage a real shame.
Historically we have always driven down to Arnage at about 1 - 2am and availed ourselves of the free parking accessed from the road heading south.
This year the usual route was blocked with no sign of a diversion. Found our way eventually, but sure we must have gone via Tours to get there!
Drove into the car park, the person on the gate made a half hearted effort to check our parking pass (haven’t needed a pass in previous years), so just kept on driving.
I’m assuming the ACO now require a separate parking permit to be purchased for Arnage parking.
All in all a good year, although agree that ACO members areas very busy.
Historically we have always driven down to Arnage at about 1 - 2am and availed ourselves of the free parking accessed from the road heading south.
This year the usual route was blocked with no sign of a diversion. Found our way eventually, but sure we must have gone via Tours to get there!
Drove into the car park, the person on the gate made a half hearted effort to check our parking pass (haven’t needed a pass in previous years), so just kept on driving.
I’m assuming the ACO now require a separate parking permit to be purchased for Arnage parking.
All in all a good year, although agree that ACO members areas very busy.
As a 33-year attendee and ACO member since 1997, I agree with much of the OP's complaints. - and I'll add a few of my own:
- dangerous overcrowding of the tunnel under the end of the pit straight.
- lack of toilets behind the grandstands. The old pissoir has been removed, so huge queues for a wazz. Obviously many pissed up againt the wall.
- the grandstand/GE ticket QR Code debacle. Did anyone else experience this ? I had an email on Monday saying any tickets downloaded before Dec'22 had a QR code problem. There was a link to download new ones (8 in my party). It printed these but needless to say they didn't work and we couldn't get into Camping Houx. Nobody knew what to do and I was sent to various places. Eventually I spoke to someone at the Green Ticket booth who knew all about it and printed new tickets.
- What happened to the Friday pit walk ? Couldn't find a way to get in the pit lane with all that b
ks going on the pit straight.
- Thursday night practice reduced to 1 hour. The usual road to Arnarge corner that we've been using for years was closed with no indication of an alternative route. Luckily the Gendarmes were friendly and showed us the new route. By the time we got there it was 10.30 then it was red-flagged ! At least the session was extended by 15mins, but all the hassle to get there for an hours' viewing. WTF are the ACO on ?
- We only got 5 of our usual 10 pitches allocation in Houx even though it was by no means full. WTF ?
It was a good race, though I'm slightly worried by the extra BoP penalty given to Toyota. Was the Ferrari win fair and square ?
- dangerous overcrowding of the tunnel under the end of the pit straight.
- lack of toilets behind the grandstands. The old pissoir has been removed, so huge queues for a wazz. Obviously many pissed up againt the wall.
- the grandstand/GE ticket QR Code debacle. Did anyone else experience this ? I had an email on Monday saying any tickets downloaded before Dec'22 had a QR code problem. There was a link to download new ones (8 in my party). It printed these but needless to say they didn't work and we couldn't get into Camping Houx. Nobody knew what to do and I was sent to various places. Eventually I spoke to someone at the Green Ticket booth who knew all about it and printed new tickets.
- What happened to the Friday pit walk ? Couldn't find a way to get in the pit lane with all that b
ks going on the pit straight.- Thursday night practice reduced to 1 hour. The usual road to Arnarge corner that we've been using for years was closed with no indication of an alternative route. Luckily the Gendarmes were friendly and showed us the new route. By the time we got there it was 10.30 then it was red-flagged ! At least the session was extended by 15mins, but all the hassle to get there for an hours' viewing. WTF are the ACO on ?
- We only got 5 of our usual 10 pitches allocation in Houx even though it was by no means full. WTF ?
It was a good race, though I'm slightly worried by the extra BoP penalty given to Toyota. Was the Ferrari win fair and square ?
I would like to add here, and this is not just the track experience but it is particularly important when you are there, the live timing has been bad, but this year it was terrible.
For years now there is reliable F1 live timing, works like a charm, refresh every sector.
In a race where live timing is everything, why can't they make 6 minisectors and have it work reliably, while adding tyre type, tyre age, time since pit stop, etc. In some years past, some of this stuff was in existence. Now it is not, and the basic timing is worse than ever. It's bad enough, I mean, bad, it's the nature of the race, but the racing is already kind of against yourself. If we knew the pit stop and tyre situation, we could understand what's happening way more. It enhances the experience tremendously. To this moment, I have zero idea if the Peugeot got one on them in the drizzle because of softer rubber, if the Porsche crashed on harder tyres, etc etc. We had to guess who is putting on slicks, who was staying on them... No idea who is double stinting the tyres etc.
It's ridiculous. Clearly they think fans don't have a clue what's happening.
Meanwhile, in American sports you'll have a stat pop up saying Nikola Jokic the first ever player to hit a 20 pt triple double in a first half of an away conference finals playoff game.
For years now there is reliable F1 live timing, works like a charm, refresh every sector.
In a race where live timing is everything, why can't they make 6 minisectors and have it work reliably, while adding tyre type, tyre age, time since pit stop, etc. In some years past, some of this stuff was in existence. Now it is not, and the basic timing is worse than ever. It's bad enough, I mean, bad, it's the nature of the race, but the racing is already kind of against yourself. If we knew the pit stop and tyre situation, we could understand what's happening way more. It enhances the experience tremendously. To this moment, I have zero idea if the Peugeot got one on them in the drizzle because of softer rubber, if the Porsche crashed on harder tyres, etc etc. We had to guess who is putting on slicks, who was staying on them... No idea who is double stinting the tyres etc.
It's ridiculous. Clearly they think fans don't have a clue what's happening.
Meanwhile, in American sports you'll have a stat pop up saying Nikola Jokic the first ever player to hit a 20 pt triple double in a first half of an away conference finals playoff game.
heres my trip which I did myself as the others are now too old, got my early bird weekly ticket in november.
belfast, dublin, nantes air b and b thurs, tram to circuit for 15.00, . did the stalls etc, tram back after practice
friday, drivers parade, but went to the start where things were being set up.. good choice as I got a quick getaway.. walked up to circuit out of choice, via a couple of tabacs mcdonalds and carrefour, stocked up ( needed to find pannini tour de france sticker book, which I did)
watched activities from opposite pits... class, then back on tram, pretty staight forward.
sat, got lift from lady in air band b, whose daughter was on toyota stand, she got parked 5 mins walk from main gate at 9am,,.. so thats local knowledge for ye.
watched ferrari race, poor, porsches and oldies from main straight, place was heaving , made my way over to inside of the exit of pit lane under the screen, watched first few hours there till bum got sore from sitting, started to get hacked off with the amount of people so headed up to inside of tertre rouge till nighfall, it was class, and a little less busy
after a soaking decided to moveand bus it mulsanne, then indy/arnage, second no 5 bus was a bendy bus and everyone got on, hadnt been to mulsanne in the dark before so that was beezer, moved to arnage on bus 4 which was easy enough, never been to arnage during the race before and that recharged my spirits , got in at the fence and it was just brilliant. Finally went up to indianapolis for a while, then back on bus to porsche curves, got the sleeping bag out and had wee kip from 4.30 to 6.30, stayed to 7.30 , chucked the bag and headed up to the karting area for old times sake, had some breaky as there were no queues....then went on the wheel which i hadnt been on before, which was good , watched a bit of the race, then headed to the museum ...had a plan on this... out the main gate, in the main entrance of the museum , straight in, 5 seconds, after my visit it was out the back steps and back on the ciicuit, must of been 300 in the queue to get in that way.... ( devised me cunning plan on the saturday from observation, well chuffed with that move)
after all this I was b...d and laid down on the fan zone on outside of main straight and watched race on screen
with hour and half to go pushed my way down to last bend and got in at fence facing screen for remander of race, that was very hot and had no water left, on way down noticed people waiting at the gate to get on to circuit, bearing in mind the size of the wall they saw nothing for last hour and a half , didnt understand that.
at end of race legged it to gate, but on the opposite side where the original queue had formed , once it finally opened walked across , , no energy left to run, but still managed to get front row position and full view of 51 under the gantry, finally made my way up pit staight , dandered up to dunlop bridge and back to the tram and back to the air b an b via nice wee pizza place opposite the station.. very happy but totally knackered. Still had a days travel before I got back to the FATLAD, Norn Iron , Belfast
Couple of points,
downside...
radio le mans , worked in air band b in town, didnt at circuit... just had to suck that one up
by myself, no one to talk to, but on the plus side I did what I wanted when I wanted ( eg there in 2012 , must of spent an hour in that fecking museum shop, but bearing in mind we didnt drive back til mid morn on monday and then went back to said shop ,,... there was no one there. which they had been told was going to be the case.)
never stroked nought, too tired for that, a couple of frenchies were having none of it when opportunity arose
bit busy, but with a bit of forward planning was able to manage
dunlop bridge sauna,
not sure if I could actually do all this again this way
upside
I had a cracker time and the result was right
the nascar
weather
having read many other reports I didnt see anything negative or bad, I just got on with it and it worked for me
found the officals to be all very good, maybe that because i was by myself and addressed them in french, trams were good because I left at decent times as I knew I had to pace the weekend or i,d be in diffs
a few places you wernt welcome, that started to annoy me a bit come sunday morning, that mostly aimed at corporate goings on, so just ignored that
used those water stand pipes and bought food in with me.
using the buses to get round the circuit at night
arnage corner
theres probably loads more I did but cant rember them all now
thats it , im still knackered, hopefully someone can get use of this for 2024 and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as me
Roger
belfast, dublin, nantes air b and b thurs, tram to circuit for 15.00, . did the stalls etc, tram back after practice
friday, drivers parade, but went to the start where things were being set up.. good choice as I got a quick getaway.. walked up to circuit out of choice, via a couple of tabacs mcdonalds and carrefour, stocked up ( needed to find pannini tour de france sticker book, which I did)
watched activities from opposite pits... class, then back on tram, pretty staight forward.
sat, got lift from lady in air band b, whose daughter was on toyota stand, she got parked 5 mins walk from main gate at 9am,,.. so thats local knowledge for ye.
watched ferrari race, poor, porsches and oldies from main straight, place was heaving , made my way over to inside of the exit of pit lane under the screen, watched first few hours there till bum got sore from sitting, started to get hacked off with the amount of people so headed up to inside of tertre rouge till nighfall, it was class, and a little less busy
after a soaking decided to moveand bus it mulsanne, then indy/arnage, second no 5 bus was a bendy bus and everyone got on, hadnt been to mulsanne in the dark before so that was beezer, moved to arnage on bus 4 which was easy enough, never been to arnage during the race before and that recharged my spirits , got in at the fence and it was just brilliant. Finally went up to indianapolis for a while, then back on bus to porsche curves, got the sleeping bag out and had wee kip from 4.30 to 6.30, stayed to 7.30 , chucked the bag and headed up to the karting area for old times sake, had some breaky as there were no queues....then went on the wheel which i hadnt been on before, which was good , watched a bit of the race, then headed to the museum ...had a plan on this... out the main gate, in the main entrance of the museum , straight in, 5 seconds, after my visit it was out the back steps and back on the ciicuit, must of been 300 in the queue to get in that way.... ( devised me cunning plan on the saturday from observation, well chuffed with that move)
after all this I was b...d and laid down on the fan zone on outside of main straight and watched race on screen
with hour and half to go pushed my way down to last bend and got in at fence facing screen for remander of race, that was very hot and had no water left, on way down noticed people waiting at the gate to get on to circuit, bearing in mind the size of the wall they saw nothing for last hour and a half , didnt understand that.
at end of race legged it to gate, but on the opposite side where the original queue had formed , once it finally opened walked across , , no energy left to run, but still managed to get front row position and full view of 51 under the gantry, finally made my way up pit staight , dandered up to dunlop bridge and back to the tram and back to the air b an b via nice wee pizza place opposite the station.. very happy but totally knackered. Still had a days travel before I got back to the FATLAD, Norn Iron , Belfast
Couple of points,
downside...
radio le mans , worked in air band b in town, didnt at circuit... just had to suck that one up
by myself, no one to talk to, but on the plus side I did what I wanted when I wanted ( eg there in 2012 , must of spent an hour in that fecking museum shop, but bearing in mind we didnt drive back til mid morn on monday and then went back to said shop ,,... there was no one there. which they had been told was going to be the case.)
never stroked nought, too tired for that, a couple of frenchies were having none of it when opportunity arose
bit busy, but with a bit of forward planning was able to manage
dunlop bridge sauna,
not sure if I could actually do all this again this way
upside
I had a cracker time and the result was right
the nascar
weather
having read many other reports I didnt see anything negative or bad, I just got on with it and it worked for me
found the officals to be all very good, maybe that because i was by myself and addressed them in french, trams were good because I left at decent times as I knew I had to pace the weekend or i,d be in diffs
a few places you wernt welcome, that started to annoy me a bit come sunday morning, that mostly aimed at corporate goings on, so just ignored that
used those water stand pipes and bought food in with me.
using the buses to get round the circuit at night
arnage corner
theres probably loads more I did but cant rember them all now
thats it , im still knackered, hopefully someone can get use of this for 2024 and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as me
Roger
Feels like my Goodwood Revival experiences. I attended the first one and became a GRRC member and had desperately wanted to visit LeMans - but I promised myself I'd only do it as a driver. Now (and for the last decade) that won't happen I regret not being there 2 decades ago when it seemed a lovely event.
I'll still go though one day.
I'll still go though one day.
Chrisgr31 said:
When were the queues over the Dunlop bridge? I went over it several times on Saturday and Sunday never with any queues.
Same. I spent saturday and sunday afternoon around dunlop and the pit straight and never had a problem. It was busy but flowing. I don't know why they have three barriers though, it means that with bags/camping chairs you just can't fit 2 people side by side though each section. It just needs one barrier down the middle.I do think it coped well considering how busy it was though. Or maybe it's good natured motorsport fans, I did expect a more carnage with the heat, lots of beer, lots of people crammed in after living in not the most luxurious of conditions, but I didn't see any trouble whatsoever. Maybe i've been in too many dodgy pubs in my lifetime.
My only annoyance was the shuttle busses. We were in BSJ and to get to a track entry near the pit exit/tetre rouge we had to walk to the camp entrance, wait 10 mins for the 7 bus that only takes us half way, cross the road and wait another 10 mins for the number 6 bus. I don't get why they don't just have one route that runs the entire way from Tetre rouge ish area to Porsche curves and stick 3/4 busses on it.
I have no desire to visit again, I had a fairly sobering experience at the Classic a few years ago, great event but the communication was laughably French to the point where even translating it did not work too well, I mean cmon this is one of the biggest Brit days out anywhere and if the Nurburgring can do it why cant the ACO and LE Mans, a heck of a lot of the ticketing and passes were very confusing meaning I bought stuff I either did not need or did not use.
The place itself is nothing special.
The weather was insanely hot meaning it was hard to enjoy any aspect of viewing really.
So been there, done that, have zero wishes to go again as a normal punter. To enjoy it you need somewhere nice to stay away from the track, VIP or someone else driving, decent access and somewhere cool and decent to watch. That would probably cost quite a lot of money so can happily watch from home thanks.
In their defence I think they did not expect the immense numbers, and struggled to cope as a result.
The place itself is nothing special.
The weather was insanely hot meaning it was hard to enjoy any aspect of viewing really.
So been there, done that, have zero wishes to go again as a normal punter. To enjoy it you need somewhere nice to stay away from the track, VIP or someone else driving, decent access and somewhere cool and decent to watch. That would probably cost quite a lot of money so can happily watch from home thanks.
In their defence I think they did not expect the immense numbers, and struggled to cope as a result.
boogity said:
heres my trip which I did myself as the others are now too old, got my early bird weekly ticket in november.
belfast, dublin, nantes air b and b thurs, tram to circuit for 15.00, . did the stalls etc, tram back after practice
friday, drivers parade, but went to the start where things were being set up.. good choice as I got a quick getaway.. walked up to circuit out of choice, via a couple of tabacs mcdonalds and carrefour, stocked up ( needed to find pannini tour de france sticker book, which I did)
watched activities from opposite pits... class, then back on tram, pretty staight forward.
sat, got lift from lady in air band b, whose daughter was on toyota stand, she got parked 5 mins walk from main gate at 9am,,.. so thats local knowledge for ye.
watched ferrari race, poor, porsches and oldies from main straight, place was heaving , made my way over to inside of the exit of pit lane under the screen, watched first few hours there till bum got sore from sitting, started to get hacked off with the amount of people so headed up to inside of tertre rouge till nighfall, it was class, and a little less busy
after a soaking decided to moveand bus it mulsanne, then indy/arnage, second no 5 bus was a bendy bus and everyone got on, hadnt been to mulsanne in the dark before so that was beezer, moved to arnage on bus 4 which was easy enough, never been to arnage during the race before and that recharged my spirits , got in at the fence and it was just brilliant. Finally went up to indianapolis for a while, then back on bus to porsche curves, got the sleeping bag out and had wee kip from 4.30 to 6.30, stayed to 7.30 , chucked the bag and headed up to the karting area for old times sake, had some breaky as there were no queues....then went on the wheel which i hadnt been on before, which was good , watched a bit of the race, then headed to the museum ...had a plan on this... out the main gate, in the main entrance of the museum , straight in, 5 seconds, after my visit it was out the back steps and back on the ciicuit, must of been 300 in the queue to get in that way.... ( devised me cunning plan on the saturday from observation, well chuffed with that move)
after all this I was b...d and laid down on the fan zone on outside of main straight and watched race on screen
with hour and half to go pushed my way down to last bend and got in at fence facing screen for remander of race, that was very hot and had no water left, on way down noticed people waiting at the gate to get on to circuit, bearing in mind the size of the wall they saw nothing for last hour and a half , didnt understand that.
at end of race legged it to gate, but on the opposite side where the original queue had formed , once it finally opened walked across , , no energy left to run, but still managed to get front row position and full view of 51 under the gantry, finally made my way up pit staight , dandered up to dunlop bridge and back to the tram and back to the air b an b via nice wee pizza place opposite the station.. very happy but totally knackered. Still had a days travel before I got back to the FATLAD, Norn Iron , Belfast
Couple of points,
downside...
radio le mans , worked in air band b in town, didnt at circuit... just had to suck that one up
by myself, no one to talk to, but on the plus side I did what I wanted when I wanted ( eg there in 2012 , must of spent an hour in that fecking museum shop, but bearing in mind we didnt drive back til mid morn on monday and then went back to said shop ,,... there was no one there. which they had been told was going to be the case.)
never stroked nought, too tired for that, a couple of frenchies were having none of it when opportunity arose
bit busy, but with a bit of forward planning was able to manage
dunlop bridge sauna,
not sure if I could actually do all this again this way
upside
I had a cracker time and the result was right
the nascar
weather
having read many other reports I didnt see anything negative or bad, I just got on with it and it worked for me
found the officals to be all very good, maybe that because i was by myself and addressed them in french, trams were good because I left at decent times as I knew I had to pace the weekend or i,d be in diffs
a few places you wernt welcome, that started to annoy me a bit come sunday morning, that mostly aimed at corporate goings on, so just ignored that
used those water stand pipes and bought food in with me.
using the buses to get round the circuit at night
arnage corner
theres probably loads more I did but cant rember them all now
thats it , im still knackered, hopefully someone can get use of this for 2024 and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as me
Roger
Really good write-upbelfast, dublin, nantes air b and b thurs, tram to circuit for 15.00, . did the stalls etc, tram back after practice
friday, drivers parade, but went to the start where things were being set up.. good choice as I got a quick getaway.. walked up to circuit out of choice, via a couple of tabacs mcdonalds and carrefour, stocked up ( needed to find pannini tour de france sticker book, which I did)
watched activities from opposite pits... class, then back on tram, pretty staight forward.
sat, got lift from lady in air band b, whose daughter was on toyota stand, she got parked 5 mins walk from main gate at 9am,,.. so thats local knowledge for ye.
watched ferrari race, poor, porsches and oldies from main straight, place was heaving , made my way over to inside of the exit of pit lane under the screen, watched first few hours there till bum got sore from sitting, started to get hacked off with the amount of people so headed up to inside of tertre rouge till nighfall, it was class, and a little less busy
after a soaking decided to moveand bus it mulsanne, then indy/arnage, second no 5 bus was a bendy bus and everyone got on, hadnt been to mulsanne in the dark before so that was beezer, moved to arnage on bus 4 which was easy enough, never been to arnage during the race before and that recharged my spirits , got in at the fence and it was just brilliant. Finally went up to indianapolis for a while, then back on bus to porsche curves, got the sleeping bag out and had wee kip from 4.30 to 6.30, stayed to 7.30 , chucked the bag and headed up to the karting area for old times sake, had some breaky as there were no queues....then went on the wheel which i hadnt been on before, which was good , watched a bit of the race, then headed to the museum ...had a plan on this... out the main gate, in the main entrance of the museum , straight in, 5 seconds, after my visit it was out the back steps and back on the ciicuit, must of been 300 in the queue to get in that way.... ( devised me cunning plan on the saturday from observation, well chuffed with that move)
after all this I was b...d and laid down on the fan zone on outside of main straight and watched race on screen
with hour and half to go pushed my way down to last bend and got in at fence facing screen for remander of race, that was very hot and had no water left, on way down noticed people waiting at the gate to get on to circuit, bearing in mind the size of the wall they saw nothing for last hour and a half , didnt understand that.
at end of race legged it to gate, but on the opposite side where the original queue had formed , once it finally opened walked across , , no energy left to run, but still managed to get front row position and full view of 51 under the gantry, finally made my way up pit staight , dandered up to dunlop bridge and back to the tram and back to the air b an b via nice wee pizza place opposite the station.. very happy but totally knackered. Still had a days travel before I got back to the FATLAD, Norn Iron , Belfast
Couple of points,
downside...
radio le mans , worked in air band b in town, didnt at circuit... just had to suck that one up
by myself, no one to talk to, but on the plus side I did what I wanted when I wanted ( eg there in 2012 , must of spent an hour in that fecking museum shop, but bearing in mind we didnt drive back til mid morn on monday and then went back to said shop ,,... there was no one there. which they had been told was going to be the case.)
never stroked nought, too tired for that, a couple of frenchies were having none of it when opportunity arose
bit busy, but with a bit of forward planning was able to manage
dunlop bridge sauna,
not sure if I could actually do all this again this way
upside
I had a cracker time and the result was right
the nascar
weather
having read many other reports I didnt see anything negative or bad, I just got on with it and it worked for me
found the officals to be all very good, maybe that because i was by myself and addressed them in french, trams were good because I left at decent times as I knew I had to pace the weekend or i,d be in diffs
a few places you wernt welcome, that started to annoy me a bit come sunday morning, that mostly aimed at corporate goings on, so just ignored that
used those water stand pipes and bought food in with me.
using the buses to get round the circuit at night
arnage corner
theres probably loads more I did but cant rember them all now
thats it , im still knackered, hopefully someone can get use of this for 2024 and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as me
Roger
We had a great time too, first time I’d been back since 2008 when I did the main 24hr and the Classic within the space of a few weeks.
First time I haven’t stayed at the circuit itself, we found an AirBnB around 30 minutes from the city and used the tram to get to and from the circuit, worked really well.
Only things I would change are to take a good FM radio, 3G/4G did not work reliably at the circuit and we really missed the RLM commentary.
Also we didn’t properly sort out the bus arrangements to/from Arnage.
Already making plans to go again next year.
I had a really good time, first time back since 2017. A lot of facilities seem to have improved since that time.
Only problem we had were crossing the Porsche bridge during the down pour about an hour into the race. The amount of idiots who just came to a stop in the middle of the walkway was mind boggling. I know some people want to shelter from the downpour but at least move to the side if you do that!
Only problem we had were crossing the Porsche bridge during the down pour about an hour into the race. The amount of idiots who just came to a stop in the middle of the walkway was mind boggling. I know some people want to shelter from the downpour but at least move to the side if you do that!
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