Paddock / Gridwalk ticket

[LM240]

Had anyone done this in recent times?

Good experience / worthwhile?

Keep thinking about doing it as a treat and adding something a little bit different to the experience.

[Strasse]

This might give you some idea of what's going on.. Well worth it if you can afford it. Combine it with lunch in one of the Paddock restaurants.

https://www.le-mans-guide.co.uk/grid-walk

If you do go for it let me know and I'll give you a few hints as to how you beat the queues and maximise the experience

Regards


Strasse
[e-mail]

[HardtopManual]

You might not need a grid walk ticket. Me and a couple of mates walked straight into the grid in 23 armed with nothing more than a camping chair.

It was great and I'd have happily paid for it.

[pauljoecoe]

It seems that ticket gives a little more than just the pre race grid walk. Access on 8th June, !0th to the 15th June.

'PADDOCK GRIDWALK
(8 and from 10 (2pm) to 15 June)'

845 Euros

[LM240]

Strasse said:

This might give you some idea of what's going on.. Well worth it if you can afford it. Combine it with lunch in one of the Paddock restaurants.

https://www.le-mans-guide.co.uk/grid-walk

If you do go for it let me know and I'll give you a few hints as to how you beat the queues and maximise the experience

Regards


Strasse
[e-mail]

Thanks. I had looked on the site earlier and seen that page.

I presume with paddock pass allowed use of the private tunnel? That would be a good bonus.

Paddock restaurants… tell me more. How would you go about looking these up?

[LM240]

HardtopManual said:

You might not need a grid walk ticket. Me and a couple of mates walked straight into the grid in 23 armed with nothing more than a camping chair.

It was great and I'd have happily paid for it.

On one hand I salute the blagging. One video I saw seemed to just have a crowd of people being waved through a gate having to hold up their arm with the access bracelet on show. With the numbers involved it seemed easy to blend in and walk through.

On the other hand though, it would also annoy me having paid to see others blagging it. I have to admit, if I found a sneaky way into paddock etc, I’d take advantage.

[LM240]

pauljoecoe said:

It seems that ticket gives a little more than just the pre race grid walk. Access on 8th June, !0th to the 15th June.

'PADDOCK GRIDWALK
(8 and from 10 (2pm) to 15 June)'

845 Euros

Yeah. Circuit tickets and Paddock access during the race week are part of the package.

Just checked again… now sold out anyway.

[Strasse]

We had lunch in the American Dinner in the Paddock and there was one other food outlet open to the public, but as you can see from the date on the ticket that is out of date info.......and remember the march of the Corporate Hostility warriors over the last two years. Still it was a great treat.

[Strasse]

We had lunch in the American Dinner in the Paddock and there was one other food outlet open to the public, but as you can see from the date on the ticket that is out of date info.......and remember the march of the Corporate Hostility warriors over the last two years. Still it was a great treat.

[sahajesh]

Curious what paddock access gets you, given it's all hospitality - my recollection of seeing it from above by the staircase, you get a shortcut to the other end of T34 and a small chance of seeing drivers while they are walking between pit lane and hospitality areas.

[FredericRobinson]

sahajesh said:

Curious what paddock access gets you, given it's all hospitality - my recollection of seeing it from above by the staircase, you get a shortcut to the other end of T34 and a small chance of seeing drivers while they are walking between pit lane and hospitality areas.

It gives you a close up view of some big trucks and hospitality units, pit walk tickets I can understand, but paying extra for paddock access is beyond me

[sahajesh]

FredericRobinson said:

sahajesh said:

Curious what paddock access gets you, given it's all hospitality - my recollection of seeing it from above by the staircase, you get a shortcut to the other end of T34 and a small chance of seeing drivers while they are walking between pit lane and hospitality areas.

It gives you a close up view of some big trucks and hospitality units, pit walk tickets I can understand, but paying extra for paddock access is beyond me

My thoughts exactly - paddock gives nothing but likely a warm fuzzy feeling about “access”.

[LM240]

sahajesh said:

FredericRobinson said:

sahajesh said:

Curious what paddock access gets you, given it's all hospitality - my recollection of seeing it from above by the staircase, you get a shortcut to the other end of T34 and a small chance of seeing drivers while they are walking between pit lane and hospitality areas.

It gives you a close up view of some big trucks and hospitality units, pit walk tickets I can understand, but paying extra for paddock access is beyond me

My thoughts exactly - paddock gives nothing but likely a warm fuzzy feeling about “access”.

In a way yes, but personally it would be about getting a different perspective / experience.

Gridwalk… always just looked inwards and being on the grid before the start of the 24hrs would feel special to me.

Paddock… done a couple of the ACO tours where you walk through the paddock briefly. Would have liked to have time to look and soak it in more. It doesn’t give you much, but you are in the heart of the race and just allows you to take in another perspective again. Perhaps there is more chance to bump into drivers or other Le mans personalities for a quick hello or autograph / photo.

It’s likely one off, done it experience but unless you do it, you don’t know what you get out of it. Only in last couple of years went to a different viewing spot off Mulsanne. Just doing something new and getting a different angle was so nice, and in a geek kind of way ‘exciting’.

Left it too late now it seems. Didn’t really think about it until after the initial ticket rush. 20th Le Mans next year, hence thinking about a treat / something different.

[sahajesh]

Seems like it’s a bucket-list thing, so I may consider it in the future when it’s just me going for the race, as I’m the only one who’d be interested.

[FredericRobinson]

I’ve never not been able to walk into the paddock on the Friday if you want to have a look for free

[Red Firecracker]

They also do tours of the Media Centre. I'd avoid that one, if I were you!

[sahajesh]

Red Firecracker said:

They also do tours of the Media Centre. I'd avoid that one, if I were you!

Why's that?

I guess it's a bunch of journalists and bloggers typing furiously and uploading photos?

If only there was a tour of Race Control - now that's worth it!

[Red Firecracker]

I have absolutely no idea, they also do it at Spa.

Does tend to feel rather like feeding time at the zoo, which actually would make it better if they gave the tourists snacks to throw