The beauty of the 24hrs du Mans...
Discussion
... is surely that everyone enjoys it in such very different ways.
Reading through some of the posts on this board the general feeling seems to be that we all had a great time, but different people had different issues with chavish behaviour, campsites, gendarmes etc.
As far as my own weekend went, I didn't experience any of the above problems. It has never really appealed to me to see the whole spin the tyres up roadblock thang and so have never sought out the Friday night Arnarge experience. Other peoples' cars are one of the great things about Le Mans, but I would rather see them on the N138 as I come hooning past or parked up at the campsites or at St Saturnin where one can pore over them and speak to the owners. The behaviour described in some of these posts sounds appalling, although I personally saw none of this (though I did have to punch a German with a huge water gun in BSJ 2 years ago), but it seems a little pompous to brand this as chav/pikey/football hooliganish. It's the whole Jeffrey Clarkson/Topgear tyre smoke, spin, let's blow something up, smash, crash, destroy ethos that it would seem a lot of people now see as the way to enjoy cars and motoring, that leads people to want to see loud, spectacular, but meaningless burn-outs and when you add alcohol, the very best cars in the world, the excitement and atmosphere of the whole event and then loads more alcohol, you're bound to see some people go over the top. There again I am a miserable old b
d, so maybe it's just me.
A lot of people do seem to take their camping experience very seriously. Time was when one just rocked up on the day and bought a ticket for whatever campsite one fancied on the gate. I was quite happy in the Team Langoustine Hunaudieres site although I'm glad I only paid £25 on ebay for the ticket. I'm sure for some the chilled pression was welcome (I don't drink) and the warm showers (I don't wash much either), but when we arrived Friday lunchtime it was jammed and we had to camp on a postage stamp sized plot behind the back of everyone else in the world's tents. It would appear that with people turning up in ever larger groups, booking over a year in advance and being prepared to pay way over the odds for organised sites, the days of casual camping are long gone; people who wish to prebook great swathes of French soil only have themselves to blame if they can't camp where they want. Having said this friends of ours just turned up at the visitor centre at Expo and bought camping tickets for Tertre Rouge on the Thursday.
The stories of people getting turned over by les Flics seemed pretty bad, but to my great disappointment we saw nobody going fast enough to get done anyway. I got flashed twice on the way down to Rouen, once by an unmarked old Renault in a layby, once by a static camera in Rouen before the tunnel which I really should have seen. The new autoroute is a great improvement in that it leaves the old road almost completely clear of trucks and slow traffic, making the old N138 an even greater pleasure to drive. Ironically it now seems that all the cool cars now also use the M/way thus missing out on the chance to press on seriously along the low roads. We passed a couple of 7s, TVRs and Porsches, but nobody really wanted to play and, other than a few exotics charging down the peage from Calais, nobody overtook our little Honda; what a waste.
Anyway, rant over; can't wait for next year...
Reading through some of the posts on this board the general feeling seems to be that we all had a great time, but different people had different issues with chavish behaviour, campsites, gendarmes etc.
As far as my own weekend went, I didn't experience any of the above problems. It has never really appealed to me to see the whole spin the tyres up roadblock thang and so have never sought out the Friday night Arnarge experience. Other peoples' cars are one of the great things about Le Mans, but I would rather see them on the N138 as I come hooning past or parked up at the campsites or at St Saturnin where one can pore over them and speak to the owners. The behaviour described in some of these posts sounds appalling, although I personally saw none of this (though I did have to punch a German with a huge water gun in BSJ 2 years ago), but it seems a little pompous to brand this as chav/pikey/football hooliganish. It's the whole Jeffrey Clarkson/Topgear tyre smoke, spin, let's blow something up, smash, crash, destroy ethos that it would seem a lot of people now see as the way to enjoy cars and motoring, that leads people to want to see loud, spectacular, but meaningless burn-outs and when you add alcohol, the very best cars in the world, the excitement and atmosphere of the whole event and then loads more alcohol, you're bound to see some people go over the top. There again I am a miserable old b
d, so maybe it's just me.A lot of people do seem to take their camping experience very seriously. Time was when one just rocked up on the day and bought a ticket for whatever campsite one fancied on the gate. I was quite happy in the Team Langoustine Hunaudieres site although I'm glad I only paid £25 on ebay for the ticket. I'm sure for some the chilled pression was welcome (I don't drink) and the warm showers (I don't wash much either), but when we arrived Friday lunchtime it was jammed and we had to camp on a postage stamp sized plot behind the back of everyone else in the world's tents. It would appear that with people turning up in ever larger groups, booking over a year in advance and being prepared to pay way over the odds for organised sites, the days of casual camping are long gone; people who wish to prebook great swathes of French soil only have themselves to blame if they can't camp where they want. Having said this friends of ours just turned up at the visitor centre at Expo and bought camping tickets for Tertre Rouge on the Thursday.
The stories of people getting turned over by les Flics seemed pretty bad, but to my great disappointment we saw nobody going fast enough to get done anyway. I got flashed twice on the way down to Rouen, once by an unmarked old Renault in a layby, once by a static camera in Rouen before the tunnel which I really should have seen. The new autoroute is a great improvement in that it leaves the old road almost completely clear of trucks and slow traffic, making the old N138 an even greater pleasure to drive. Ironically it now seems that all the cool cars now also use the M/way thus missing out on the chance to press on seriously along the low roads. We passed a couple of 7s, TVRs and Porsches, but nobody really wanted to play and, other than a few exotics charging down the peage from Calais, nobody overtook our little Honda; what a waste.
Anyway, rant over; can't wait for next year...
Not ranty enough, huh? Try this:
Mad Friday????? It's got a name now has it?
All the time that people are hoping to see burnout/drift action and others are willing to provide a show it's naturally gonna get bigger and bigger until it gets out of hand; that's just human nature (God, I hate humans).
I've never seen any of this in all the many many years that I've been going, although to see how dis-organised we always are and how we never get to camp where we want, frequently get lost in the same places, still never get to see the start or finish from anywhere good etc. you'd think that it was our first year not our 24th. From what I've read on here it now seems to be an established part of people's trip. If it's got a name and people are looking forward to seeing it and the flames are fanned by forums such as this it's obvious to see what's going to happen. If you don't want to see booze fueled weekend warriors letting off too much steam then don't build it up into an event of it's own. Don't give it the oxygen of publicity on the forum and just don't go to see it.
Whilst I'm in the mood, 2 more things:
1. Stickered up cars - what's that all about?
I love to see all the cool cars that you all bring to La Sarthe and apart from possibly inciting more of the buffoonery alluded to above, I guess it's all fairly harmless and some of it is very well done and very witty. I just wonder what it all costs, how long do you keep the car looking like that, if you remove them can they be re-used and does it damage the paintwork.
Not a criticism, just something I don't get (probably too old) and am curious about.
2. Driving standards?.
Apart from the dickwit in the Honda Civic Type R on the peage on Sunday evening who brake tested me after overtaking the erratically driven M3/Celica/Impreza/MGF/911 convoy I was following, I'm sure that you were all terrific drivers. It's just that nobody seemed to want a little chase action with my heavily loaded Honda CRX. Was it that we were in a 20 year old £125 rustbucket and would have presented no challenge?
Whilst one could never condone racing on public roads (oh yeah,that's what we all went to see last weekend) a little overtaking/pressing on action might have been nice. Maybe you all had too much time to get to your ferries and were trying to save on hugely expensive l'essence...
Mad Friday????? It's got a name now has it?
All the time that people are hoping to see burnout/drift action and others are willing to provide a show it's naturally gonna get bigger and bigger until it gets out of hand; that's just human nature (God, I hate humans).
I've never seen any of this in all the many many years that I've been going, although to see how dis-organised we always are and how we never get to camp where we want, frequently get lost in the same places, still never get to see the start or finish from anywhere good etc. you'd think that it was our first year not our 24th. From what I've read on here it now seems to be an established part of people's trip. If it's got a name and people are looking forward to seeing it and the flames are fanned by forums such as this it's obvious to see what's going to happen. If you don't want to see booze fueled weekend warriors letting off too much steam then don't build it up into an event of it's own. Don't give it the oxygen of publicity on the forum and just don't go to see it.
Whilst I'm in the mood, 2 more things:
1. Stickered up cars - what's that all about?
I love to see all the cool cars that you all bring to La Sarthe and apart from possibly inciting more of the buffoonery alluded to above, I guess it's all fairly harmless and some of it is very well done and very witty. I just wonder what it all costs, how long do you keep the car looking like that, if you remove them can they be re-used and does it damage the paintwork.
Not a criticism, just something I don't get (probably too old) and am curious about.
2. Driving standards?.
Apart from the dickwit in the Honda Civic Type R on the peage on Sunday evening who brake tested me after overtaking the erratically driven M3/Celica/Impreza/MGF/911 convoy I was following, I'm sure that you were all terrific drivers. It's just that nobody seemed to want a little chase action with my heavily loaded Honda CRX. Was it that we were in a 20 year old £125 rustbucket and would have presented no challenge?
Whilst one could never condone racing on public roads (oh yeah,that's what we all went to see last weekend) a little overtaking/pressing on action might have been nice. Maybe you all had too much time to get to your ferries and were trying to save on hugely expensive l'essence...
thanet speed sho said:
1. Stickered up cars - what's that all about?
I love to see all the cool cars that you all bring to La Sarthe and apart from possibly inciting more of the buffoonery alluded to above, I guess it's all fairly harmless and some of it is very well done and very witty. I just wonder what it all costs, how long do you keep the car looking like that, if you remove them can they be re-used and does it damage the paintwork.
Not a criticism, just something I don't get (probably too old) and am curious about.
My first LM this year and I reckon it's part of the fun - particularly if you're going in a group. My car looked like thisI love to see all the cool cars that you all bring to La Sarthe and apart from possibly inciting more of the buffoonery alluded to above, I guess it's all fairly harmless and some of it is very well done and very witty. I just wonder what it all costs, how long do you keep the car looking like that, if you remove them can they be re-used and does it damage the paintwork.
Not a criticism, just something I don't get (probably too old) and am curious about.
Racing stripes in Gulf colours - £6/metre
Door numbers
Racing name and flag
plus a couple of small 'White Rabbit's and the PH 'GB' sticker
and cost about £50 in total to sticker, I over-ordered on the stripes.
edit: the numbers will probably come off quite soon, but the stripes are staying on - I think they look great
Edited by Gizmo! on Tuesday 17th June 23:50
I think we have a new wit on the forum .. welcome
Oh stickers ... just a bit of fun and usually done by little groups ...
oh bollx, all right ... we all really really want to be racing drivers and Le Mans is the only time we can justify making our cars look a little bit (I said a little) like racing cars.
Mine will be coming off at the weekend as I am returning in three weeks for the Classic and I'd rather the car look classy than trashy
We did ours as a group and it cost just over £50. Yes, they come off dead easy with a hair dryer, easier with your fingers though.
Oh stickers ... just a bit of fun and usually done by little groups ...
oh bollx, all right ... we all really really want to be racing drivers and Le Mans is the only time we can justify making our cars look a little bit (I said a little) like racing cars.
Mine will be coming off at the weekend as I am returning in three weeks for the Classic and I'd rather the car look classy than trashy
We did ours as a group and it cost just over £50. Yes, they come off dead easy with a hair dryer, easier with your fingers though.
But no, seriously; fifty English pounds....?
That's nearly half my entire Le Mans budget.
God, I'm a pikey ain't I?
Still, all your cars looked super. It's just that my own discreet, but crudely fashioned and stuck on with double sided tape, FAT Racing sticker took a load of paint off my Volvo when I sold it.
Might have to look into matching team shirts for next year...
That's nearly half my entire Le Mans budget.
God, I'm a pikey ain't I?
Still, all your cars looked super. It's just that my own discreet, but crudely fashioned and stuck on with double sided tape, FAT Racing sticker took a load of paint off my Volvo when I sold it.
Might have to look into matching team shirts for next year...
thanet speed sho said:
...a little overtaking/pressing on action might have been nice. Maybe you all had too much time to get to your ferries and were trying to save on hugely expensive l'essence...
Maybe because you didn't have stickers, no-one thought you were up for it? I chased and passed a couple of faster groups in my 698cc Fisher-Price creation. The groups were then more than happy to rocket past me while waving for my passengers camera. To be fair, they probably didn't think they were "racing", given that at their cruising speed it felt like the end-of-the-world inside my car
Steve
millband said:
Maybe because you didn't have stickers, no-one thought you were up for it?
Good point well made...Maybe if I keep going for enough years I'll get it right one day.
I think really my point in starting this thread was to revel in the fact that we all take different things from our own individual trips and to maybe get an insight into what it is that other people see in the things that I don't see. My own priorities in no particular order probably are:
The racing.
The history and atmosphere of the world's greatest race.
The racing.
The drive there and back.
The racing.
Maybe a drop of decent French nosebag.
Oh, and did I mention the racing.
I still don't understand the whole sticker/team shirt/disco/burnout/waterpistol whackiness of some people's Le Mans, but that doesn't matter 'cos we're all enjoying it and, hopefully no-one's s
tting on anyone else's weekend.I always love it there and as a general rule for enjoying Le Mans, and for so much else in life, if in doubt just think; what would Vic do?
SEE YA said:
Running the Gauntlet, is not to everyones ones taste.Some people take kids with them. I worked very hard to get my dream car. Then some nice person thinks its fair game would they like it done to there pride and joy I think not!
SEE YA
I agree and often felt intimidated if I didn't oblige the baying crowd with a burnout. I didn't however, as I'm the one who has to pay for new tyres, a new clutch and the inconvenience of being trailered home if I overdo it. I guess my car is a sitting duck and regrettably I often expect a boot to connect with my bodywork if I do not oblige - it hasn't happened yet, but is probably only a matter of time. Spraying substances (I'm not convinced it's always water) inside someone's cars is also a no-no IMO.SEE YA
Having said that, Le Mans is a great weekend which a small minority will never spoil for me.
As Rag Top said
"Le Mans is a great weekend which a small minority will never spoil for me."
..and so say ALL our group who all plan to go next year, and invite more freinds !
Remember out of 200,000+ fans who attend the event , the 'shirtless nutters' with no car & racing interest at all ( as I witnessed on Friday night) are a small minority.
I 've many a good memory of the long weekend, including following (just!) a small convoy of an M3, Aston & Conti GT while riding in my mate's Focus ST.
I think we had 'USS Enterprise Scotty' in our Engine bay working overtime...power to maximum !
And the stickers are a good bit of fun for the trip !
In camp Houx, I think every TVR & other car make around our campsite had cool decals, so not a place to get 'snobby' about it!
And of course the Aston won !:-)
"Le Mans is a great weekend which a small minority will never spoil for me."
..and so say ALL our group who all plan to go next year, and invite more freinds !
Remember out of 200,000+ fans who attend the event , the 'shirtless nutters' with no car & racing interest at all ( as I witnessed on Friday night) are a small minority.
I 've many a good memory of the long weekend, including following (just!) a small convoy of an M3, Aston & Conti GT while riding in my mate's Focus ST.
I think we had 'USS Enterprise Scotty' in our Engine bay working overtime...power to maximum !
And the stickers are a good bit of fun for the trip !
In camp Houx, I think every TVR & other car make around our campsite had cool decals, so not a place to get 'snobby' about it!
And of course the Aston won !:-)
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