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I'll be in T17 (Durand) again. I sat in this stand in 2011/12/13/14/15/16/18 and 22.
I choose it primarily for convenience, more so in previous years as we always parked in parking blanc which is pretty close. Sadly we won't be so close this year. The convenience includes clean loos and the members cafe. For most of the years I've sat in it I've been in the front row (normally opposite what was always the Audi pits). But it's really poor for photography from there because of the debris fencing and last year the stewarding was very bad (non-existent in fact) so freeloaders who were let in and people who selfishly refused to sit down ruined the view, particularly at the start, so this year I managed to snag seats for us right up the top, after spending a long time researching seat numbers etc.
Over the years I've been in:-
Dunlop - 1990 and 2007 (extra second grandstand seat!)
Raccordement (formerly Maison Blanche) - 1992 and 2017
ACO (T18) - 1993
Lagache - 2002 and 2008
Pits (T34) - 2003/04/05/06/07/08/09/10 and 2019
Tertre Rouge - 2006 (extra second grandstand seat!)
T17 remains (just) my favourite, simply because of what it offers beyond somewhere to sit and watch. I still have a very soft spot for T34 because it offers such great opportunities for photography that you just don't get anywhere else, particuarly during the night. I would be up there many years from about 2 am to 4 am with maybe no more than 20-30 people for company. But it's quite a decent walk to get to and from and the stairs up into the stand are a killer when you've run out of legs!
Of those I've tried, Raccordement is my least favourite. You need a seat high up to be able to take decent photos and they badly need to replace the seats. They're smaller than most of the others and have no backs and are quite uncomfortable after an hour or two. It is also quite a 'cramped' stand, IMO. But it's great for photography later during the night when most of the occupants have departed and you can move around freely and the view down the straight is fantastic.
Last edited by Aysedasi; 10 May 2023 at 06:30.
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