It just goes to show you need to know what you're doing when you go to Le Mans, particularly as a first-timer (which is why several sites (including mine) offer advice to first-timers).
A few points then (from someone who finds it hard to believe a post like wyzard's - but accepts that we're all entitled to our own opinions......):-
1. Ticket prices. You think £40 is a lot for, at the least, 24 hours of racing? And at the most, a whole week of practicing, entertainm,ent and racing. Obviously you don't go to GPs either.... you'd have a heart attack at what you get for much, much more......
I've always regarded the ticket prices at Le Mans as extremely reasonable. They've gone up relatively little in the 19 years I've been going to Le Mans and are worth every penny, IMO. As it happens, as an ACO member, I paid 44 euros.
2. Where the ticket gets you? Well, if all you do is hang around the garages and the tribunes...... As has already been said, you can get as far down as Tertre Rouge at one end and as far along as the spectator area at the Porsche Curves at the other. Plus entrance to the spectator areas at Arnage and Indianapolis, and again at Mulsanne Corner. There are buses to take you there if you don't have transport at the circuit.
3. Grandstands. You seriously expect to get general entrance
and a grandstand seat for £40? As it happens, I paid nothing (thank you Fab
), but I still think that another £40 on top for the view I had from 34 was well worth it. I take your point about the empty stands though. When I was in the pits grandstand at about 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, I doubt there were more than 20 others in there with me. There are a lot of "pretty people" who use that stand - its always the last to fill up before the start.
4. The Mulsanne. No, you can't officially get much in the way of access to the Mulsanne. But this is Le Mans - we're not talking about a normal circuit. The Mulsanne is a public road for the rest of the year and policing it is a real problem for les gendarmes. This year, the security managed to keep even me away from most of it (note the most......
).
5. Organisation. OK, in some respects its not the best, but I had no trouble at all getting from place to place. You can't exactly sprint, but who wants to in weather like that....
6. Toilets. They've always been dreadful, but there are good ones. The ones in the stands are OK, the ones outside the circuit at the entrance to garage rouge are fine. Of course, if you stay inside the circuit for the whole race, you're gonna struggle. I never understand why people do it......
7. Watching the race. With you all the way there. I go to Le Mans to watch the race, but there are plenty of people for whom the only thought is where the next beer is coming from. I saw examples of total excess (particularly at the shampoo bar about 7 pm on Saturday) and it never fails to amaze me how people can contiunue to throw back the beer at 6 o'clock in the morning. Still, that's up to them. It doesn't affect me - I know what I want to do and where I want to be to do it.
The thing that disappoints me most is that wyzard came away with such a poor impression of Le Mans from his first visit. That, I think, is very unusual indeed. But it just goes to show that, these days, you do need to do some homework before you go for the first time. If all you do is wander around the tribunes for 24+ hours, you're missing a great deal. A very great deal. Just give it another chance.