[LM24] Le Mans 2020 (19/20 September) - Who Is Going?

[whitemr2]

I hate cold, but november could work for me, I doubt however if it is safe enough with so much darkness.
If the frence minister of sports says today the tour de france still is not sure in september it is likely LM is indeed unlikely.

[JoeW04]

I’ll be there if and whenever the race happens this year, in recent years I’ve normally just gone over the Friday before and stayed within an hour of Le Mans Friday night before arriving just in time for warm up and then kipping (if at all) trackside on the Indianapolis bank, could be pretty chilly this year tho!

[isynge]

Originally Posted by JoeW04

I’ll be there if and whenever the race happens this year, in recent years I’ve normally just gone over the Friday before and stayed within an hour of Le Mans Friday night before arriving just in time for warm up and then kipping (if at all) trackside on the Indianapolis bank, could be pretty chilly this year tho!

As others have said, camping in November is just a question of having the right kit, but the question of sleeping on the tribunes, or as has been the case lately, on the inside of Tertre Rouge, is a profoundly different and probably unsustainable question.
If you're looking for a silver lining, a lot of camping stores have really good sales on at the moment which may make prepping for an autumn/winter race a little easier.

[Adam43]

As a one off it would be really interesting to have a November race.

[Gingers4Justice]

Might as well wait until January and do it in Dubai. Let Creventic have a go at organising it.

[batmobile]

I am not sure accomodations bookings on late octobre or november would be as full as in June........

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[Mike E]

November. Might have to get some Welsh rally marshals in for that.

[vincegail]

In the case that it will be held in November I will stay home and do my Chicken and Gueuze stew in the comfort of my own home, gazebo on the terrass for those who want to endure the outdoors, fridges stuffed with Jupiler, Orval and Westmalle, and Eurosport on the telly, Radio Le Mans on the stereo. And the thermostat at 20. And most important, the amount of liquid falling from the sky on my head zero.

[Aysedasi]

I'll be there, whenever it is....

But I gather there is also some talk of severely limiting the numbers attending. Having said that, having it in October or November would almost certainly do that anyway.....

"Option 1 is that we are allowed to organize our event with fans, perhaps with certain constraints such as masks, etc.", he explained."The second option is that we don't have more than 5,000 people, or something like that. So it's a good option for television, but not for fans who want to attend [the event]. And, of course, it's not a real Le Mans - it's not just about racing, it's an experience for all spectators. And option 3 is that it It is not possible at all to organize the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We hope that this will not be the case! But, for the moment, we cannot exclude it. "

[Truckosaurus]

I suspect us non-French fans will, quite rightly, be well down the list of people allowed to attend.

I'd be more than happy to watch from home if it meant there was more chance that the 2021 event occurred as 'normal'.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by GT6

Not really viable on open roads as people will try and watch it.

I don't think it would be too difficult to lock it down to be honest. It's hardly the Nordschleife and it's not like they wouldn't still put security on the Mulsanne etc

I'm sure there would still be opportunities for locals to watch around the circuit within reason.

[GT6]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I don't think it would be too difficult to lock it down to be honest. It's hardly the Nordschleife and it's not like they wouldn't still put security on the Mulsanne etc

I'm sure there would still be opportunities for locals to watch around the circuit within reason.

That is the problem, how do they stop people gathering to see it on the non enclosed parts of the full circuit, impossible to police.

[CTD]

Originally Posted by GT6

That is the problem, how do they stop people gathering to see it on the non enclosed parts of the full circuit, impossible to police.

They police it quite well normally? (ei under normal Le Mans 24hours race conditions).

If the event is announced to be a closed event, the majority of fans are not going to come there.
If the campsites are closed, the few who are going anyway will have to find accommodation with the locals (assuming that hotels are closed together with the rest of the tourism industry)
Add the normal amount of police/security guards + track surveillance and you are pretty sure that no larger crowds will gather.
If they do, they got legal basis for dispersing the crowd.
If one or two people stand and watch here and there, well it will not be a health risk any longer - just the normal security risk in case of an accident.

Honestly from a practical view point ACO have all the facilities to close the 24hours of Le Mans from local viewing.
The big question is whether it is financially viable to host the 24hours of Le Mans without a local spectator crowd and whether it would financially be better to cancel this years edition (may gods forbid)

[Adam43]

Unlike F1 the TV income must be minimal. They have entrant money. And spectator money. Is it worth doing with just one? I don’t know. Are ACO’s accounts published.

[GT6]

Well as the ACO are really worried about the loss of income not just for them but the local area, if there is no benefit to the local economy and the costs of staging are huge there is no point putting the event on.

[batmobile]

Originally Posted by CTD

They police it quite well normally? (ei under normal Le Mans 24hours race conditions).

If the event is announced to be a closed event, the majority of fans are not going to come there.
If the campsites are closed, the few who are going anyway will have to find accommodation with the locals (assuming that hotels are closed together with the rest of the tourism industry)
Add the normal amount of police/security guards + track surveillance and you are pretty sure that no larger crowds will gather.
If they do, they got legal basis for dispersing the crowd.
If one or two people stand and watch here and there, well it will not be a health risk any longer - just the normal security risk in case of an accident.

Honestly from a practical view point ACO have all the facilities to close the 24hours of Le Mans from local viewing.
The big question is whether it is financially viable to host the 24hours of Le Mans without a local spectator crowd and whether it would financially be better to cancel this years edition (may gods forbid)

You are right Simon ! If the 24 h are cancelled or postponed to autumn we'll have very big losses for the local economy. And I am sure that the tv fundings are so cheap that the ACO can't affirm like Ecclestone did for the formula one that he could organize F1 grandprix without spectators. Impossible for the 24h. Especially now we are at a very important curve for the endurance championship and we can notice some loss of interest no?

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[Simmi]

A small piece here quoting Pierre Fillon saying they've only received a 'couple of hundred' requests for ticket refunds.

https://www.motorsport-total.com/24-...ket-erstattung

Make of that what you will. I assume most ticket agents have held on to their allocations in hope of re-selling them.

I guess you'd be ill-advised to buy a ticket currently if you didn't already have one. But if it does get cancelled they may well roll it into the 2021 event. Not sure.

[Peter Mallett]

I bought mine last year and have agreed to revise the dates to September. That said I don't.know what will happen if I'm not allowed to travel due to UK, not French, restrictions.

[whitemr2]

Originally Posted by Simmi

A small piece here quoting Pierre Fillon saying they've only received a 'couple of hundred' requests for ticket refunds.

We have until the 31th of May to ask for a refund, by than we probably know if it will start in september. I don't want to give my tickets back to ACO just now because I'll loose my grandstand ticket, I do however need to give one back because my friend can't make it. Pffffff I'm not even sure I get the days of from work.

[Aysedasi]

That would have been a serious problem for me if I hadn't retired last year. Getting time off in June was always easy, because people always knew I had first choice of the dates I needed (it had been that way for many years) but leave for September would have been fully taken up months ago.

[Badlands99]

One of the potential issues will be if the government introduce the suggest two week isolation period for anyone returning to the UK - no way would I be able to take three weeks off!

[GT6]

Well like you Andrew i have checked my diary and nothing in it at the moment, i fact literally nothing in it. The advantage of being retired. Still hoping there will be some motor racing this year but suspect it will be next year to be honest.

[Aysedasi]

You may well be right Simon.

[whitemr2]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

You may well be right Simon.

I think so too. although F1 says they will start in Austria, but I don't see that happening for LM, racing without spectators.

[GT6]

Originally Posted by whitemr2

I think so too. although F1 says they will start in Austria, but I don't see that happening for LM, racing without spectators.

I can't see it happening for F! either, any race will still need thousands of people to be safe, and how will they get enough marshalls for the event, most travel from all over europe to work at races and most will not be able to travel.