[LM24] Will this be your first ever visit to Le Mans?

[cptkablamo]

I'm looking at 2010, possibly as the start of some kind of round the adventure!
And then swinging back past again on the way back home (whenever that maybe)

[Mal]

Its 25 years this year since I first went and in that time I have been 19 times. (inc every year since '96). There were just two of us the first year, but this year I am taking a group of 27 people - so it has grown a tad for me.

It has changed a lot over the years and I remember coming back from a very dirty campsite after 4 days without a shower and having had to change the clutch in my car in the campsite thinking I would never go back. But within a few weeks of returning home the bug had got me and I had booked for the following year.

[Happy Snapper]

Get to go three times this year Moto, Car, then Classic go twice each year Moto and car but this is a bonus year classic also! We are cutting back on 24's this year only 3 but the Mrs a few years back did 4 over 4 weekends with a short brake between Le Mans then 2 CV out to the classic then Spa!

[The Badger]

The Moto is supposed to have a mad bunch of loons there . Are they that madder than the real event ?

Is it true that you cant buy booze for 20 kliks radius around the circuit ?

I remember someone telling me that a few years back , cant see how they can monitor that if its true . If I was a local , I would be mighty ****ed off !!!

[GT6]

My first was 1985, on a coach with Page & Moy, down friday night back sunday night, did not really get any sleep as the coach was cold, uncomfortable and noisy, got sun burn waiting on the terraces infrount of the grandstands saturday morning, had not got a clue what was happening most of the time. Food was whatever we could buy of the stands, drink the same.

But must have caught something as only missed two races since, however prefer to take the car and camp now. First timers beware, once you are bitten by the Lemans bug you never recover.

[GTfour]

It's really great to read all your stories here!

Mal having to change his clutch on the campsite ,guys like porsche45 coming all the way from the states...

This year my girl's father is actually coming over from Argentina to visit LM with us!

Aah yes,the good ol'days...back in '96 we walked around there,knowing nothing,we camped at parking rouge, and bought grandstandtickets at the stand!

We arrived fridaynight after midnight to find the place allive with partying people,got a beer shoved in my hand from some austrian guy,when in the distance suddenly the wail of a racecar emerged!
Turned out that one of the McLaren F1GTR's was doing some last minute testing on the airfield strip! The thing did about 10 minutes of blasting up and down,to the great joy of all the fans ofcourse...

Magicall

[brielga]

Originally Posted by GTfour

It's really great to read all your stories here!

Mal having to change his clutch on the campsite ,guys like porsche45 coming all the way from the states...

This year my girl's father is actually coming over from Argentina to visit LM with us!

Aah yes,the good ol'days...back in '96 we walked around there,knowing nothing,we camped at parking rouge, and bought grandstandtickets at the stand!

We arrived fridaynight after midnight to find the place allive with partying people,got a beer shoved in my hand from some austrian guy,when in the distance suddenly the wail of a racecar emerged!
Turned out that one of the McLaren F1GTR's was doing some last minute testing on the airfield strip! The thing did about 10 minutes of blasting up and down,to the great joy of all the fans ofcourse...

Magicall

Wonderful! I brought my dad from Uruguay to LM in 2005 to pay back him bringing me to see the film in 1971. If you have an Argentinian girlfriend I hope you speak better Spanish than your Prince .... de groeten!

[olly83]

This year will be my sixth visit. First time was in 2003. I plan to go every year for as long as I am physically able to. I got hooked on Sportscars when the ALMS visited Silverstone in 2000 and as soon as I was earning, I was on my way to Le Mans. For the last 2 years I have been at Uni with barely enough money from my loan to live by but I've always found enough for my annual pilgrimage!!

Anyone trying to decide whether to go or not, YOU JUST HAVE TO!! I've even managed to convince my mate (who is always mocking my love of motorsport) to go this year. As he sees it, Le Mans has to be experienced at least once.

[The Real DMN]

Originally Posted by GT6

But must have caught something as only missed two races since, however prefer to take the car and camp now. First timers beware, once you are bitten by the Lemans bug you never recover.

I was first dragged along by my Dad as a rather un-impressed teenager.

This will be my 7th, and its now me that drags my Dad around.

[GTfour]

Originally Posted by brielga

Wonderful! I brought my dad from Uruguay to LM in 2005 to pay back him bringing me to see the film in 1971. If you have an Argentinian girlfriend I hope you speak better Spanish than your Prince .... de groeten!

Hahaha,no he's dutch(married an Argentinian and never returned to Holland)but I'm working on my spanish now and I'll garantee it'll be better than our prince's!

[Happy Snapper]

Originally Posted by The Badger

The Moto is supposed to have a mad bunch of loons there . Are they that madder than the real event ?

Is it true that you cant buy booze for 20 kliks radius around the circuit ?

I remember someone telling me that a few years back , cant see how they can monitor that if its true . If I was a local , I would be mighty ****ed off !!!

Yep that's about right!

Over recent years there has been an assorted number of race "unrelated" RTC's one a few years back that looked like a bomb had gone off bit's of bike and people for hundreds of metres!

The whole area is turned into a big "oneway" system so you end up travelling miles just to get to the front gate!

Lots and I do mean lots of police and the nice CRS. One simple rule don't attempt to leave the circuit once your there and leave well after the finish, to have burning logs and tires thrown at you is fairly common!

The organisers always provide thousand of pallets for the campers to burn but by midnight race day they look for more interesting stuff for the fires. Its a great weekend just different form LM car race some could say a little "livelier"
and you have the constant sound of bikes on the rev limiter as dozens appear to bring bikes just to do burn outs and blow the engines up. Its good racing the riders and crews are great fun, its often wet and very cold at night.

some images form 06 http://www.gtphotosport.com/lm24moto/index1.html

[thebear]

Originally Posted by Happy Snapper

Yep that's about right! The organisers always provide thousand of pallets for the campers to burn but by midnight race day they look for more interesting stuff for the fires. Its a great weekend just different form LM car race some could say a little "livelier"

Sounds like "Green Park" at Sebring during the 12hrs.

I marshaled L-M in '99, '00, '01 & '02 at which point my Francophobe wife decided no more US money to France.

[racerkeke]

I don't think the rumour about not being able to buy alcohol within 20k is right. Heck, I haven't even worked my way through a quarter of the total beverage aisles of Carrefour in four years. Or is this just for the Moto version?

A tip for the newbie: pastis makes an interesting mouthwash.

keke

[GT6]

Originally Posted by racerkeke

I don't think the rumour about not being able to buy alcohol within 20k is right. Heck, I haven't even worked my way through a quarter of the total beverage aisles of Carrefour in four years. Or is this just for the Moto version?

A tip for the newbie: pastis makes an interesting mouthwash.

keke

The alcoban just relates to the Bike 24 hour race, the usual 24 hour race has no such ban, I have been told that during the weekend that the bikes race there are always a number of bikers who use the roads of the full 24 hour circuit to kill themselves and quit often others. However I am sure that a ban on alcohol only means that they must find other ways to amuse themselves.

Alcohol and bikes don't mix, you tend to fall of after only a few yards, so perhaps then ban is not good for safety.

[dj choc ice]

last years race was my first and it was absolutely amazing, the atmosphere although the silenced cars did take some of the atmosphere away but im sure one of the pescarolo's silencers came off in the night because it was ridiculously loud compared to all the other cars.

my fond memory was me and my mate not being able to get a rental car, particularly when the crummy 4 year old renault megane broke after about 10 metres , this forced us to either walk, taxi or bike everything, oh well we came back from lemans fitter than we went there

my favorite lemans memory was stumbling through the forest to get to the mulsanne straight when i was incredibly drunk, i got so many cuts and bruises from that and falling asleep in a ditch behind the barrier before the porsche curves, i was woken up by some bloke's dog, then came the rain and i got soaked as did the other 200,000 or so people.

if you havent been to LM go there, if you havent been to the petit lemans go there before you die, imo petit was a slight bit better than LM in some ways but lemans was a lot better in other ways than petit, dawn for example is unbelieveable, hearing a judd engined lola and pescarolo wailing towards you at 200mph and flashing past is something insipring.

this year though might not happen for me, A2 exams will probably stop me from going, but ill go to spa 1000km instead, and if i go this year, watch out for a peugeot 106 which im going to plaster in creation autosportif stickers or maybe pescarolo stickers

[GTfour]

Originally Posted by racerkeke

A tip for the newbie: pastis makes an interesting mouthwash.

keke

It sure as heck'll kill all the evil germs in there!

[GTfour]

@dj choc ice,

We'll be going to the Spa 1000km as well,maybe we can hook up and enjoy the action together if you like? Will it be your first trip to Spa?

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by GTfour

@dj choc ice,

We'll be going to the Spa 1000km as well,maybe we can hook up and enjoy the action together if you like? Will it be your first trip to Spa?

indeed it will be my first trip to spa, its not definite, if i go to lemans then i wont be doing spa 1000km but if i do then i will probably see you guys and have a laugh and watch the race

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by dj choc ice

last years race was my first and it was absolutely amazing, the atmosphere although the silenced cars did take some of the atmosphere away but im sure one of the pescarolo's silencers came off in the night because it was ridiculously loud compared to all the other cars.

my fond memory was me and my mate not being able to get a rental car, particularly when the crummy 4 year old renault megane broke after about 10 metres , this forced us to either walk, taxi or bike everything, oh well we came back from lemans fitter than we went there

my favorite lemans memory was stumbling through the forest to get to the mulsanne straight when i was incredibly drunk, i got so many cuts and bruises from that and falling asleep in a ditch behind the barrier before the porsche curves, i was woken up by some bloke's dog, then came the rain and i got soaked as did the other 200,000 or so people.

if you havent been to LM go there, if you havent been to the petit lemans go there before you die, imo petit was a slight bit better than LM in some ways but lemans was a lot better in other ways than petit, dawn for example is unbelieveable, hearing a judd engined lola and pescarolo wailing towards you at 200mph and flashing past is something insipring.

this year though might not happen for me, A2 exams will probably stop me from going, but ill go to spa 1000km instead, and if i go this year, watch out for a peugeot 106 which im going to plaster in creation autosportif stickers or maybe pescarolo stickers

Ahh yes, can't forget about the classic LM parties

And the crazy blokes on the Mulsanne during the week

[racerkeke]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

And the crazy blokes on the Mulsanne during the week

Hah. Never mind us crazy blokes on the Mulsanne during the race, facing down a slithering prototype at the second chicane braking zone in the rain, with only a flag between us (armco don't count).

Damn, I'm gonna miss it this year.... (sniffle)

keke