Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Colin Wake, 25-Jan-2006, 01:18pm
Martin.
Are you doing the June main race or the July Classic???
I am not a 'Lemans Virgin' having 17 under my belt now.
Do
go earlier than you are going.... you are missing lots of the fun.
Go earlier or you will struggle to find a space in the campsite (which one have you booked??)
Go out in the night to Indianapolis corner.
Go up to the Start Finish Straight at night
Be prepared to live in what most people would regard as squalor for a few days.
Tip the Pikeys who run the bogs, and if you want a bit of entertainment, get them as drunk as skunks!
Take your son to see the Lesbian Love show. It will teach him things he never knew before (So I'm told!)
Take personnal stereos and have them permanantly tuned to Radio LeMans (it is in English!)
Buy a copy of Autosport the week before.
Don't
try to leave on the Sunday..... traffic is murder
be disappointed that there is 250,000 smelly frenchmen puffing on Gitanes or Galoises (especially the Noir ones, pooo...) if front of you when you try to see that start of the race.
even think about speeding... you will never see so many vindictive French policemen on a stretch of raod again, until next year.
leave anything of value about
Tell anyone you took your son to see the Lesbian Love show. It will have taught him things you don't want repeating......
Check out a few of the FAnzine Websites.
http://www.club-arnage.com/
www.beermountain.com/
Colin
Are you doing the June main race or the July Classic???
I am not a 'Lemans Virgin' having 17 under my belt now.
Do
go earlier than you are going.... you are missing lots of the fun.
Go earlier or you will struggle to find a space in the campsite (which one have you booked??)
Go out in the night to Indianapolis corner.
Go up to the Start Finish Straight at night
Be prepared to live in what most people would regard as squalor for a few days.
Tip the Pikeys who run the bogs, and if you want a bit of entertainment, get them as drunk as skunks!
Take your son to see the Lesbian Love show. It will teach him things he never knew before (So I'm told!)
Take personnal stereos and have them permanantly tuned to Radio LeMans (it is in English!)
Buy a copy of Autosport the week before.
Don't
try to leave on the Sunday..... traffic is murder
be disappointed that there is 250,000 smelly frenchmen puffing on Gitanes or Galoises (especially the Noir ones, pooo...) if front of you when you try to see that start of the race.
even think about speeding... you will never see so many vindictive French policemen on a stretch of raod again, until next year.
leave anything of value about
Tell anyone you took your son to see the Lesbian Love show. It will have taught him things you don't want repeating......
Check out a few of the FAnzine Websites.
http://www.club-arnage.com/
www.beermountain.com/
Colin
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Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Martin Doe, 25-Jan-2006, 01:32pm
All sounds interesting so far Colin, we are going to the June 24 hour race, son and heir is not converted to Classics yet, Bugatti Veyron is more his style at the moment!-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Colin Wake, 25-Jan-2006, 02:27pm
So are you going in the Herald estate????
Colin-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Martin Doe, 25-Jan-2006, 02:33pm
If it is on the road in time I would, but son and heir would not be seen dead in it I am afraid, so we are going for a bone shaker ride in my Elise.-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Dave Cox, 25-Jan-2006, 04:40pm
Martin
You had better get yourself booked up for the classic a month later........one visit and you will be hooked.
Plus it will give you a bit of extra time to get the Herald ready, its even more fun doing the Classic in a Classic.
(pity the Lesbian love shows not on during the classic, perhaps we could arrange something for Colins pre 40th birthday celebrations (you've let the cat out of the bag now Colin))
My son Andy came to 2004CLM with me and this year he's taking his own spitfire if its ready, if not it will be a TR7, another convert,not bad at the tender age of eighteen...
Rgds Dave -
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Philip Willcocks, 25-Jan-2006, 04:46pm
Took my Elise down a couple of years ago, very short on space and boot not-accomodating either.
Was fun the night before as I stayed at a posh hotel in Paris, porter came out to get the luggage and was presented with 3 Tesco bags full of clothes!!
Tips: remove the passenger foot rest, it's just velocro'd in and you can get a rucksack down there!
Its normally hot enough in July that you can leave the soft top at home and just use a rain cover.
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Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Mark Stradling, 26-Jan-2006, 11:45pm
You could be in trouble depending on camp site. Only Camping Houx has marked, allocated pitches (and power/water). The others basically follow the rule
"if you rope it off, it's yours". Maison Blanche used to be bad for this but last I heard it had relaxed a bit and Houx Annex was now where the biggest
problem is. The other problem site is Camping Bleu. They sell some of the tickets pre-event and keep some for the gate. They then sell more on the gate
than are technically left, leaving some people turning up with pre-bought tickets being told the site was full.
If you possible CAN go earlier, DO. Is your son not prone to summer colds, or able to develope hay feaver on the Friday?
Generally I agree with Colin's comments - Arnage/Indy corners (same spectating point) at night should be a legal requirement. There is a free bus that runs from the corner of the car park directly over the road from the main entrance that goes entrance-Arnage-Mulsanne-entrance. Personal advice would be to stay on the bus at Mulsanne - the spectating position just isn't very good.
ALWAYS have quantities of toilet paper to hand (this and having eaten a weeks worth of pain au chocolat in 1 or 2 days are the normal reason for trip number 3 to the Carrefore in our group).
The camping sites are reasonably secure most of the time, but basically stops at 5pm (or 6pm with this years football delayed start) and the pikes mates drive in and try to harvest anything that isn't being kept company.
As your in a Lotus Slease, just take 1) passport 2) credit card 3) car keys. Everything else can be bought in the Carrefore supermarket - they know what's comming so it gets packed with 30E sleeping bags, 50E tents, 14E BBQ's, etc. A 12' diameter, 3' deep padding pool will set you back 99E and the cheapest fridge in the shopping centre is 120E...
If you possible CAN go earlier, DO. Is your son not prone to summer colds, or able to develope hay feaver on the Friday?
Generally I agree with Colin's comments - Arnage/Indy corners (same spectating point) at night should be a legal requirement. There is a free bus that runs from the corner of the car park directly over the road from the main entrance that goes entrance-Arnage-Mulsanne-entrance. Personal advice would be to stay on the bus at Mulsanne - the spectating position just isn't very good.
ALWAYS have quantities of toilet paper to hand (this and having eaten a weeks worth of pain au chocolat in 1 or 2 days are the normal reason for trip number 3 to the Carrefore in our group).
The camping sites are reasonably secure most of the time, but basically stops at 5pm (or 6pm with this years football delayed start) and the pikes mates drive in and try to harvest anything that isn't being kept company.
As your in a Lotus Slease, just take 1) passport 2) credit card 3) car keys. Everything else can be bought in the Carrefore supermarket - they know what's comming so it gets packed with 30E sleeping bags, 50E tents, 14E BBQ's, etc. A 12' diameter, 3' deep padding pool will set you back 99E and the cheapest fridge in the shopping centre is 120E...
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Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Colin Wake, 27-Jan-2006, 07:47am
The final bit Mark should have added is just leave it all behind when you go home.
It all pretty crap quality.
That also allows tight a***ed people like me to have a new tent and sleeping bag for the next year.
And a new water carrier (with a hole in it) and a new airbed( with a puncture) and a new barbeque (with a leg missing) and a new deckchair (that collapes without warning and for no apparent reason) ..........
Colin-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Mark Stradling, 27-Jan-2006, 09:29pm
The final, final bit Colin should have added is after you have broken/punctured/burnt or otherwise put everything beyond the use of the pikies, just leave it all behind.
At the last Classic two of our guys manager to keep a BBQ running for something like 15 hours via scavengine wood/other peoples left over charcole and two very cheap chairs from Carrefore - I wouldn't have minded so much but i'd only gone to the lav!
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Le Mans virgin
Posted By : James Carruthers, 27-Jan-2006, 11:14am
How exactly DO you get a fridge in an Elise?
The mind boggles...
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Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Mark Telkman, 27-Jan-2006, 11:34am
I'm not sure, but it's got to be worth a try, particularly if you can get a pizza oven to go with it...
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/sports-imports/12volpo...-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Ian Mulford, 27-Jan-2006, 12:22pm
Not sure how long it would take and how many batteries you'd flatten cooking a pizza! I looked at a 12v kettle once, it boiled a litre of water in 20 minutes!! I bought a gas stove and kettle instead!-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Mark Telkman, 27-Jan-2006, 12:26pm
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Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Jonathan Reed, 27-Jan-2006, 01:04pm
And add this lovely accessory to your rear wing...
http://www.unlimited-power.co.uk/Aerogen_wind_turb...
Le Mans virgin
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Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Mark Stradling, 27-Jan-2006, 09:34pm
Don't know if you can.
You can't get one in either a TVR Tuscan S, a T350 or a Griffith. You CAN get one in (well 'near') the boot of a Mercedes SLK.
As for the power - we are in Houx, so get a mains power stand every other row
BTW how the car, James?-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Martin Doe, 12-May-2006, 09:33am
Okay, sorry to drag up an old thread. Thanks for all your replies. We are camping on the Maison Blanche site, I may try and travel late Thursday evening now. How far from the circuit is the camp site? Do I really need any thing more than tent and doss bags etc. I assume food etc is all available on at the Carrefour or on the circuit.
Regards martin-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Colin Wake, 12-May-2006, 12:55pm
What was wrong with camping with the rest of us????
Do we smell???
Colin-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Martin Doe, 12-May-2006, 02:00pm
Sorry Colin, my screen does not have 'smello-vision' I will have to let you know later. The camp site is the one that came with the booking, I did everything as a package through a company called 'just tickets'. Maybe next time, I will do the classic in the Herald Estate and join one of the club convoys.-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Colin Wake, 12-May-2006, 05:31pm
No probs!!
I expect that we will all hum a touch by the monday morning!!!
Colin-
Serenading Le Mans virgins
Posted By : Jonathan Binnington, 12-May-2006, 09:35pm
Colin, any particlar tunes to hum?
there's always:
Daaah Daaaa Daaah (rising)
Da Da Da Da Dum, Da Da Da Da Dum
Daaah Daaah Daaah
Da Da Da Da Dum, Da Da Da Da Dum
anyothers?
J Ace!-
Serenading Le Mans virgins
Posted By : John Davies, 12-May-2006, 11:50pm
Like this?
http://www.israel-music.com/various/un_homme_et_un...
Tres Francais!
L'amour, la tristesse, l'existentialisme.
Tres chic, n'est-ce pas?
Jean
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Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Mark Stradling, 13-May-2006, 00:16am
"...camping with the rest of us" - the rest of us are camping together... or didn't you check the first post in this thread "Myself and the 15 year old son and heir are going to the 24Hour Le Mans this year..." ^_^
Thankfully they don't move Camping Maison Blanche between the 24hr race the the Classique the following month, so the answer will be the same - no distance, not too far and a long way.
Maison Blanche is right next to the track at the (rather unsurprising) Maison Blanche esses - the section just 'south' of the start/finnish. There is a spectator bank track side which saves you the worst of the noise and gives a good view.
Maison Blanche is not far from the village - 5/10 minute walk depending on crowds/how much stopping to watch you do. The Porsche curves are about 10/15 minutes the other way (down the road, not track-side so less distractions).
It's probably a 20/30 minute walk out to Tetre Rouge, depending on crowds/which side of Tetre Rouge your heading to.
Maison Blanche is miles from Arnage/Mulsanne corners, but then so is everywhere.
So Martin, are you going to the 24hr du Mans, or the Classic?-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Mark Stradling, 13-May-2006, 00:26am
Of course the REALLY easy way to answer that question would have been to post a link to a map...
http://www.beermountain.com/Camping%20Map.htm
That version of the map is on it's side - North is on the right, West on the top.
Maison Blanche is the light blue area to the left of the vertical white line.
The track is in black and (as this map is orientated) cars drive left to right, with the start/finnish line at what looks like a T junction (actually it's where the smaller Bugatti circuit re-joins having looped around the village).
That map shows about 1/3 of the full circuit.-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Martin Doe, 14-May-2006, 05:40pm
Thanks for that Mark. We are going to the 24 Hour in June. I may get to the classic next year, our son will have left school by then and we will not be tied to school holidays.-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Philip Willcocks, 16-May-2006, 04:08pm
Hi Martin,
The classic is biennial, so the next one is 2008!-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Martin Doe, 16-May-2006, 04:27pm
Phew! thanks for that Phil, it could have been quite lonely next year! Does any area want to book me and the Estate as a support vehicle then for 2008.-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Colin Wake, 16-May-2006, 06:57pm
We'll book you as the Organiser as you are the first one to offer...
We fancy a bit of the quiet life!
Colin-
Le Mans virgin
Posted By : Martin Doe, 23-Jun-2006, 08:55pm
Virginity Lost!
Sanity Lost, for a few days anyway.
Home safe.
Thanks for the input people, looking forward to the 2008 classic
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