Going to Le Mans 2024

[RichenFamous]

Just secured tickets for Le Mans next June!

Looking for some advice on must see, best spots, what should we bring to be comfy, etc. 

For planning, I am a decent Google’r and damn fine YouTube time-suck your life away practitioner and am making a list from that research, but I’m after some of your firsthand experiences that may guide me as well. 

🍻 

Rich

[otisdog]

Amazing that the tickets sell out within days now, congrats! The English horde usually buy tribune (grandstand) tickets that they use mostly at the start and finish of the race. Last time we rented bicycles, which worked out great... i think the best viewing area is the indy/arnage complex- the straight into indy is the fastest of the course, and arnage is the slowest. it has a long berm which provides great viewing. We rented a guest house in Mulsanne, worked out great. At some point during the 24 hours, you should get to the inside of tetra rouge, which is another good site. Have fun!

[RichenFamous]

@otisdog, Most excellent advice, much appreciated! Renting bicycles is a great idea. 
I too was surprised how fast all ticket options sold out, glad I was able to get ours. 
🍻

[Son of Marty]

Here I am at Le Mans just kick'n back.

[Dudeland]

14 hours ago, Son of Marty said:

Here I am at Le Mans just kick'n back.

What was it like having to eat all those eggs?  CHL

 

 

 

Ok, I know it was an obscure reference.   It was from Cool Hand Luke, the egg-eating contest. Sorry 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Dudeland
Cool Hand Luke reference.

[73tiiDavidPA]

My wife and son and I attended in 2017.  After getting thoroughly confused on all the options we decided to pay a little more and do with a turn-key operation, Thomas Cook.  Could not have been happier, and I wish they were still in business, because I would rebook with them in a heartbeat.  We paid 1,900 pounds (@ $2,500 USD) for our "package" (total for 3 people) of which there were several with several options.  For that package we got:

 

Camping spot with space for a car & 2 two person tents - they were quite small

Sleeping pads, sleeping bag, pillows and Lockers at campsite

Campsite (fenced) 24 hour security (in and out)

Tickets for entrance

Tickets for the covered grandstands across from the Toyota pits, near the start / finish line (Tribune 20 Leonard)

A three hour bus tour of the both chicanes of the Mulsanne Straight, Mulsanne corner, and Arnage and Indianapolis at 1:00 am

Campsite had fabulous super high end mobile showers and toilets

Campsite served breakfast and dinner and had drinks and an expresso bar with several large screen tvs with the race

The former Thomas Cook site was at or near the Houx campsites.  The village and grandstands were a 10 minutes walk.

We did not buy a food package, though offered.  We were able to purchase any food we wanted from the campsite, but there was much better food found around the track. 

  

 

Tips off the top of my head in no particular order:

Buy covered Grandstand seats.  If it rains, you will thank yourself.  Also great for seeing pit action and the start / finish.

Go to the parade in Le Mans city, it's a real treat.

The Carrefour grocery store has EVERYTHING you could possible need (food, drink, tents, radios, coolers, its endless).  Its really like a high end grocery store with LL Bean and a Bass Pro Shop rolled into one.  You can get there and back super easy on the tram.  

Getting there - My son and I arrived early, but high speed train from Paris, then the tram from Le Mans station directly to the track and walked to the campsite.  My wife was doing a wine tour / course and drove our rental car to the campsite.  Driving into the track and finding the campsite is challenging.  

Do see the Mulsanne straight at night. 200+ mph with passing in the dark is crazy.  The car seemingly igniting their brakes into vibrant orange glowing disks at the corner is amazing.  It's also amazing that at 3:00am, there are thousands of people out there watching.  

Get a portable radio and earplug type headphones to wear under your over the ear noise cancellation headphones.  Now need for big money - we got our headphones from Lowes (Husqvarna chain saw headphones).  There is a pirate radio broadcast in english that you can listen to.  Do not count of you phone / wifi for that sort of thing.  

Bring rain gear and sun block and lots of money to spend on very, very tasty french delights.  

Take the Ferris wheel at night to see a large section of the track in the dark with cars going round. 

Go karting at the track there and understand just how bad of a hot shoe you are (my son karting competitively and was getting his ass kicked).

Go the the 24 hour Daytona as "practice" for what its like to stay up awake for 20 hours of the race (my son stayed up the whole race - but he was in high school).   

 

Our allotted campsite and rental Renault Megane Estate (poverty - any 911 was middle class - only Mclarens, Lamborginis and Ferraris were upper class).  Our campsite was a car show unto itself. 

 

semi-rough field terrain... not ideal for your exotics...

 

 

The Ferris Wheel at night

 

 

Our Grandstand seats

 

 

3:00 am at the Mulsanne Corner I believe

 

 

Parade

 

 

Carrefour (you could literally show up to the race with only a credit card, and completely outfit yourself there if you wanted

 

 

[RichenFamous]

@73tiiDavidPA,  

Absolutely amazing! I really appreciate your effort to share all the details and highlights.
We are going to be planning the trip out well in advance and this helps me immensely. Cheers to you sir 🍻

Rich

[bmw_e30]

wow jealous

[otisdog]

  One thing about the bikes....the rental place is @ the train station. Was planning to throw them on the tram and ride them once we got to the end of the line inside the track, but every tram going that way was packed, even on Thursday. Trying to put two bikes onboard would not be welcomed.

  So we road them the 12 K's to the house. And after the race, we road them in the rain up the Mulsanne straight to the tram stop...wife was a serious trooper.  Need to rent bikes ASAP if you're going to.

Carrefour is an amazing market, even has a full bar....

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by otisdog

[7502]

On 11/19/2023 at 4:50 AM, Dudeland said:

 It was from Cool Hand Luke, the egg-eating contest. Sorry 

Only problem,  Luke was played by Paul Newman, but he did eat 50 eggs just as Drag-Line said he could.

[Dudeland]

14 hours ago, 7502 said:

Only problem,  Luke was played by Paul Newman, but he did eat 50 eggs just as Drag-Line said he could.

S*&T!  How could I have made that mistake?  I am pretty good with my movie trivia. CHL came out in 67, and Bullet came out in 68.  Both are cool movies with cool actors. 

 

I am truly ashamed. My only excuse is my NyQuil and Neocitran smoothie was hitting pretty hard when I wrote that.   Just getting over a very bad head cold. 

 

Regards