Getting There & Other Stuff

Ways to get there;

There are much better sites out there for directions, traffic information, etc.  What follows is not meant to be a definitive guide, just some of our observations.

Nowadays we've gone all posh like.  We now make our way down to Portsmouth by car.  The next stage is to do the crossing to Caen (in 2003 it cost £306 per car).  The ferry takes 6 hours.  Once we hit French soil we drive to Le Mans and set up camp.  Post race we then follow our tracks back home.  Doing it this way gives a bit more flexibility allowing us to spend longer at Le Mans and we get to do the travelling bit at more than 50mph with regulatory driver rest stops required for coach journeys.  We also get to drag a lot more crap along with us instead of living out of a rucksack.  Travelling from Caen to Le Mans is a *much* shorter and therefore more pleasurable experience.

We used to travel to Le Mans using "Page & Moy" organised tours, they cover loads of motor racing events and offer a hassle free (but long) journey.  The Page and Moy tour gets you to the circuit and into the track - no worries about tolls, tickets, or ferries etc. but it is a long coach journey (approx 18 hours from Leeds with Page & Moy). You could of course make your own way there, but if you want a few beers and to let someone else do the organising then use a tour operator - it's far easier.

If you don't like putting up with cramped conditions, long hours travelling, drunken (but very friendly) Brits, squalor, noise, long hot sunshine, motor racing or fun then I don't think you'd get the best out of the 24 hour 'experience'!  In short I think it's reasonably fair to compare it to a music festival on the continent.

The high points of the Le Mans weekend include;

• finally getting to the circuit, several beers do numb the memory though!
• start of the race much cheering and waving of flags
• end of the race, as the start
• fairground, more details below
• weather, it's usually a belter of a weekend
• top car exhibits inside the circuit
• atmosphere - there's nothing to touch actually being there along with thousands of fellow Brits cheering your team/driver on.

The low points should also get a mention;

• the journey back, 18 hours is never going to be a good time to spend on a coach, especially as the bog on the coach WILL be minging
• toilet facilities aren't too bad at the track, it's better than a music festival, but lets not kid ourselves - it's not home, so bowel discipline is the order of the day - if humanly possible wait for Blighty before you crimp a length off.
• sleeping facilities if the weather's bad are pretty grim, a tent does help but if you're on the coach 50 hairy arsed race fans after an 18 hour journey and 12 hours spectating smells like nothing on this earth, except maybe the bog on the way back.

Things to do at the track besides watching the racing;

There's a fairground which I suspect would never be legal in Britain, so make the most of it!  With attractions including;

• Dodgems - they're quick and you don't get told off for anything, eg. going around the "wrong way" backwards and colliding at full tilt into some Frog looking as cool as a Frog can!
• Strippers (integrale & nu integrale - it's worth the extra for the slightly more expensive integrale, but they weren't there in '97). They were exceptional in '98, and Matt got close enough to assure me they stank to high heaven.  Integrale '99 also featured a fully full on live lesbian finale woo-hoo! (please note the ACO seem to have stopped the legendary exotic dancers from attending - spoilsports)
• House of fun - it's a bit of a death trap but thoroughly enjoyable, just don't wear anything expensive! Wasn't there in '98, my elbows and knees will be eternally grateful.
• Some mad blokes in a wall of death motorbike act.
• Various other barf inducing fairground rides guaranteed to get rid of anything you may have had in your pockets.
• In the middle of the track there are some supercar exhibits and other interesting car type stuff, including the little scale models Gooders is so fond of.
• You can also try to spot celebrities and/or racing drivers, Noel Edmonds blubbing like a baby in '97 will remain with me forever, unfortunately I only heard him on Radio Le Mans - I would have paid good money to see that one!
• Watching the parade from previous winners, including the 'proper' Le Mans racers, the old Bentleys and Jaguars.
• Watching the 'gentlemen' racers thrash their motors (in '96 it was a Diablo race! '98 was Renault Spyders).
• The rather tidy Hawaiian Tropic birds, silicone enhanced they may be but who the hell cares, they look great! (thanks to the TWATS for the immortal line "do a poo!")