Crowd attendance
Discussion
I've just read on the ACO website that this year's record spectator attendance was over 263,000 people. That's a lot. It's quite staggering considering the majority of people I know wouldn't have much of a clue what LM24 is. It must be up there amongst the biggest sporting events in the world. A quick Google suggests top 5.
And didn't it feel like it (263000 people). All decent vantage points for the start/finish were taken by midday.
In 2003 I remember that we went to bed at around 2am and we were viewing from the bank facing directly up hill towards the Dunlop bridge, on the inside of the circuit. I think I could count the people around us on my fingers and that is a very good place to watch from.
This year, Arnage at 2am, there were thousands of people.
In 2003 I remember that we went to bed at around 2am and we were viewing from the bank facing directly up hill towards the Dunlop bridge, on the inside of the circuit. I think I could count the people around us on my fingers and that is a very good place to watch from.
This year, Arnage at 2am, there were thousands of people.
The start was carnage this year. Couldn't get moved anwhere round from dunlop to end of arnage, and the inside if the track was similar. We estimated the crowd to be 20 deep for the entire front bank, much deeper on the bigger banked area.
Also, ALl campsites filled up, including BSJ. That's a first, isn't it?
Also, ALl campsites filled up, including BSJ. That's a first, isn't it?
We walked all the way from Porsche Curves to the start finish straight, lugging camera gear, chairs & coolboxes, arriving at the start-finish straight just before 12 - it was rammed all the way back to the grandstands, with absolutely no room for two more chairs. We walked all the way back to Porsche Curves and watched the start from there
Even at 3 o'clock on Sunday morning, there were thousands of people of the start-finish straight terracing (many asleep....)
Weird to think there were approximately as many Brits at LM as the total crowd for the next F1 GP
Even at 3 o'clock on Sunday morning, there were thousands of people of the start-finish straight terracing (many asleep....)
Weird to think there were approximately as many Brits at LM as the total crowd for the next F1 GP
chrisr111r said:
Im guessing thats a cumalative total for the weekend based on the number of tickets sold. It would be interesting to know how many people where there for the start and/or finish..
I would say the full 263k were there for the start - I've been 5 times and this appeared to be the most busy. In the past I have got there 1.5 hours before the start and got a good view point coming down from the Dunlop bridge - not this year, we were at the back!Strangely though, traffic around the circuit was a lot quieter particularly at night. Do people not drive between spectator points now?
Also, the bars and restuartants were a lot more quiet in Arnage this time (which isn't a bad thing!)
It was certainly a lot busier by the Dunlop curves this year. In previous years we've got there about 2 hours before the race and managed to get a decent spot. This year we perched up 4 hours before the start of the race and by the time the race started you couldn't see any free space anywhere. Even the far side of the banks towards Houx Annexe were rammed and I've never seen them so busy.
Great Dane said:
Remember that National Geographic magazine stated that LM was the number 1 sporting event ahead of the Olympics and the football/soccer world cup
That has got to be absolute rubbish I'm afraid. Maybe in terms of 1 event/match vs the race, but not in terms of the entire world cup or Olympics. Even then I'd question it against the London Olympics when they had the road race cycling. They had 15,000 odd just on box hill.
London424 said:
That has got to be absolute rubbish I'm afraid.
Maybe in terms of 1 event/match vs the race, but not in terms of the entire world cup or Olympics. Even then I'd question it against the London Olympics when they had the road race cycling. They had 15,000 odd just on box hill.
Yeah we were there and apparently there were over a million people lining the roads for that event. The Olympics shouldn't be included in the comparison as they only happen every four years and most of world watches it.Maybe in terms of 1 event/match vs the race, but not in terms of the entire world cup or Olympics. Even then I'd question it against the London Olympics when they had the road race cycling. They had 15,000 odd just on box hill.
The Leaper said:
When I went to the Indy 500 several years ago I learnt that it was the World's largest attended single event with annually 400,000+ attendees. Can I believe the USA inclination to big up everything they are concerned with?
R.
Just thought I'd read up, and they have seating for 250,000 and then room in the infield for another 150,000. So that's just race day (I think they pretty much pack the stands right?). So I'm guessing that's where the 400,000 comes from. R.
//j17 said:
RenOHH said:
This year, Arnage at 2am, there were thousands of people.
We were walking back from Tetre Rouge around midnight and were amazed by the numbers of people still out and about this year - and I mean track-side, not at the concert.It seemed much busier than normal throughout all those areas and in particular what surprised me were the larger numbers of people than normal trackside from the chapel all the way up to the start/finish straight
I also went to Qualifying on Thursday night for the first time (it was my 6th year and I always try to do something I've not done at LM before) - I was staggered how many people were at the circuit then but I've not got experience of previous years to compare it to
London424 said:
Great Dane said:
Remember that National Geographic magazine stated that LM was the number 1 sporting event ahead of the Olympics and the football/soccer world cup
That has got to be absolute rubbish I'm afraid. Maybe in terms of 1 event/match vs the race, but not in terms of the entire world cup or Olympics. Even then I'd question it against the London Olympics when they had the road race cycling. They had 15,000 odd just on box hill.
The World Cup or Olympics will generally win on ticket sales, but they are every 4 years and last at least 1 month.
The National Geographic don't say it is the biggest event, just the best... I have to agree.
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10...
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10...
FartKong said:
London424 said:
That has got to be absolute rubbish I'm afraid.
Maybe in terms of 1 event/match vs the race, but not in terms of the entire world cup or Olympics. Even then I'd question it against the London Olympics when they had the road race cycling. They had 15,000 odd just on box hill.
Yeah we were there and apparently there were over a million people lining the roads for that event. The Olympics shouldn't be included in the comparison as they only happen every four years and most of world watches it.Maybe in terms of 1 event/match vs the race, but not in terms of the entire world cup or Olympics. Even then I'd question it against the London Olympics when they had the road race cycling. They had 15,000 odd just on box hill.
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