Camping Advice - Number of Pitches
Discussion
Hi all. Le Mans virgin here but hopefully looking to book in to the PH camping for 2016 with three other Le Mans newbies. I'm after a bit of advice from the seasoned pros about what will be best in terms of pitch size. As I say, there's four of us which seems to be an awkward number as you're a tight squeeze on one standard pitch but splitting across two makes it the most expensive way of doing it (short of driver only pitches).
Do people recommend taking push bikes to get around the circuit? It has been suggested to me as a good idea and it sounds ideal so to achieve that I think my best option is to try for two standard pitches, with two bodies and a car on each, and then we can take one fun car and the other can swallow gear and bikes.
I am of course assuming you either physically can't/aren't permitted to squeeze two cars on a pitch.
Any advice greatly appreciated!
Do people recommend taking push bikes to get around the circuit? It has been suggested to me as a good idea and it sounds ideal so to achieve that I think my best option is to try for two standard pitches, with two bodies and a car on each, and then we can take one fun car and the other can swallow gear and bikes.
I am of course assuming you either physically can't/aren't permitted to squeeze two cars on a pitch.
Any advice greatly appreciated!
Pitches
If you can afford it I'd go for 2 pitches - it's what we normally do for 4 (though partly down to all driving 2-seaters and none of us being willing to buy a car parking pass just to save a few quid).While a single pitch is big-enough to take a normal car and 4-man tent with a little space for the BBQ outside it would be...very friendly. With 2 pitches you have room for 2x cars, 2x 4-man tents, loads of BBQ space and room for a gazebo. All in all a more civilized experience.
The Pistonheads site is a private section inside the ACO's Bleu Nord campsite and general access to Bleu Nord (part of the Pistonheads package) is based on number of vehicles rather than number of people. There may be additional people/car limits in the Pistonheads rules but you'll need one camping pass per-car, so you can't have 2 cars on one pitch.
Bikes
Some people swear by them, others swear at them. Next year will be something like my 12th on the trot and I've never taken a bike or ever felt I was really missing out not having one. Yes they save you some walking but you've also got to find somewhere to lock them up. The Pistonheads campsite's only 5-10min walk to track-side (Maison Blanche) and 15-20 to the main entrance. The only really long walk of the weekend in Friday afternoon over to the tram stop to get the tram in to town - and walking back's probably safer than cycling given the state most of us are in after drinking all evening in town!Edited by //j17 on Thursday 22 October 09:30
OP - just phone Brian at 1st Tickets as I'm sure he'll be able to quote you the pitch sizes over the phone. You don't say whether you're taking your own tent or going with the pre-erected tents? When I went for the first time with 1st Tickets/PH we had a supplied per-erected single 4 person tent and managed to get 2 cars side by side in front of it....if you have a strong snorer as we do in our group, then 2 separate tents are probably easier! Whoever you go with campsite wise, you should hopefully have a great time though ask around on here if you have any concerns over location 
PS I've checked & apparently the std pitches are now 4m x 10m and the larger 6m x 10m - 1st Tickets seek to provide a generous site space wise & I've never seen the site "over crowded" unless people decided to cram their cars together to get more tent/outside space
PS I've checked & apparently the std pitches are now 4m x 10m and the larger 6m x 10m - 1st Tickets seek to provide a generous site space wise & I've never seen the site "over crowded" unless people decided to cram their cars together to get more tent/outside space
Edited by MrC986 on Thursday 22 October 21:46
MrC986 said:
OP - just phone Brian at 1st Tickets as I'm sure he'll be able to quote you the pitch sizes over the phone. You don't say whether you're taking your own tent or going with the pre-erected tents?
Plan was to take our own tents (I'm a rock climber - I have a preposterous collection of tents). Can you offer any opinion on camping outside of the PH site at Bleu Nord? Of the public sites what's ideal? Having a poke around the various resources it seems like Houx could be a good back up plan. And thoughts on Grandstand entry? We weren't planning on getting any grandstand tickets.
Cheers!
PS have pinged my details over to 1st tickets, if I don't hear from them I'll give them a call.
Edited by Hamsternator on Thursday 22 October 21:48
Take bikes if you have the room and can chain them to a vehicle. 10 min pedal to arnage corner is well worth it and pretty quiet early Sunday morning with a decent area to chain them. Also handy for the cycle to superu if you need supplies and don't want to dry out sufficiently to drive. Cheap bikes of any description as good as anything
You don't need a grandstand. I've not bothered the 10 times I've been.
If it's your 1st time you'll want to have a good look around to see where you like watching from which isn't a problem as there's plenty of banking around the circuit. You'll just need to work out a position to watch start from as that's when it can be a struggle especially the start line side of the dunlop bridge. Generally set up at least 3 hours before in many of the prime viewing spots for start. We have a spot that we watch from that is quite steep so easy to roll up with fold out seats an hour before without blocking anyones view just have to dig the back legs into the bank
Enjoy
If it's your 1st time you'll want to have a good look around to see where you like watching from which isn't a problem as there's plenty of banking around the circuit. You'll just need to work out a position to watch start from as that's when it can be a struggle especially the start line side of the dunlop bridge. Generally set up at least 3 hours before in many of the prime viewing spots for start. We have a spot that we watch from that is quite steep so easy to roll up with fold out seats an hour before without blocking anyones view just have to dig the back legs into the bank
Enjoy
On the hand, I've been about a dozen or more times and have always had a grandstand seat. Good for somewhere to rest up for long periods, keep out of the sun and the rain etc, elevated view. Having a seat gives the best of both worlds...can walk anywhere on the circuit and still come back to your reserved spot.
If you're there just for the beer, then a grandstand seat is not worthwhile.
R.
If you're there just for the beer, then a grandstand seat is not worthwhile.
R.
The Leaper said:
On the hand, I've been about a dozen or more times and have always had a grandstand seat. Good for somewhere to rest up for long periods, keep out of the sun and the rain etc, elevated view. Having a seat gives the best of both worlds...can walk anywhere on the circuit and still come back to your reserved spot.
If you're there just for the beer, then a grandstand seat is not worthwhile.
R.
Having been a dozen times you'll know exactly where you like to get your grandstand seat unlike the person asking for advice and I do believe that free seating is available in the Stella Bar for the people who just want a beer, leaving plenty of free banking for the people who are there to watch the race. Personally I can't think of anything worse than to be stuck rooted in the same spot for the whole race, but that's just my personal opinion. If you're there just for the beer, then a grandstand seat is not worthwhile.
R.
2 cars must have two pitches since it's only one car per camping pass.
Grandstand seats don't root you to the spot for 24H. We must have actually sat in ours in Panorama for less than 6 hours in total last time. I still haven't wandered all the way round the public banking in three visits but I've been to most of it.
The online booking gives the view from the seat so if you are a LM virgin you can get an idea from that and pictures from the net. The choice comes down to view of the pits or watching the action at a chicane. The very top of T4 Panorama gives a view of the track unobscured by catch fencing.
Grandstand seats don't root you to the spot for 24H. We must have actually sat in ours in Panorama for less than 6 hours in total last time. I still haven't wandered all the way round the public banking in three visits but I've been to most of it.
The online booking gives the view from the seat so if you are a LM virgin you can get an idea from that and pictures from the net. The choice comes down to view of the pits or watching the action at a chicane. The very top of T4 Panorama gives a view of the track unobscured by catch fencing.
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