Classic Le Mans - with a dog!

[Mrs_P]

Hi all, I'm new here, I found you guys whilst doing a Google search! OK, so I'm the better half of a Porsche 911 enthusiast, I'm planning our summer holiday, and found out that our first day in France will be the Saturday of the Classic. I know that he would LOVE to go (I've not told him about it yet, in case its not possible).

Only issue is, we will have our 2 dogs with us, so not sure if we can take them in or not. I have emailed the ticket office but no reply so far. Even if we can take the dogs with us, how noisy is the event likely to be? They would obviously be on lead, and not in the main grandstand! I know when we went to Goodwood festival of speed a couple of years ago the F1 cars in particular were awesome, but very loud.

Other than the cars racing all day, what else is likely to be going on? And do you think it's worth a day trip?

Any advice would be most welcome!
Thanks

[Mrs_P]

Great, thanks for the info, I'm trying to get through to the ticket office on the phone to get the official line, but not much luck at the moment!

Also having left it so late, working out where we could stay the night before (en route from Calais), and the Sat night (will be heading to the Dordgone) ont he Sunday morning. I'll get it all planned out before I tell his nibs!

[Mrs_P]

Just to update, I finally got through to the ticket office, dogs are allowed! On lead of course, but it is do-able.... but is it sensible?

[Mrs_P]

Voldemort said:

Obviously not. That's why you should do it!

I like your thinking Voldemort - I think we might just give it a go! I could always hang back with the hounds at the start of a race and let his nibs get closer.
Yay, exciting!

[Mrs_P]

aaah, they will love a gravel trap to poo in!!

Husband is definitely up for it, but I can always hang back a bit with the dogs, and keep to the quieter areas if they don't like it, or even a lovely walk away from the crowds. It's kind of too good an opportunity for us to miss as we'll be passing right by anyway. Still working on somewhere to stay though...

[Mrs_P]

TR4man said:

Mrs P I hope your husband appreciates what a wonderful and thoughtful wife he has!

Why thank you,I couldn't have put it better myself! He is a very lucky man!

[Mrs_P]

Thank you all for your helpful replies. Whilst I agree that it's not ideal that we have the dogs with us, we will just have to try and see what happens, rather than not go at all. I'll judge on the day how I think they are coping (or not!), and if need be I can set up well away from the noise under a nice tree, and be happy with a picnic and a book for a while, or even leave the circuit and return to pick up Mr P later in the day.

We've managed to book with very good prices for the night before in a travel lodge type place in Alencon, and then the Saturday night in Tours, so it's all on our route to the Dordogne, without backtracking anywhere (and hoping the fuel strikes are resolved by then!)

Tickets are booked, and OH booked red parking before I had the chance to mention the free parking I read about on another thread!

Thanks again everyone, you've been great.

[Mrs_P]

Hi all, just thought I'd update you, as you were all so helpful before we went away.

Thanks for the recommendation to stay in Alencon the night before, it was perfect, we booked Tours to stay the Sat night, there wasn't anything available any nearer, and we were heading south anyway.

So the whole thing went well. The heat was the main issue dog wise, though we just kept soaking them in water during the day! I think The Whippets almost got more attention than some of the cars! They didn't get phased at all, in fact we sat in one of the covered stands very near the grid for the start of a couple of races, and they just sprawled out and slept through!

I'm nit sure I would return, but possibly my husband would, and of course plan it way in advance, and stay really near the circuit, that was you could leave for a few hours and come back for the night racing. We didn't stay too late, as we were all hot and tired, and had an hour to drive to the hotel, but as we were passing that way I'm glad we did it!

We parked in the red carpark, which was nice and handy to get in and out of.

Thanks again for the advice you all gave before we decided to go.

Mrs P