First time to classis
Discussion
I have been to the 24 hr for the last few years and thoroughly enjoyed every minute
This year I went to the classic and apart from the fantastic place I stayed I was rather disappointed
The trip down was a lot quieter and the circuit was so quiet and seemed to lack the atmosphere
Very pleased to have tried it but it's back to the 24 hr for me
This year I went to the classic and apart from the fantastic place I stayed I was rather disappointed
The trip down was a lot quieter and the circuit was so quiet and seemed to lack the atmosphere
Very pleased to have tried it but it's back to the 24 hr for me
Can't put my finger on it but something was not quite right this year - previous ones have been fantastic , the weather in 2010 helped a lot but somehow this years organization and atmosphere wasn't quite as good.
It didn't help that we had our own run of disasters, managing to break one car on the Wednesday and being repatriated back to the UK to start again on the Thursday with another one - then queued for two hours Saturday to get into the circuit and found once we got there that I had forgotten the memory cards for my cameras! Went to get some night shots at Mulsanne corner and had to wait about an hour between sessions and got rained upon! my wife was not amused with the whole episode and at the end of the weekend stated that it was the worst holiday we had been on!!
I guess that means I can go back in 2014 on my own with my mates, as I do for the regular event....
It didn't help that we had our own run of disasters, managing to break one car on the Wednesday and being repatriated back to the UK to start again on the Thursday with another one - then queued for two hours Saturday to get into the circuit and found once we got there that I had forgotten the memory cards for my cameras! Went to get some night shots at Mulsanne corner and had to wait about an hour between sessions and got rained upon! my wife was not amused with the whole episode and at the end of the weekend stated that it was the worst holiday we had been on!!
I guess that means I can go back in 2014 on my own with my mates, as I do for the regular event....
I would tend to agree with the above, I have been to all the CLM events and this years was the worst by quite some margin. As said, can't really put my finger on it, but didn't like the timings of the races, previous years have been a lot better, intervals between races were diabolical, marshalls at Arnage were s
te too, not understanding the tickets.
I don't think the weather helped, particularly when the fast grids came out, the standard of driving is so wide, when a high powered turbo car in the wet is being used, the quick guys stretch out the lead very quickly, making the race a procession.
Had a great weekend with good friends though and that made it a great weekend, but not because of the event.
I have fed back my thoughts to the organisersw via their questionnaire I get sent.
te too, not understanding the tickets.I don't think the weather helped, particularly when the fast grids came out, the standard of driving is so wide, when a high powered turbo car in the wet is being used, the quick guys stretch out the lead very quickly, making the race a procession.
Had a great weekend with good friends though and that made it a great weekend, but not because of the event.
I have fed back my thoughts to the organisersw via their questionnaire I get sent.
Another person in agreement here.
Seemed to end up seeing the same cars on track regardless of when we went to watch things, and some of the plateaux I nearly missed entirely.
Did seem to be more stretched out - I *thought* that each Plateau had 4 races during the 24 hours but this year it was only 3. Maybe that was different, I'm not sure, but it felt like the track action was a bit intermittant.
And being turned away from the Arnage spectator area on Friday night was bloody annoying - no idea why that wasn't open but Mulsanne was, but in previous years it was open whenever cars were on track.
Currently I'm not likely to go back in 2014 - feels like I've 'done' the LMC now and seeing the majority of the same cars out again in two years time doesn't really excite me.
I think that is has always been 18 x 43 minute races, so inevitably there is a lot of downtime during 24hours. The rain did not help matters this year, but I think greater commercialisation and club laps seriously get in the way of a bit more racing. Presumably, they both boost revenues for Patrick Peter, 18 x 1hour races would be a good start for both fans and drivers.
I was there with a group of non-pro drivers in grid 6. They basically got 7 x 7minute laps, plus the compulsory changeover, so 3, or 4 laps per driver after only 2, or 3 laps in practice. To do this in the wet and darkness, with the variation in speed between 1971 touring cars and a 1979 prototypes on Mulsanne is verging on dangerous, but that is the challenge that drivers want. In the pits you can see all the timing and position on track plus a few static TV cameras, so it does feel like a race. However outside the pits, it is impossible to make sense of what is happening, even if you speak some French, as the commentators only follow the leaders, A few big screens and timing would definitely improve the spectator experience. There are a lot of Brits there, so a dedicated English radio commentary would also be a big help. Apart from the final results, it is virtually impossible to understand how the index of performance result is being produced.
Whoever thought of refuelling the race cars at one pump, in a live pit lane, could do with a bit of risk assessment training. When you add to that the entrance to the pit lane is between the paddocks of Grid 6 and 1, who have consecutive races, it is nothing short of shambolic to form up for the race and return afterwards. Valuable cars with hot engines are required to stop-start, for about an hour and end-up having to be pushed up the hill back to the paddocks, all because other cars are desperately queuing to get re-fuelled for their race. None of the paddock marshals are in radio contact so they seem oblivious to these problems.
The organisation for getting different groups of cars in and out at Goodwood is superb; they could definitely do some consultancy work for LMC.
Having said all this, I will be back in 2 years time as to get close up to these iconic cars is just too good to miss.
I was there with a group of non-pro drivers in grid 6. They basically got 7 x 7minute laps, plus the compulsory changeover, so 3, or 4 laps per driver after only 2, or 3 laps in practice. To do this in the wet and darkness, with the variation in speed between 1971 touring cars and a 1979 prototypes on Mulsanne is verging on dangerous, but that is the challenge that drivers want. In the pits you can see all the timing and position on track plus a few static TV cameras, so it does feel like a race. However outside the pits, it is impossible to make sense of what is happening, even if you speak some French, as the commentators only follow the leaders, A few big screens and timing would definitely improve the spectator experience. There are a lot of Brits there, so a dedicated English radio commentary would also be a big help. Apart from the final results, it is virtually impossible to understand how the index of performance result is being produced.
Whoever thought of refuelling the race cars at one pump, in a live pit lane, could do with a bit of risk assessment training. When you add to that the entrance to the pit lane is between the paddocks of Grid 6 and 1, who have consecutive races, it is nothing short of shambolic to form up for the race and return afterwards. Valuable cars with hot engines are required to stop-start, for about an hour and end-up having to be pushed up the hill back to the paddocks, all because other cars are desperately queuing to get re-fuelled for their race. None of the paddock marshals are in radio contact so they seem oblivious to these problems.
The organisation for getting different groups of cars in and out at Goodwood is superb; they could definitely do some consultancy work for LMC.
Having said all this, I will be back in 2 years time as to get close up to these iconic cars is just too good to miss.
The very first CLM was 1 hour gaps, so 4 x 6 races over the 24 hr, but from my understanding this was a panic and dangerous, hence why it changed to 3x6 racing the following event.
I will almost certainly be back in 2 years, but I really hope they improve the racing format. It's lovely to see the Plateaux 1 cars, but 1 race would be sufficient... That's just me of course, I am sure a lot of other folk go just for this race. I would happily watch grids 4,5,6 all weekend, especially in the dark at Arnage!
I will almost certainly be back in 2 years, but I really hope they improve the racing format. It's lovely to see the Plateaux 1 cars, but 1 race would be sufficient... That's just me of course, I am sure a lot of other folk go just for this race. I would happily watch grids 4,5,6 all weekend, especially in the dark at Arnage!
This year was my first time, so can't compare to others, but I'll echo some of the comments here.....from the start the organisation was not great, booking tickets online was a waste of time since I had to wait in the same queue as everyone else anyway. There were only 3 people taking bookings and printing tickets in the Centre des Expositions, and I'm not exaggerating when I say it was taking them around 3 minutes to process every single order....so even though I got there so early that there were only about 15 people in the queue ahead of me, it still took 45mins! I wonder if they got their acts together after that, otherwise it would take all weekend to get tickets into the hands of the 10's of 1000's of visitors. 
The long gaps between races were pretty trying, especially when you're standing in a monsoon at Mulsanne or Arnage (was there some problem there for some of you? I got in fine on Saturday afternoon) with no idea if/when the next race will start, just endless club/corporate stuff coming past. The signage to get to those corners was appalling, for Arnage in particular there was one sign in the village and that was it, and since many roads were closed in the area it wasn't even that easy using a map.
Of course it was still an awesome experience, despite the rain, stty food (best meal we had in 4 days was a simple picnic from SuperU ingredients, but maybe we were unlucky in the restaurants we chose) and less than perfect organisation. And TBH it could have been a lot worse, there weren't any major dramas like getting stuck for hours and hours. Would I go again? Depending on circumstances in 2014, yes!
The long gaps between races were pretty trying, especially when you're standing in a monsoon at Mulsanne or Arnage (was there some problem there for some of you? I got in fine on Saturday afternoon) with no idea if/when the next race will start, just endless club/corporate stuff coming past. The signage to get to those corners was appalling, for Arnage in particular there was one sign in the village and that was it, and since many roads were closed in the area it wasn't even that easy using a map.
Of course it was still an awesome experience, despite the rain, s
tty food (best meal we had in 4 days was a simple picnic from SuperU ingredients, but maybe we were unlucky in the restaurants we chose) and less than perfect organisation. And TBH it could have been a lot worse, there weren't any major dramas like getting stuck for hours and hours. Would I go again? Depending on circumstances in 2014, yes!tim-b said:
This year was my first time, so can't compare to others, but I'll echo some of the comments here.....from the start the organisation was not great, booking tickets online was a waste of time since I had to wait in the same queue as everyone else anyway. There were only 3 people taking bookings and printing tickets in the Centre des Expositions, and I'm not exaggerating when I say it was taking them around 3 minutes to process every single order....so even though I got there so early that there were only about 15 people in the queue ahead of me, it still took 45mins! I wonder if they got their acts together after that, otherwise it would take all weekend to get tickets into the hands of the 10's of 1000's of visitors.
The long gaps between races were pretty trying, especially when you're standing in a monsoon at Mulsanne or Arnage (was there some problem there for some of you? I got in fine on Saturday afternoon) with no idea if/when the next race will start, just endless club/corporate stuff coming past. The signage to get to those corners was appalling, for Arnage in particular there was one sign in the village and that was it, and since many roads were closed in the area it wasn't even that easy using a map.
Of course it was still an awesome experience, despite the rain, stty food (best meal we had in 4 days was a simple picnic from SuperU ingredients, but maybe we were unlucky in the restaurants we chose) and less than perfect organisation. And TBH it could have been a lot worse, there weren't any major dramas like getting stuck for hours and hours. Would I go again? Depending on circumstances in 2014, yes!
Try these folk:The long gaps between races were pretty trying, especially when you're standing in a monsoon at Mulsanne or Arnage (was there some problem there for some of you? I got in fine on Saturday afternoon) with no idea if/when the next race will start, just endless club/corporate stuff coming past. The signage to get to those corners was appalling, for Arnage in particular there was one sign in the village and that was it, and since many roads were closed in the area it wasn't even that easy using a map.
Of course it was still an awesome experience, despite the rain, s
tty food (best meal we had in 4 days was a simple picnic from SuperU ingredients, but maybe we were unlucky in the restaurants we chose) and less than perfect organisation. And TBH it could have been a lot worse, there weren't any major dramas like getting stuck for hours and hours. Would I go again? Depending on circumstances in 2014, yes!http://www.traveldestinations.co.uk/
They will look after you
It was my first time to the Classic and have to say it was probably the best car event I've ever been to. I travelled down with a bunch of guys from the RAOC in my Renault Alpine. The trip down from the Eurotunell was eventful to say the least, we set up camp at Karting Nord which for me a person who does not do camping was alright the showers were better than expected but the Gents toilets were diabolical so I used the Ladies. The food was not very good apart from the Museum which sold out the next time we tried. You could get so close to the cars and for someone like me seeing so many Batmobiles, M1's 512BB's etc it was heaven. The sound of the cars just hurt your ears and made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The parade lap or should that be the 'everyman for himself go as fast as you can lap' was worth every euro I paid for it and to say you drove the circuit is a memory worth having. Sat outside in a cafe and had a meal by the road in the town where the guy was pretending to be a policeman and setting cars off on wheelspins, childish perhaps but amusing and went on for ages before the authorities politely stopped it. I will be going to this event every two years for the rest of my life and so will all my mates who I have told about it, compared to others it's not a posers costume event and the cars are what it's all about and there is enough racing going on to satisfy every possible need for speed and sound. Next time I'll come equipped with bbq, bacon, sausages in fully equipeed support van and will force myself to camp again oh and I might take a fold-up bike.
Edited by BIRMA on Saturday 18th August 09:28
Second time down for me and I thought it was the best so far to be honest. 2010 was way to hot - spent most of the time trying to find shade.
The cars were fantastic, spent a lot of time in the paddocks - that's a must to be honest, and contrary to other's experiences the staff on the gate seemed to check tickets every time we went in (a lot).
The 250 GTOs going on to the track was quite something - £500 million + (well priceless really) of metal and rubber in one place at the same time.
We brought 'ol smokey down so got to park in the bugatti circuit which was really nice, if you can then highly recommended as it's just a short walk from the action.
All in all a great event, just don't do what I did stupidly and bought my children tickets - having spent 100+ euros I later found out they go free with a paying adult D'OH!
The cars were fantastic, spent a lot of time in the paddocks - that's a must to be honest, and contrary to other's experiences the staff on the gate seemed to check tickets every time we went in (a lot).
The 250 GTOs going on to the track was quite something - £500 million + (well priceless really) of metal and rubber in one place at the same time.
We brought 'ol smokey down so got to park in the bugatti circuit which was really nice, if you can then highly recommended as it's just a short walk from the action.
All in all a great event, just don't do what I did stupidly and bought my children tickets - having spent 100+ euros I later found out they go free with a paying adult D'OH!
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