Auto Car article - mod mentality @ LeMans

[taylor172]

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/motorsport/le-mans-...

any one else think this article is a load of crap!?

[gog440]

There are small number of idiots at LeMans but the law of averages says that in such a huge number of people there will always be a few dheads. I have never seen people forced to do a burnout or similar, in past years there were so many people who wanted to that if someone didnt want to that was fair enough, the last 2or3 years the CRS have been really cracking down on the burn outs and general daftness and it almost seems to be a bit of a dying pastime there. Friday night this year I was in Arnage village and was manhandled by a gendarme because I was stood about 2 inches into the road and he took exception to it, despite there being only a change of colour between the pavement and road and I hadnt noticed that I had strayed.

[Eugene7]

Unfortunately we have seen the behaviour described in that article all too often - especially on the Friday.

Le BOG Club stays well away now, and we had a great Friday the the Classic British Welcome.

Having said that, this will be our last 24 Hours - We'll stick to the Classic from now on...

[va1o]

To be honest most of what he says in the article is true, but its part of the fun. As with most events you get a minority of idiots who ruin it for the rest of us but Mad Friday is always a bit rowdy and part of the Le Mans experience. It wouldn't be the same without

[OilyRagMan]

va1o said:

To be honest most of what he says in the article is true, but its part of the fun. As with most events you get a minority of idiots who ruin it for the rest of us but Mad Friday is always a bit rowdy and part of the Le Mans experience. It wouldn't be the same without

I don't see how, drenching old couples in open top classics or trying to rip open the doors on single girls cars just trying to get home from the track as 'part of the fun' and sadly a lot of what I saw was pissed up English people doing it. I took the GF for the first time this year and she felt intimidated just walking past the crowds god knows what it was like for the people in the cars getting surrounded by half naked drunk blokes. Also this year was the first time I genuinely though I was going to see someone killed on mad Friday when a catherham challence car (covered in PH stickers) mounted the pavement outside houx very nearly wiping out 6 people!

[va1o]

OilyRagMan said:

I don't see how, drenching old couples in open top classics or trying to rip open the doors on single girls cars just trying to get home from the track as 'part of the fun' and sadly a lot of what I saw was pissed up English people doing it. I took the GF for the first time this year and she felt intimidated just walking past the crowds god knows what it was like for the people in the cars getting surrounded by half naked drunk blokes. Also this year was the first time I genuinely though I was going to see someone killed on mad Friday when a catherham challence car (covered in PH stickers) mounted the pavement outside houx very nearly wiping out 6 people!

You've taken my quote completely out of context there and I'm not endorsing the stupid behaviour of the individuals described. In some ways though its up to people visiting to take sensible precautions such as not driving through the busy parts and to ensure all roofs/ windows are up and doors locked. Having said that the police seemed more relaxed this year than normal and less willing to intervene, which could go some way to explain what you describe.

We had our car rear-ended and subsequently written off the first year we went, and the following year our tent was stolen from the campsite with all its contents but we've still kept on going every year since and had a good time!

[hyper jay]

was it the guys first time to lm by any chance ?
driving in 3 spanking astons past houx on Friday ,im not exactly surprised .

Edited by hyper jay on Tuesday 25th June 18:51

Edited by hyper jay on Tuesday 25th June 18:52

[tvrman]

OilyRagMan said:

I don't see how, drenching old couples in open top classics or trying to rip open the doors on single girls cars just trying to get home from the track as 'part of the fun' and sadly a lot of what I saw was pissed up English people doing it. I took the GF for the first time this year and she felt intimidated just walking past the crowds god knows what it was like for the people in the cars getting surrounded by half naked drunk blokes. Also this year was the first time I genuinely though I was going to see someone killed on mad Friday when a catherham challence car (covered in PH stickers) mounted the pavement outside houx very nearly wiping out 6 people!

Er yes we also saw this incident. Very shocking and the closed thing to running over someone in 15 years of going to Le Mans. The fact he came back for more was madness.

[NormanD]

Eugene7 said:

Unfortunately we have seen the behaviour described in that article all too often - especially on the Friday.

Le BOG Club stays well away now, and we had a great Friday the the Classic British Welcome.

Having said that, this will be our last 24 Hours - We'll stick to the Classic from now on...

Having been going to LeMans since the early 70's we haven't been for the last two years now for that reason

Also so many now just go to see how many beers they can drink then Pis against anything standing

[James_N]

taylor172 said:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/motorsport/le-mans-...

any one else think this article is a load of crap!?

Nope. Its spot on.

Its always been a bit crazy, especially on fridays. This year my parents came along. They always hear me and a few mates saying what a good time we had at Le Mans, and they are big car fans, so they came along.

The weather meant the behavior wasn't as bad as it sometimes is, but they ventured out on the friday, and I told them to keep windows shut and doors locked, which they did. On their return they remarked how irresponsible and stupid people's behavior was. They even got stopped, presumably to do a burnout, but in an automatic diesel 4x4, i'm not sure how this was going to happen!

Then fast forward to sunday night. We had an early start on Monday morning from Houx so as it was pretty empty by this time, we decided to try and get an early night, but that soon became impossible due to people doing burnouts, doughnuts and generally racing their old bangers around the campsite. In the end we had to hitch the caravan up and drive to a services on the A28 to get some sleep! My dad was also worried about the potential for his caravan / car to be damaged by the idiots rallying around the site.

My dads words on the way back was "I loved the racing, but couldn't go back there next year due to all the fking idiots behaving like they did". We are far from spoilsports, but some of the behavior is just silly and I really wish there would be a crackdown on it.

I sometimes think about giving the 24 hours a miss in favour of the classic, but I've met so many nice and decent people at Le Mans (mainly dutch to be honest, the English are just wkers most of the time!) that I keep going back to have some beers with the friendly dutchies

I wouldn't take anything worth over £5k to le mans let alone £100k+.

[Troubleatmill]

Over the 15 years I've been going I've seen:

Bottles of red wine being poured into cream leather cabins of convertibles
Fire breathing into the cabin of passing convertibles. (The CRS took a special interest in this one )
A scooby doing doughnuts on gravel thus stone chipping every car around him. He didn't care.
Launch control at Blue South with a few near misses of pedestrians
Eggs being thrown at windscreens


What starts out as a bit of fun....the behaviour worsens as the day goes on.

IMO - Brits tend to be the worst behaved of the nationalities.

[fordyx]

taylor172 said:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/motorsport/le-mans-...

any one else think this article is a load of crap!?

Agree with it apart from the suggestion of a dedicated burn out area - that will never work. These pics look like the scenes down at Beausjour. Totally shocked to see flairs being lit and held over some of the gorgeous metal caught up in the mele. I would have freaked if it were me. Either i'm getting old or it just seemed to have gone a little too far this year and I don't think the ACO are really helping by putting so many campsites on the roads edge. Think there is also some responsibility of these large organised tour organisers to control their clients. Kesjer (or however its spelt) down at Porsche Curves seemed to have no issues with their clients sat on their gate selling beer to passers by.

[indyxe]

I agree with the reporter, I was next to Bleu Sud early on Friday evening where there was a child with a large super soaker squirting inside all passing cars with their windows opened, his mate with a 5 litre container also emptying its contents into cars all the time being watched by the Parent, who found it highly amusing.
A French registered blue corvette was reluctant understandably to pass the crowds, so was then hurled fowl mouthed abuse regrettably by the British contingent.
This is not fun for the passing cars, its highly intimidating and should be stopped, I'm surprised no one has been arrested for drunken disorder or breach of the peace.

[taylor172]

maybe its just me, I took my Aston martin down this year, yeah it got alot of attention but mostly people wanting to sit in it and take pictures.

I parked it back up on the camp by mid day friday before the masses were out and it was never damaged.

Driving through mad friday is like someone else said taking a nice sunday drive through syria.

[ukcobra]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Had the same thing happen to me on Friday night, walking back on MB from BN, a firework was lit on the ground it shot off along the tarmac near me and exploded about 2 metres away. Alcohol and Fireworks should never be allowed together.

[Dave200]

taylor172 said:

Driving through mad friday is like someone else said taking a nice sunday drive through syria.

But this is a motorsport event in a (relatively) civilised country. Why should it be this way?

It's been 4-5 years since I last went, but even then I walked away from Houx roundabout on the Friday as things started to become stupid. I didn't want to see someone injured or worse.

I know that Brits make up the majority of the crowd at Le Mans, but they are heavily over-represented among shirtless, drunken, baying crowd. Even more sad was that PH stickers seemed to find their way onto quite a lot of the 'performers' cars - including an S2000 who had a moment which will stay with me for ever.

Alas, a group of cretins will always ruin things one way or another, if allowed. I'm going back next year after a 5yr hiatus and can't wait, but I'll be steering clear of the roads on Friday night.

[DS240]

If someone damaged, poured red wine or even a bucket of water in my car, I would ensure I clocked exactly what that person looked like and go and calmly park up close by.

More than likely the idiot would still be there. I'd then dedicate however long it took to identify the idiot again and then just follow them back to their camping spot.

The rest I'll keep to myself.......

I've had the odd squirt of a water pistol in my direction, but I've had more water come in getting caught roof off in a shower. That I can take as a bit of fun. I've not driven, nor would i, in the peak night times around the circuit.

It is normally only a small percentage who go too far, but the mass of people around them don't do anything about it, so they carry on. There is that line between atmosphere/fun/respect and just plain thuggery.

I could see a small diversion off into a car park working where there is a 50m single lane channel lined with those concrete barrier things. Crowd are a bit more protected. Those driving through choose and know what to expect from the crowd. It takes it off the main road. It could be turned into a bit of an event 'the mad Friday experience' or similar. Marshalled in some form but still allowing enough stuff to take away the chaos on the roads.