Educating the masses
Discussion
Got a lad in the office. 22 years old and a car nut. Follows F1...etc. I turn up at work with the car stickered up and he has not the foggiest about Le Mans. Asks if I'm racing???
A lovely neighbour in his 70s thought "they stopped Le Mans years ago.....after that nasty business." (referring to the 1955 crash!)
There are many sports I'm not interested in yet I know most of the major sporting events that apply to them and understand their importance. Yet ignorance of LeMans is profound amongst more than I had previously thought. Am alone in this?
Should we be keeping it to ourselves or should we start educating the masses?
A lovely neighbour in his 70s thought "they stopped Le Mans years ago.....after that nasty business." (referring to the 1955 crash!)
There are many sports I'm not interested in yet I know most of the major sporting events that apply to them and understand their importance. Yet ignorance of LeMans is profound amongst more than I had previously thought. Am alone in this?
Should we be keeping it to ourselves or should we start educating the masses?
If you don't happen to watch the news on the one Sunday a year that the race finishes you can easily be unaware of the event.
However, the WEC doesn't seem to do itself any favours when even us hardcore fans have difficulty working out how to watch it (and then have to pay money to do so).
If they stuck the whole thing live on Youtube (like the SRO do for all their GT series) then you'd start bringing in a whole new generation of fans.
However, the WEC doesn't seem to do itself any favours when even us hardcore fans have difficulty working out how to watch it (and then have to pay money to do so).
If they stuck the whole thing live on Youtube (like the SRO do for all their GT series) then you'd start bringing in a whole new generation of fans.
ker on the planet will turn up and we'll be sharing space and £200 entry tickets with them...just like F1 I got asked if I was racing in the event when I had a previous car stickered up 
most people don't have a clue what the event is. Shame really as it's one of places and events that is on another level, for me at least.
It's one better than trying to explain going to the Nurburgring, that it's not Nuremberg, and yes there is a race track and yes you can "just drive on it".
most people don't have a clue what the event is. Shame really as it's one of places and events that is on another level, for me at least. It's one better than trying to explain going to the Nurburgring, that it's not Nuremberg, and yes there is a race track and yes you can "just drive on it".
davidd said:
It is our duty to educate people.
Most won't care.
Some will turn up once.
For a few however it will be life changing. Those are the ones that matter.
This^^ 100% - Given the costs to "access" watching Formula One I had always assumed that Le Mans was an exclusive event and ridiculously expensive. It was early 1999 and a colleague had seen McNish win for Porsche the previous year. He "educated" me and the rest, as they say, is history. In '99 I paid £99 for a race ticket, ferry and camping permit on the Annex. Only missed 3 races since then, leaving tomorrow for number 18 out of a possible 21, and I've a regular gang of 3-5 that I've educated and travel with me. I agree with the OP, there's a lot of ignorance about this great event, apart from the Monday after, there's hardly a fanfare in any of the general news.Most won't care.
Some will turn up once.
For a few however it will be life changing. Those are the ones that matter.
BeeGT said:
there's hardly a fanfare in any of the general news.
I think I'm right in saying that LeMans is one of the top five highest attended single sporting events in the world yet mainstream media would rather broadcast and write about W Formula - spectated, it seems, by the circuit groundsman!Not just Le Mans.
BTCC is (or was) spectated by more people than Cricket in the UK; a sport that commands the ability to interrupt daytime radio broadcasts with updates from Trent Oval Bridge or wherever!
I know a lot of people tired of the Alonso effect last year but that was just inverse snobbery. I think a lot of LM and sports car fans are happy that casual F1 fans don't know anything about endurance racing and ignorant about LM. I've tried in vain to persuade my friends and brother to give it a go. I managed to drag them to btcc but the costs involved in attending your average F1 race or LM is a lot for most, particularly when you're travelling from some distance away from the ferry ports. Before booking this year I got some quotes and some were pushing a grand (each). That's on a premium site obviously. My camping is a lot dearer than I'd pay at Silverstone for the F1 but the ticket is less than half the price so it's swings and roundabouts.
StevieBee said:
I think I'm right in saying that LeMans is one of the top five highest attended single sporting events in the world yet mainstream media would rather broadcast and write about W Formula - spectated, it seems, by the circuit groundsman!
Not just Le Mans.
BTCC is (or was) spectated by more people than Cricket in the UK; a sport that commands the ability to interrupt daytime radio broadcasts with updates from Trent Oval Bridge or wherever!
They must think it is the gumball rally or somethingNot just Le Mans.
BTCC is (or was) spectated by more people than Cricket in the UK; a sport that commands the ability to interrupt daytime radio broadcasts with updates from Trent Oval Bridge or wherever!
Great Dane said:
Natrional Geographic said about 5 years back that LM was the #1 sporting event ahead of the Olympics, Soccer World Cup, Wimbledon etc #1
Really????I heard at a peak race up to 90,000 Brits will travel to Le Mans. If its true that must be the biggest migration for any sporting event for the British population.
wsn03 said:
Great Dane said:
Natrional Geographic said about 5 years back that LM was the #1 sporting event ahead of the Olympics, Soccer World Cup, Wimbledon etc #1
Really????I heard at a peak race up to 90,000 Brits will travel to Le Mans. If its true that must be the biggest migration for any sporting event for the British population.
Well, I was once one those, before my first visit I was told the race was on public roads and assumed it was a Monaco style race around Le mans city centre.... so much so that once I roped some similarly uneducated work mates to take me there (too young to have a licence then), we drove to Le mans city centre (hopelessly late for the start of the race having completely underestimated the distance- no motorways in 1979). So we drove into what I assume is the main square, then a big roundabout you could drive into, and wondered why there were no racing cars flying past.
I think almost by chance we ended up at the Carrefour car park near Tetra rouge (was not a multi story then, just a wide open car park and being Saturday evening back then the store was closed) and suddenly we heard the sound of race cars..... followed our ears and life has never quite been the same since.
I think almost by chance we ended up at the Carrefour car park near Tetra rouge (was not a multi story then, just a wide open car park and being Saturday evening back then the store was closed) and suddenly we heard the sound of race cars..... followed our ears and life has never quite been the same since.
Edited by eastlmark on Wednesday 12th June 08:57
krisdelta said:
I got asked if I was racing in the event when I had a previous car stickered up most people don't have a clue what the event is. Shame really as it's one of places and events that is on another level, for me at least.
It's one better than trying to explain going to the Nurburgring, that it's not Nuremberg, and yes there is a race track and yes you can "just drive on it".
I actually had an article written about me in my local freebie paper as the journalist thought I was actually taking part in my 1977 TR7 all because I had a couple of stickers on the car! most people don't have a clue what the event is. Shame really as it's one of places and events that is on another level, for me at least. It's one better than trying to explain going to the Nurburgring, that it's not Nuremberg, and yes there is a race track and yes you can "just drive on it".
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