"Feedback" for the ACO

[Nick M]

Anyone have the name of a suitable contact within the ACO to whom I can send some feedback about the weekend. Basically, asking them for all the things we'd like to see, such as:

- proper viewing enclosure alongside the Mulsanne
- re-open the area between Mulsanne and Arnage on the Friday to allow us to meet and wander round the cars (maybe offer our services as 'marshalls' to reduce the idiot element)
- how to try and reduce the hooligan issue on Friday by maybe laying on some alternative entertainment - maybe even moving the concert from Saturday to Friday night ??
- finding out if there is *any* way possible that we can find somewhere so we might be able to have some non-hooligan-infested fun with our cars on the Friday
- sorting out the campsites plots properly so people aren't having to 'negotiate' for their plots because some other bugger has nicked them.

Do I hold out much hope of getting positive responses ? No, not really. But for the sake of an e-mail / letter it's better than just pissing and moaning about things and doing nowt about it.

[heebeegeetee]

Nick M said:

A
- re-open the area between Mulsanne and Arnage on the Friday to allow us to meet and wander round the cars (maybe offer our services as 'marshalls' to reduce the idiot element)

Hi, haven't been for a few years, but what does this mean? Does the track/road remain closed on the Friday?

[E36GUY]

Two hopes. Bob and no.

It's not the ACO's decision to close the Arnage to Mulsanne section, it's the Police's.

As for individual gripes, they won't care. They get over 250,000 visitors who keep coming despite the frustrations and they know it.

But good luck if you try it!

[ginettag27]

re: Friday - the great British Welcome at St Saturnin is exactly that... It's only just north of the town, close to L'Arche and so on.. Where you exit the Peage or come in from the N138..

[Combover]

heebeegeetee said:

Nick M said:

A
- re-open the area between Mulsanne and Arnage on the Friday to allow us to meet and wander round the cars (maybe offer our services as 'marshalls' to reduce the idiot element)

Hi, haven't been for a few years, but what does this mean? Does the track/road remain closed on the Friday?

I think he's referring to the Police decision to stop all cars from getting to Indy corner on the Friday morning. We all congregated on the Mulsanne by the cafe in the end which was in no way ideal, but better than nothing.

[heebeegeetee]

E36GUY said:

Two hopes. Bob and no.

It's not the ACO's decision to close the Arnage to Mulsanne section, it's the Police's.

So its closed Friday morning, for the car show?

[dobboMK1]

Here are some contact details for the ACO:

http://www.lemans.org/aco/pages/contacts/index_gb....

It is a good idea to voice any complaints as without them the ACO have no idea where they are going wrong (or doing things right!).

I'll second the sentiments about the British Welcome though.

[Nick M]

E36GUY said:

It's not the ACO's decision to close the Arnage to Mulsanne section, it's the Police's.

As for individual gripes, they won't care. They get over 250,000 visitors who keep coming despite the frustrations and they know it.

But good luck if you try it!

Well I figured if nobody asks then nothing will *definitely* happen, as opposed to nothing *probably* happening.

At the risk of getting 'deep and meaningful', and also crediting the ACO with more sense than perhaps I should (they *are* French after all....), it would be cavalier of the organisers of a big sporting event such as Le Mans to completely ignore the comments from people who help pay for it.

I know there are plenty of us daft enough to keep going back year on year, but with uncertain times ahead economically, both here and in France, Netherlands, Denmark, etc., I suspect that a lot of business and organisations like the ACO are well aware that attending an event like Le Mans is entirely optional for the spectators. While I agree they probably don't care two hoots (not least because there'll always be new blood coming to the race) the fact remains that if things continue to annoy paying punters then there's no guarantee that they will come back the following year.

And let us not forget that the internet can be a powerful tool for and against you if you get enough people talking on forums, etc.

All these things might be exacerbated if the rule changes mean people are less interested in the racing - there are already plenty of comments around that diesels are 'boring' and people don't want to see them win again....

So anyway, none of that is going to make a blind bit of difference to whether they even read the comments, but I feel better for having done it !!

[Nick M]

heebeegeetee said:

E36GUY said:

Two hopes. Bob and no.

It's not the ACO's decision to close the Arnage to Mulsanne section, it's the Police's.

So its closed Friday morning, for the car show?

Yep. Largely because the police consider a few burnouts to be the most lethal thing ever to happen on French soil , but also because there were a couple of accidents, one involving a hit and run by a guy in a rented Ferrari a few years back.

In effect, it just pushes everyone to the cafe on the Mulsanne or into villages like Arnage, neither of which seem like particularly sensible options to me.... But then, it seems the French police aren't reknowned for their forward thinking and realising what the consequences of their actions might be...

[t1grm]

heebeegeetee said:

E36GUY said:

Two hopes. Bob and no.

It's not the ACO's decision to close the Arnage to Mulsanne section, it's the Police's.

So its closed Friday morning, for the car show?

There is no show. The police closed to stop the show. It got too big and then people started arseing round. So now the police close the road off. Nothing happens at Arnage on Friday now.

[rude-boy]

I agree with your sentiments.

One point I would make is other than perhaps providing an area for owners to park up their cars for people to look at them (say from the Dunlop Bridge to the start of the Mausane (sp?) which is permanent race track) their is no way in hell that the ACO is going to leave itself open to the liability issues of organising a "burn out" area or similar. Static may be, but nothing mobile for fear of the consequences of little Johnny getting splattered.

[t1grm]

Nick M said:

heebeegeetee said:

E36GUY said:

Two hopes. Bob and no.

It's not the ACO's decision to close the Arnage to Mulsanne section, it's the Police's.

So its closed Friday morning, for the car show?

Yep. Largely because the police consider a few burnouts to be the most lethal thing ever to happen on French soil , but also because there were a couple of accidents, one involving a hit and run by a guy in a rented Ferrari a few years back.

In effect, it just pushes everyone to the cafe on the Mulsanne or into villages like Arnage, neither of which seem like particularly sensible options to me.... But then, it seems the French police aren't reknowned for their forward thinking and realising what the consequences of their actions might be...

Didn’t think the rented Ferrari incident was at Arnage? Also that was a couple of years before they stopped it so if it were that surely they would have stopped it the next year. I was told someone lost a leg in 06 when they where hit by a car that got a tankslapper on when pulling a wheelspin. That was the last year the Arnage meet was allowed.

[Nick M]

rude-boy said:

I agree with your sentiments.

One point I would make is other than perhaps providing an area for owners to park up their cars for people to look at them (say from the Dunlop Bridge to the start of the Mausane (sp?) which is permanent race track) their is no way in hell that the ACO is going to leave itself open to the liability issues of organising a "burn out" area or similar. Static may be, but nothing mobile for fear of the consequences of little Johnny getting splattered.

I know....

But if you don't ask, there's nothing for you to 'concede' in the event that you're ever lucky enough to get into some sort of discussion about it....

[Nick M]

t1grm said:

Didn’t think the rented Ferrari incident was at Arnage? Also that was a couple of years before they stopped it so if it were that surely they would have stopped it the next year. I was told someone lost a leg in 06 when they where hit by a car that got a tankslapper on when pulling a wheelspin. That was the last year the Arnage meet was allowed.

It was, because the guy whose Seat he hit was staying on the same campsite as us.

I knew there had been other incidents, but not the details. If someone was that badly injured then I can sort of see their point....

[williamp]

The ACO has given members a questionnaire to fill in, where some points can be made.

[Nick M]

williamp said:

The ACO has given members a questionnaire to fill in, where some points can be made.

That's good

I've not renewed my ACO membership for the past couple of years as it seemed expensive in relation to what you got out of it. If there was a way they could guarantee that if you booked camping tickets with them you might actually get them then I'd renew it like a shot because of the ticket discounts, rather than using an agency and getting everything as part of a package.

In fact, maybe I'll mention that to them too... "Please don't let the agencies get *all* of the Houx camping passes !!"

[heebeegeetee]

t1grm said:

heebeegeetee said:

E36GUY said:

Two hopes. Bob and no.

It's not the ACO's decision to close the Arnage to Mulsanne section, it's the Police's.

So its closed Friday morning, for the car show?

There is no show. The police closed to stop the show. It got too big and then people started arseing round. So now the police close the road off. Nothing happens at Arnage on Friday now.

Ohh, that's a shame. I'd been entertaining the idea of doing Le Mans again on the cheap, by only buying tickets for the Arnage/Indy enclose and staying there all weekend, including taking in the friday morn car show. Guess that ideas really scotched now though.

I would defend the organisation of the event though. I went for 18 years from 1986 onwards, and things definitely haven't stayed the same. Indeed i wished they had, because it was due to the changes (and poor racing - i was spoilt by the Group C era) that i stopped going. Watching a bit of the race on tv last saturday night, the circuit is barely unrecognisable from what i saw.

But given the size of the venue and the nature of the event, on the whole they do a great job and there isn't a chance in hell that we could do similar here in Britain. I salute the organisers very highly for fending off the pc and elf'n' safety brigade for as long as they did. I remember back in the 80's going to watch practice on the Mulsanne. Having parked our cars you'd walk through the field and round the back of the barns, pick your way through the guinea pigs (yes really), walk around the quaint, rustic buildings and then stand behind a hedge and watch as the worlds greatest racing cars blasted past at speeds of up to 240mph and beyond. There was simply nowhere else on earth where it could happen.

We used to go to scrutineering quite often. Again, the way it was organised was terrific imo. A few smartly dressed men and women acting as marshals would usher in with a minimum of fuss, every competitor into the Place du Jacobins, from the worlds biggest manufacturers to the smallest privateers. The competitors would park their trucks and transporters up and unload their cars, and then they would have to push them through the spectators into the scrutineering area. This would allow the (non paying, it was all free) spectators fantastic access to the cars, and a lot of the drivers would hang around for a chat and autographs as well. Does this still happen, does anyone know?

It contrasted for me with the Goodwood Festival of Speed. There, fat scruffy marshals all wearing enormous cheap white trainers would run about literally like headless chickens the moment a car moved anywhere near standing people, they'd be shouting and bawling and blowing whistles and generally treating everyone as complete idiots who didn't have the sense to not get knocked over or not get in the way. The contrast was night and day, for me. It showed how we just don't have a clue on some occasions.

I stopped going to le Mans because it eventually got brought into the modern world and they're clearly afraid of the litigious times we live in, but I will have to go back. I do think the organisation is bloody good though.

[will_]

I think next year the Friday meeting could be on the public road section between Arnage Corner and the Porsche Curves - plenty of parking at the roadside, very wide road with good visibility, and far enough away from the campsites for the knuckle-draggers to be bothered to walk. That section was open this year.

[heebeegeetee]

will_ said:

I think next year the Friday meeting could be on the public road section between Arnage Corner and the Porsche Curves - plenty of parking at the roadside, very wide road with good visibility, and far enough away from the campsites for the knuckle-draggers to be bothered to walk. That section was open this year.

Ah ha.

I have to say, as much as i like a good time, and have indeed drank far too much myselfon occasion at le Mans, I don't quite understand why quite so many people have to go stark staring mad when they're over there. I think this is at the root of many problems at le Mans.

[will_]

heebeegeetee said:

will_ said:

I think next year the Friday meeting could be on the public road section between Arnage Corner and the Porsche Curves - plenty of parking at the roadside, very wide road with good visibility, and far enough away from the campsites for the knuckle-draggers to be bothered to walk. That section was open this year.

Ah ha.

I have to say, as much as i like a good time, and have indeed drank far too much myselfon occasion at le Mans, I don't quite understand why quite so many people have to go stark staring mad when they're over there. I think this is at the root of many problems at le Mans.

Not quite sure I see the connection between what I said and what you have? I think it would be more fun and safer if, rather than on the Mulsanne or in Arnage village, there is a general car meet (so we can all get together and look at the motors that come down) that is more organised than this year. It's a shame to only find out that there was an F50 at Le Mans when you get home and see other people's pictures.

No suggestion that anyone goes mad, but the "Mad Friday" meet at Arnage corner was one of the previous highlights for me.