Discussion
Hi guys,
I have booked at the team langoustine site for my first ever visit to le mans, I am coming down from ne Scotland for the event.
Question is that my ferry from zebrugge doesn't leave until Monday night, do many people stay on Sunday night, or does everyone bugger off straight after the race?
I don't want to be camping with the local pikeys on Sunday night, so I could travel half way to zebrugge if needed?
Any help apreciated.
Cheers
Ian
I have booked at the team langoustine site for my first ever visit to le mans, I am coming down from ne Scotland for the event.
Question is that my ferry from zebrugge doesn't leave until Monday night, do many people stay on Sunday night, or does everyone bugger off straight after the race?
I don't want to be camping with the local pikeys on Sunday night, so I could travel half way to zebrugge if needed?
Any help apreciated.
Cheers
Ian
I think this is a matter of personal preference. For me, Sunday night is very anticlimactic because the race is over and the campsite is half empty. I'm not that interested in staying round to watch sofas and gazebos getting torched 
I much prefer to make a break for it as soon as the race finishes (I can help with escape routes to avoid the jams if needed). Can be supping on an ice cold beer in the hotel by 7 or 8. Perfect way to end the weekend 
I much prefer to make a break for it as soon as the race finishes (I can help with escape routes to avoid the jams if needed). Can be supping on an ice cold beer in the hotel by 7 or 8. Perfect way to end the weekend Ive stayed down on a sunday night a couple of times, To be honnest I dont think I would do it again, Better to make a dash for it out of Le mans, freshen up in a hotel mid way back, good shower/bath and a good meal (and a drink) The security around Le mans after the race winds down and there is IMO an uneasy athomsphere around the campsites as the Pikeys go round in there vans taking anything that is not bolted down 
fatboy18 said:
Ive stayed down on a sunday night a couple of times, To be honnest I dont think I would do it again, Better to make a dash for it out of Le mans, freshen up in a hotel mid way back, good shower/bath and a good meal (and a drink) The security around Le mans after the race winds down and there is IMO an uneasy athomsphere around the campsites as the Pikeys go round in there vans taking anything that is not bolted down
Hopefully TL will be a bit different - our group have defied the Credit Crunch this year and are going TL instead of the unavailable Technoparc. As it has cost a fair bit more, most of us have decided to stay Sunday night too, just to make sure we get our money's worth.We usually bail out about 11am on the Sunday to miss the rush but I'm quite keen to see the end of the race for the first time ever and have a chilled night Sunday, with a few beers and a few laughs.
Also hoping that there will be fewer Gendarmes on the Monday!
Griff Boy,
You have a long round trip! I see you need to get the ferry on Monday night in Belgium.
In my opinion it's a tough call whether to dash back on the Sunday or relax and return on the Monday. Departing Sunday means you either leave maybe 30 minutes before the end of the race so as to avoid post race traffic, or maybe 2 hours after the end of the race for the same reason. Leaving within minutes of the end of the race is not worth it...and I know my way around the best "escape roads" in Le Mans pretty well.
The best part of leaving Monday is the relaxed approach and a great drive to the coast along with many other Brits in a great selection of cars. Time for a last good meal at lunch and shopping too!
Perhaps you could leave some time after the race on Sunday and drive part of the way back and stay overnight in a hotel. The problem with this is you'll have quite a bit of time on your hands on the Monday.
I have to say in 12 or so trips I have never camped. If I've left Le Mans on the Sunday I would have driven down Friday, maybe overnight, and got some zzzzs Saturday night, more likely early Sunday morning, in the car in Parking Blanc. If I've left Le Mans on the Monday I haved stayed in a hotel somewhere within range of the circuit on Friday and Sunday nights and slept in the car overnight Saturday as usual.
R.
You have a long round trip! I see you need to get the ferry on Monday night in Belgium.
In my opinion it's a tough call whether to dash back on the Sunday or relax and return on the Monday. Departing Sunday means you either leave maybe 30 minutes before the end of the race so as to avoid post race traffic, or maybe 2 hours after the end of the race for the same reason. Leaving within minutes of the end of the race is not worth it...and I know my way around the best "escape roads" in Le Mans pretty well.
The best part of leaving Monday is the relaxed approach and a great drive to the coast along with many other Brits in a great selection of cars. Time for a last good meal at lunch and shopping too!
Perhaps you could leave some time after the race on Sunday and drive part of the way back and stay overnight in a hotel. The problem with this is you'll have quite a bit of time on your hands on the Monday.
I have to say in 12 or so trips I have never camped. If I've left Le Mans on the Sunday I would have driven down Friday, maybe overnight, and got some zzzzs Saturday night, more likely early Sunday morning, in the car in Parking Blanc. If I've left Le Mans on the Monday I haved stayed in a hotel somewhere within range of the circuit on Friday and Sunday nights and slept in the car overnight Saturday as usual.
R.
Ok just to clarify, in the past I have stayed on Beausejour and Houx.
Houx is the most secure, but by the end of the weekend the security guys sometimes take there eyes off the ball As for Beausejour, Im afraid to say its a pikey free for all, We have had to chase them off from unattended tents 
If you go out and party off camp in the evening you may come back to nothing! One of the best things you can do is to get friendly with your neibours, if there not going off site ask them to keep an eye on things. 
You have been warned!!!!
Houx is the most secure, but by the end of the weekend the security guys sometimes take there eyes off the ball
As for Beausejour, Im afraid to say its a pikey free for all, We have had to chase them off from unattended tents If you go out and party off camp in the evening you may come back to nothing! One of the best things you can do is to get friendly with your neibours, if there not going off site ask them to keep an eye on things. You have been warned!!!!We hang around on the Sunday evening (in Houx) and then make an early start the next morning. It just means you can enjoy all of the race and a relaxing Sunday evening BBQ and beers.
Leaving on Sunday would mean either everyone laying off the beers or having 'designated drivers' chauffeur a bunch of snoozing, sunburnt (well OK, maybe not sunburnt after the last couple of years....) and sozzled friends back home. Not my idea of fun
Sunday is always an anticlimax, after the race is over we usually stroll back along the track from the pit lane, take the obligatory team photo under the Dunlop bridge and get back to Tertre Rouge for a post race beer.
There are always people around who will keep an eye on your pitch if you want to go out and about.
We've always stayed over Sunday night, we usually fire up the BBQ and use up any uneaten food, then either go for a drive round the re-opened track sections ending up in Arnage for a quiet beer, walk over to the Bar Bugatti or Stalla Bar to use up all our spare Euros, or go and have a Le Big Mac and a posh dump in McDonalds.
Getting back to the campsite we tend to make a start on packing the cars up and finishing up all the booze whilst watching the now traditional pyro display by the crazy Dutch, it's actually a good time to go and have a natter with your neighbours, make some new friends and discuss plans for next year.
It's a different atmosphere for sure, they leave the lights on around the circuit and its quite eerie but still all part of the experience.
There are always people around who will keep an eye on your pitch if you want to go out and about.
We've always stayed over Sunday night, we usually fire up the BBQ and use up any uneaten food, then either go for a drive round the re-opened track sections ending up in Arnage for a quiet beer, walk over to the Bar Bugatti or Stalla Bar to use up all our spare Euros, or go and have a Le Big Mac and a posh dump in McDonalds.
Getting back to the campsite we tend to make a start on packing the cars up and finishing up all the booze whilst watching the now traditional pyro display by the crazy Dutch, it's actually a good time to go and have a natter with your neighbours, make some new friends and discuss plans for next year.
It's a different atmosphere for sure, they leave the lights on around the circuit and its quite eerie but still all part of the experience.
I'm always in 2 minds about Sunday night, but we've generally done it. Waited for some people to rush off from the campsite after the race, then gone for a shower, then to the Mcdonalds. Couple of laps of the track, then back to the campsite for a few beers.
You see some interesting stuff, more so than during the week which is surprising. Some guy crashed a little motor bike in Technoparc a couple of years ago and got carted off in an ambulance... but it's usually quite a chilled out, relaxing end to the week.
Monday morning is crap though, you're left with an empty field, full of crap that the pikeys are going through. Quite happy to get out of there by then - for some reason that empty field isn't as inviting as it was on the Tuesday evening previously!
You see some interesting stuff, more so than during the week which is surprising. Some guy crashed a little motor bike in Technoparc a couple of years ago and got carted off in an ambulance... but it's usually quite a chilled out, relaxing end to the week.
Monday morning is crap though, you're left with an empty field, full of crap that the pikeys are going through. Quite happy to get out of there by then - for some reason that empty field isn't as inviting as it was on the Tuesday evening previously!
The Leaper said:
Griff Boy,
You have a long round trip! I see you need to get the ferry on Monday night in Belgium.
In my opinion it's a tough call whether to dash back on the Sunday or relax and return on the Monday. Departing Sunday means you either leave maybe 30 minutes before the end of the race so as to avoid post race traffic, or maybe 2 hours after the end of the race for the same reason. Leaving within minutes of the end of the race is not worth it...and I know my way around the best "escape roads" in Le Mans pretty well.
The best part of leaving Monday is the relaxed approach and a great drive to the coast along with many other Brits in a great selection of cars. Time for a last good meal at lunch and shopping too!
Perhaps you could leave some time after the race on Sunday and drive part of the way back and stay overnight in a hotel. The problem with this is you'll have quite a bit of time on your hands on the Monday.
I have to say in 12 or so trips I have never camped. If I've left Le Mans on the Sunday I would have driven down Friday, maybe overnight, and got some zzzzs Saturday night, more likely early Sunday morning, in the car in Parking Blanc. If I've left Le Mans on the Monday I haved stayed in a hotel somewhere within range of the circuit on Friday and Sunday nights and slept in the car overnight Saturday as usual.
R.
Your right Leaper, we do have a long drive and a long ferry trip and then another long drive...You have a long round trip! I see you need to get the ferry on Monday night in Belgium.
In my opinion it's a tough call whether to dash back on the Sunday or relax and return on the Monday. Departing Sunday means you either leave maybe 30 minutes before the end of the race so as to avoid post race traffic, or maybe 2 hours after the end of the race for the same reason. Leaving within minutes of the end of the race is not worth it...and I know my way around the best "escape roads" in Le Mans pretty well.
The best part of leaving Monday is the relaxed approach and a great drive to the coast along with many other Brits in a great selection of cars. Time for a last good meal at lunch and shopping too!
Perhaps you could leave some time after the race on Sunday and drive part of the way back and stay overnight in a hotel. The problem with this is you'll have quite a bit of time on your hands on the Monday.
I have to say in 12 or so trips I have never camped. If I've left Le Mans on the Sunday I would have driven down Friday, maybe overnight, and got some zzzzs Saturday night, more likely early Sunday morning, in the car in Parking Blanc. If I've left Le Mans on the Monday I haved stayed in a hotel somewhere within range of the circuit on Friday and Sunday nights and slept in the car overnight Saturday as usual.
R.
ferry is overnight to Hull, then a 6 hour drive to get home to south of Aberdeen.
I have to say I am not keen on leaving 30mins before the end of the race, seems a bit mad for to come all this way and not see the end? Will be a long week though, as leaving home Monday morning.
Am guessing the atmosphere in TL campsite is pretty good, we dont know anyone there, but sounds like we can make some friends easily. I am hoping that the security TL provide should make the sunday night ok, have no interest in chasing pikeys around the place.
Second decision is which car to take, either my TVR Griffith 500 or my daily driver Audi TT 3.2? would normally say the TVR, but I have spent a fortune getting it resprayed and retrimmed, and I dont want to 'live' out of it for a week. Also, I have alot more boot space and cruise control on the Audi and as we will have to cover something like 24 hours (!) of driving time just to get there and back the Audis looking the better bet at the moment.
whatever it is, it will be stickered up!
Cheers for the responses
Ian
I have always camped on Camping Bleu and used to stay on Sunday night and go back Monday morning. On Bleu never had any problems with Pikeys as there were always enough people around to watch them.
We don't do it now because Sunday night is boring after the first half dozen times, drag racing, exploding dustbins, wheelies....yawn, and the traffic is as bad on Monday as it is on Sunday on the motorway toll booths. We head west out of Le Mans and once you pass the Carrefour at Arnage, traffic wise, it's as if there's never been a race.
Dave
We don't do it now because Sunday night is boring after the first half dozen times, drag racing, exploding dustbins, wheelies....yawn, and the traffic is as bad on Monday as it is on Sunday on the motorway toll booths. We head west out of Le Mans and once you pass the Carrefour at Arnage, traffic wise, it's as if there's never been a race.
Dave
There are plenty that stay at the TL site and the bar and marquee are open until 2am ish. As the site is fenced/walled there is no through traffic or easy access for pikeys etc.
I find leaving immediately after the race ends is the biggest anti-climax. If you then drift back to the campsite, have a few beers and wind down slowly, then you'll enjoy the drive back the next day alot more.
I personally would not want to do that at BSJ or the other big public sites as there is a lot of pikey scum and morons blowing up waste bins - IMHO.
I find leaving immediately after the race ends is the biggest anti-climax. If you then drift back to the campsite, have a few beers and wind down slowly, then you'll enjoy the drive back the next day alot more.
I personally would not want to do that at BSJ or the other big public sites as there is a lot of pikey scum and morons blowing up waste bins - IMHO.
We're staying at TL this year and are staying over Sunday night, hopefully to chill out with a few beers and generally chat to other like minded individuals.
I first went two years ago and left Sunday night about 6pm, due to the rain we were soaked through and just wanted to get out of there. Last year we stayed the Sunday night and had a cracking time. I think it depends who you are with and where you are staying.
I have stayed with WRR the last two years and although on BSJ, they had security and fencing so we had no problems whatsoever in respect of pikeys invading us and there was a good crowd hanging around on the WRR campsite so there was still a good atmosphere.
So, in summary - I would say Sunday is well worth staying for.
I first went two years ago and left Sunday night about 6pm, due to the rain we were soaked through and just wanted to get out of there. Last year we stayed the Sunday night and had a cracking time. I think it depends who you are with and where you are staying.
I have stayed with WRR the last two years and although on BSJ, they had security and fencing so we had no problems whatsoever in respect of pikeys invading us and there was a good crowd hanging around on the WRR campsite so there was still a good atmosphere.
So, in summary - I would say Sunday is well worth staying for.
I've always stayed for the Sunday night, I find it means that you can have a nice relaxing evening, finish your beers and have a relaxed drive home on Mondy morning. I generally stay overnight in London on Monday before driving back up to Aberdeen on Tuesday.
From experience Maison Blanche wasn't too bad Pikey wise, it's inside the gates and there's still lots of people about, Camping Blu was dodgy though, I half expected to wake up inside my tent in the back of a battered Renault Master Van!
From experience Maison Blanche wasn't too bad Pikey wise, it's inside the gates and there's still lots of people about, Camping Blu was dodgy though, I half expected to wake up inside my tent in the back of a battered Renault Master Van!
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