Le Mans novice - How to set about organising?

[lewis_sharman]

Ok, situation is as follows:

-I'm 21 in February
-Ive never driven abroad before
-Ive never been to Le Mans
-I really really want to go next year


So whats the plan of action? What do i need to sort out. Obviously tickets, ferries, campsites. Anything else?

What is a general break down of the costs of the weekend? I really don't want to forget anything and want to make it as painless as possible

Thanks in advance

[leyorkie]

Check out clubarnage.com for every thing you need to know, you can download a bulky (100+pages) guide.

[Vette_1978]

I certainly wouldn't worry about forgetting anything. Just the tickets and beer money will suffice. You'll learn what and what not to take the more years you go. Next year will be my 6th and we've gone from hauling gear in the Vette, to taking a van load of goodies and now we're back to living light.

[Mattt]

Beermountain has a decent guide.

[gt6]

You have given yourselve plenty of time, so the first thing to sort out is

Who is going/how many
Once this is known, method of transport/number of cars
Ferry or Tunnel?
Campsite or organised tour?
everything else you can sort out in the days before or when there.

If no memebers of your group have ever been before, either pick a more organised tour, like white rabbit, speedchillies or team lanquistine, once you know the ropes you may prefer to be more independent. For camping remember you get what you pay for so high price sites are usually better ignore wedsite comments most seem to be geared to putting people off the campsites the writer actually uses.

The only things you need to book at this time are camping tickets but these can only be reserved at the agencies at the moment, my suggestion would be to have a look at the three mentioned above all are very good and although you pay more for a first time group you will not be on your own. However if you just turn up at a campsite talk to anyone around you and you will be surprised how helpful they will be.

[blueST]

I'd go with a keep it simple approach for your first trip. All you'll need is a camping pass for each car (doesn't matter how many occupants) and a General Entrance ticket for each person.

Choose a campsite as close in to the circuit as you can, www.beermountain.com will give you a good idea of which ones meet your requirements. You may find it tough to get an agent that will be able to guarantee you a slot on the most popular sites (such as Maison Blanche). Note for the inexperienced, Blue Sud looks temptingly located, and cheap, but it has no showers of it's own. If you've got nerves of steel you can be pretty sure unwanted tickets will pop up on the 'Bay nearer to the race.

Don't bother with a grandstand seat first time out. It's not essential and pushes the price up quite a bit. You can scope the grandstand out this time round and consider them for the many years you'll be returning in the future.

Take as much camping equipment as humanly possible, it's like an unwritten rule that you have to drink beer surrounded by as much useless crap as possible. Imagine camping on the set of Scrapheap Challenge and you'll get the idea. And be sure to put stickers all over your car, Gulf always works well for me.

There a tonnes of ticket agents to choose from including those mentioned above. Those and a few more are:

http://www.1st-tickets.co.uk/index.html
http://www.justtickets.co.uk/
http://www.lemansrace.com/
http://www.racetours.co.uk/
http://www.tickets-2-u.com/index.htm
http://www.speedchills.com/
http://www.teamlangoustine.com/

Again as mentioned above, for more information in addition to the vast knowledge on here you could try www.beermountain.com or www.clubarnage.com

[//j17]

1) Find out who's going, get them to commit, get them to confirm holiday booked, get them to pay money! (People dropping out is the biggest pain in the ass organising a Le Mans trip).

2) Work out when you're going/coming back. Are you doing the mad dash (down Friday/back post-race Sunday)? Are you going to avoid the Sunday queues (stay Sunday night/drive back Monday)? Are you going to make a week of it (camping passes cover you from something like the Tuesday on)?

3) Book ASAP. Direct (and much cheaper) Booking-time is now on-wards, May is too-late-to-book time. Via an agency booking can be done more or less up to June 12th but will mean you pay more and may force you in to a package of ferry crossing/camping.

4) The only things you HAVE to take with you are; passport, camping ticket, credit card. The local supermarkets are used to race visitors and so sell all the budget basics, from BBQs to tents. They know people will be coming to the 24hr in things like Se7ens and also sell to the thousands of bikers that visit for the Bike 24hr race.

[lewis_sharman]

Thanks for the replies everyone, have had a look through beer mountain and justtickets.com

So basically me and my girlfriend want to go, tickets for the race are roughly £60 each, and camping for the whole time at 'Houx' is £90. Then all i need is a ferry crossing?

Does that sound about right?

[Mattt]

I wouldn't bother with buying tickets now, unless you have to. Get them on the gate, probably cheaper.

[billy no brakes]

lewis_sharman said:

Thanks for the replies everyone, have had a look through beer mountain and justtickets.com

So basically me and my girlfriend want to go, tickets for the race are roughly £60 each, and camping for the whole time at 'Houx' is £90. Then all i need is a ferry crossing?

Does that sound about right?

You will be very lucky to get Houx but it is worth trying but you need to it now, you will not get them at the gate.

you can buy general enrty tickets when you get there but you might as well buy them with campsite tickets,

Grandstands are up to you but the start and finish of the race are great to watch and in the grandstands you get a better view and with seats and you need to get them with the campsite and entry tickets.

Good Luck you will love it

[billy no brakes]

Mattt said:

I wouldn't bother with buying tickets now, unless you have to. Get them on the gate, probably cheaper.

just noticed you have TVR why not book through the TVRCC

[gt6]

lewis_sharman said:

Thanks for the replies everyone, have had a look through beer mountain and justtickets.com

So basically me and my girlfriend want to go, tickets for the race are roughly £60 each, and camping for the whole time at 'Houx' is £90. Then all i need is a ferry crossing?

Does that sound about right?

For the two of you just get a decent campsite, unless you want numbered plots with there own electricity then most of the campsites will be OK, the best campsites are probably unavailable unless you pay via the agencies
but basic costs for the two of you will be

£50 ferry/£100 tunnel
Fuel for 700 miles (there back plus driving around during your stay)
£80 camping at good site £40 at budget site
2 tickets buy at circuit 164 euro's
food plus booze £100 for 5 days

You then have to include future costs, I went 25 years ago as a one off, only missed two since it is addictive.

[lewis_sharman]

billy no brakes said:

Mattt said:

I wouldn't bother with buying tickets now, unless you have to. Get them on the gate, probably cheaper.

just noticed you have TVR why not book through the TVRCC

You can buy through the TVRCC?

[MiniMan64]

lewis_sharman said:

So basically me and my girlfriend want to go,

Theres your first mistake right there.

[john_p]

Bring bacon and sell it to other campers at huge markup to pay for your trip

[billy no brakes]

lewis_sharman said:

billy no brakes said:

Mattt said:

I wouldn't bother with buying tickets now, unless you have to. Get them on the gate, probably cheaper.

just noticed you have TVR why not book through the TVRCC

You can buy through the TVRCC?

Yes but again you need to apply as soon as they advertise it in the mag or on line

[blueST]

MiniMan64 said:

lewis_sharman said:

So basically me and my girlfriend want to go,

Theres your first mistake right there.

I too am venturing into this particular brand of folley. In fact, for the first time ever, our group is mostly couples. Must be the credit crunch.

[Vette_1978]

MiniMan64 said:

lewis_sharman said:

So basically me and my girlfriend want to go,

Theres your first mistake right there.

The words "school boy" and "error" come to mind. I've made it clear to the missus that I will always go to Le Mans and she is never going to be welcome. There are some boundaries that should never be crossed.

Saying that though you'll have a blast!

[The Angry Gopher]

Le Mans camping + wife/girlfriend = inevitable arguments resulting from the state of the showers. Perhaps one of the private campsites such as Speedchills/Team Langoustine would better suit your (her) requirements.

They cost a premium, but for that you get hot showers, bars, entertainment and there's usually tickets available no matter how late you book.

[Nick M]

See, it all depends if he's playing the long game or not...

I took SWMBO to Le Mans a couple of years on the trot, once with another couple and once with a group of people. We stayed at a nice little campsite away from the circuit with nice facilities and a bit of peace and quiet. Tried to make it as SWMBO-friendly as I could (although a roof on the Westfield might have helped....).

And she has vowed *NEVER* to go again !! Hence I'm able to ask, sincerely and with a straight face of course, if she'd like to come to Le Mans next year, knowing full well what the answer will be !!

She's also aware I'll be going twice next year, to the main race and the Classic, and she's fine with that, provided I don't try and drag her along.