Renting land on the mulsanne

[davidd]

So at le mans last year, we decided (we being my motor racing co conspiritor Ian and I) decided that for our 50th birthdays we'd like to rent a bit of land next to the track, get a couple of big motorhomes and invite our families and friends.

We've got 8 and a half years to sort it out...

What are the chances.. (one for lowdrag possibly)..

Cheers

D

PS no really, we are serious!

[johnhere]

I think you will find you will need very deep pockets and that is if you can find any land near the track available for rent. More chance if you go further a-field.
We have space for motor homes at Le Bounty with hook up points but we only do a package which includes food.

John

[E36GUY]

Get down there and start knocking on doors David. There appears to be plenty of dead land alongside the Mulsanne especially one spot pre-Hunaudieres which has a skeleton of an old building on it but as to how to contact the owner? No idea.

[davidd]

E36GUY said:

Get down there and start knocking on doors David. There appears to be plenty of dead land alongside the Mulsanne especially one spot pre-Hunaudieres which has a skeleton of an old building on it but as to how to contact the owner? No idea.

Cheers Guy

Is that what looks like an old garden centre? We had thought about that...

Maybe we'll stay a few days later this year and see what we find.

Cheers

D

[E36GUY]

davidd said:

E36GUY said:

Get down there and start knocking on doors David. There appears to be plenty of dead land alongside the Mulsanne especially one spot pre-Hunaudieres which has a skeleton of an old building on it but as to how to contact the owner? No idea.

Cheers Guy

Is that what looks like an old garden centre? We had thought about that...

Maybe we'll stay a few days later this year and see what we find.

Cheers

D

No worries David. I think we're thinking about the same place.

[NormanD]

E36GUY said:

Get down there and start knocking on doors David.

I agree, have a chat to the locals.

[davidd]

E36GUY said:

davidd said:

E36GUY said:

Get down there and start knocking on doors David. There appears to be plenty of dead land alongside the Mulsanne especially one spot pre-Hunaudieres which has a skeleton of an old building on it but as to how to contact the owner? No idea.

Cheers Guy

Is that what looks like an old garden centre? We had thought about that...

Maybe we'll stay a few days later this year and see what we find.

Cheers

D

No worries David. I think we're thinking about the same place.

Should we buy it?

[Black Spider]

if you want a bit of land and have a few years to go, I would suggest booking The Auberge de Mulsanne Hotel Arbor, you have the comfort of hotel/camper as you please. The hotel is right by the last chicane and has a great view of the track. The car park overlooks the circuit.

[E36GUY]

davidd said:

E36GUY said:

davidd said:

E36GUY said:

Get down there and start knocking on doors David. There appears to be plenty of dead land alongside the Mulsanne especially one spot pre-Hunaudieres which has a skeleton of an old building on it but as to how to contact the owner? No idea.

Cheers Guy

Is that what looks like an old garden centre? We had thought about that...

Maybe we'll stay a few days later this year and see what we find.

Cheers

D

No worries David. I think we're thinking about the same place.

Should we buy it?

Lol. hmm.

[lowdrag]

Sadly you will come up against the wonderful words zone rouge here. The circuit is divided into spectating areas and the rest and the Mulsanne is definitely out of the question. Even if you could rent somewhere, you'd be moved on during the race by the BIB. The reason of course is security. Just look at the pits now - bloody great screens separate the cars from the mechanics and even we photographers can't get a decent photograph there now, whatever the passes. All this because a car spat out a bit of gravel from a tyre and cut the forehead of a marshal. There are public viewing areas and the rest is completely off limits, so I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad tidings but that is the way it is. The ACO are responsible not only for your safety but the drivers also, so an area where you could be next to the track with no chicken wire is a no-go. For example, say one of you got drunk (unheard of at Le Mans of course) and threw an empty bottle into the windscreen of a car? Hypothesis perhaps, but the ACO would be held responsible hence the very strict, and getting stricter by the year, security arrangements.

[funkyol]

You could always sneak over to the track at night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHacJcNbRpI

[davidd]

lowdrag said:

Sadly you will come up against the wonderful words zone rouge here. The circuit is divided into spectating areas and the rest and the Mulsanne is definitely out of the question. Even if you could rent somewhere, you'd be moved on during the race by the BIB. The reason of course is security. Just look at the pits now - bloody great screens separate the cars from the mechanics and even we photographers can't get a decent photograph there now, whatever the passes. All this because a car spat out a bit of gravel from a tyre and cut the forehead of a marshal. There are public viewing areas and the rest is completely off limits, so I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad tidings but that is the way it is. The ACO are responsible not only for your safety but the drivers also, so an area where you could be next to the track with no chicken wire is a no-go. For example, say one of you got drunk (unheard of at Le Mans of course) and threw an empty bottle into the windscreen of a car? Hypothesis perhaps, but the ACO would be held responsible hence the very strict, and getting stricter by the year, security arrangements.

A fair and annoying point.

So, we have 8 and a half years to plan something special.... Must be at LM, come on folks get your thinking hats on. A few years ago we competed in the 2cv 24hrs, maybe we could upscale

D

[Tyre Smoke]

You'd need something pretty special under a 2cv to compete!!

Why not buy the land the old garden centre is on and build another property - with high balconies. It doesn't have to be residential, it can be commercial if planning is likely to be a problem. Warehouse to store rocking horse manure or summat.

Surely this zone rouge is not insurmountable?

[lowdrag]

Have you thought this through or was it just off the top of your head? If it is commercial then it will be closed for the duration of the race, just like all the other places on the Hunaudieres such as the Yvon wood yard (except those like the Stella bar and the chinese restaurant which have the chicken wire erected). Look at the Family Village further down the Mulsanne; it is completely closed for the duration, even those shops further not giving onto the circuit. Who is going to pay for the purchase and the construction? Who is going to deal with the planning consent? Who will maintain it the rest of the year and pay the local taxes? Who would want to rent there anyway when there is so much vacant property around? Now if you wanted to build a house OK, just perhaps. There is a house for sale at Indianapolis at the moment due north of the bend with a spectacular view which I reckon in this market could be had for about £150/180,000 with five bedrooms and a barn. Look at it on Google Earth. The Mulsanne is a nice idea, but it will always just stay as that I'm afraid.

The coordinates of the house are:-

47 deg 55 mins 24.21 N
0 deg 13 mins 04 62 E

Edited by lowdrag on Monday 9th November 13:18

[Tyre Smoke]

Tony, appreciate your dose of realism here, but sooner or later someone is going to come up with a plan!

So, if you bought the plot, erected the chicken wire and stuff a la Chinky, theoretically it could be used during the race? Subject to planning/building regs and stuff.

Yes, back of a fag packet/pub musing but it passes the day!!

[lowdrag]

A plan would have to be pretty good I reckon. The existing houses on the Hunaudières (as it strictly is - not the Mulsanne)have been there since I have no idea when and don't have chicken wire in front. Perhaps one of these could be rented? I just don't think that a new planning consent would be granted by the appropriate council be it Le Mans (Tertre Rouge end), Ruaudin (Family Village) or Mulsanne (opposite Family Village and then both sides all the way to Mulsanne bend). Years back I camped with the marshals at Mulsanne bend but now, friends though we are, it's difficult to get on the bend even with media passes. Zone Rouges are really being policed now not only by the BIB but by the marshals who have very strict instructions from Daniel Poissenot (director of the 24 hour track as opposed to the Bugatti) that if they see anyone they either get rid of them themselves or if too far from the post to call security instantly. I guess I must seem to be a right negative character but living here I've learned what is and what isn't possible, and the not possible is now sadly very much in the ascendancy.

[Tyre Smoke]

It really is all pie in the sky to be honest. Someone posts an idea and in typically British fashion we get caught up in the romaticism of the whole thing.

I always thought that anyone who owned a house along that stretch of road would make a fortune renting it for the week. Don't they do this then?

[Nick M]

lowdrag said:

Zone Rouges are really being policed now not only by the BIB but by the marshals who have very strict instructions from Daniel Poissenot (director of the 24 hour track as opposed to the Bugatti) that if they see anyone they either get rid of them themselves or if too far from the post to call security instantly. I guess I must seem to be a right negative character but living here I've learned what is and what isn't possible, and the not possible is now sadly very much in the ascendancy.

Being sensible, you can entirely see why this is the case. Marshalls have been injured (at Le Mans and other circuits), and members of the public have 'escaped' onto the circuit (Silverstone and Hockenheim) where there are far more stringent controls than at Le Mans. If a member of the public was killed or badly injured then I would be genuinely worried that the race might not continue, at least not without even more draconian restrictions.

All that said.... There is just something special about seeing cars at full chat at night - the sound, the lights, the sensation of speed. First couple of years I went to Le Mans it was still possible to stand right behind the armco in the bushes at the Chinese restauraant on the Hunaudieres. Just utterly brilliant to be that close to the cars with nothing to ihibit your view (and the general assault on all your senses really !) !! I count myself lucky to have been able to do that.

What would be nice if it were possible to create an enclosure for spectators to be able to view the cars either before the first or second chicanes so it could be done safely, thereby avoiding the need for people to go 'stealth' through the forests to get close to the track. The closest you can get now is the first bit of the Mulsanne corner enclosure down near the car park, but it's not quite the same.

Never gonna happen, but would still be nice.

[deviant]

I have never been to LM but I always think that with events like this (or music festivals or other sporting events) half the fun is being mixed in with all the action, it would feel a bit lonely and removed to be away from it I think.

[lowdrag]

Nick M, I am in total agreement. The circuit is 13 kms long and of that around 5kms only have public viewing rights. Apart from small areas like Mulsanne, Arnage and Tertre Rouge the whole circuit is off limits apart from of course the main area on pit straight. From Tertre Rouge to Mulsanne, nothing, from Mulsanne to Indianapolis nothing, from Arnage to Porsche Curves and beyond, nothing.

Yet, I have to say as one who stands on the Mulsanne every year with the marshals, that actually it is pretty boring after a short while. Once you have seen one car go past at 320kph fine, but when you stand there watching it for an hour it does dull the senses. To me the most interesting viewpoint is Indianapolis because of the sheer dynamics of the car under braking and cornering. I guess it is just that certain areas are off limits that makes them so appealing.