very unpleasant news
Discussion
I've just returned from visiting a retired French friend who has lived in LeMans all his adult life. We naturally discussed the race & the antics. First I was pleased & amazed he had never heard of 'mad friday' & was oblivious to the antics that occur over the whole weekend. But what was truly horrifying to learn was that most locals were aware that during the bikers visit, two sheep were found dead by a local farmer with their legs missing. The legs had been barbied & cut off the sheep while they were still alive! I truly hope the car fans never stoop so low.
Lowdrag, had you heard this?
Lowdrag, had you heard this?
Maybe you should consider that the French have a history of this kind of thing before claiming that all bikers are sheep-burning louts 
LD1Racing said:
Maybe you should consider that the French have a history of this kind of thing before claiming that all bikers are sheep-burning louts
I certainly wasn't suggesting 'all bikers' but just pointing out what happened during the bikers event. Also, no suggestion the people that did it were Brits. No excuses for anyone behaving like that, bikers or farmers. They didn't even bring mint sauce!I suppose this kind of thing could open up all sorts of debate. The main one being money. All the events must bring huge amounts of money to the area, just think how much more they make on the 'peage' tolls alone. When there's huge amounts involved, the authorities could simply brush these incidents under the mat.
bernhund said:
I've just returned from visiting a retired French friend who has lived in LeMans all his adult life. We naturally discussed the race & the antics. First I was pleased & amazed he had never heard of 'mad friday' & was oblivious to the antics that occur over the whole weekend. But what was truly horrifying to learn was that most locals were aware that during the bikers visit, two sheep were found dead by a local farmer with their legs missing. The legs had been barbied & cut off the sheep while they were still alive! I truly hope the car fans never stoop so low.
Lowdrag, had you heard this?
There were accusations of this during the 2009 LM24 as well. Wonder if it was the same lot?!Lowdrag, had you heard this?
It's possible it was 2009 he was talking about. I was just surprised to hear it happened at all. I suppose I saw it as another nail in the LeMans coffin.
The organisers need to take a step back to re assess the camping and organising of the spectators side of the events, to make it more difficult for people to mis behave too much. Better facilities all around, including security. It may even pull in more money.
The organisers need to take a step back to re assess the camping and organising of the spectators side of the events, to make it more difficult for people to mis behave too much. Better facilities all around, including security. It may even pull in more money.
Just found this thread. You are talking about the 24 hour bike race in April here, when all sane locals go away or at least never go near the circuit.
Three years back the police, completely fed up with the outrageous behaviour, instituted a one way system for the spectators to get to the camping sites. You go down the Mulsanne, turn right at Family Village, and when you get to the roundabout after Porsche Curves you are guided to the right into the wired off area and searched. Your papers are checked, your luggage, your van - all checked. The first year they did this they had a commercial-sized wheelie bin full of knives, knuckledusters and loads of chainsaws, not to mention a few guns too. It had been the custom to wander around waving a chainsaw in the air and revving it to death. It was also the custom to drive up in a wreck of a car, park it in the camp site, put a brick on the accelerator and take bets on how long before the motor blew, then burn the wreck. Same with old motor bikes they threw in the back of the van. Now no papers/insurance=confiscation. The usual system now is about six bikers and one white van, loaded to the gunwhales with beer because from the Friday morning to Monday morning sale of beer at the supermarkets is forbidden during this weekend of the year. This started after a race in town at the old flyover (dismantled last week incidentally) led to several deaths.
So you get the general tone of the event. The ACO supply old pallets piled up everywhere to burn for fires. The reason is that if you refer back to the chainsaws and the current state of the camp sites you'll notice that they are treeless. Figure it out for yourselves. It does get cold here in April!
So now we come to the sheep. In the paper it was killed and dismembered, but in which order the paper didn't state. Now I don't wish to appear snobbish, but the general expression here at Le Mans is that the 24 hour bike race brings the council house crowd and the bike GP the gentlemen. The many are tarred by the few it is certain, but it isn't an event many of us like but have to tolerate.
Three years back the police, completely fed up with the outrageous behaviour, instituted a one way system for the spectators to get to the camping sites. You go down the Mulsanne, turn right at Family Village, and when you get to the roundabout after Porsche Curves you are guided to the right into the wired off area and searched. Your papers are checked, your luggage, your van - all checked. The first year they did this they had a commercial-sized wheelie bin full of knives, knuckledusters and loads of chainsaws, not to mention a few guns too. It had been the custom to wander around waving a chainsaw in the air and revving it to death. It was also the custom to drive up in a wreck of a car, park it in the camp site, put a brick on the accelerator and take bets on how long before the motor blew, then burn the wreck. Same with old motor bikes they threw in the back of the van. Now no papers/insurance=confiscation. The usual system now is about six bikers and one white van, loaded to the gunwhales with beer because from the Friday morning to Monday morning sale of beer at the supermarkets is forbidden during this weekend of the year. This started after a race in town at the old flyover (dismantled last week incidentally) led to several deaths.
So you get the general tone of the event. The ACO supply old pallets piled up everywhere to burn for fires. The reason is that if you refer back to the chainsaws and the current state of the camp sites you'll notice that they are treeless. Figure it out for yourselves. It does get cold here in April!
So now we come to the sheep. In the paper it was killed and dismembered, but in which order the paper didn't state. Now I don't wish to appear snobbish, but the general expression here at Le Mans is that the 24 hour bike race brings the council house crowd and the bike GP the gentlemen. The many are tarred by the few it is certain, but it isn't an event many of us like but have to tolerate.
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