Be prepared for delays at circuit
Discussion
Truckosaurus said:
There will be track action at that time, so probably worth coming in via Arnage village rather than past the back of the main pit straight.
Hopefully the correct Google Map Route
cheers - that's that way that I was planning - guess traffic will be at a minimum on Wed?Hopefully the correct Google Map Route
GumballDan said:
I'm taking my 31ft/10m RV down to Le Mans this year for the first time - staying at Porsche Curves / Village on the Curves with Lycian. On the 12.30 Dover-Calais crossing on Wednesday 14th, so should arrive at the track some time around 7/8pm - guessing that the traffic shouldn't be too bad at this time, but not sure if anyone's got any tips they can share.
No traffic issues on Weds. You'll be fine.Avoid the satnav route through Rouen, it triues to shove you under a low bridge. Atay on the A29 and go via yvetot. Much nicer, no lows and no traffic pagga.
We arrived Thursday late afternoon last year in a motorhome, having done the Hull Zeebrugg ferry the night before, and spent 9 hours driving down that day.
Whilst it was our first visit, I felt that we had done enough research to enable us to get to the site ( just on the outside of the bridge, next to the roundabout from Arnage.
We got lost almost immediately due to lack of clear signs, and three point turning a 40 foot motorhome was not my idea of fun. We ended up driving through the centre of the circuit, which took nearly two hours, and finally set up camp around 7pm, where we had a clear sight of the Arnage roundabout.
One of our team was coming in from Southern France, and had decided to take the Arnage route in from the motorway. We rang him ( once we had done the usual running around, holding phones up to the sky in a feeble attempt to get signal ( as an aside surely this issue could be resolved) to advise him where we were at 7.30pm. By 9pm he still hadn't arrived the 2km from Arnage, so I decided to walk up to meet him.
Not my best decision, the road has no footpath, just ditches each side, angry impatient drivers jabbering away at everyone, and just for good measure, it started pouring down. Sure enough I slipped at one point and ended up in a ditch, much to the amusement of some of the drivers.
Anyway, he could not be found all the way up to Arnage, and I set off back noting that the cars hadn't moved in the last half an hour.
Long story short, the priority at the Arnage roundabout meant that all the traffic coming down from the main entrance on the D139 were blocking the roundabout attempting to turn left under the bridge, but with ( what seemed to me ) poor management / lack of resources, cars wanting to get into the campsites were backing up terribly under the bridge back to the roundabout and nothing was moving on the road from Arnage.
Eventually at 10.30pm some Gendarmes arrived and began to manage the traffic flow, and my colleague made it to us at 1.30am.
Morale of the story, don't plan to arrive Thursday PM as you will get stuck in traffic.
I've unfortunately had to cancel this year but would have definitely rocked up on Wednesday just to avoid the chaos.
Those of you going, have a great time, drive safe ( and oh, avoid Rouen if at all possible, we returned on the Monday last year and spent 3 hours waiting to get through the tunnels due to roadworks, only to see one man busy painting the walls with a paintbrush!!!!)
Regards
Whilst it was our first visit, I felt that we had done enough research to enable us to get to the site ( just on the outside of the bridge, next to the roundabout from Arnage.
We got lost almost immediately due to lack of clear signs, and three point turning a 40 foot motorhome was not my idea of fun. We ended up driving through the centre of the circuit, which took nearly two hours, and finally set up camp around 7pm, where we had a clear sight of the Arnage roundabout.
One of our team was coming in from Southern France, and had decided to take the Arnage route in from the motorway. We rang him ( once we had done the usual running around, holding phones up to the sky in a feeble attempt to get signal ( as an aside surely this issue could be resolved) to advise him where we were at 7.30pm. By 9pm he still hadn't arrived the 2km from Arnage, so I decided to walk up to meet him.
Not my best decision, the road has no footpath, just ditches each side, angry impatient drivers jabbering away at everyone, and just for good measure, it started pouring down. Sure enough I slipped at one point and ended up in a ditch, much to the amusement of some of the drivers.
Anyway, he could not be found all the way up to Arnage, and I set off back noting that the cars hadn't moved in the last half an hour.
Long story short, the priority at the Arnage roundabout meant that all the traffic coming down from the main entrance on the D139 were blocking the roundabout attempting to turn left under the bridge, but with ( what seemed to me ) poor management / lack of resources, cars wanting to get into the campsites were backing up terribly under the bridge back to the roundabout and nothing was moving on the road from Arnage.
Eventually at 10.30pm some Gendarmes arrived and began to manage the traffic flow, and my colleague made it to us at 1.30am.
Morale of the story, don't plan to arrive Thursday PM as you will get stuck in traffic.
I've unfortunately had to cancel this year but would have definitely rocked up on Wednesday just to avoid the chaos.
Those of you going, have a great time, drive safe ( and oh, avoid Rouen if at all possible, we returned on the Monday last year and spent 3 hours waiting to get through the tunnels due to roadworks, only to see one man busy painting the walls with a paintbrush!!!!)
Regards
If there is supposed to be increased security then someone appears to have forgotton to tell the gate staff I've encountered, and yes i would agree if feels less busy at the circuit than in previous years but still rammed in republique square
Edited by chrisr111r on Saturday 17th June 15:06
Delays none...
More armed Gendarme around, fine, expected and welcome. Actually surprised it wasn't there previously.
Bag checks..... Don't mind, but if you're going to do it at least make it relevant and worthwhile. Utter waste of time, not that it really delayed matters as they were so useless.
More armed Gendarme around, fine, expected and welcome. Actually surprised it wasn't there previously.
Bag checks..... Don't mind, but if you're going to do it at least make it relevant and worthwhile. Utter waste of time, not that it really delayed matters as they were so useless.
DS240 said:
Bag checks..... Don't mind, but if you're going to do it at least make it relevant and worthwhile. Utter waste of time, not that it really delayed matters as they were so useless.
We were a bit miffed they weren't more thorough - we got through a lot of Pringles so we could cut the bottoms off the tubes to conceal beer cans in them, so when they looked in the cool bag all they saw was some water and Pringles, and not about 8 cans of beer, various cans of G&T and a bag of rosé !! 
Nick M said:
DS240 said:
Bag checks..... Don't mind, but if you're going to do it at least make it relevant and worthwhile. Utter waste of time, not that it really delayed matters as they were so useless.
We were a bit miffed they weren't more thorough - we got through a lot of Pringles so we could cut the bottoms off the tubes to conceal beer cans in them, so when they looked in the cool bag all they saw was some water and Pringles, and not about 8 cans of beer, various cans of G&T and a bag of rosé !! Love the ingenuity.
We switched from smuggling bottles of wine in this year (having had issues last year) to a box of wine (no glass). Heard of general alcohol bans coming in, but I could have brought in anything too be honest, far more lethal than 3L of Samur Champingy.
A major event like this, I don't mind proper checks. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a thought. We had plans should something go wrong.
I know previous events have never required it, but recent developments make this event such an easy target and high profile.
As the OP I couldn't have been more wrong it seems. Every time I left home to go to the track I was waiting for the traffic jams, yet we just drove in with no trouble at all. In fact better than I have known it for many a year. I was very pleased that the CRS clamped down and hope that will continue as a standard thing now. Whatever iy was a great race and for those of you who supported the Corvette, here's what happened to it.
Gassing Station | Le Mans | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff