Le Mans 2018 some questions from a complete novice

[FredericRobinson]

Support classes will be on track on Thursday morning, but the place will be fairly quiet.

[gt6]

Last year the museum was free if you had a ge ticket, i went in just to get out of the heat (been many times in the last 34 years), it was nice to enjoy the air conditioning, exhibits do change each year but if you have never been give it 2 hours to look around at the race cars and other motoring stuff, the history of some of the famous divers is very interesting and plenty of things to drawl over. If you are staying at the circuit then thursday is a good day to go as will get busy saturday and sunday.

[wsn03]

I went to the museum for the first time this year on the Friday, after the pit lane walkabout near to mid day, wasn't too busy, its big enough to not notice, had no issues, will do the same time this year

[Tyre Smoke]

OP, don't know if anyone has said it yet, but there will be next to nothing happening from the Sunday before until probably the Wednesday. So this is a good time to get out and have a bit of a drive around.

I've never bothered with the Great British Welcome, I've always thought it was a lot of faff to get to and a load of nasal middle aged men discussing the finer points of a Mk4 or Mk5 Flibber fitted to their Morgan/TVR/Truimph/Alvis.
I'd do the pit walk on Friday morning and the museum afterwards. Whoever suggested the museum would take two hours must walk incredibly slowly!

Worth going into Le Mans on the Friday afternoon, the Driver's parade is worth a look, but becomes a bit boring with drivers in classic cars driving slowly through the city centre and the crowds don't allow much of a view. That said, if that's your thing, it's worth doing.

As said before, Sunday night isn't a problem to stay over, but (and I've never camped on BSJ) apparently any space becomes a free for all for douhnuts, and general drunken hoonery. Security and 'Les Flics' seem to all magicallt disappear around 1500hrs on the Sunday afternoon.

Basically, just take things at your own pace (you won't see all of everything you want to on your first visit) and be very mindful of your own personal security - wallet, tickets, passport,etc. Don't leave anything out that you are not prepared to have stolen. Not that there are thieves everywhere, there aren't. But every year the stories of thefts from tents and pickpocketing seem to increase.

[E36GUY]

Best advice I could offer any first timer is don't over plan anything. Just go with the flow, try not to fit it all in as this will not be your only visit. We still see something new every year.

[Nosynchro]

Been 10 years on beausejour. Sunday evening is relatively fine nowadays with most people relaxing after a busy few days. Some hijinks but generally good natured

[Cass63]

Agree about bsj, I’ve used it 6 years out of the eight I’ve been and, while it’s lively it’s still a great campsite, great advise about staying chilled and not doing everything in your first year, you will go back so enjoy it at a leisurely pace.

[C70R]

FredericRobinson said:

Then again I arrive on the Sunday each year and spend 95% of my time outside of the race sat on the campsite drinking beer and talking rubbish, enjoy the event in the way that suits you, I think this year will be my 15th and I've still never seen the start or finish of the race from the main drag for example, but I'll still watch 20 hours of racing, and my year revolves around June. I reckon it took us 3 or 4 years to figure things out, since then it's been the same routine with a few refinements, which is how I like it.

This sounds very familiar.
We have grown to a fairly big setup over the years, and now have marquees, TV/Sky, fridge-freezers, Outback gas BBQ etc. For us, it's a chance for a bunch of car-loving mates to get away together and enjoy the wider atmosphere of being at the race.

We always pick a collective team to support in each class, and will generally make a point of seeing the start from Tertre Rouge come rain or shine - but we aren't the obsessive types who will be glued to the circuit for as many of the 24 hours as possible. We'll probably see the race from 5-6 different points through its course, for up to an hour at a time - and the thrill is real every year.
However, as a group we're busy and don't as much of each other as we did in our 20s - so we get maximum enjoyment out of hanging out in our marquees, eating/drinking and playing beerpong (on our full-size pingpong table!), while the race/analysis plays on the TV.

Is Le Mans the same for everyone? Absolutely not.
Do we enjoy it any less than the diehards? I couldn't imagine anything more fun than our version of Le Mans.

[Matt97]

Thought I'd post a response after the trip, We had a great first time at Le Mans! We were pleasantly surprised with bsj after reading all the negative feedback about it, we were lucky enough to pitch next to some friendly Brits who had been going for many years. Maybe we were lucky with the site this year but it was much better than we expected, it did get a little boggy at the beginning of the week though!

We didn't plan too much but did quite a lot during the week, still a few things to do next time! We walked to Arnage corner during the night session on Wednesday, it was a fair walk but worth it. Personally I quite liked Porsche curves as it was pretty impressive to see the speed difference between the LMP and GT cars. The grandstand was good for the start & finish as most people said but definitely not an essential thing to have in my opinion but it was nice to have. We did the museum on Monday morning as it was pretty wet so was a great way to stay dry. We also had a walk to the Arnage car show on Thursday. I could go on about it but I've put a few photos below

[delta0]

Bsj was the calmest I’ve ever seen this year. I think the rain on Thursday and the concert on Friday seemed to have calmed it.

[RL17]

Good write up Matt, 2nd year for me and completely different stuff this, Where was the 917 on display?

[Cass63]

delta0 said:

Bsj was the calmest I’ve ever seen this year. I think the rain on Thursday and the concert on Friday seemed to have calmed it.

I ended up in expo car park which was dead as a dodo, should have been in bsj, that changed the whole Le Mans experience for us, expo camp site got a bit livelier on Sunday night for about 20 minutes but that was it. I missed the banter and chatting to people from differing countries, hopefully be back in bsj next year, it’s not as bad as it’s reputation.

[Matt97]

RL17 said:

Good write up Matt, 2nd year for me and completely different stuff this, Where was the 917 on display?

Thanks, the Porsche was at the "Arnage dans la course" show on the Thursday.

[//j17]

Arnage: The ACO had the busses running through the night again during the race, not stopping in the early hours which saved up the dark walk.

Porsche: I wonder how many people walked through/around the gravel trap next to the Porsche Experience building at the top end of Maison Blanche and DIDN'T look over the wall...? They missed the line-up of the Bell/Stuck/Holbert 962C, a 911 GT1 and one of the 919s. Just sat there all week.

Edited by //j17 on Friday 22 June 09:31

[JT3K]

//j17 said:

I wonder how many people walked through/around the gravel trap next to the Porsche Experience building at the top end of Maison Blanche and DIDN'T look over the wall...? They missed the line-up of the Bell/Stuck/Holbert 962C, a 911 GT1 and one of the 919s. Just sat there all week.

We passed it daily but first clocked it on Weds morning at about 03:00AM when a burly security guard fronted far less imposing barriers. He wouldn't be swayed in letting us up close though. Stemmed a whole load of jokes with our newbies about how Bell managed to drive for so many hours with his hands stuck...