It's postponed!

[slartibartfast]

Had an email from Brittany Ferries just now.

'Passenger services resume from 29 June'
They were freight only during lock down

[Red Firecracker]

Ramona said:

Would be interested in your views as to whether spectators will be present if it does go ahead - though I do appreciate that your crystal ball may be no better than anybody else's :-)

If I had to bet, I'd go for no spectators at all. Yes, they/you bring in some money, but you also have to factor in the money the ACO will not be spending by catering (in more than one sense) for them. No need to man the campsites, no need for all the Village shenanigans etc etc. There will be lots of security though and I'm expecting that to be extremely 'vigorous'. As Lowdrag has said previously though, there will also be pressure from the local businesses to get people attending, one would have thought.

They (the ACO) are caught between two rocks. They need to run the race as they don't want to be placating the teams who have paid a lot of money to be there, but they also want the crowds to create the atmosphere. That is a difficult balancing act for them. Part of me thinks the TV coverage for the Virtual race was a dress rehearsal.

I am fully expecting to have my credentials pulled when they clamp down on the amount of Media after realising how many they've accredited and realise how congested the Media Centre will be. Unfortunately I don't work for one of the big teams, so I'm fair game even though I am a WEC Season Pass holder. We have to apply separately for Le Mans.

We shall see. I'm often wrong!

[gt6]

As lockdowns are opened up and restrictions dropped i think in 3 months time we will be watching cars at the circuit, and not on a telly/pc.

[wsn03]

gt6 said:

As lockdowns are opened up and restrictions dropped i think in 3 months time we will be watching cars at the circuit, and not on a telly/pc.

I think so too. Then in 4 months time we will be watching programmes about how we ended up with a second wave bigger than the first whilst hoping the vaccine comes out working. I've been reading about other global pandemics - many follow wave 1 with a bigger wave 2.

[chasingracecars]

And also we may have an app on our phones that actually works for tracing soon.

[Powerfully Built PSC Director - Outside IR35]

I'm going to stick to an optimistic outlook, lads:

- I think LM 2020 will go ahead as normal
- I don't think there will be a 2nd wave
- wsn03's campsite owner will have proper bogs and warm showers installed in time for LM 2021
- wsn03 will be given his own private access key for the LM Museum's air con'd bogs

Just my own optimism and based on nothing...lol

[Great Dane]

Read an opinion somewhere ... only spectators " local ACO members only"

[chasingracecars]

Great Dane said:

Read an opinion somewhere ... only spectators " local ACO members only"

If that is genuine I would suspect that the campsites would be closed. Which they are not as of yet!

[Tyre Smoke]

It'll be on. That virtual thing was awful. It will lose a huge amount of it's kudos if it's behind closed doors.

[wsn03]

Powerfully Built PSC Director - Outside IR35 said:

I'm going to stick to an optimistic outlook, lads:

- I think LM 2020 will go ahead as normal
- I don't think there will be a 2nd wave
- wsn03's campsite owner will have proper bogs and warm showers installed in time for LM 2021
- wsn03 will be given his own private access key for the LM Museum's air con'd bogs

Just my own optimism and based on nothing...lol

Proper bogs and warm shower??? I think you're a bit far from reality there mate.

Looking forward to having another dump in the museum though accessed via my private key

[surveyor]

I’m 70/30 for it happening with some adjustments or rules. Perhaps masks in village and grandstands etc.

[wsn03]

surveyor said:

I’m 70/30 for it happening with some adjustments or rules. Perhaps masks in village and grandstands etc.

At the moment I think they'll do it, but with social distancing - possibly in the grandstands too. Hand sanitiser everywhere, signs saying "keep your distance", compulsory face masks in shops, at tills, in grandstands?! Scrap the fair, music concerts, bars after certain time - no pit lane walkabout, drivers parade etc.

I think the timing is incredibly fortunate - when I see what is going on in Southern Hemisphere countries you just know there's another wave of this ste on its way in Autumn - October onward seems to be the standard thought.

My hope -
Sept - Race with spectators with social distancing
Mar 2021 - vaccine available to all in the Europe
Jun 2021 - N24 and Le Mans go ahead as scheduled