Beginners & Idiots Guide To Le Man 24 Hr and Classic

Beginners & Idiots Guide To Le Man 24 Hr and Classic

Author
Discussion

Thistle

Original Poster:

7 posts

164 months

Tuesday 24th January 2023
quotequote all
I have done the 24 hr and Classic which were both great but very different. I spent most of my time with in the circuit except for going to the parade in town on the evening before the 24hr.

At the 24hr I meet a guy who had been to a village on the old road on the Friday where there was a big parade and party.

So my question is there a definitive / comprehensive guide/ website/ FB page to these events?

Even so any tips and suggestions welcome

sherman

13,071 posts

214 months

Tuesday 24th January 2023
quotequote all
Do Pistonheads themselves not do (sponser?) a meet at Lemans as well as the camping. Is this what you have heard about?

Classic Britsh welcome (found it)
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by sherman on Tuesday 24th January 19:27

RobbyJ

1,566 posts

221 months

Tuesday 24th January 2023
quotequote all
Lots of info here:

http://www.beermountain.com/

There's also a tonne of info in this forum, years and years of accumulated LM knowledge right here.

Strasse

72 posts

180 months

Tuesday 24th January 2023
quotequote all
Try this www.le-mans-guide.co.uk


I'm working on the new 2023 version ....ready Jan / Feb


....hope this helps


Regards

Strasse

PS It must be understood that thanks to the ACO and the Corporate "load" of the manufacturers Le Mans 24hrs 2023 will be a very different experience for the fans to anything that has gone on for the previous 90 years/100 Anniversary. I'm slightly biased as being only a 28 year veteran Le Manner.

Northcote67

131 posts

44 months

Wednesday 25th January 2023
quotequote all
Strasse said:
Try this www.le-mans-guide.co.uk


I'm working on the new 2023 version ....ready Jan / Feb


....hope this helps


Regards

Strasse

PS It must be understood that thanks to the ACO and the Corporate "load" of the manufacturers Le Mans 24hrs 2023 will be a very different experience for the fans to anything that has gone on for the previous 90 years/100 Anniversary. I'm slightly biased as being only a 28 year veteran Le Manner.
Top work Strasse, much appreciated.

Truckosaurus

11,183 posts

283 months

Wednesday 25th January 2023
quotequote all
Thistle said:
....
At the 24hr I meet a guy who had been to a village on the old road on the Friday where there was a big parade and party.
...
I am not a Beginner, but am an Idiot.

Several villages/towns now seem to run events - Ruardin, Mulsanne, Arnage - in addition to the popular 'Classic British' event at St Saturnin.

On previous years they have been listed on the official calendar on the ACO site.

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Thursday 26th January 2023
quotequote all
Strasse said:
Try this www.le-mans-guide.co.uk


I'm working on the new 2023 version ....ready Jan / Feb
This is epic, thanks Strasse.

hunter 66

3,888 posts

219 months

Friday 27th January 2023
quotequote all
Truckosaurus said:
I am not a Beginner, but am an Idiot.

Several villages/towns now seem to run events - Ruardin, Mulsanne, Arnage - in addition to the popular 'Classic British' event at St Saturnin.

On previous years they have been listed on the official calendar on the ACO site.
Yes at last years Classic I went to see a friend for lunch at local Chateau after I had done qualifying , Had to pass through Arnage , holy it was like a small riot of Brits partying in the street .... fortunately driving an RS got me waved through , ut it looked fun

Great Dane

2,719 posts

165 months

Friday 27th January 2023
quotequote all
RobbyJ said:
Lots of info here:

http://www.beermountain.com/

There's also a tonne of info in this forum, years and years of accumulated LM knowledge right here.
You can insert my spotters' guide which has widely applauded

RobbyJ

1,566 posts

221 months

Saturday 28th January 2023
quotequote all
Great Dane said:
You can insert my spotters' guide which has widely applauded
It certainly is fantastic, take several printed copies for my group every year!

cn7k7

213 posts

143 months

Sunday 29th January 2023
quotequote all
hunter 66 said:
Truckosaurus said:
I am not a Beginner, but am an Idiot.

Several villages/towns now seem to run events - Ruardin, Mulsanne, Arnage - in addition to the popular 'Classic British' event at St Saturnin.

On previous years they have been listed on the official calendar on the ACO site.
Yes at last years Classic I went to see a friend for lunch at local Chateau after I had done qualifying , Had to pass through Arnage , holy it was like a small riot of Brits partying in the street .... fortunately driving an RS got me waved through , ut it looked fun
I think a good many people attend and have a good party but last year saw some behaviour that was bordering on very anti-social….got a bit too footbally for me….

size13

2,016 posts

256 months

Monday 30th January 2023
quotequote all
I did a bit of a write-up for last year...
https://hittingtheroad.info/france-2022-part-1-le-...

My first trip to the event but hopefully covers some of the different event in the new format.

Thistle

Original Poster:

7 posts

164 months

Wednesday 8th February 2023
quotequote all
Thanking to everyone who took the time to reply. I appreciate and am activly using the links you sent

WickedWizzzard

92 posts

24 months

Monday 6th March 2023
quotequote all
Strasse said:
Try this www.le-mans-guide.co.uk


I'm working on the new 2023 version ....ready Jan / Feb


....hope this helps


Regards

Strasse
Hi Strasse. How’s that 2023 guide coming along? TIA

MrC986

3,481 posts

190 months

Monday 6th March 2023
quotequote all
I'll just leave this below....if you want a good laugh, just don't read it whilst sat in a quiet area at work (it is a legendary/essential read). I would've posted a link but it wouldn't work.


1998



Well, it all started with the choice of campsite I suppose. Expo. Opposite the pub, and just down the road from the main entrance and grandstand. It was my first time at le Mans, the atmosphere was great during qualifying, and I was really looking forward to watching the start from Tetre Rouge, one of the best places to watch it from according to Skipper.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, pitched the tents, got some food down our necks and proceeded to drink beer. After 8 or 9 of those crappy little French bottles, it was time to drop some off at the urinals, so I wandered off to the nearby toilet block. There was some strange French woman sitting outside with a plastic tin full of change, and a retard grin on her face. Must be a janitor type person I guessed, whilst noting the size of her arse, and figuring a massive dose of gene therapy would be the only way to breed it out of her family. I bet the midwife slapped her mother instead of the baby when she was born. Anyway, in I went. No urinals to be seen. Must have to piss in the bogs then, I guessed as I swung the door open on the first trap.

“Some  has nicked the bog” was my first thought. Closer inspection however revealed a shower tray type thing with a 5 or 6 inch hole towards the back, and some mouldings towards the front on each side.

Slowly it dawned on me. These were the infamous “long drop” toilets that I had heard old people in pubs talking about when discussing their trips to “the continent” when they were young. Apparently you have to squat like a homesick muslim whilst trying to aim your turd down the hole, simultaneously doing your very best to not to piss on the shorts you didn’t have the foresight to remove.

'Well, I’m fked if I’m pissing in that' I thought to myself, even though the previous tenant had done a fine job of pissing all over the entire apparatus, (probably in a effort to wash some of the st off of it, in my considered opinion) so I moved on to the next door in search of a proper bog. No such luck, and a cursory inspection of all the other cubicles revealed that they were all long drops. Never being one to duck a challenge, I decided to have a piss in the last cubicle, being careful to adopt the Gallic custom of pissing all over it. No point in going abroad and not absorbing the local culture in my view.

Once relieved, I sauntered out of the toilet block, and even said “Bonjour Monsieur” in my most fluent French to the woman sitting outside, doing my bit for Anglo-French relations. She gave me a funny look, but I think it may have just been her face, as she looked like she had fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. I made a mental note not to st in that particular toilet block under any circumstances.

Thursday and Friday passed rather quickly, I think we went go-karting on Thursday, Friday night we had quite a few beers, and a really good barbeque, plenty of food. Skipper didn’t eat any of the spicy red sausages, so I had his share. There were even quite a few of the red sausages left over when everyone had finished eating, so I polished them off as I get hungry after a few pints. Not a lot of the people who had been to le Mans before ate the red sausages. Odd that, they were really tasty.

Saturday morning I woke up with butterflies in my stomach. Must be the excitement of being race day. We did breakfast, and went for a drive up the Mulsanne straight, which was quite good. We got back to the campsite at around 1pm, and settled down for a couple of pints before the planned 2:30 walk up to Tetre Rouge. The butterflies in my stomach had developed, and I was beginning to wonder if I might need a turd, as I hadn’t had one since Tuesday.

2:30 pm arrived, and I came to the conclusion that I actually did need a dump, but was forced to bake it for a while as everybody was getting ready to go to the track, and there was no way I was going to crap in the campsite toilets. No problem I thought, I’ll drop the kids off at the pool after watching the start, there was bound to be plenty of toilets at a place as famous as le Mans, and with any luck, they wouldn’t be long drops.

We set off at around 3:15. My arse was starting to get a bit twitchy, and was informing me that a long greasy turd would be forthcoming in approximately one hour, come what may. No problem, I thought : race starts at 4pm, we will watch ten laps or so, then we would wander off to a trackside bar, I would have a pint or two, then go to the toilets and unleash the beast, so to speak.

This turned out to be wishful thinking.

We made it to Tetre Rouge, and by five to four, I was developing an urgent knocking at the back door. Mr Brown and his children, wanted out, and he was letting me know in no uncertain terms. As this was my first le Mans, I was determined not to miss the start, and sent a message to the back door, informing it as to who was in charge. The contractions miraculously stopped, and thankfully nobody was aware of my predicament, the blazing sun giving me a perfect excuse for sweating like a  and not moving a lot.

A helicopter flew overhead, in line with the cars on the parade lap. Absolutely amazing, couldn’t wait for the cars to come round on the first hot lap. Unfortunately this surge of enthusiasm seemed to motivate the manitou trapped within my bowels, causing it to surge towards the exit gate at top speed. Mission Control sent an urgent message to the sphincter, which slammed itself shut with only milliseconds to spare. A gust of fetid air managed to escape just before the doors slammed shut. Luckily a Panoz was going past at the time, hiding the noise of the fart, while the smell blended in nicely with rural France. Urban France too for that matter, but that is beside the point. At this point my brain went into survival mode, and I revised my original estimate down from ten laps and a couple of pints down to five laps and no pints. I was in serious and terminal danger of stting myself, and thirty degree heat at le Mans while wearing shorts was neither the time nor the place to do it in public for the first time since the age of six.

Thankfully 4 o’clock came, the race started, and all the cars came blasting past us. I managed to get seven or eight really good photos of the wire fence by the time they all went past for the first time. Unfortunately this lack of concentration on the major issue of the day had encouraged the beast within me, and it had now produced its “get out of jail free card” and was heading for the gate with renewed vigour.

“er, just going for a st, see you at the bar !” I shouted to the rest of our group. Nobody heard, as the leaders were just coming round for lap two.

I strode off purposefully towards the Dunlop bridge, confident of coming across a toilet block within five minutes. Ten yards later the demon turd made its presence felt again, and again I slammed my ahole shut, hoping that I hadn’t beheaded the fker in the process. Drastic times mean drastic measures, and I was forced to walk like Charlie Chaplin to keep the beast at bay. By this time I was sweating like Michael Jackson at a Primary School swimming gala, and was receiving some strange looks. fk ‘em, I was on a mission, and they were probably all French anyway.

Somehow I made it to the Dunlop Bridge without stting myself, and spotted what looked like a small toilet block in the not too far distance. I grabbed my shorts, pushed my arse cheeks together with some authority, and headed for the turd oasis.

As I got closer, there appeared to be a rather long queue outside it. A quick mental calculation of a maximum of two toilets inside, a thirty person queue outside it at 5 minutes average per dump would give me 45 minute wait. There was no choice, I had to head for the stters behind the main grandstand, from memory they were about 100 yards long, and would have a quick turnaround time. Charlie Chaplin took charge again, and off I went.

I arrived about fifteen minutes later, sweat pouring off me, and not sure if I had done a certain percentage of poo in my pants already. The queue wasn’t too bad, and it was moving forward at about one person every two minutes. After a while I got to the entrance, and saw another French woman with a bowl of change, and little mounds of two or three sheets of pink toilet paper on her desk. I figured she was selling posh toilet paper so the women could pat their delicate little beavers dry after a dainty girly pee, and that there would be some industrial waxy type paper in the men’s for some serious arse wiping. I smiled condescendingly on my way past. She smiled back, obviously noticing the six inch steps I was taking, the grey face, and the rapist-like sweating going on. bh.

The mental release of being in close proximity to a porcelain palace was having a detrimental affect on my ability to control the leviathan and potentially prize winning poo. I had a tortoise head that was more like an ostrich head, and it felt like it had Arnold Schwarzenegger's neck muscles. There were seven people in front of me, and by my calculations of previous st/piss ratios and timings, I had 8.4 minutes to go. Time stood still for what seemed like half an hour, but I suddenly found myself at the front of the queue. Ominously, I was starting to develop cramp in my left arse cheek, and my right leg was starting to tremble uncontrollably. A door opened about halfway down, and a skinny French tt staggered out. The gene pool was obviously somewhat silted up when he was conceived.

Released from the starting blocks, I headed towards the cubicle like Ian Dury on speed. A five millisecond scan of the facilities revealed a proper toilet, no toilet seat though, and porcelain covered in the statutory French piss. Instantaneously I formed a plan of action : turn round, bolt the door, shorts down, and hover six inches above the bog.

I tentatively relaxed my arse muscles for the first time in approximately two hours, and felt a vacuum forming in my chest as the mother and father of all turds headed south and out quicker than Nelson Mandela on release day, and almost as smelly. After a couple of feet of steaming coil had fallen out, my arse closed with a loud fart of satisfaction, and all the stress and tension drained from my body. I smiled and awarded myself three pints of beer over and above what I felt capable of potentially drinking at any point during the next day, just like any proud father would. Mission accomplished, I looked around for the industrial toilet paper.

There were no toilet roll holders on the wall. There were no toilet rolls stacked nicely on the cistern. There was no toilet paper on the floor behind the bowl. There was a waste paper basket in the corner. Closer inspection revealed that it contained used pink toilet paper.

fk.

I was faced with three options. 1: Not wipe my arse and wander around in the blazing sun back to the tent to get toilet paper, 2: Not wipe my arse, go to the back of the queue, queue up again and buy some pink toilet paper on the way past from the smirking inbred Frenchwoman, or 3: Improvise.

It was quite tricky getting my trainers off, then my socks, without standing on the piss on the floor in my socks and then bare feet with my shorts around my knees, but somehow I made it.

I pulled the first sock onto my hand, then pulled it tight up to my elbow, and held it there with my spare hand. The sweat in the sock from the two hour route march was particularly unpleasant so I ignored it. I then gave a gentle wipe to the overworked and stressed chocolate starfish with sock number one. When the first pass was complete, I rotated the sock through 180 degrees, then repeated the process more vigorously, and then did the same with sock number two. Pity I wasn’t born with four feet.

  • ******************************I met up with everybody at a bar on the other side of the fairground. Generally they were rolling around like schoolgirls when they found out where my socks were. I wish it was the end of the story.
The rushed arse wiping with the socks had not entirely polished my ring to its normal standards, and I was beginning to think that maybe in the same way Scrapie jumped species from sheep and manifested itself as BSE in cows, I feared that I had developed “Athletes Arse” as there was a certain degree of itchiness going on. When we got back to camp at around six, I got my roll of as yet unused Andrex out of the bag and headed for the toilet block.

The swamp monster had been replaced by a younger version with an excellent pair of tits, but the leggings made her arse look like God had once stuffed a duvet into a pillow case, then replicated it in a human being just for a laugh. Must have been the other one’s daughter. “Bon Nuit” I said cheerily as I went in for a minor bum wiping session. She gave me a funny look, so I made a mental note to check for st on the back of my legs.

Minor bum wiping session my arse. Now I know why Andrex put toilet paper on rolls rather than socks. Whilst socks feel nice and soft on your feet, wiping them across your ahole four times in anger removes approximately thirty layers of skin from it. My fking ahole was in tatters. The Andrex wasn’t sure if it was mopping up a st or a period, and I was beginning to wonder myself. Beats me how poofters go on with all those funny condoms they stick up their arses. Anyway, half a roll of Andrex later, the old ringpeice was polished to an acceptable standard, so I lobbed the rest of the roll down the hole in the long drop, as statistically I wasn’t due for another dump until Thursday. Whilst doing so, I noted that the cubicle and toilet were remarkably clean. The janitor totty must have cleaned it just before I arrived. "Must remember to compliment her on the way out" I thoughtidly to myself. I flushed the toilet, and just made it out before the overflow got to the door. Janitor totty fluttered her eyelids at me, “la merdes sont tres bon” I remarked to her in perfect French. She looked at me oddly. Bugger, I had forgotten to check for st on the back of my legs.

Turdwise, the rest of the trip went without a hitch, although the Athletes Arse didn’t dissipate. Luckily the girlfriend at the time insisted on giving me thrush twice or so a week, so when I got home I went hunting for her canasten cream (found it right next to her anti-blowjob pills), applied it to the affected area and it cleared up in a couple of days.
  • ******************************So, advice to people who go to le Mans for the first time :
1.If you eat the spicy red sausages, make sure you eat one immodium per red sausage without fail

2. If you need a dump, go for one immediately. There will never be a better time.

3. Never wipe your arse with your socks. Try your tee shirt instead, or :

4. Carry some toilet paper with you whenever you go to the track. At worst you wont use it, at best you will go home with the same number of clothes you came with and your ahole in one piece.

5.Use the cripple toilets wherever possible. They are pretty spacious and you don’t face butt the door when attempting to remove or replace your shorts.

Your second best option is to use the women’s toilets, as they tend not to piss all over the seats.

Third best is the pub opposite the expo campsite (BYO toilet paper) or Carre Four/ Macdonalds (BYO noseclip).

Fourth best is the toilets anywhere except Expo.

Edited by MrC986 on Monday 6th March 21:19

Strasse

72 posts

180 months

Thursday 9th March 2023
quotequote all
WickedWizzzard - New 2023 Guide is bumbling along...but I am really waiting for details of support races (got one series, await other two) AND the ACO circuit map. I want to find out if the Maison Blanc entrance in finally closed ( last year was apparently an experiment) but I expect it is permanently shut!!!! Also I want to confirm the 1st Aid locations as I am doing a Hospital (A&E) and 1st aid section in the guide, having had to use A&E last year and had trouble finding details. The rest I will update as the info appears.

Still muttering about the removal of camping (except 1st Tickets compound) from the Airfield side of the circuit. I am still suspicious of "them" trying to turn the 24hrs into an F1 corporate circus - le Mans is special…it’s all about the ambiance and the people. Yes it has changed over the nearly 30 years I have been coming to the Circuit de la Sarthe, but the banter and the friendliness of my fellow spectators remains – oh and sometimes there is a really spectacular race, as opposed to a procession! – this year might be a classic BUT we need to bring back the sound of the Panoz!!


Best Regards
Strasse
www.le-mans-guide.co.uk

RL17

1,231 posts

92 months

Friday 10th March 2023
quotequote all
Strasse said:
WickedWizzzard - New 2023 Guide is bumbling along...but I am really waiting for details of support races (got one series, await other two) AND the ACO circuit map. I want to find out if the Maison Blanc entrance in finally closed ( last year was apparently an experiment) but I expect it is permanently shut!!!! Also I want to confirm the 1st Aid locations as I am doing a Hospital (A&E) and 1st aid section in the guide, having had to use A&E last year and had trouble finding details. The rest I will update as the info appears.

Still muttering about the removal of camping (except 1st Tickets compound) from the Airfield side of the circuit. I am still suspicious of "them" trying to turn the 24hrs into an F1 corporate circus - le Mans is special…it’s all about the ambiance and the people. Yes it has changed over the nearly 30 years I have been coming to the Circuit de la Sarthe, but the banter and the friendliness of my fellow spectators remains – oh and sometimes there is a really spectacular race, as opposed to a procession! – this year might be a classic BUT we need to bring back the sound of the Panoz!!


Best Regards
Strasse
www.le-mans-guide.co.uk
Hospital at Pole Santa Sud near Tertre Rouge was really good a few years back for emergency. BUT wouldn’t do anything without EHIC card (in EU then) and others in party had to bring in from offsite camping.

So GHIC card worth getting if EHIC out of date and worth carrying or leave in car.

Haven’t seen and pictures/updates on works like main entrance or new bridge lately. Assume changes to main gate and new bridge would make Maisonette Blanc continuing as a vehicles only/corporate type entrance fairly certain.

Strasse

72 posts

180 months

Saturday 11th March 2023
quotequote all
WickedWizzzard - finally completed version 1. Many revisions to come before Race week.

www.le-mans-guide.co.uk

2023 v1 now published - I hope it is a help for my fellow Le Mansers

RL17 - hope you find the 1st Aid and A&E section accurate

Best Regards

Strasse

WickedWizzzard

92 posts

24 months

Monday 13th March 2023
quotequote all
Strasse said:
WickedWizzzard - finally completed version 1. Many revisions to come before Race week.

www.le-mans-guide.co.uk

2023 v1 now published - I hope it is a help for my fellow Le Mansers

RL17 - hope you find the 1st Aid and A&E section accurate

Best Regards

Strasse
Awesome, thank you!!!

clive_candy

534 posts

164 months

Monday 13th March 2023
quotequote all
Strasse said:
WickedWizzzard - finally completed version 1. Many revisions to come before Race week.

www.le-mans-guide.co.uk

2023 v1 now published - I hope it is a help for my fellow Le Mansers

RL17 - hope you find the 1st Aid and A&E section accurate

Best Regards

Strasse
If there was an award for service to PHers you'd be getting it Strasse.