Helicopter Tour during race

[dredgey]

Please can anyone confirm the price from their experience. I seem to remember reading on here that it was €50pp but now looking online I'm seeing different prices. Can anyone confirm for sure? thinking of getting round to doing it this year.

Cheers

[amancalledrob]

According to this, it's £155.00

http://www.selectmotorracing.com/Le_Mans/excursion...

[rossc]

I did it a couple of years ago and I'm pretty sure it was about €100 / head, certainly nowhere near £155, thats just an agent putting on a massive margin. We just wandered over during the race and took the next available slot, didn't wait more than 30 minutes.

Well worth doing in my opinion as a one off, probably wouldn't be too bothered about doing it again

[dredgey]

I'd seen the £155 price which is what threw me. €100 better and would be more tempted at this price. Anyone else on here just turn up last year?

Edited by dredgey on Tuesday 13th May 21:15

[AMD87]

I'm booked on with select at £155 haven't really seen anywhere else.

[JulesV]

Last year we booked when we got there. Cost from memory was about 80 euros.

[dredgey]

JulesV said:

Last year we booked when we got there. Cost from memory was about 80 euros.

When you say you booked when you got there did you book directly at the hut where they take off from? Very tempted at €80! Any others paid less when simply turning up on the spot?

[rossc]

As I said, we just wandered over to the hut which is a 5 minute stroll from the main entrance and asked them when the next slot was, we could have booked a slot for later on but just took the next available one, they have loads of helicopters doing the loop

[JulesV]

dredgey said:

JulesV said:

Last year we booked when we got there. Cost from memory was about 80 euros.

When you say you booked when you got there did you book directly at the hut where they take off from? Very tempted at €80! Any others paid less when simply turning up on the spot?

Yes, just wandered over to the hut and booked for the following day. They were a bit disorganised and we wondered at the time whether they had understood our schoolboy French. Turned up the following day, paid in cash and jumped into the helicopters so all was good. We had also been given money off vouchers the previous day as we walked around the Village.

[dredgey]

Cool, just trying to get a view on whether it's cheaper if you book or turn up unannounced etc. Thanks for all the replies.

[//j17]

From the Club Arnage guide - "Expect to pay approx. 100 € f or a 10 - minute flight.".

[moribund]

Wow, it was only 50 euro in 2007. That's a fair bit of inflation!

ETA ...although now I think about it I'm not sure if I misremember. Was it £50/80 euro??

Edited by moribund on Wednesday 14th May 21:53

[//j17]

moribund said:

Wow, it was only 50 euro in 2007. That's a fair bit of inflation!

ETA ...although now I think about it I'm not sure if I misremember. Was it £50/80 euro??

Edited by moribund on Wednesday 14th May 21:53

From the 2008 Club Arnage guide (so based on the 2007 price) - "The 10 minute 85Euro flight completes about one and half laps of the circuit with the final part cutting across from the first Chicane “Playstation” to the Porsche Curves."

[RobbyJ]

Based on the way all those guys seem to fly I'm not sure I'd be too keen on taking one of those flights. I'm no helicopter pilot but I've had a couple of lessons. I was under the impression your speed and altitude and descent path are all linked and you should fly in a certain way so that if you had an engine failure you'd be able to auto rotate. From watching them come in to land from Bleu Nord they all seem to descend to around 100-150ft at 100+ knots and then buzz along the side of the airfield till they flair back at that altitude and land quickly.

My impression was that if you fly like that and have an engine failure this is pretty much your best case scenario:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ftIZaQ1ZM

Correct me if I'm wrong?!

I love helicopters and have been a passenger in them quite a bit but the way they fly at LM seems a little risky to me, I'd be more than happy to be put right by an actual pilot though.

[JulesV]

RobbyJ said:

Based on the way all those guys seem to fly I'm not sure I'd be too keen on taking one of those flights. I'm no helicopter pilot but I've had a couple of lessons. I was under the impression your speed and altitude and descent path are all linked and you should fly in a certain way so that if you had an engine failure you'd be able to auto rotate. From watching them come in to land from Bleu Nord they all seem to descend to around 100-150ft at 100+ knots and then buzz along the side of the airfield till they flair back at that altitude and land quickly.

My impression was that if you fly like that and have an engine failure this is pretty much your best case scenario:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ftIZaQ1ZM

Correct me if I'm wrong?!

I love helicopters and have been a passenger in them quite a bit but the way they fly at LM seems a little risky to me, I'd be more than happy to be put right by an actual pilot though.

That is certainly how we came in to land although I am not sure that we were as high as 100ft when we skimmed along the airfield. Slightly unnerved by the ancient TomTom stuck to the windscreen of the helicopter too.

[RobbyJ]

That's even worse then really. I'm sure the chances of an incident are very low indeed, I wasn't trying to spoil anyone's fun, I'm just a total control freak who's more than happy to take risks when I'm driving anything but I'm terrified when anyone else does

[AMD87]

Don't you love when they put the invite through google translate