1st Le Mans trip - Newbie questions

[Potatoes]

Hello folks,

I'm doing Le Mans this year for the first time! I'm super excited but am a little apprehensive in making sure I book the best camping site

I'm weighing up camping options at the moment; PH Bleu Nord or SpeedChills Beausejour seem to be popular and recommended by folks on here and on VX220.org.uk. There are tickets left but I've taken a look at Clubarnage and it seems tickets for the Houx sites come up quite often as well as some others. The questions I need help with are:

• Is there a campsite where a lot of PH members have gravitated to this year or a list/wiki of where you're staying? It's my first time, I'd love to meet some friendly PH Le Mans veterans when I'm there!
• I'm planning on going in my VX (fine for camping as there's relatively good storage, especially with the passenger seat removed), are there any risks to getting stuck in the mud or damaging the car? ...are any camping locations better for rwd cars with low ground clearance?

Living in mainland Europe, I plan on heading over toward NW France and arrange to meet one of the convoy groups heading down on Weds/Thurs if possible.

I really appreciate any info to the above questions as it will really help a newbie out!

[DMN]

Theres a list of who, where and when here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Your VX220 should be fine unless it rains a lot. Even then you'll find people who'll help. A few years back my EP3 battery decided to die, and within minutes someone had it hooked up with jump leads and it was running again.

PH Blue Nord is probably the best bet to meet PH'ers. I'm not staying there myself, but Brian of 1st Tickets normally hosts a Q&A session on the Friday where 1st ticket customers not staying in the PH area can come in and have a beer or four.

[//j17]

Most of the sites are OK in the wet with some parts of Beasjour being the exception as it's the newest and expansion has outstripped investment in drainage/putting in roadways. That said it's gotten better year-on-year and if it rains at Le Mans it tends to RAIN and everywhere that's not hard standing tends to get a little moist.

While the PistonHeads campsite on Bleu Nord will give you the highest percentage of PHers to non-PHers you'll find them all over the shop. You'll probably see more PH stickers/flag/t-shirts walking around across a Le Mans weekend than the rest of the year put together!

[gt6]

for info on each campsite try beermountain.com.
For where we all are use the who is on what crossing thread.
other le mans sites have similar who is where sites so look on ten tenths/club arnarge/ beer mountain
should have no problem with vx as long as you are sensible, do not park on low ground if rain is likely and when you arrive in the camp site think carefully about where you camp if spaces are not allocated, large empty area's may be unused for a reason.
you will enjoy yourself but it is an expensive experience, only went for a laugh in 1985 and only missed 2 since plus 6 classics so be warned this is very addictive

[Potatoes]

Thank you for the info!

I am swinging toward PH Bleu Nord as I expected we'll see a lot of PHer's and hopefully some cool cars alongside the vans and campers (which is clearly the smarter choice!!). I'll probably go for that for my first time at Le Mans and see where we go from there in future years.

I am really looking forward to it this year, moved to Europe last summer and as a petrol head, I cannot be so close and not go to Le Mans!

Once booked, I'll add myself to the wiki page on the date I'll be heading down, may well meet some of you guys there

Really appreciate the responses, it's helped me.

Edited by Potatoes on Sunday 6th March 22:13

[MrC986]

I can say from experience with 3 trips with PH/1st Tickets that their site is good for low slung cars & with the exception of the site itself which is all grass, that the roads are all stone/Tarmac from the public highway & is fenced/guarded to protect the campers kit and the cars. The PH campsite has previously seen all manner of cars whilst I've been there from future classics (such as my 15 yr old GTV!) to McLarens, Aston DB5s & various other nice kit. A token picture of the Aston owners "metal" on the PH site last yr I think.



One thing is certain, wherever you go/stay whilst at LM you'll be welcome & have a great time.....there's plenty of time for browsing the LM forum in anticipation of your trip to plan & decide how much you want to take part in stickering your car etc

[Great Dane]

to paraphrase Arnie "You'll be back!"

[Potatoes]

Great stuff... it's looking like PH Bleu Nord it is!

Speaking to Brian at 1st tickets tomorrow/Tues so will get it booked this week

[Potatoes]

Update: I'm fully booked now for my first ever Le Mans

Car(s): Vauxhall VX220
People: 2
Camp: Speed Chills Beausejour
Dates: Thurs - Sun/Mon

I'll be convoying down with a few folks the Le Mans 2016 Eurotunnel Convoy thread, pitching and making a dash to Carrefour to stock up on essentials... the challenges of going to Le Mans with two people in a car the size of a small potato.

Went with Speed Chills - Beausejour in the end as it's run by a guy who owns a VX and 2 folks from the VX220 club will be there... plus a load of PistonHeaders it seems!

Looking forward to it and hopefully meeting some of you guys on the way there or over the weekend

[//j17]

Potatoes said:

...the challenges of going to Le Mans with two people in a car the size of a small potato.

A lot depends on HOW you want to camp at Le Mans but as you're with SpeedChills you could just use their bar and catering, so no real need for a shopping run to Carrefour - though for some huddling around the BBQ is part of the experience.

If you're going for the full Se7en approach (just taking tickets, wallet and car keys) there's a Decathlon just off the Mulsanne that does a good line in 'disposable' tents, etc. Last year this looked like it was actually accessible even with the Mulsanne was closed via some signposted back roads starting by the Tetre Rouge 'tunnel'.

[Potatoes]

//j17 said:

A lot depends on HOW you want to camp at Le Mans but as you're with SpeedChills you could just use their bar and catering, so no real need for a shopping run to Carrefour - though for some huddling around the BBQ is part of the experience.

If you're going for the full Se7en approach (just taking tickets, wallet and car keys) there's a Decathlon just off the Mulsanne that does a good line in 'disposable' tents, etc. Last year this looked like it was actually accessible even with the Mulsanne was closed via some signposted back roads starting by the Tetre Rouge 'tunnel'.

The plan is to pack smartly as I'd like to BBQ and have our own stash of meat/beers. I'm building a list of must haves and nice to haves... with the expectations that I'll be able to fit about 1/2 of the must haves

But you're right, the campsite gives us the luxury to not go full Bear Grylls which hopefully means we can pack some stuff for entertainment/drinking games too.