Where did the Tertre Rouge campers go?
Discussion
We have been going to LeMans 24 for about 10 years, started of camping in Blu Sud and then managed to get hold of the golden ticket and camped in Tertre Rouge, returning there 3 times. 2024 we tried Mulsanne. Didnt go in 2025 but now planning for 2026. Where did all the campers that used to stay in Tertre Rouge go in 2025? TR was brilliant, we are thinking of giving Arnage a go for 2026.
We stayed on Hippodrome having been on TR for nearly 20 years. It did the job but TR's almost unique quality was its proximity to the circuit and ease of viewing the action, and I think we'd only find this now down on the Porsche Curves (private site) or further down at Mulsanne/Arnage. Hippodrome was OK but lacked shade. We had to walk through Epinettes and then between Houx and Houx Annex to access the circuit, less than 15 minutes and we were scanned in to the circuit. Houx would appear to be the new golden ticket, but Epinettes had a good vibe as well, including some informal power and shade of trees for those arrived who early enough. It also had a big screen showing the action, a small bar and a food van.
We stayed on Epinettes after 2 years on TR. I’ve previously stayed on Houx so the route to and from the track is a familiar one to me. I think TR spoiled me a bit as the closeness to the track was quite a luxury!
Epinettes was mostly fine. The showers were roasting but small. I’ve never had such a hot shower ever at Le Mans! Mains hookup would have been welcome although our solar panels did the trick with the amount of sunshine we had. People were daisy chaining off the shower blocks but we were a little too far away to do that.
The fan zone was welcome, the pizza stand and the little convenience store were useful additions. The shuttle bus at the main entrance was also a life saver given my failing knees and the heat!
Epinettes was mostly fine. The showers were roasting but small. I’ve never had such a hot shower ever at Le Mans! Mains hookup would have been welcome although our solar panels did the trick with the amount of sunshine we had. People were daisy chaining off the shower blocks but we were a little too far away to do that.
The fan zone was welcome, the pizza stand and the little convenience store were useful additions. The shuttle bus at the main entrance was also a life saver given my failing knees and the heat!
BeeGT said:
We stayed on Hippodrome having been on TR for nearly 20 years. It did the job but TR's almost unique quality was its proximity to the circuit and ease of viewing the action, and I think we'd only find this now down on the Porsche Curves (private site) or further down at Mulsanne/Arnage. Hippodrome was OK but lacked shade. We had to walk through Epinettes and then between Houx and Houx Annex to access the circuit, less than 15 minutes and we were scanned in to the circuit. Houx would appear to be the new golden ticket, but Epinettes had a good vibe as well, including some informal power and shade of trees for those arrived who early enough. It also had a big screen showing the action, a small bar and a food van.
Had my second year on Hippodrome this year and found a few more of its secrets. Like "via Epinettes" isn't the only way in/out, you can also go out the car entrance and there's a wooded footpath that takes you up to the KFC. Or that up by the KFC the "V&B Cave & Bar" has an excellent range of beers/big screen/clean toilet/air con. and were certainly open Mon-Fri (didn't pass during their 10:00-20:30 Sat. opening hours). Or that there's a cheeky view of the Mulsanne 40m from the track from the car park.//j17 said:
BeeGT said:
We stayed on Hippodrome having been on TR for nearly 20 years. It did the job but TR's almost unique quality was its proximity to the circuit and ease of viewing the action, and I think we'd only find this now down on the Porsche Curves (private site) or further down at Mulsanne/Arnage. Hippodrome was OK but lacked shade. We had to walk through Epinettes and then between Houx and Houx Annex to access the circuit, less than 15 minutes and we were scanned in to the circuit. Houx would appear to be the new golden ticket, but Epinettes had a good vibe as well, including some informal power and shade of trees for those arrived who early enough. It also had a big screen showing the action, a small bar and a food van.
Had my second year on Hippodrome this year and found a few more of its secrets. Like "via Epinettes" isn't the only way in/out, you can also go out the car entrance and there's a wooded footpath that takes you up to the KFC. Or that up by the KFC the "V&B Cave & Bar" has an excellent range of beers/big screen/clean toilet/air con. and were certainly open Mon-Fri (didn't pass during their 10:00-20:30 Sat. opening hours). Or that there's a cheeky view of the Mulsanne 40m from the track from the car park.I seem to recall that there was also netting of some sort along the fence where the Italian place is, so that you couldn't see the track....
The V & B was once again shut for this years Classic, but someone had forgotten to blank off the fencing, so at least you could have some lunch in the restaurant and have a glimpse of the cars going by.
Well was not happy to lose TR for camping, one of our party is disabled and TR was perfect for him and the disabled facilities got better every year. The ACO suggested Houx and gave us 2 spots there, the rest of our group got houx on the opening day but our spots were not together (TR allowed choice of spots). Houx was quite a distance from any viewing point and the disabled facilities were old and not much use to be honest. However power was available and the people in the campside very friendly so we will hopefully camp there again. Only real problem was a few mobile disco's on the site. TR was available for the classic and on visiting the old campsite it was not fully utilised and perhaps in 2026 TR may return
I’ve noticed the increasing amount of people bringing event spec PA systems which get turned up to 11 until sometimes 4 or 5am. It’s been the same on Houx, Tertre Rouge and Epinettes since the return from Covid. Maybe I was lucky in the years prior to that, I certainly don’t expect a quiet campsite but there’s a difference between a stereo turned up a bit loud and something which is clearly intended for commercial use.
One load of danes near us were blaring out to 3 everymorning had massive gazebo and flashing lights, however when we tried to ask them to turn it down thrre was only one person actually there. faced with a large number of people suggesting he turned it down he complied with our request.
Meh, off the top of my head I can remember the Drinking for Holland guys having a 24hr party tent on Maison Blanche back in the 2000's and a co-worker in the 2010's who's group (who I never went with and thankfully never camped too near) who went to Le Mans every year and saw about 20min racing every year. "Le Mans" for them was pumping out dance music till 5am from a converted mobile air traffic control tower on Bleu Nord.
It might be a little worse/more common these days simply because generators have become more common over the years, but bad neighbours and the "Race, what race?" crews are nothing new.
It might be a little worse/more common these days simply because generators have become more common over the years, but bad neighbours and the "Race, what race?" crews are nothing new.
//j17 said:
Meh, off the top of my head I can remember the Drinking for Holland guys having a 24hr party tent on Maison Blanche back in the 2000's and a co-worker in the 2010's who's group (who I never went with and thankfully never camped too near) who went to Le Mans every year and saw about 20min racing every year. "Le Mans" for them was pumping out dance music till 5am from a converted mobile air traffic control tower on Bleu Nord.
It might be a little worse/more common these days simply because generators have become more common over the years, but bad neighbours and the "Race, what race?" crews are nothing new.
DFH have calmed a lot these days but a utterly lovely bunch.It might be a little worse/more common these days simply because generators have become more common over the years, but bad neighbours and the "Race, what race?" crews are nothing new.
Did anybody go into TR for this years LM? Anything worth going for?
It did make moving between Panorana car park, Dunlop Bridge and La Chappelle area and Goodyear stand so that was good for us.
But was it just another fan zone to ease pressure on the badly placed fan zone and big screen behind Panarama car park?
Plus it fits in with underlying aim of pushing public camping away from the track and trade village areas.
Is there still some ACO building(s) going up near there?
It did make moving between Panorana car park, Dunlop Bridge and La Chappelle area and Goodyear stand so that was good for us.
But was it just another fan zone to ease pressure on the badly placed fan zone and big screen behind Panarama car park?
Plus it fits in with underlying aim of pushing public camping away from the track and trade village areas.
Is there still some ACO building(s) going up near there?
There were a couple of bars and a couple of food vans set up in there, some climbing / laser tag activities for kids, and 2 screens. On Sunday the shade of the trees offered some much needed relief from the heat.
I imagine it would have been very crowded for the start, with tables and benches moved towards the fenceline and used for standing, but moving around this part of the circuit was much easier than the previous couple of years.
For the Classic TR was back in use for camping.
I imagine it would have been very crowded for the start, with tables and benches moved towards the fenceline and used for standing, but moving around this part of the circuit was much easier than the previous couple of years.
For the Classic TR was back in use for camping.
RL17 said:
Did anybody go into TR for this years LM? Anything worth going for?
In general I'd say - Not really.Went up there once and it was relatively quite so easy to access food/drink/toilets but just an odd set-up. I mean surely the key focus is view of the track from the fence, one previously only gifted to a handfull of campers who arrived on Monday/got lucky with pitch numbers? Nope, apparently not. We'll have a few event gazeebos near the fence with picknick tables set up end-on to the fence (so people are sat facing parallel to the track).
As I said, went up there once. With the extra, temporary toilets in the area north of the Dunlop bridge I didn't feel any temptation to go back a second time.
RL17 said:
Is there still some ACO building(s) going up near there?
There's the big redevelopment of the museum but not sure there's anything else happening/announced.//j17 said:
RL17 said:
Did anybody go into TR for this years LM? Anything worth going for?
In general I'd say - Not really.Went up there once and it was relatively quite so easy to access food/drink/toilets but just an odd set-up. I mean surely the key focus is view of the track from the fence, one previously only gifted to a handfull of campers who arrived on Monday/got lucky with pitch numbers? Nope, apparently not. We'll have a few event gazeebos near the fence with picknick tables set up end-on to the fence (so people are sat facing parallel to the track).
As I said, went up there once. With the extra, temporary toilets in the area north of the Dunlop bridge I didn't feel any temptation to go back a second time.
RL17 said:
Is there still some ACO building(s) going up near there?
There's the big redevelopment of the museum but not sure there's anything else happening/announced.Gassing Station | Le Mans | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff