Best campsite for being able to use your car?
Discussion
I stayed in Maison Blanche last year and on the friday didnt want to risk loosing my plot while i nipped down to mulsanne and arnage so this year (if i can still get a ticket off ebay) i want to get in a site with marked plots or easy access. and if anyone knows of campsite tickets forsale??? also want to be close to circuit like Maison Blanche.
dont want much eh?
dont want much eh?
Barrier tape didn't work for us on MB last year. Came back to discover someone camped in the middle of our pitch! I wouldn't have minded but we didn't have an excessive amount of room as it was. We're formulating a new plan for this year.....
Houx is your only answer for marked pitches but remember that the Houx plots are not that big (sometimes you get a tree for added interest...) and you'll need to get your car and your camp set up on the same pitch. Also remember that as all Houx pitches are all numbered if you're trying to buy tickets from individuals now your chances of getting adjoining pitches are quite slim and Houx is a big site.
As far as road access I think they are all much of a muchness, you can get onto the roads, it's just the traffic doesn't go anywhere!!
You could try Blue Nord or South - these are both on the outside of the perimeter road that MB is on the inside of (make sense?). I think the ACO are issuing Bleu Nord to those who were waitlisted for them so it might be worth emalling them direct if you're interested.
Houx is your only answer for marked pitches but remember that the Houx plots are not that big (sometimes you get a tree for added interest...) and you'll need to get your car and your camp set up on the same pitch. Also remember that as all Houx pitches are all numbered if you're trying to buy tickets from individuals now your chances of getting adjoining pitches are quite slim and Houx is a big site.
As far as road access I think they are all much of a muchness, you can get onto the roads, it's just the traffic doesn't go anywhere!!
You could try Blue Nord or South - these are both on the outside of the perimeter road that MB is on the inside of (make sense?). I think the ACO are issuing Bleu Nord to those who were waitlisted for them so it might be worth emalling them direct if you're interested.
some of the spaces that people marked off last year was sickening, just so they could have some space, i felt sorry for people arriving friday morn. im all for the fun of Beermountain etc but they did take up a lot of space along with a few other groups. funniest bit was someone putting soa suds in their fountain!
I've always got tickets from www.club-arnage.com in the past when I've booked at the last minute. Check the site forums, then "sell or swap". The site has a non-profit philosophy (although reasonable expenses can be recovered) which means you are unlikely to pay more than face value (unlike e-bay).
I did MB in 2003 and 2005, with Houx in between. I'm chuffed to be returning to Houx this year and doubt I shall return to MB. They are greedy with ticket sales and last year it was beyond a joke at how packed it was and difficult to access in and out with cars. We too worried about being out too long in the cars for fear of being unable to fit them anywhere nearby upon our return.
The trouble is some of the groups don't do any of us many favours. By race day on MB there were still some groups who had large chunks of space that wasn't being used. It may well be that they had enough car passes to justify this space but it does upset Pierre le frog to see it and I wonder how far away we are from Houx style numbered and allocated pitches.
On the travelling front - it reminds me that I spent some long time last year explaining to the Travel Insurers of one of our group who'd broken his foot that I couldn't just drive into the circuit to the med centre to pick him up at 2pm on Sunday afternoon that they weren't going to let any old punter drive their car through the main gate!! That followed the previous conversation of could I just pop into Le Mans and collect him some crutches from the hospital or perhaps just run him to Tours to the airport. All in the name of saving them paying for transport!!
From Saturday morning onwards the whole place really is a no-go zone through until 7 or 8pm on Sunday night. You can get places but it will take you hours - I have also done the "quick run to Carrefour on Saturday morning" and nearly missed the race start!!
On the travelling front - it reminds me that I spent some long time last year explaining to the Travel Insurers of one of our group who'd broken his foot that I couldn't just drive into the circuit to the med centre to pick him up at 2pm on Sunday afternoon that they weren't going to let any old punter drive their car through the main gate!! That followed the previous conversation of could I just pop into Le Mans and collect him some crutches from the hospital or perhaps just run him to Tours to the airport. All in the name of saving them paying for transport!!
From Saturday morning onwards the whole place really is a no-go zone through until 7 or 8pm on Sunday night. You can get places but it will take you hours - I have also done the "quick run to Carrefour on Saturday morning" and nearly missed the race start!!
Piglet said:
From Saturday morning onwards the whole place really is a no-go zone through until 7 or 8pm on Sunday night. You can get places but it will take you hours - I have also done the "quick run to Carrefour on Saturday morning" and nearly missed the race start!!
I would agree with Saturday morning and early pm (we got caught out running out of beer at midday on saturday in 03 - we learned our lesson trying to drive to a supermarket in Arnage. We were in my TVR S3 which was overheating, with the roof on due to the beer taking up the boot. The cheese we bought melted all over the interior and we had to switch the heaters on to try and keep the engine cool. Nice, with no showers....)
However, after the race has started its not too bad so long as you know you can keep a car space in the campsite (ie, you either camped in Houx or some of your mates are staying behind at other sites and "fill" your space whilst you are gone). 6 of us piled into a Beemer around 11pm last year to head to the bottom of the Mulsanne and there is no way we could have walked there. Made for a good few hours down there before returning back to MB and the start finish straight.
Houx was brilliant from this viewpoint. I was there last year and we always had a virtually reserved spot next to our tent (between a Countach and a Corvette - good ol' LM!) We are saving on the cash and heading for the Annexe this year, we will have to find someway to get a parking space!
gumballer said:
Does the Annex not have the marked pitches?
No.
I picked up a Houx ticket two years ago not long before the race but they don't come up as often as the others and it only works if you want one pitch.
Try the sell and swap forum at Club Arnage. Try to avoid buying from ebay - if there was no demand the touts might go and play somewhere else!
v15ben said:
Houx was brilliant from this viewpoint. I was there last year and we always had a virtually reserved spot next to our tent (between a Countach and a Corvette - good ol' LM!) We are saving on the cash and heading for the Annexe this year, we will have to find someway to get a parking space!
Have to agree here! Tried Houx for the first time last year and have done the same this year. A vast improvement on the other campsites on previous trips, as the space that some large groups are taking up is getting beyond a joke.....
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