The ACO Le Mans Rant Thread
Discussion
Well, being doing Le Mans for a few years now and have to say this weekend for me was almost the final straw. The new village inside the circurt in my opinion is absolutely crap, quite frankly its just like a bloody shoping centre from any high street. The old ACO shop had real character and as you left the shop there was a grass area and bar where you could chill out for a while and see the track. This area now is corprate. There also used to be a great bar next to the tunnel, where again you could watch the racing. There is a new toilet and shower block just up from the tunnel with about 10 loos in it! (absolutely pathectic) and have built it between the bar and the circurt so you cant see any racing, (mabie they have had some help from our olimpic committe). I get the feeling that the ACO are trying to turn the circurt into something simmilar to a F1 venue, and for me thats worrying. This year we stayed on Beausejour again, The ACO changed the entrance so that the Danes could have there own section. Now, sometimes we all make mistakes but.....Which pratt in the ACO decided to have 1 single lane road with two 90 degree bends as the main way in and out of the bogsite, woops i ment Campsite! The ACO had also been busy this year and put up loads of stupid green fencing, separating areas with SS GUARDS. These pratts were the most unhelpfull people i have ever met in my life, and belive me (ive met a few). On the sunday morning we packed up the tents etc and then qued to leave the site! We were camped down near White Rabbit Racing and it took 3HOURS to make it to the main entrance. We had a Helecopter flight booked and paid for and due to the appalling organization on our camp site we missed our flight 
We tried to meet up with other PH members at Arnage corner but the french police would not allow anybody to stop there. (bless them). I feel realy sorry for all the guys and girls out there who went to all the trouble of stickering up the cars and had no place to parade them. I can honnestly say thats the last time i will be staying on that campsite. Whats your thoughts?
We tried to meet up with other PH members at Arnage corner but the french police would not allow anybody to stop there. (bless them). I feel realy sorry for all the guys and girls out there who went to all the trouble of stickering up the cars and had no place to parade them. I can honnestly say thats the last time i will be staying on that campsite. Whats your thoughts? Ditto here! 2007 was my first and last time camping away from Houx Annexe.
The "organisation" at Beau Sejour campsite was frankly embarassing, and a real insight into how much the ACO value our custom. As you mentionned, to have a single track road being the only access point to a campsite for thousands of people is utterly ludicrous, a fact not helped by the complete inability of the "marshalls" (horrible little swines!) to recognise any kind of congestion!!!
It's so annoying to see that despite taking plenty of our money (collectively), the ACO didn't really seem too bothered about actually giving us any kind of service in return!
Let's not mention the showers which failed to give anything but a dribble of freezing cold water, and the toilets which were cleaned once a day at most!
Poor show l'ACO!
The "organisation" at Beau Sejour campsite was frankly embarassing, and a real insight into how much the ACO value our custom. As you mentionned, to have a single track road being the only access point to a campsite for thousands of people is utterly ludicrous, a fact not helped by the complete inability of the "marshalls" (horrible little swines!) to recognise any kind of congestion!!!
It's so annoying to see that despite taking plenty of our money (collectively), the ACO didn't really seem too bothered about actually giving us any kind of service in return!
Let's not mention the showers which failed to give anything but a dribble of freezing cold water, and the toilets which were cleaned once a day at most!
Poor show l'ACO!
Edited by Dave200 on Tuesday 19th June 10:06
fatboy18 said:
We tried to meet up with other PH members at Arnage corner but the french police would not allow anybody to stop there. (bless them). I feel realy sorry for all the guys and girls out there who went to all the trouble of stickering up the cars and had no place to parade them. I can honnestly say thats the last time i will be staying on that campsite. Whats your thoughts?
We too tried to meet up at the usual place however we discovered the reason that the Gendarmes had shut the road was someone had been shall we say a little over enthusuastic on Thursday and had managed to seriously injury / kill someone on the stretch between Mulsanne and Arnage. hence the reason the Gendarmes had the road closed.My gripes with the ACO are as follows:
1. Why put out the safety car with 1 hour to go because of the rain? Since when has rain been a safety issue? If it rains drivers either modify their pace or fall off the road.
2. Having the safety car out for 50 minutes why then go green with 10 minutes to go eventhough it was raining harder than previously? Tradition, i.e. Le Mans NEVER finishes under caution etc.
3. Beausejour! We were parked at Karting and Sunday afternoon I was trying to get back to the circuit at about 1p.m. and because of the chaos of the traffic it took 45 minutes to get from the holding area back to the parking area about 300 yards away! They so need to build a roundabout on that stretch of road.
4. Agree about the village, it is just a vast concrete corporate area with no character.
There are a lot of issues this year although I had an excellent Le Mans. After burning up the Houx Roundabout for a bit I headed off elsewhere. Seems I missed the bad behaviour that happened later.
The gated situation on Beasejour was a nightmare. Thank god for the back entrance! Had to waggle my contract in some random Pierre's face on Wednesday morning as he wasn't going to open the gates for us! Our (White Rabbit Racing) campsite was a quagmire. ACO brought some gravel in but the tractor that laid it carved up more field than it fixed making it worse. Then they promised some trackway but that never turned up. Certainly was a challenge getting the cars out on Sunday/Monday.
If any of you want to email me points for the ACO I will happily collate them and put them forward when I am planning next years WRR camp.
The gated situation on Beasejour was a nightmare. Thank god for the back entrance! Had to waggle my contract in some random Pierre's face on Wednesday morning as he wasn't going to open the gates for us! Our (White Rabbit Racing) campsite was a quagmire. ACO brought some gravel in but the tractor that laid it carved up more field than it fixed making it worse. Then they promised some trackway but that never turned up. Certainly was a challenge getting the cars out on Sunday/Monday.
If any of you want to email me points for the ACO I will happily collate them and put them forward when I am planning next years WRR camp.
E36GUY said:
Our (White Rabbit Racing) campsite was a quagmire. ACO brought some gravel in but the tractor that laid it carved up more field than it fixed making it worse. Then they promised some trackway but that never turned up. Certainly was a challenge getting the cars out on Sunday/Monday.
That was interesting
The simple way to resolve the problems with traffic is to make the roads one way on the inside of the circuit. The road from BSJ out to the road should be one way, as should the one going south passsed Karting. If you know the direction you can plan your entrance and exit. The marshalls were of no use and just caused more problems than they solved.
As far as the Karting Nord site is concerned though it worked ok. The Danes who piled into the little red village of Grand Prix Tours were a pain and kept turning our generator off, then covered it in our trashed gazebo. They complained about the noise and I argued that the music from their marquee was louder, as were the fireworks, other music, other generators, other burnouts. Numptys!
As far as the Karting Nord site is concerned though it worked ok. The Danes who piled into the little red village of Grand Prix Tours were a pain and kept turning our generator off, then covered it in our trashed gazebo. They complained about the noise and I argued that the music from their marquee was louder, as were the fireworks, other music, other generators, other burnouts. Numptys!
Okay...
Yes Beausejour was a total mess this year, although possibly it did away with some of the problems that people may have complained about in the past... i.e. I don't want to have to pay for using a toilet and shower... In the end though this just meant that no one cleaned either.. Well, not on a regular basis..
The weather didn't help things either though..
Getting in to the campsite was a nightmare - the official security guards seemed highly organised, but missed on a number of points.. They just didn't (initially I suspect) understand that groups of people will arrive separately but would like to camp together.. Even that simple allowance could have made up for a number of the other problems... It set us off on the wrong foot immediately, then it was downhill from a bad start...
Not excepting that the field we were in had a huge drainage ditch running through it... Chaos ensued, especially when _more_ Danes turned up with a coach!!! :O Hopefully with Tommy K not winning again less of them will turn up, although some of them might not realise he didn't win until next week or so.... or possibly next year!!!
Although having the ditch probably spared us from even more bogginess... They did at least attempt to salvage the roadways by putting down stone and rollering it...
Another gripe - the Danes in the large Beausejour area had their own facilities, but then came along and used the ones in the other area - we would not have been allowed to use theirs...
The ticket scanning worked well, never having any problems and my nephew was able to get in every time, for free, as he's under 16
Tetre Rouge!!! What have they done?????!! That corner is now nothing like what it used to be.. It's well lit all the time, there's no spectacle of the cars breaking heavily either.. and with all the trees gone and huge banking in place - it's lost it's intimacy.. and the glimmering of the headlights of cars through the trees... I think this more than anything indicates what the ACO are doing to the place - they're slowly tidying it all up, but in the process removing the essence that makes circuit de la sarthe what it is.. Although I guess people probably used to complain about the lack of lighting, banking, shops, and general smartness of what is a huge circuit. The trouble is they are answering peoples complaints, but in a way that detracts from the appeal of the circuit..
I think a formal complaint to the ACO is in need... Don't just rant here, go to lemans.org and complain directly voicing constructive comments.
We're definitely _not_ camping in Beausejour again - we arrived on Tuesday and camped further away from the circuit than we've ever camped. We're already looking to book now, or at least reserve, in order to avoid all this next year.. We'd already decided this just after we arrived!!!
Car access to and from Beausejour was a joke and I'm still struggling to understand why they insisted on bringing traffic through the campsite entrance which wanted to go straight on... The buses and trains were good, but so infrequent that we only caught one, once.
The tramway should improve access to and from the circuit from the town..
What they really need is a mono rail or underground rail link or similar!! From one side of the circuit to the other..
Although the weather probably compounded a lot of the above..
Oh and another thing... The grandstand and campsite lottery is just a joke now and something needs to be done - we try and book early, through the ACO and this gets us nowhere! I guess they'd rather sell to large companies.. It definitely makes their job easier!!
To be fair to the Danes, at least they're highly organised!! Although I wonder how much of the race some of them saw...
Looking forward to next year though, especially if Peugeot remain on track with their development.... and we're not a few miles away from the circuit..
Yes Beausejour was a total mess this year, although possibly it did away with some of the problems that people may have complained about in the past... i.e. I don't want to have to pay for using a toilet and shower... In the end though this just meant that no one cleaned either.. Well, not on a regular basis..
The weather didn't help things either though..
Getting in to the campsite was a nightmare - the official security guards seemed highly organised, but missed on a number of points.. They just didn't (initially I suspect) understand that groups of people will arrive separately but would like to camp together.. Even that simple allowance could have made up for a number of the other problems... It set us off on the wrong foot immediately, then it was downhill from a bad start...
Not excepting that the field we were in had a huge drainage ditch running through it... Chaos ensued, especially when _more_ Danes turned up with a coach!!! :O Hopefully with Tommy K not winning again less of them will turn up, although some of them might not realise he didn't win until next week or so.... or possibly next year!!!
Although having the ditch probably spared us from even more bogginess... They did at least attempt to salvage the roadways by putting down stone and rollering it...Another gripe - the Danes in the large Beausejour area had their own facilities, but then came along and used the ones in the other area - we would not have been allowed to use theirs...
The ticket scanning worked well, never having any problems and my nephew was able to get in every time, for free, as he's under 16
Tetre Rouge!!! What have they done?????!! That corner is now nothing like what it used to be.. It's well lit all the time, there's no spectacle of the cars breaking heavily either.. and with all the trees gone and huge banking in place - it's lost it's intimacy.. and the glimmering of the headlights of cars through the trees... I think this more than anything indicates what the ACO are doing to the place - they're slowly tidying it all up, but in the process removing the essence that makes circuit de la sarthe what it is..
Although I guess people probably used to complain about the lack of lighting, banking, shops, and general smartness of what is a huge circuit. The trouble is they are answering peoples complaints, but in a way that detracts from the appeal of the circuit..I think a formal complaint to the ACO is in need... Don't just rant here, go to lemans.org and complain directly voicing constructive comments.
We're definitely _not_ camping in Beausejour again - we arrived on Tuesday and camped further away from the circuit than we've ever camped. We're already looking to book now, or at least reserve, in order to avoid all this next year.. We'd already decided this just after we arrived!!!
Car access to and from Beausejour was a joke and I'm still struggling to understand why they insisted on bringing traffic through the campsite entrance which wanted to go straight on... The buses and trains were good, but so infrequent that we only caught one, once.
The tramway should improve access to and from the circuit from the town..
What they really need is a mono rail or underground rail link or similar!! From one side of the circuit to the other..
Although the weather probably compounded a lot of the above..
Oh and another thing... The grandstand and campsite lottery is just a joke now and something needs to be done - we try and book early, through the ACO and this gets us nowhere! I guess they'd rather sell to large companies.. It definitely makes their job easier!!
To be fair to the Danes, at least they're highly organised!! Although I wonder how much of the race some of them saw...
Looking forward to next year though, especially if Peugeot remain on track with their development.... and we're not a few miles away from the circuit..
This was my first year in Beau Sejour, and agree that access in & out of the campsite was some of the worst "organisation" I've ever seen. Obviously that situation was made even worse by the weather.
That said, there were a lot of "Brits" in BSJ who didn't help the situation. Deciding to take thier bloody cars everywhere to watch the racing instead of walking blocked the roads up fairly consistently during the actual race, and doing donuts and wheelspins on the few non-marshlike roads helped everyone didn't it?
Not that I think this will be a problem next year - I'm sure someone said BSJ is being sold to build a football stadium on it and won't be available for camping from next yeat?
That said, there were a lot of "Brits" in BSJ who didn't help the situation. Deciding to take thier bloody cars everywhere to watch the racing instead of walking blocked the roads up fairly consistently during the actual race, and doing donuts and wheelspins on the few non-marshlike roads helped everyone didn't it?
Not that I think this will be a problem next year - I'm sure someone said BSJ is being sold to build a football stadium on it and won't be available for camping from next yeat?
I did visit BSJ this year to see a mate and was amazed how crap it was compared to when I stayed there 3 years ago. There seemed to be metal fences everywhere and very few catering facilities (if you can call them that). They needed metal walkways like they have at many English festivals so people could walk and drive in and out relatively easily.
Needless to say Expo was brilliant, due to most of it being concrete and on a slope it was very dry and our camping spot was on soft ground over the back of the campsite near warm showers and the dutch didn't have a problem with us coming into there large tent to watch the band or get beers from their bar. Never had to que to get into or out of the campsite and Carrefour took literally 5 mins (there's a good little shortcut through the blocks of flats.
What was making my piss boil was the un-helpful arseholes in their blue bibs that stopped you going anywhere or doing anything. We were allowed into the circuit with bicycles at some gates (say at the entrance near Rouge parking). Then if we went out of one gate with the bikes they wouldn't let you back in. This happened after we tried getting back in at the entrance most BSJ people use. And they wouldn't even let you in along the road where cars, people, motorbikes and mini-moto's were being ushered through. WHAT THE
WAS THERE PROBLEM WITH BICYCLES . We had to do massive de-tours to get back to Expo due to this. Same with getting to the Porche Curves, we had to leave our bikes outside on the road before we were allowed in. That wasn't so much of a problem but I just don't understand how every vehicle under the sun seems to be allowed in apart from bikes.
Needless to say Expo was brilliant, due to most of it being concrete and on a slope it was very dry and our camping spot was on soft ground over the back of the campsite near warm showers and the dutch didn't have a problem with us coming into there large tent to watch the band or get beers from their bar. Never had to que to get into or out of the campsite and Carrefour took literally 5 mins (there's a good little shortcut through the blocks of flats
.What was making my piss boil was the un-helpful arseholes in their blue bibs that stopped you going anywhere or doing anything. We were allowed into the circuit with bicycles at some gates (say at the entrance near Rouge parking). Then if we went out of one gate with the bikes they wouldn't let you back in. This happened after we tried getting back in at the entrance most BSJ people use. And they wouldn't even let you in along the road where cars, people, motorbikes and mini-moto's were being ushered through. WHAT THE
WAS THERE PROBLEM WITH BICYCLES . We had to do massive de-tours to get back to Expo due to this. Same with getting to the Porche Curves, we had to leave our bikes outside on the road before we were allowed in. That wasn't so much of a problem but I just don't understand how every vehicle under the sun seems to be allowed in apart from bikes.Cotty said:
We got to the ferry at 3:58pm for the 4pm ferry, needless to say they wouldnt let us on so we got the 6pm ferry. Did you manage to get on an earlier ferry?
Decided to stop for a solid lunch the again later for an inpromptu booze cruise. Got on the 8pm ferry along with a sever WRR cars who missed the 6pm ferry. Managed Dover to Orpington in about 35 minutes which was nice... mikey_p said:
What was making my piss boil was the un-helpful arseholes in their blue bibs that stopped you going anywhere or doing anything. We were allowed into the circuit with bicycles at some gates (say at the entrance near Rouge parking). Then if we went out of one gate with the bikes they wouldn't let you back in. This happened after we tried getting back in at the entrance most BSJ people use. And they wouldn't even let you in along the road where cars, people, motorbikes and mini-moto's were being ushered through. WHAT THE WAS THERE PROBLEM WITH BICYCLES . We had to do massive de-tours to get back to Expo due to this. Same with getting to the Porche Curves, we had to leave our bikes outside on the road before we were allowed in. That wasn't so much of a problem but I just don't understand how every vehicle under the sun seems to be allowed in apart from bikes.
yep, we had the same problem comming up from Beausejour and trying to get into the village area by KN. In the end we cycled into Houx, took bikes over the bridge and parked them up by ACO enclousure WAS THERE PROBLEM WITH BICYCLES . We had to do massive de-tours to get back to Expo due to this. Same with getting to the Porche Curves, we had to leave our bikes outside on the road before we were allowed in. That wasn't so much of a problem but I just don't understand how every vehicle under the sun seems to be allowed in apart from bikes.
We parked on BSJ on Tuesday (fortunately with the camping tickets for the rest of the party) and didn't move the car once it turned into a mudbath.
It was bad enough walking through the slurry to the inadequate toilet blocks let alone trying to get the Vette through the mud and tractor ruts on the edge of the road.
No facilities (we had SpeedChills membership anyway), uncooperative 'security' and the most stupid access system imaginable!
It was bad enough walking through the slurry to the inadequate toilet blocks let alone trying to get the Vette through the mud and tractor ruts on the edge of the road.
No facilities (we had SpeedChills membership anyway), uncooperative 'security' and the most stupid access system imaginable!
i thought that the whole weekend was great. One thing i did find very annoying was the security staff when you go into the pits grandstand. They were rubbish and had no control. Just before the start there were loads of people sitting in the steps and above the seats.where did they come from and how did they get in the grandstand. Surely if they had a ticket they would be sitting in it. It just really annoyed me that i payed quite alot to get a seat yet other people pay nothing and get to sit in the grandstand.
can I just add a to the Arnage - Indy being closed rant.
I know there's some hi-jinks can go on there at night but in the day....
honestly, it's harmless just a procession of great motors along rows of parked great motors with the (very) occasional burnout and never a donut in sight.
I hope thats open again next year as IMHO, that meet along there is one of the highlights of the weekend
Any 'official' word yet as to why it was closed off ?
to the Arnage - Indy being closed rant.I know there's some hi-jinks can go on there at night but in the day....
honestly, it's harmless just a procession of great motors along rows of parked great motors with the (very) occasional burnout and never a donut in sight.
I hope thats open again next year as IMHO, that meet along there is one of the highlights of the weekend
Any 'official' word yet as to why it was closed off ?
Sorry Guys, the reason the stretch from Mulsanne to Arnage is closed in Fridays is the usual story - The few idiots spoil it for the many enthusiasts.
It has been closed for a few years now due to people 'showing off' in front of the parked cars. I understand that there was indeeed a serious incident a few years back.
The Police also use a law that prevents cars from stopping on the side of the road unless it is an emergency. (Although I do class stopping to look at some of the exotica as an emergency!)
If that doesn't pee you off then the fact that I was a Commisaire, with a shiny pass, that allowed me to use that piece of road as often as I liked Sorry Guys, the reason the stretch from Mulsanne to Arnage is closed in Fridays is the usual story - The few idiots spoil it for the many enthusiasts.
It has been closed for a few years now due to people 'showing off' in front of the parked cars. I understand that there was indeeed a serious incident a few years back.
The Police also use a law that prevents cars from stopping on the side of the road unless it is an emergency. (Although I do class stopping to look at some of the exotica as an emergency!)
If that doesn't pee you off then the fact that I was a Commisaire, with a shiny pass, that allowed me to use that piece of road as often as I liked
)))))
It has been closed for a few years now due to people 'showing off' in front of the parked cars. I understand that there was indeeed a serious incident a few years back.
The Police also use a law that prevents cars from stopping on the side of the road unless it is an emergency. (Although I do class stopping to look at some of the exotica as an emergency!)
If that doesn't pee you off then the fact that I was a Commisaire, with a shiny pass, that allowed me to use that piece of road as often as I liked Sorry Guys, the reason the stretch from Mulsanne to Arnage is closed in Fridays is the usual story - The few idiots spoil it for the many enthusiasts.
It has been closed for a few years now due to people 'showing off' in front of the parked cars. I understand that there was indeeed a serious incident a few years back.
The Police also use a law that prevents cars from stopping on the side of the road unless it is an emergency. (Although I do class stopping to look at some of the exotica as an emergency!)
If that doesn't pee you off then the fact that I was a Commisaire, with a shiny pass, that allowed me to use that piece of road as often as I liked
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