Who is planning on going to LeMans 24

We are AGAIN... I need to go feed horses but I'll get back on here in a bit and see if I can provide a little assistance.

Carol

 

I'll be there again. Staying at the Galaxie in Le Mans.
Fly into Paris CDG. Explore. Go to Montparnasse station, and take a 150mph train to get to Le Mans in an hour. If you're just now planning the trip, good luck finding accomodations. Might be best to get a hotel in Paris and just show up the day of the race.
The old city of Le Mans is quite amazing, so make time to check it out. Also keep in mind that the track is a typical race track and kind of far from the actual "Le Mans." I expected to get to the Le Mans station and be at the track. There are busses though from the city to the track during the week of the event.

 

Wish I could make it.... anyone has extra tickets let me know!

 

This is an annual trek for us. Here's how we do it and it works very, very well for a long weekend. DFW to CDG - on Wednesday, try for early to mid morning arrival into CDG from your departure point on Thursday. Gare is two esclators down from main terminal. Take RER (2 changes) to Paris Gare Montparnasse. We stay at the Novotel Gare Montparnasse - go to the last track (highest # track) go left and follow track to the door, up esclator, out door, into door to hotel (5 minute walk) - here's link to hotel rates which are very reasonable http://www.novotel.com/gb/reservation/multirates.jshtml. Last year we did the short walk out the hotel to the Seine River and walk down to the Notre Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower and took in other sites. First TGV to LeMans on Friday morning; late train back as the Driver's Parade - city centre- starts at 18:00 - must be in place at least an hour or more for good spot - lots places adjacent for beer and fantastic pizza place. Saturday morning first TGV back to LeMans. There has been much new construction at the Gare and last year the new tram was in place - it is fantastic...far superior to the old bus method, or in some cases we used to take a cab - talk about a wild ride! Get a couple day or at least RT tram ticket - tram will say "Circuit" - tram dumps you off at entrance where you go left after the gates and keep walking, there will be several sets of many steps and you will come up at the Dunlop Bridge, turn left and you're in the village. As far as the TGV, all seats are reserved and be sure to make your reservations in March (for us 18 March) very easy to do on line - www.raileurope.com - for our commute, we had an approximate $300 investment in tickets. The TGV is the only way to go from Paris (54 minutes). If you come in and want to go directly from the airport to LeMans, the frequency of trains is limited and it will take you about 1.5 hours if you don't make a change. We do not stay in a hotel on Saturday night - afterall, it's a 24 hour race and some of the BEST racing is in the wee-hours of the night (besides it's close to midnight before it's really dark) so we stay at the circuit as do the majority of attendees. Our tickets are in Tribune 19 Lagache (last year directly across from the Peugeot garages) fantastic seats in 2nd row on aisle and were 406 GBP which also includes the 25 GBP p/p shuttle bus excursion to Arnage and Mulsanne. Don't even think of trying to drive to these locations - we figured if we did, we may still be trying to find the race! We take the last bus shuttle at 8:30 pm Saturday evening and get back about midnight - catch the shuttle at the "Bar Outside The Circuit" (for real name!!) great time - love the Brits! Shuttle drops you off at each location and picks you up an hour or so later. We get our tickets from www.justtickets.co.uk (Debbie is the gal I deal with). Back to Friday - the pits are open starting at 10 am - spend the day wandering and take an early afternoon tram back to the gare and short walk to centre, grab some grub/beer and wait for the driver's parade. Saturday (really Sunday am)the Ferris wheel at 3 am has become a habit - awesome view and they stop the cars on top so you get the view. Hungry in the middle of the night - there's a great sandwich/beer place open 24h. Dunlop Curves from the other side of the Dunlop Bridge has been a pre/dawn favorite. After the race, we take an 8:30 ish TGV from LeMans to CDG. Stay at the Sheraton Paris Airport (as mentioned is only two esclators up from tracks and walk out the main lobby and you are in the terminal (I booked there on October 23, 2008!!). Fly home Monday - also no carry-on or suitcase, we do it only with an average size backpack each.

Suggestion on TGV - out the terminal on waiting area by the tracks there will be a board with the coach numbers on it for your train, your ticket will reflect coach and seat number, go to your number or letter that is shown on the board - it will be shown from above on waiting area - DO NOT be late, your train will be gone!

Again this year we will be meeting another FChatter and his friend from London at the circuit - great guys. Hope this info has been of help.

Counting down the months! With the ACO changes, Thursday is a practice day. . . big decision, practice or be a tourist in Paris!
Carol

 

I go there every year with a couple of UK fchatters. We drive across in our Ferraris.

 

I am sure that you will have the time of your life, it is a great place to be. I have only been to this event one time but I will try and list a few things that I would say to do. As the others have said, the train from Paris is very quick and easy. I would reserve seats for your return train trip when you first get there as they are packed after the race.

The Drivers parade on Friday is a really cool event, it starts and ends at the base of the large church in the old part of the town. I would watch it near the end of the parade, in the tunnel. The drivers will get out of the cars here and walk the rest of the way and talk with everyone alone the route. I little known fact is that on Friday morning the over winners from the past years race meet in the center of town, in a square that was built to house the winners hand-prints. They will meet the mayor there to mark the installation of their plaque, it is a very small event and very few folks come to it so it is a great chance to see something special. Try and find the one that has the drivers name spelled wrong.

The Swedes put on a crazy concert/party at the outside of the Dunlop bridge near the area that you can cross under the track all night long, it will be hard to miss from the nightclub lighting and live music played an insane level.

Try and get down to the Indy corners at night, great place to see the cars work their magic.

Grand Marnier crepes in the AM is hard to beat after staying up all night.

Here is a link to some photos that I took last year while working on a Film about the Audi team, Good Luck and have a great time!
http://web.me.com/chriskellett/Site_2/LeMans_2008.html

 

you're welcome . . .gosh...you'd have to fit into my backpack! why don't you catch up with us there? This promises to be the best of those that we've attended.

Carol

 

Last time I was there, was 1982. Porsche flew the top 50 Porsche salesman in the US to Europe. Wined and dined us to no end 24-7 . Access to drivers and to the pits ,Porsche 956's finish One, Two , Three. Hung out with the drivers . There is no better venue for a 24 hour race. It's like Woodstock without the drugs and the music, is the roar of the engines . Truly amazing!

 

The last time I attended was in 1963.....I'll never forget any detail of it....especially the whistling sound of that Rover turbine 00 car driven by Graham Hill and Richie Ginther and the beauty and sound of the Ferraris.....Bandini and Scarfiotti took the win for Ferrari driving a 250P by a margin of 16 laps!