I'm starting to plan for my trip to the 24hrs of Le Mans this June. Can anyone who's made the trek give me some suggestions?

Looking for hotel, seating, commuting, to-do and any other tips you might have. Appreciate the help, cheers!

Eddie

 

Depends who you are traveling with, but about a 2.5 hour drive west from outside Le Mans is a tourist place called St.Malo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Malo

I have never seen anything like it in my life. Really cool. You can spend a day or two without getting bored. I suggest taking the train from Le Mans to St. Malo. I was younger when I went, and I biked... really enjoyed that trip.

Once you get to St.Malo, you can take an overnight ferry to Portsmouth and it's a short train ride to London after that... kinda of a cool way to spend an extra few days after the race, and then fly out from London on return.

 

Sounds nice, I'll check it out! What about seats? Best spot?

 

I'd say do a package deal but a lot of them are sold out. I'm planning on returning in 2016 and will be booking in August! Booking or planning now for this June...?

Hotels? Very few and what there are have been booked years in advance by tour groups or race teams.

Do not drive. You will sit in traffic until 2AM leaving the track on the Sunday night. Driving around Le Mans during the week varies from a chore to a nightmare. Don't even think about driving on the (down day) Friday!

Take the train and then tram. Period. Book the train NOW.

Try to book a campsite if you can. Many have grandstand tickets as well as dinner as an option.

When I went to Le Mans in 2014 I booked everything in August of 2013 and even then some grandstands and campsite were sold out on an individual basis. That's why these camping or tour companies are pretty much the only way to go. The Porsche UK club does tours here for members but when I asked a member sitting beside me last year what he paid I was shocked... but then again, they stayed in a four star hotel every night while I was in a tent! I had more fun drinking with the 'other' Brit's in the beer tent anyway.

Commuting from way outside Le Mans is a pain in the butt.

11 weeks is a little late to be booking. This isn't the Honda Indy...

Good luck anyway.

Hey, maybe a Rennlist Le Mans 2016 tour??!!

 

Haha, yeah a late decision. But grandstand tickets are in hand now. Will book the train, thanks for the tip!

Rennlist Le Mans 2016!

 

- Get the track map out - the walk from the tram to the main straight grandstands are pretty far, bring lots of water. It gets hot there but at some point it seems to rain for a spell so a rain suit comes in handy. Good shoes you can walk miles in are gold.

- The line up at washrooms are sometimes 10 min's long.

- Beer is 7 euro - but it does come in collectible cups in the grandstand area's. Think ACC prices!

- Don't miss the Le Mans museum up by Dunlop.

- Friday is a dead day - no racing. The pits are open (free) but crowded as hell. Downtown is the drivers parade - crowded as hell. See a trend here yet? The nuts come out on Friday in their cars doing burnouts everywhere. The public roads including the Mulsanne are open to traffic and everyone plays Steve McQueen until the Gendarmes come by.

- Thursday from 6:00PM until midnight is qualifying for all classes. A most excellent time to sit back in the late evening watching the sun set, drinking beer and relaxing (huh?) while 56 cars blast past you!

- Have some Euro coins for the tram payment machine when leaving to and from the track and make sure to validate the ticket in the little box inside the tram. My friend (also a UCR member) almost got nailed for a fine... We acted like stupid tourists so she let us off with a stern look.

- Labor troubles happen every summer in France. Just saying. Stay cool if so.

- Pick pockets are mostly an urban legend in the track area - more so in the Paris Metro but even so, use a money belt for cash, cards and passport.

- Trash and trinkets are expensive, tee-shirts $40 Euro and up etc.

- Always check the train schedules with a train employee - the electronic boards are not always correct and they switch tracks and train numbers at a moments notice.

- WiFi is expensive - less so if you join the ACO club. I never did find a SIM card to use even though my phone was unlocked as we were always running late for trains and never found a store. You can buy a plan online (Google for one) using your phone and they txt you a password but beware - it gets expensive fast. My buddy ran through his plan and ended up $170 CAN poorer. They don't send you any warnings - BAM! One download of a leaders update from the Le Mans site is all it can take or checking airport times while you are moving along on a high speed train going through multi cell towers, (which is where we think he went wrong).

- The camping site we were at had free WiFi, power plug in's and Sat TV on two big screens so we could do all our txting and face-booking there.

- Bring along a portable charger for your phone as it can save you when you can't find anywhere to charge it. I have one that takes four AA batteries and I can get four full charges for my phone out of them. Its about the size of a cigarette pack.

- The trip down to Indianapolis is a drag during the race as they don't have enough trams. It's a 8km walk one way as it takes a convoluted route. I wish I could have brought a folding bike but the damn airline charges...

- You'll remember the start for the rest of your life!

- Have a great time! Go Porsche!

 

You da man! Thanks for all the advice!

 

So far this is the best spot in Toronto for currency exchange. Www.kantor.ca

 

Great list and pretty much crushed my plans for this year

 

Thursday night final qualifying and Friday pit walk with the general unwashed.