[LM24] Le Mans 24 Hours First-timer Tips

[JoshuaLeMans]

Hi there, I'm Joshua and in June I will be going to Le Mans, France as part of my 18th birthday present. My family will be coming with me so it will be a great two weeks. I'm wondering if anyone can give me any tips for the week? Best places to watch? Are you allowed in the paddock or track at all?

Feel free to give me any tips of what to do around France (Paris)

Thank you!

Joshua Smith

[Mal]

Hi Josh and welcome - there will be plenty of help and advice here. Could you be a bit more specific as to where you are staying in Le Mans and which days you are there.

[GT6]

Firstly Welcome to the forum Joshua

Almost all of the questions you will have have already been discussed somewhere on this forum but it is probably best if you can give us some more info about when you arrive, where you are staying, how far you can walk (le mans is a massive track) as for best places to watch i think we all have our favourites but you will have time to visit most of them and i would suggest you try to get out to mulsanne and arnarge during either the race or on Wednesday/thursday

[JoshuaLeMans]

I will be staying in a holiday home owned by my Dad's friend and that in Laval.

We will be arriving via ferry from Stornoway on Saturday 7th June to go on the evening ferry to Cherbourg on the Sunday. So basically I will be an hour away from the Monday.

And I'm looking to hopefully wanting to go to all of the places where you can view the cars going around!

[Mal]

First tip - dont plan on going back to the holiday home on Saturday night!

Other than that the key things are:

Wednesday and Thursday evening - Qualifying - a good time to visit Arnage and Mulsanne
Friday - Classic British Welcome, Pit Walk, Drivers Parade
Saturday / Sunday - Ten Tenths Meeting and Race

Try and fit in a visit to the Museum and Old Town Le Mans.

I am sure other will be along to add to this shortly....

[CTD]

Welcome to Joshua!

We do also have this thread, containing a lot of Questions and Answers:
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=136187
Have look through it, if you have the time, I am sure you will find answer to almost all your questions, and some bonus info .
I have created this map, where you can see what part of the circuit is available, and some good viewing spots:
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/ed...Y.kP4YaI9BXO2M

[GT6]

OK so you have plenty of time to do just about everything
Arnarge is an absolute must as it is the slowest part of the track, that sounds silly i know but you can watch the cars as they come round from indianapolis under full acceleration and then brake very hard for arnarge corner, plenty of overtaking and the mix of slower gt's and fast lmp's mean plenty of action. The noise and closeness of the cars is amazing and if you are there in the dark the brake disc glow so bright they light up the side of the cars.
You can walk to the porsche curves and to almost all parts of the track between there and Tertre Rouge.
Other musts are
Classic car show on Friday at st saturin, plenty of modern cars as well as old ones and it is free
The Saturday meet of a group of mad sportscar fans
The friday pit walk,
The big wheel as the view at night is outstanding during the race
Also make sure you have a radio to listen to radio le mans to keep up with the race.
Enjoy yourself, but if you can't do everything do not worry you will be back, i only went once to see what it was like and this will now be my 29th visit, it is adictive

[Aysedasi]

Welcome Joshua

The simplest thing is just to make sure you come here to the Le Mans subforum as often as you can and immerse yourself in the info that we all provide. There are literally hundreds of years of Le Mans experience from members here - you simply won't find anything better!

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Mal

First tip - dont plan on going back to the holiday home on Saturday night!

Other than that the key things are:

Wednesday and Thursday evening - Qualifying - a good time to visit Arnage and Mulsanne
Friday - Classic British Welcome, Pit Walk, Drivers Parade
Saturday / Sunday - Ten Tenths Meeting and Race

Try and fit in a visit to the Museum and Old Town Le Mans.

I am sure other will be along to add to this shortly....

It's easy to be overwhelmed by all the information but I think Mal has this pretty much spot on, this list here provides the bare basics for a first timer and other things can be added or dropped on later trips.

Joshua, another thing to add, and this may seem so painstakingly obvious to some on here they'd forget to mention it - make sure everyone in the family has a portable FM radio, even the ones who don't like racing (yet). Radio Le Mans is hypnotic to listen to and an essential part of the experience, as well as the best way of keeping up to date with what's going on.

[Aysedasi]

My five-penneth is simply to say - don't try and do everything - it's impossible. If you're anything like most of us, you will be back. Just enjoy it without feeling that you must do 'this next' and 'that afterwards' - there's no obligatory programme to follow (other than the Ten Tenths meeting, of course ). Soak up the incredible atmosphere of the place, you will love it.......

[CTD]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

My five-penneth is simply to say - don't try and do everything - it's impossible. If you're anything like most of us, you will be back. Just enjoy it without feeling that you must do 'this next' and 'that afterwards' - there's no obligatory programme to follow (other than the Ten Tenths meeting, of course ). Soak up the incredible atmosphere of the place, you will love it.......

Once you have been too Le Mans, you will keep coming back, so as Ayse writes, you will have plenty of time to see it all

[nobster]

Hi Joshua, welcome!
For a first timer : try to see the track from as many different places as possible, try to visit the museum, the drivers parade, The Ten tenths meeting, maybe go to the Le Mans Legends restaurant in town, try to visit the old town, etc etc.

[valedave]

Stornoway to Le Mans? My god that's a journey and a half.

I know lots of people don't bother with it, but for me the drivers' parade on Friday in Le Mans city centre really made me realise the scale of the race. Try and get down to it. Otherwise, don't try to do too much and just soak it all up.

[JoshuaLeMans]

Originally Posted by valedave

Stornoway to Le Mans? My god that's a journey and a half.

I know lots of people don't bother with it, but for me the drivers' parade on Friday in Le Mans city centre really made me realise the scale of the race. Try and get down to it. Otherwise, don't try to do too much and just soak it all up.

Yeah it is when you think about it! Well I'm from Warrington originally and use to live there before September 2012 so come down to see my relatives who live near Warrington.

And I am probably like most of us but probably worst. I have kept up to date to every motorsport series since 2009 and I watch motorsport like Formula 1, MotoGP, Indycar, NASCAR, WTCC, BTCC, BSB, WSB and any supporting classes so GP2, GP3, Indy Lights and many other series as well. My Mum and Dad get a wee bit annoyed with me taking over the TV hours with me watching all of the motorsport.

Another question to ask how about autograph sessions? Are there any of those happening? Well there probably will be but where?

[Mal]

Originally Posted by JoshuaLeMans

Yeah it is when you think about it! Well I'm from Warrington originally and use to live there before September 2012 so come down to see my relatives who live near Warrington.

And I am probably like most of us but probably worst. I have kept up to date to every motorsport series since 2009 and I watch motorsport like Formula 1, MotoGP, Indycar, NASCAR, WTCC, BTCC, BSB, WSB and any supporting classes so GP2, GP3, Indy Lights and many other series as well. My Mum and Dad get a wee bit annoyed with me taking over the TV hours with me watching all of the motorsport.

Another question to ask how about autograph sessions? Are there any of those happening? Well there probably will be but where?

Oh dear, you had better prepare them for the worst as Le Mans & SportsCar are very addictive and can take a lot of TV hours as the races are long!

[wewantourdarbyback]

Originally Posted by JoshuaLeMans

Another question to ask how about autograph sessions? Are there any of those happening? Well there probably will be but where?

Here you go http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/program.../20140610.html

[GT6]

But a whole load more happens in sportscar racing including loads of overtaking a thing almost extinct in some motor sport and you can see driver changes and tactic all adding to the experience

[The Badger]

First timer tip ..... don't ever go near the place .

It will end up costing you thousands . Because you will go again and again and again .

This will be my 20th year and maybe 4 or 5 test weekends too . When I first went in 1989 ..... I never expected to be bitten by Le Mans . Its the best race in the world hands down .

[nobster]

Well Badger, that has happened to most of us, but on the plus side better to spend it at Le Mans then in a bar at home!

[bella]

adding my voice to the "just chill out, enjoy the race and do the big things like the driver parade, autograph session and pitwalk" brigade. don't try and do everything - almost inevitably there will be loads of stuff where you just think "why did i bother with that?". part of the joy of le mans is figuring out what the important bits of the week are to you.

[batmobile]

Welcome to you Joshua

[JoshuaLeMans]

I have another question to ask which I don't think has been answered before? And that is are you allowed into the paddock at all without a paddock pass? Cause I really want to get into the paddock as went to the Oulton Park paddock for the British Superbikes race in 2012 and it was brilliant seeing all of the motorhomes.

[CTD]

Originally Posted by JoshuaLeMans

I have another question to ask which I don't think has been answered before? And that is are you allowed into the paddock at all without a paddock pass? Cause I really want to get into the paddock as went to the Oulton Park paddock for the British Superbikes race in 2012 and it was brilliant seeing all of the motorhomes.

I believe you are on Friday. But otherwise, you either need an invite from a team or you need to purchase a pass from ACO.
http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/program..._2_2_1737.html

[GT6]

You can walk into part of the paddock but not all of it.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by CTD

I believe you are on Friday. But otherwise, you either need an invite from a team or you need to purchase a pass from ACO.
http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/program..._2_2_1737.html

As far as I'm aware, you're allowed in the outer paddock for the whole week up to and including Friday.