|
Things I learned at my first Le Mans:
Parking Blanc was an awesome choice. Easy to navigate to, right by the entrance, designated spot, quiet enough to get some kip in the car.
It's not as big as you'd think. With so much of the track being closed to spectators or requiring a bus ride/long walk, most of the crowd is rammed into around 2 miles of track between Ford Chicane and Tetre Rouge. As a result of that...
It's insanely crowded. Moving around in the hours before and after the start is very difficult. I felt distinctly uncomfortable a few times. The general admission areas were densely packed, the crowd 5-deep at the fences, the grandstands rammed.
The queues are crazy. I counted 80 blokes in a queue for the urinals at one point. 10-deep for food and drink at busy times. Thus...
ACO membership is worth it just for the loos and cafe. I had a seat in Tribune 18 and thus access to the better facilities. You also get a better view of the start, though next year I may go for 34 rather than 18 because it looked less rammed.
The start ceremony is awesome. The moment the cars started their engines was spine-tingling. The slow two-by-two through Ford chicane was incredible. Loved it.
Grandstands are worth it and Dunlop is the best. It's only at start and finish that you need to be in your designated seat The rest of the time you can move around. I shot 700 lovely photos from the top of Dunlop in the very sunny warm-up and similarly had the stand almost to myself after dark. Next year I will get Dunlop, T34 and probably Wollek too.
The run from the Dunlop bridge to Tetre Rouge is just as amazing live as on TV. Sooo many angles of cars coming under that bridge. An iconic view!
You can get surprisingly close to the cars. At Tetre Rouge, Mulsanne Corner, Arnage and parts of Ford and Dunlop you really are very close. There are other lovely long views - the sweep under Dunlop, the entrance to Mulsanne, up the straight coming towards Indianapolis - to make for a fabulous variety of photo angles. Except that...
The fences are annoying. They seemed to be set at exactly the height at which a 5'9" bloke (me!) can't quite shoot over them. I'll take my little step stool next time - it's only an extra foot but that will make all the difference.
I made a lot of newbie errors of course, including wasting two hours fruitlessly searching for shuttles, another hour walking down to karting fruitlessly searching for a view and trying to move about at busy times. Next year it will be even more fun.
I'm not quite bowled over by the experience, but I'm a tough crowd for a first-timer as I've already done all the other major 24-hour races! But it was terrific and will become even more so as I become more familiar with the quirks.
5,500 photos to sort now. As I have the Nurbrgring 24, Glastonbury and the Goodwood Festival of Speed the next three weekends, there may be a bit of a delay in posting those!
|