Le Mans 2000 ?

[Liz]

Ours is a package price that includes ferry, parking on the circuit, and either the hotel or a camping space for one tent per vehicle. Can tents be hired in the UK? That might be our best bet so as to avoid having to schlepp the thing around - and if it rains we can take it back and let THEM clean it.

[Truckosaurus]

Don't worry about the one tent per car rule.

I would have thought you could hire tents (or buy cheap used ones) via an independent camping/outdoors shop (rather than a Milletts style chain).

[Liz]

If you are in the UK and if you know where to look for a good deal, I am sure you can. Since I'm not and I don't, I crave further enlightenment from one who is and who does.

[Liz]

Attention Le Mans 2000 Car Team: Is it time to start organizing yet?

Did you know there is a MOTORCYCLE 24 hours of Le Mans? I saw it last night. Or at least the beginning of it. What a sell.

[JUDGE]

Liz
the bike race st Le Mans is called the Bol D`or and has been around longer than the car 24hrs i think.
We used to get some small Tv spots about it in the UK but that seems to have dried up.
At my local track (Snetterton) we have a 6 hour bike race and alot of the teams come there after Le Mans as most specialise in the enduro events.
Hope this helps??

BTW if anybody from the UK is going to Le Mans(cars) and would like to contact me i have a good ferry package worked out(must be booked before Jan 7th)

[Liz]

Thanks - I am not much for motorcycle racing (they seem to be off them rather a lot), but it has to be a lot tougher to ride a motorcycle for 24 hours than a car. I'd rather watch the cars though.

I see in the ACO site that they have changed the dates of Le Mans to the 17-18 weekend. Does this now conflict with the Montreal GP?

[This message has been edited by Liz (edited 17 November 1999).]

[Craig]

OK folks, has anyone done anything about this yet ? Judge, tell us about your deal...

I hear all the campsites are already booked solid, so we'd have so suss something else out there... anyone have any ideas ?

I've got to book up my 2000 holiday tomorrow...

[CATMAN]

BolD`or 24 hour bike race has nothing to do with leMans. Correct me if I`m wrong , but the Bol 24 is held at Le Castelet (S of France anyway) and the LeMans bike 24 hour job is a different race.
PS. No works Mercs or Porsches, boo hoo boo hoo. My people book before the first week in
Jan , for the best sites and guaranteed places etc. SO GET YOUR FINGERS OUT IF YOU ARE GOING.
I`ll wave you you all from the pits ! I`m the big bloke on a bbbbbbiiiiiikkkkkkeeee
ttthhhhhaaaaattttttt wwwweeeeeennnnntttt bbbbbyyyyyyyyyy.

[This message has been edited by CATMAN (edited 01 December 1999).]

[Truckosaurus]

The campsite tickets have all been sold/allocated to the various ticket agencies (to sell on at a profit).

[Liz]

I'm planning to get my tickets through the ACO (I joined it last week) - I can get up to 6 they said. As far as campsites go, I have two agents that both have very good packages, one is Page & Moy and the other, erm, isn't. I'll look it up when I get home. I am planning to start buying tickets as soon as they go on sale, and as soon as I can get a booking in with one of the companies, I'll be in touch with Liz H, Sarah and Danielsun and we will get our act on the road.

Okay so I was a general in another life! I will let you know of any good deals that I find.

[Graham]

I may be swanning of to LM next year.

Two reasons...

(a) The TVR Car Club always have a great barbecue for members

(b) TVR said they <might> (for the umpteenth time) race there next year.

So 2000 may be my year...

[Graham]

That's not to say I don't want to see the other cars...

If I have enough moolah, I may make a nice weekend of it by hiring a big motorhome for my brother and I, and our stash of Pepsi

Here's hoping for a lottery win....

[Liz]

Okay, the other outfit is called Airtrack Motor Racing and is British (of course - they seem to do this the best) - advertises among other things that they have VIP camping with "proper toilets and showers and electricity" which sounds like my idea of camping. Anyway I have contacted them and will see what they say. They also have a package that will allow you to visit the Dodge Viper pits, if you are into snakes.

[Craig]

Here is a response I received from one enquiry I made. Prices are a bit more expensive than I was thinking, but you do get your ticket, camping paid for, travel to & from the campsite to trackside & breakfast/dinner.

Anyone interested/know anything about this deal ? Link to site: http://www.clubvalan.demon.co.uk

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Hello Craig,
Thanks for your email, Glad to hear your going to Le Mans
next year, If you have not been before you are in for a treat, there is
not an event like it.
We run 3 camping weekends to Le Mans i.e.
24 Hour Bikes - 15 / 16th April,
French Bike Grand Prix - 13 /14th May
24 Heures du Mans - 17/18th June (I take it you mean this one)
The June event attracts over 200,000 people and I think is the second
biggest motor racing event in the world. (the first is the Indy 500)
We operate our weekends from a 3 star campsite 10 miles from the
circuit, we do this for the good security and facilities that you wont
get at the circuit. It has proper showers & toilets, open air swimming
pool, its a really nice place. On the site we have our own marquees,
table chairs catering equipment Satellite TV etc. and we provide you
with full English breakfast, and evening meals, free tea & coffee, we
get your general entry ticket for the weekend and we have 2 coaches laid
on to take you from the campsite after breakfast on Saturday to the
circuit, it brings you back in the evening for your meals then it goes
back after your meal and brings you back at 1 & 2 o clock in the
morning, then again on Sunday it goes down after breakfast and returns
after the end of the race, we pay your camping fee but we do not provide
tents or ferry reservations, you need to get yourself there with your
own camping equipment, once you are there we look after you for the
weekend,
2000 will be our seventh year of operating club VALAN and we have had
200 people staying with us for each of the last 3 years.
The cost next year will be £155.00 per person assuming you arrive on
Friday, you will get a meal on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and
breakfast on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings.
Should you want to arrive on Thursday it will be £20.00 for the extra
night with 2 extra meals
I hope that gives you some idea, please give Val or Myself a call on
01908 311956 anytime day or evening up to 11pm and we can answer any
questions that you might have
We only go up to 200 people this is our limit and we start getting
booked up in the new year, a deposit of £25.00 per person will secure
your place.
We look forward to hearing from you

Alan

--
Alan Peters
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[JUDGE]

Craig
you would have to add to this the ferry and ithe best one i have found is from Stenna Line at £150 for a car or M/home(up to 6.2m) with driver and 3 passengers,but this offer has to be booked by 7th Jan.

[TimD]

Re: ferry prices

I don't know if they've stopped doing this offer this year, but last year we used SeaFrance, it cost us £90 return for a four door car and two occupants, and £1 surcharge for an additional passenger. It was booked no more than 10 days before the event, and we travelled down on the Thursday, returning in the wee small hours of Monday.

Hope this helps.

[Liz]

AirTrack has VIP Camping for around 100 Sterling (I don't have that little gadget to indicate pounds, on this keyboard) for three nights of camping (they supply the tents, with electricity) and ferry, parking at the circuit. Race tickets are available but are apparently about twice what the ACO charges. They figure on 4 to a car, self-drive, to give you this price; there's an extra charge if you have fewer than 4 people. They also have add-ons, some of them very expensive and some not, one to Mulsanne on their bus for 18 sterling. This is the one I am recommending to the group I'm going with. But I'm getting my tix through the ACO.

[Truckosaurus]

I've just booked tickets for myself and a group of friends for next year's Le Mans.

We used 'Just Tickets' ( http://www.justtickets.co.uk ) as they will sell you, as the name suggests, the race tickets without any need to book travel tickets with them (although they do sell ferry tickets etc.)

We went with Airtrack this year, who although slightly pricey, do offer a good service, and did have plenty of camping tickets available even when everyone else had sold out. They even put on a BBQ for people camping with them in the on-site camp (although I missed it for some reason, which is unusual for me)

We'll be in Maison Blanche campsite from Wednesday morning. See you there!

[Liz]

I ordered my tickets today through the ACO. They are going very fast, folks. If you plan to go, you'd better get them soon.

When are we going to make our reservations? I don't want to end up sleeping in Paris. I hate Paris.

[Truckosaurus]

Liz,

Did you order any grandstand seats from the ACO? If so, where/what/when/how much etc?

I spoke to them before Xmas about getting seats in the 'ACO' grandstand which is where we were last year (recommended, as it has a great view of the tv screen and most importantly has it's own clean toilets with no queues ), the lady said they'd 'sold out' but they'd put me on the waiting list.

When I got back from my Xmas holiday, I had a letter waiting for me from the ACO which said some thing along the lines of 'this is to confirm your booking, we can't sell you anything yet as we don't know the prices and the race date won't be definite until the New Year. We'll write to you again to let you know.' I have no idea if I have seats or not.

[Liz]

That's the letter I got with my booking form--dated December 13, 1999, received by fax yesterday. I just filled in what I wanted and sent it off by fax (to France, which is a neat trick as they never give you the right fax number the first time), so I don't know yet either.

[Liz]

As of today no answer from the ACO; I have sent them a stern email asking them to let me know if I have tickets or not - I'll give them a week and then I'm going elsewhere and see if I recommend them to anybody in the future.

Sarah and I are making our reservations with Airtrack this weekend to come. Liz H's email doesn't answer and Danielsun if you want to ride with us it's 19 GBP. Soon as we're fixed we'll let you know where to meet up with us.

[Liz]

ACO will be shipping their tickets in March. Just heard that from them today.

[Liz]

Received confirmation from Airtrack today; total of 407 GBP for the weekend including travel, camping, tickets, Mulsanne excursion and barbecue on Saturday night. Now if I can just get my ACO tickets - now I can believe I am really going!

P.S. if anyone hears from Danielsun, tell him he'll owe Sarah 19 GBP if he wants to ride with us. If nobody hears from him, and somebody else needs a seat, same price.

[Danielsun]

You know you could have just e-mailed me...

But, yes, I'll be there!! Liz, can you please let me know (by mail!) where you're at so far...