[LM24] Le Mans 2023 - 10/11 June - Who Is Going? (Closed)

[Aysedasi]

Splendid stuff John! At a guess, I'm assuming that the Hippodrome is going to provide quite a decent sized camping area? The best part of twice the size of Houx?

https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/info/circuit-map

[kdr]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Splendid stuff John! At a guess, I'm assuming that the Hippodrome is going to provide quite a decent sized camping area? The best part of twice the size of Houx?

https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/info/circuit-map

I walked from the straight back to the main grandstand i think in 2013, along the road which seems to be called Chemin des Courses on a map. Went on forever in my mind or so it seemed, should provide a fair amount of camping i would assume. Folding bikes will be the order of the day in 2023.

[Samoan Attorney]

And how strange that it was 17th December 1903 that the Wright brothers made their first series of flights at Kitty Hawk.....119 years later we are still connected in a small way.

[RL17]

Originally Posted by Samoan Attorney

And how strange that it was 17th December 1903 that the Wright brothers made their first series of flights at Kitty Hawk.....119 years later we are still connected in a small way.

Thank you for the pictures and info John. Will try and have a look if I can get in.

Hadn't seen the stone and catapult launch until the 1908 Le Mans film (don't think they used it in 1903). Saw the new US carrier in the Solent in mid-November. Understand that uses electromagnetic catapults (steam catapults in use in their other carriers as in Top Gun 1 and the new film that I haven't seen).

other small connections - problems with French customs in 1908 creating delays in getting the Flyer ready? and also packed grandstands with the people in the front row always standing up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tfVpnPjQyA

better footage (speed corrected) of technical aspects and flight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPM6Bds3vGU

best regards Reg

[Mike E]

Oh wow. I have been ignoring this thread. Thought I had better start making arrangements for June. Parking sold out, haha. What on earth? I normally don't do any of this stuff until about February.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by RL17

Thank you for the pictures and info John. Will try and have a look if I can get in.

Hadn't seen the stone and catapult launch until the 1908 Le Mans film (don't think they used it in 1903). Saw the new US carrier in the Solent in mid-November. Understand that uses electromagnetic catapults (steam catapults in use in their other carriers as in Top Gun 1 and the new film that I haven't seen).

other small connections - problems with French customs in 1908 creating delays in getting the Flyer ready? and also packed grandstands with the people in the front row always standing up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tfVpnPjQyA

better footage (speed corrected) of technical aspects and flight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPM6Bds3vGU

best regards Reg

Great videos! Thanks for those Reg.

Originally Posted by Mike E

Oh wow. I have been ignoring this thread. Thought I had better start making arrangements for June. Parking sold out, haha. What on earth? I normally don't do any of this stuff until about February.

You are joking Mike, eh?

[GT6]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Oh wow. I have been ignoring this thread. Thought I had better start making arrangements for June. Parking sold out, haha. What on earth? I normally don't do any of this stuff until about February.

I think you missed the boat Mike. but as mentioned before the mess the aco has made of things this time you will i am sure be able to pick up spares from people who have panicked and ended up with more tickets than they need

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by GT6

I think you missed the boat Mike. but as mentioned before the mess the aco has made of things this time you will i am sure be able to pick up spares from people who have panicked and ended up with more tickets than they need

I hope so...

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

You are joking Mike, eh?

I'm not joking. But I have got a full week entry ticket, and my ferry is booked. I just (just!) need to confirm my off-site camping. Otherwise I will be sleeping in my car and trying not to get arrested.
I am very unimpressed with the removal of so much parking space though. How is that going to work?


Also, what an incredible fiasco. Or 'historical success', depending on your point of view. I have just waded through the last 20-odd pages of this thread and I am almost glad I missed it all in real time. Except for the parking. Especially for Mulsanne/Arnage.

The ACO never fails to amaze...

[Samoan Attorney]

Slightly off topic, but looking back through the files for the Hippodrome material I happened upon my ride for that 24 Hours...not sure how I blagged it but no chance now...indeed, those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end...

[GT6]

Now that is the way to do it, hope you managed to get it back safe without picking up any french tickets

[Samoan Attorney]

Originally Posted by GT6

Now that is the way to do it, hope you managed to get it back safe without picking up any french tickets

Oh yes indeed, leave the heroics to those out on track, my ability behind the wheel is modest to say the least.



The last time that I managed to borrow something cool, I had an interview and shoot with someone very special in Teloché the day after the race.

On my way back to Calais that afternoon I was passed by an Aston going at Warp Seven, chased soon after by a couple of muscular Subarus equally flat out. I pottered along for another 20 kilometres or so, then saw a bunch of blue flashing lights as the trio were being escorted by a couple of blue bikes avec Gendarmes. No doubt on their way to empty a cash machine or three. I confess I did grin a bit.

Long ago and far away....

[dwh43scale]

FYI Le Mans twitter in response to question asking about purchasing tickets for camping / parking today - "Hello ! We are currently working on alternative ways to accommodate spectators. ?"

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by dwh43scale

FYI Le Mans twitter in response to question asking about purchasing tickets for camping / parking today - "Hello ! We are currently working on alternative ways to accommodate spectators. ?"

Which is a stark admission that they never really thought about the consequences of selling large amounts of entry tickets while at the same time withdrawing huge amounts of camping and parking spaces....

[AstonGeoff]

Plus they seriously under-estimated the demand for the centenary race!

[eps]

Originally Posted by AstonGeoff

Plus they seriously under-estimated the demand for the centenary race!

I don't think that's what they've done. I think they feel it's going to be a massive celebration (plus a race which just happens to be at the same time) and therefore the media and world will be looking their way even more in June than on other years. I think they wanted to set aside more space for those other than spectators and in this they've treated those who come to watch the race poorly. It wasn't that long ago they were concerned that F1 would put a race on at the same time and that would detract from the interest. I think they've just misunderstood who actually comes to the event and how + how they stay nearby. Anyway I'm sure it will be a massive success, the most spectators ever, etc... the most churros eaten and a new record in Merguez Americain...

[Mal]

Well, we asked for 32 camping spaces on Houx, 64 entry tickets and 30 grandstand seats. This includes tickets for The Flying Baguettes group, Ten Tenths international camping (Kenn) and another small group

Our agency has offered us 20 camping spaces on Houx, 40 all week entry and 30 grandstand seats (Split between ACO & Durand).

Having talked with Kenn we are going to squeeze our two groups onto the space we have, by packing the tents in and sharing the BBQ / Marquee space and we are looking for a solution for the other small group.

With all the fuss I think considering we ask for such a large order we have done pretty well.

My biggest issue with the whole process this year has been that the agencies were not informed of their allocations before the general sale became live leaving agency customers fretting as to whether they would get tickets and space or not. It was hardly rocket science that there would be a massive increase in demand this year.....

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Mal

My biggest issue with the whole process this year has been that the agencies were not informed of their allocations before the general sale became live leaving agency customers fretting as to whether they would get tickets and space or not. It was hardly rocket science that there would be a massive increase in demand this year.....

Yep. This is what has been very obvious Mal. I spent a lot of time reading comments here, on CA, PH and FB about the situation and the fact that people who had always relied upon agencies didn't have a scooby what (if anything) they were likely to get as the agencies themselves didn't know, led many to just buy anything they could find, willy-nilly when the tickets went up for sale. Having said that, from what I could see, hardly anything for Houx, H-A or TR actually went up for sale, leaving people to fight over a few tickets for Epinettes or just accept Beausejour, Clos Fleurie or Hippodrome. At a stroke the ACO effectively decimated the traditional camping sites (and for me, the parking sites too) and either misunderstood or simply didn't care about the mess and panic they were causing by their spectator-unfriendly approach. And to compound everything, they didn't consider it necessary to tell anyone what was going on or to offer an explanation until the panic was well under way.

[GT6]

i think you did a lot better than some but i hope you can sort out the rest of the groups, heard in the last few days of a few more people who have managed to get some of what they requested but like you the camping allocation has been reduced. Plans will need to be amended but hopefully solutions can be found that at least keep everyone together even if they have to park up away from the campsite, I remember parking in houx back in the eighties when people were using photocopied/reprinted camping tickets before the ACO wised up to that.

[Aysedasi]

It's also noticeable that there is still nothing on eBay. Now that most agency customers know what they are getting, I'd expected the 'panic' surpluses to start appearing on eBay. The fact that there has been next to nothing so far also suggests to me that we probably don't have a situation where a lot of tickets have been bought for resale for big profits....

[Peter Mallett]

I mentioned before that, having secured BSJ, I was happy to cancel my request to 1T. I suspect you are correct, most are keeping what they secured because they weren't able to get what they wanted from the agents.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

I mentioned before that, having secured BSJ, I was happy to cancel my request to 1T. I suspect you are correct, most are keeping what they secured because they weren't able to get what they wanted from the agents.

Yeah I tend to agree. The panic buying was the correct way to go. That certainly happened in my case and I was offered something less attractive by my agents. So that's a camping ticket going to someone on an agency waiting list vs ebay/to a forumer.

[Aysedasi]

Well, that's good for sure.

[Mike E]

Anyone teaching PR could use this ticket porridge as an example of how not to do it.

We're making significant changes to the physical layout of our facility.
Literally hundreds of thousands of our loyal, paying customers will be directly and adversely affected.
Many of our longstanding partners (like ticket agencies) will have to significantly alter their well-honed procedures to account for the changes.
Shall we tell anyone? Nah.

[RL17]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

It's also noticeable that there is still nothing on eBay. Now that most agency customers know what they are getting, I'd expected the 'panic' surpluses to start appearing on eBay. The fact that there has been next to nothing so far also suggests to me that we probably don't have a situation where a lot of tickets have been bought for resale for big profits....

Don’t know what’s usually on eBay as have normally sorted private camp site end of Jan or a bit later plus GE and GS (from ACO) for small group without much fuss or bother.

It’s a complicated product - persons willing to pay a fair whack over the odds would probably want a package like some of the private camp sites provide including grandstands etc. Plus parking so 4 elements plus complication of which GE period.

Compared to a big concert where l assume they hope to resell most tickets (single uniform product) in a week or less - Le Mans is tricky and you would had to have cash tied up for at least a month or so, plus risks of getting unequal quantities.

Split sales, delays, ACO ticket site changes and camping site changes and lack of info, plus membership priority (and some transaction limits). Making it difficult for touts is a big plus for the ACO

Plus usually a raft of well supplied agencies and returning customers.

Might be some GS tickets emerging later from corporate side? Does F1 at Silverstone or other places get eBay sellers? Don’t think it existed when last saw a European GP at Brands Hatch.