Le Mans for beginners! Packaged trips.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

For Le Mans virgins like the three of us, @greenstreak - it was a bucket list trip for him, to celebrate his ahem, fiftieth, this year  @IanK and myself, we went, after much research by Andy, with Speed Chills, and what an excellent choice it was.

Fairs, fair, it's certainly not the cheapest way of doing Le Mans, but especially for those new to it and traveling in silly little sports cars, they take all the pain and trouble out of it. Thoroughly recommended. 

You basically pick your route, in terms of ports, travel days, then add any options,  like grandstand seats etc and that's it. A pack arrives with all the appropriate tickets etc.

The campsites themselves, they have several, are fenced off within the main camping areas. We were at Bleu Sud, the smaller of the two main sites, but only a short walk to the main entrance.

The site itself was kept neat and tidy, fenced and gated off, with our own security. We had our own toilet and shower blocks, along with a marquee, with a projector showing the Eurosport feed of the Race, a bar, along with tables etc.

Breakfast and evening meals were provided. Food was, in all honesty good on some nights, ok, (a bit school dinnery) on others. Beer was plentiful and cold, when you felt like a change from the warm beer in your tents!

The staff were all very friendly and helpful though. I knew we'd found somewhere decent, when the first thing they did on spotting three hot, dusty Westfields queuing up at the gate, was to hand us chilled bottled water!

And yes, we flew the flag at Camp Krusty!

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

@Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary You did really well to get a shot of @greenstreak vertical 

 

we we did indeed have an epic trip though.

[Andy Banks]

Excellent. I saw @bquansah  track side but missed the rest of you unfortunately. Whilst not in the Westfield this year, I'll post a couple of pics, details on our route and "tips" for Le Mans too...

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Ah @IanK That's unfair, @greenstreak wasn't always horizontal, 

No, no, you're right, he was mainly horizontal...

I'm in so much trouble now...

[bquansah]

Yes, bumped into Mr Chairman which was nice!  Brilliant trip and very lucky with the weather and the battle between the Corvette and the Astons was exciting! Parked in the Blue car park but did not see any of your westies.  I know Mark (smokey mow) was there but didn't see him. Hoping to do the classic Le Mans in July next year!

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

We could see Team Derby & Notts flag from where our tent was, but despite keeping an eye out for Del and Garry, never actually crossed paths. But then there were the best part of quarter of a million people there, I believe!

 

[bquansah]

  Not an easy place to spot people I agree! 

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

A few more pics of our Tri Coloured trip to Le Mans and back

[Trevor Little (Trevturtle) - Treasurer]

On 28/06/2017 at 22:13, bquansah said:

  Not an easy place to spot people I agree! 

 

 

I was here the same afternoon.. the new gt40 was also  there... and spotted the red Westfield. 

 

[Sparkymart]

Excellent review @Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary

I was in the other speed chills site and again they did a good job.This year was the 5 year at doing a package trip and although a bit more expensive it's very handy. Ian said he was in that site so we popped in (as the wrist bands get you into either site) but didn't see any of you guys .

This was the first time at least Mans with speedchills  we normally use 1st tickets who organise the piston heads site in bleu nord also a good site but as I went to the Dayton 24hr in January with speedchills and was impressed with the package I decided to do LM with them 

The two company's packages are Very similar in price and what you get 

1st tickets , the pitch layout is a lot better layed out  and when you arrived you get a beer token which is really nice touch but the down side is you need to select a time slot in advance for your breakfast and evening meal Which can be a pain and you also get a breakfast on Monday morning 

Speedchills. camping pitches were a bit all over the place . Meals when you want to eat a big projector in marquee and a live band .

The biggest difference between the two is the 1st tickets is a quieter site  with a less rowdy crowd 

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Similar on our site, pitches were all marked out, and seemed pretty organised, but I've nothing to compare against

We had the projector and screen setup with rolling coverage, (Eurosport?) We did have something on in the marquee on the Saturday night, a pub quiz or something, there was music too, later, but TBH, by that point we were more intent on getting a few hours shut eye, before heading out again, around midnight to the Porsche Curves to watch some night racing and see the dawn in.

In a way, I quite liked the "scale" of our site, and although it was only a short walk to the main entrance, ~10 minutes? It also felt far enough out to be a bit more chilled and gave you the opportunity to catch your breath, when you wanted to.

 

[Sparkymart]

 

@Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary

How did your legs cope with the heat ?better than they did a Silverstone last year I hope 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Oh god yes, that was agony!

Lesson well and truely learnt on that one. A small back pack/day bag with plenty of suntan cream and some wet wipes to de-gunk your hands afterwards, (along with drinking water etc). We all just kept piling on the suntan cream, (high factors, too, I got some factor 50 while out there), at regular intervals.

 

[Sparkymart]

I also burn really bad and I tried that once a day stuff I was using at Silverstone which ruined my clothes 

This time I but it on after morning shower and sat in the shade in an old pair of shorts untill it dried off then got dressed .no problems what so ever with staining and I came home whiter than I went