Club Arnage

Overall it was OK and I will rent one again next year

Some things I noticed:

• Despite being on the coverage map, reception on the BN campsite was poor and sometimes close to nothing. 
  The information about the status of a car (In, Out, Run) was often wrong, e.g. the #19 was listed as "run" till the end of the race - and it was the first car which went out!
  
• The "my favorite car" function is wonderful

generally a wonderful addition to the Le Mans experience. loved to wake up at. 0400 and know right away how the cars lies in the overall standings.
would appreciate more choices in onbord cameras and perhaps the ability to connect it to a TV.

will buy one next year for sure.

Kenn

The buttons need a backlight - right PITA to use in the dark without them. Like Werner, I loved the "Favourite" option along the top.

the kangaroo tv was a 7/10 the downside was with the signal you couldn't pick up anything at tetre rouge and it was poor on the bleu nord campsite

The CA team spent a bit of time with the Kangaroo lads and will pass on your observations.. I can't find their coverage map.. did they claim it would reach Tetre Rouge .. I think they did. AS you will see from blog we liked it ..

Coverage map is on page 91 in CA guide. (http://www.clubarnage.com/caguide/)

Didn't hire one myself (being camped @ Arnage corner it seemed a bit futile) but did look around when I was around pits, Dunlop, Tertre Rouge etc. Seemed to me very few folks had one - of those who did quite a few seemed to be struggling with it (including sunlight on screen presumably making it unwatchable?) Most others seemed to be listening only. RLM had loads of punting for it (one of their sponsors) but when the going got confusing, RLM appeared as confused as the rest despite claims their pitlane crew were equipped with them. Remain to be convinced myself.

My impressions are generally good after trying it for the 1st time this year. worth the 55 euro's but not a lot more (if they intend to put the price up next year)
Coverage in zone A Blue Nord was good watched & listened quite a few times from there. I did find that It struggled on the outside of Tetre rouge but was ok on the top of the bank opposite.
I did loose video feeds a few times around the circuit & found a restart sorted it out (which removed the favorite car)
Other useful information like each team drivers & track info were also useful.

I also found the car status didn't always seem to match up what was going on & wasn't updated quick enough. sometimes I couldn't tell if a car had been officially retired or not  ???   

How long did the batteries last ?

Mine lasted approx 6 hours. Getting new ones was a piece of cake, just walked by their shop and changed

I noticed during my 'virtual weekend' at home, the timings info on LeMans.org website were also showing incorrect status of cars

I think I would try kangaroo TV - hopefully next year  :)

I thought it worked very well

Coverage on BN was still good, for me at least

I'd definitely rent one again next year

We had a KangarooTV again this year, it broke down just after the start but exchanging it was quick and without problems.

Overall it was good value for money, it's great to check the (class) standings whenever you want to and coverage from TR untill MB/Porsche curves was fine.

Not too impressed with the Radio Le Mans commentary this year but that's another matter and not KTV's fault.

I would recommend anyone to get one next year and if someone from KTV is reading here, how about a special offer for CA members in 2011 ;D

Had one for the third time this year and must say that it was generally MUCH better than last year. Coverage was better - extended to cover Pincenardiere too. If the price remains the same next year (or continues to go down, which is the trend) I would certainly recommend and have again. Only real downside is that there is another heavy lump around your neck with the added opportunity for strangulation! :-)

I am undecided whether it was good value for money or not.  The coverage map says that a small area of Expo should get coverage and I was proably about 10 metres outside that area and its coverage was very patchy.  The transmission delay was also very annoying as watching the cars on screen meant you missed them when they passed you due to the transmission delay.  The circuit big screens did not have the same delay.  WOuld have been nice to see more coverage of the support practice and races.  I also was not impressed with Radio Le Mans this year. 

Returning it after the race was a pianful experience as they were very slow to register them back in, and in addition at the return point they were working through a queue from the right.  However when people walked up from the left they decided to serve them next, tghe end result was having joined a queue of 3 people it took around 15 minutes to return it.

Glad I was not the only one who thought Radio Le Mans was a bit so, so this year.

As to returning the KTV after the race, the KTV booth behind the grandstands was swamped with people but we went through the tunnel to the booth behind the paddock and no one there, a 10 sec job to hand in the KTV.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your feedback, some points regarding your comments below...

Signal
I'm surprised to hear coverage at BN was not good. Also we've had people tell us they recieved excellent coverage at Tetre Rouge while others claim there was virtually no signal at all. Something we will have to look into next year.

Timing
We rely on a third party to suplly us with a timing feed. Clearly it did not work out. In F1 our timing is provided directly from FOM and is incredibly accurate...so much so that every F1 team has units in their garage. We will definately be asking the ACO to provide us with a direct timing feed moving forward.

Onboards
We are trying to get more on board camera feeds for next year...this year the ACO only gave us access to 8.

Returning the unit
The kiosk behind Grandstand 23 got slammed with returns. It was our first time having a kiosk at this location so we did not know what to expect and staffed it the same as our paddock kiosk. We know for next year this kiosk will need double the staff to handle returns. As Bas mentioned it should only be a 10 second job. Also we are discussing with the ACO to have several more distribution points throughout the circuit next year to make pickup and return that much easier. 

Dukla - "Remain to be convinced myself" - 8 out of 9 people on this thread said they would use it again...with only one on the fence...don't you think you should try something before you knock it ;)

Cheers

Hi KangorooTV,

thanks for dealing with our opinions and taking part in the discussion in this forum. I can confirm that returning the unit in your paddock kiosk was a ten second job, very easy.

As to the reception on BN: This is a large field and reception seemend to depend on where exactly you camped. I was in area D - where it was quiete poor.

Cheers

Werner