Club Arnage

OK one and all!

Before the memories fade into the distance of time, we need current reviews and thoughts of your camping experiences this year to update the campsite section of the Guide.

Please post your info/thoughts here and I will sort it all out over the coming months. We particularly need reviews of the newer sites that have sprung up around BSJ. I also noticed that there were more private compounds this year, reviews of these and what they offer for the extra cost would be very useful.

If you have piccies to accompany your comments mention it in your post and I will PM you with details of where to send them.

Thanks in advance.

Sllash

Got my booking done through Speedchills this year. I have to say that the service received was excellent. We requested tickets on Blue Nord close to the media center and we were given plots near the gate at the far end of the site.

In addition to this we had access to speedchills hospitality on Blue Sud and BSJ. The hospitality on both of these sites are based on the private camping that Speedchills put on and I have to say this was very very tidy secure and everyone had good words to add about their experience of staying there, The toilets and showers were immaculate even on Sunday after the race.

There is a private coach that will run you and your mates around (booking required and additional fee). Plus the bar that served draught beers wine soft drinks as well as food was priced cheaper then the track.

I will certainly be staying on the Speedchills Private Camping next year.

Camped with White Rabbit Racing this year.

It's a private site hidden away from view south of the Route de Ruaudin [D92].  This is the road from the roundabout by Porsche curves to Arnage village.

Basically it's a private house with approx 4 acres of gardens.  There's some clear area around the house but the rest is lightly wooded.

The house serves as a "club house" with TV showing the whole of the race on an HD projector screen.  The remainder of the house serves as the accommodation for the WRR crew and is off-limits.

The garden has plenty of space for tents, there is no set limit of space i.e. no ACO 7m x 5m limit.  You turn up [not earlier than Wednesday] and grab what you think you'll resonably need.  The later arrivals were pushed away from the house in to the trees.  Departure must take place by 10am on Monday.

So besides the club house there are portable facilities in the form of bogs & showers.  Though slightly dated both worked fairly well [the boiler of one of the units blew up Weds night/Thurs morning and was replaced the same day] and not once did I have to wait for the loo or a hot shower.  Some of the others in our party might have had to wait 5 or 10 mins for a shower, but not more than that.  No electricity but plenty of [free] running water.

On the plus side we had space, decent bogs/showers, easy access to Porsche Curves, no Danish party buses blaring out Barbie Girl [or worse], a bit of peace & tranquility so in all quite civilised.

However on the negative front it was a long way to The Village using the busy main road, we got bitten to death by insects, and it was totally lacking in atmosphere.

Would I use it again?

Possibly.  But it needs push bikes to help with getting around the place and it needs more CA members to be onsite so that there's a bit of a 'craic' going on.

The cost was £285 plus a £10 fee for using PayPal, so almost £300.  That enables a car, driver & 3 passengers to get on site.

That's four time the price we paid for a pitch on BN from Team Langoustine!

That seems to have been problem on MB as well.

F

Arnage.

Rolled up on Thursday, early afternoon, a few pitches still free. We put up between a group of Dutch and a group of French. The presence of tellies and gennys ought to have rung warning bells. Gennys running 24 / 7, even when everyone was asleep. Bit wearing, but if you cant take a joke, you shouldnt have joined.

That said they were really friendly though, if a bit mental, and offered to have us round for the football etc.

The trees forming the border between the campsite and the wire of the viewing enclosure were handy for slinging a hammock from....

The site was dry underfoot, even in the worst of the pissing rain, and didnt turn into a Glastonbury esque quagmire.

Plenty of different nationalities present, but I reckon the French had it, just about.

Techno tastic at times, and a mahoosive bonfire was lit by the Dutch group, on the Sunday night, when they scavenged all the bins for the nastiest, stinkiest burning plastics they could find. (Can't take a joke, etc as above though)

The bogs are in the viewing area, and when the race is on there's a queue longer than a 3 day turd, but they were kept spotless by the attendant. I mean spotless. However, if he'd done a deep clean  between every 2 punters instead of every 1 (no, really) the queues might have been better. Showers were portaloo style ones, always hot water, but you had to decide beforehand whether you wanted to wash your back or your front, as turning round once in was out of the question.

Being SO close to the track and the enclosure was fabulous, but next time? Not sure if I'd go there again.

Got tickets direct from the ACO, and had 2 pitches. Not bad for just over £50 all in spread between a group of 5.

They seemed to steer clear of Camp C'Arnage.

That is because they were all in Trayboy's tent Barry.

Nuff said....   ::)

Houx Annexe was very lush this year, no doubt helped by the rainy season.

The bottom part of the site (nearer the entrance)  become a bit of bog but there did not seem to be any standing water.

The top part where we were was fine. Security was not evident and any Tom, Dick or Pepe could wander in from the direction of the track, we did not see any trouble and the people around us were mostly a good and sensible mix of UK, Danes and Dutch.

Plots were marked as usual, no power (unless you count the rather suspect connections into the lamp post) was not available. Water points are scattered around.

Bogs are clean and were well looked after by one of the largest women in Christendom. The block at the top had two shower units each with about 7 showers in. The lower block had longer queues at peak times, but those that thought they sneaked an advantage by using the other block took their chances with the water sometimes being only available cold.

Access to the track is good, 2 options, towards the Esses or up the back and towards the Dunlop bridge.

Road Access in and out was good and the tram station is only a 10 minute walk.

The one blot on the landscape were the English tossers who turned up with enough kit for 60 people, but in fact there was no more than 15 of them. Music ok, fine but karaoke at 3am is a trifle hard to take. A polite word re the position of a Diesel genny was met with a very aggressive response, but was later sorted by the more sensible people they had with them before the Danes camped nearby took more direct action.

 

Not quite, Andy.

It was £300 for 4, therefore £75 each as opposed to £35 each via TL.

That said it was undeniably a more expensive way to get bitten by annoying French insects.

I know, we dropped them off as we walked past MB for the 10th time!

 ;D

BN was £70 per pitch area with no limit on people; you could easily have had for four for that!

Bleu Nord,

by some miracle the ACO had accepted my online-booking for 12 pitches on Bleu Nord. We got allocated those next to the entrance, just some 50 metres up from the place where the tickets get controlled. There was a little bit of confusion on our arrival where exactly to place us - this part of BN was not really properly marked. But this was soon sorted out so we could set up our camp. Although there is officially no electricity available on BN we could hook up to a power point right next to the entrance - none of the security minded - and ran a cable to our site. As a consequence we didn't need to run our genny - nice for us and the neigbours. The same with water: we ran a hose from the bogs at the entry to our site - no problem again. We used the toilets at the entrance all week, they were kept reasonable clean by a service provider - good job.

After race end the usual game - watching out for pikeys and chasing them away. Other than that camping on BN was smooth and no one got robbed (unlike last year). Nice to meet lots of other CAers too.

Some useful info here chaps. Now seriously considering Speedchills Bleu Sud package for next year. I've always liked Sud but the security over the last few years has sent me over to MB. MB is great but the long waits for toilets and showers gets worse every year. Speedchills look to have that covered. A little more cost for sure, but if it improves the camping experience then I'm happy at that.

Porsche Curves - Travel Destinations

Me and she stayed at the above this year, well organised with pre allocated pitches, beer/TV/food marquee, hot & cold running showers and bogs aplenty. Securely fenced off with 24 hour security who actually checked your entitlement wristbands right through until we left on Monday!

Welcomed at the entrance on arrival and shown to our pitch, all amenities pointed out with availability times and prices explained as required, very good.

Some pitches were, we felt, extremely close to the main entrance/marquee/shower and bog blocks, doubtless a result of the popularity of the location and organiser - every pitch sold and then some maybe?

In practice a very good option, if a little expensive;
Access to the circuit good, 15 mins to the main entrance etc and 2 mins to Porsche Curves banking.  :)
Refreshments in the marquee competitively priced, served with a smile and available, meals nutritious and tasty if basic. Footie and racing on a big screen to watch too. English ale available.
Showers good, though one block of the two was blisteringly hot for a day until remedied. Bogs always available.
Staff remained good humoured, approachable and helpful throughout.

Would recommend this 'un without hesitation though personally plan to pitch at Tertre Rouge next time, once again under the Travel Destinations organisational umbrella.

really interesting thread as struggling to decide where to camp :(