Club Arnage

This topic occurred to me while watching a re-broadcast of last season's BTCC round at Oulton Park on Speed TV the other night, and thought it would make a light winter topic.
Kept noticing a van parked at Hilltop, on the approach to Knickerbrook, that had "Top Burger" splashed across it.
Got me thinking, being a long-time consumer of many a trackside burger, what's the best, and worst track food from your experience?
One simple rule, can't include the stuff you bring with you, or have eaten at a campsite (the Harper family, and the Sebring Turn 10 guys are always going to win the best grub battle for me),
Has to be either the stuff from official trackside booth's, or one the venders that have the rights to sell their cuisine on the grounds.
Best for me? There's a guy in the village that sells (at least he did last time I was there in "02) rotisserie chcicken at Le Mans that is fabulous, I make a mean beer can chicken, and still can't make a bird as tasty as this guy's.  Worst?  Oh lord! The dreaded Brickyard Burger at IMS. Pre-formed, pre-cooked, re-heated in a steaming pan, over-priced, and absolutely awful.  Notable mention from the circuits I have experience of?  Sebring's deep fried gator fritters are terrific, the Grill on the Hill at Road Atlanta has pretty good burgers, Road America's bratwurst is legendary.  Mid Ohio used to have decent food, but its gone into serious decline in recent years (in fact it sucks now), the only bright spot being the guy's who drive around on golf carts with hot pizza, and cold brews on the back for sale.
Grobs

I am a fan of the LM crepe - pretty much any flavour!

Not strictly "track" but the kebab van on Parking Bleu does a pretty good feed.

Any trackside burger van gets the thumbs down from me... oh, and tartiflette!

F

SACRILEGE I TELL YOU!!!!

Tartiflette, after 4 days of eating meat, bread and brie, is absolutely the most wonderful thing, in the whole world! 

I've tried making it at home, but I just can't make it quite as sloppy as they do in LM.... 

Ah the Rotisserie Chicken. Haven't seen it there for a few years but it was the most tasty chicken I've ever had, and when you asked for chicken and chips that's exactly what you got, a whole chicken.
The worst? Has to be the Steak American from thr stalls behind the tribunes. Awful grissley, tasteless piece of horse with the texture of Ghandi's flip flop served with cold limp frites. Even after a good few beers I f**ked it  straight in the bin? Don't buy it.
The biggest disappointment? The no show of Felix's chippy van a few years ago. I was really looking forward to a fish supper on Friday night.

mallory parks fry up
or dirty barrys of the same.

I knew it was going to be a controversial one.

:)

A good few years back at Le Mans, (well before the new village and all that) there used to be a guy on the outside of the LM Track not too far down towards the main grandstands from the Dunlop bridge that used to do freshly cooked omelettes and frites. Surely the best omelette I have ever tasted. We used to go there every year without fail, and the first time they were no longer there was a real disappointment. The burgers at Castle Combe always bring a smile to my face too - simple and probably made from all sorts of crap but very tasty and give a true evocation of no-nonsense track food.

As for the worst, well almost anything at an authorised food seller at the British GP is a good candidate.

I was always curious of the food hygene star rating of the hot food sellers under the bridge from expo to main entrance......, I was never that hungry at 4am.
Best.
The old toasted burger seller, top of pits bend grandstand at wimbledon stadium, huge queue,s all night & of course, old aldershot stadium pasties

Yes I have searched far and wide for Felix's Chippy Van, I have heard it is most excellent British Fish and Chips and Mars Bar fritters.

Good call on the crepes Fran, there was a crepe stand behind the tribunes opposite the pits at LM, when I went there with the Harper's, we used to make a late night trip to those tribunes, and banana crepes did a remarkable job of reviving our rapidly dwindling energy.
Agreed Bob, i still dream of that chicken...
Another canidate for worst, the giant turkey legs they sell at Indy.  For decades I went there and watched people go full Visigoth on those things, then a couple of years ago at the Moto GP, after sufficient lubrication I finally broke down and purchased one.  It was more like a salty ham in taste, and texture, but it was so tough the only way to eat it was to gnaw at it like a Hyena on a old Wildebeest bone.
B Grobs

They sell those at Disney as well!!

They taste SO much like ham, that this is exactly what I thought the first one I had, was. 
I actually quite liked them..... :)

The taste wasn't bad at all, just VERY salty, felt like I needed a IV drip after eating it.  But it was like chewing on leather boot.  I think the one I bought had been sitting for a while... ;D

I second Brad.  Tartliflete at LM is a Sunday lunchtime must after 4 days solid of red meat.

A stand out track food memory for me would be fish and chips at Santa Pod back in the early '90's after a hard day beering and have my ears decimated.

But the 2012 big track food memory for me was just about anything I ate whilst at Bonneville Speed Week.  With the sights of the salt and sounds of the cars and bike, just about anything was manna from heaven.
.... and if it wasn't seasoned to your taste, there was always plenty of salt about!

With regard to that old rascal Felix, I have an old contact email somewhere.  I may see if I can stir him from his slumber.

I've always been partial to the Gran Marnier crepes early on sunday morning especially when they let you grab the big bottle and douse the crepe with it. Never ever touch the stuff the rest of the year but always appeals to me at that time.

The worst i've ever had has been sausage and chips from Mondello park here in Ireland you can age the sausage like the trees with the fry ring from how many time they've been in the oil !!

Road America gets my vote.  Each stall is operated by a different local charity/church or service club and each has a different menu.  Roasted sweet corn, schnitzelburgers or breakfast sandwiches at the Lion's Club, grilled pork sandwiches at the Optimist Club, plate lunch or Brats at St. John the Baptist.  All excellent, reasonably priced and all the monies toward a good cause.  They got it right, I think.

Best : Grand Marnier crepes at LM, especially with the big bottle on the counter !  Pretty dangerous when the champagne bar stood right across the road ... crepe > champagne > crepe > champagne > crepe > champagne ...    ;D

Worst : Italian sausage at Daytona ... Never had one, but the smell of it is awful. Sat at the grandstand a few years ago, above a food stall where they sold those sausages ... never felt so bad afterwards.  Went to New Smyrna Speedway a few days later, they had the same stinking crap over there.  I can still smell that   just by thinking about it.  Second worst : allmost every food stall at Spa, half cooked fries, tasteless burgers or sausages ... yuk !  Thank god for the brasserie they opened in the new pitbuilding.

Remember the nasty corn dogs on a stick at Sebring 05? Gakk! Not a patch on felix's battered sausage.

Ps had my eyes peeled for you on the Bonneville prog last night!

(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i188/Muzorewa/Muz3/058-Icecreams.jpg)
Best at Le Mans were these rather delightful ice-creams they were flogging near the back of the pit garages  ;D

(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i188/Muzorewa/Muz3/038-Tartiflette.jpg)
Followed a close second by the tartiflette (sorry Fran ;) )....

(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i188/Muzorewa/Muz3/057-Food.jpg)
....to which they were adding these delights in 2008  8)

(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i188/Muzorewa/Muz3/McSporransKnockhillSept2006.jpg)
Worst by a long way - Haggis, neeps & tatties from McSporran's at Knockhill.  I do like haggis but only if it's freshly caught that morning  >:D

Eww - a giant cauldron of sick!!!

I have got to admire the dedication of the Muz family photographing all their trackside food experiences tho!

F

In the Knockhill one, that's a young Muzette in the orange plastic bag  :laugh:

I knew that!!!  Never forget a Muz.

:)

Oulton Parks Breakfast is not bad but crepes at LM and an expresso is much better :D

Agree with you Chop, I think Road America has the best food of the US venues, by a considerable margin.  Kristof, you mention the Italian and Polish sausage stands at Daytona?  There's one of those just outside the northwest gate at IMS at every race meeting.  Several years ago my brother bought a sausage after the Indy 500, and ate it on the way back to the car, he ended up puking the entire two hour drive back to Cincy.

The Mallory Breakfast takes a lot of beating

That effinblinding American Grill crap from behind the LM tribunes, you'd think I would have enough sense to realise 'Saturday Night - heaving with people hungry and thirsty'

NO ONE buying anything from them

I did  :(

I found the bin scant seconds later

:(

I never yet found the resolve to attempt Tartiflette

Maybe this year if the folk on high let me get over there again...

Yep that's it.   Kudos for those who attempt eating that !

Generally speaking, trackside food tends to be pretty pish. I liked a Gran Marnier Crepe until they stopped doing the chocolate option a few years back. We started doing them 'right' on the campsite with melted Terry chocolate orange!

Worst and best were both on a rally sometime in the late 1990s- probably the RAC.

The best was a burger in Dalby woodyard. Spotless van, home made local farm shop beef burger with proper cheddar and sweet onions, a lovely fresh bun with a slight crust. Beside the van was a good sized table covered in bowls of salad- fresh crunchy leaves, cucumber so fresh you could smell it 10 yds away, salted tomato and every relish and topping you could imagine including a really smokey mayo. They were the finest 3 burgers I have ever tasted.

A few days later we had the misfortune to try a burger in Sweet Lamb, mid Wales. The van and guy serving were so filthy, the bread stale and the grease was running down your wrists. The bin was overflowing with un eaten burgers. Vile. Two of our group got really bad shits the next day and we had to head home early.

 It's much better to cook for yourselves at Le Mans. The supermarkets are much better than those in the UK and much cheaper too. You can drum up a fine feast in no time if you take some basic cooking gear with you.

LM food's pretty dire, not only trackside but in the city and surrounding towns and villages too. The local establishments do very little to uphold their snooty views on the wonderful variety of French produce.

Best trackside food I've seen: Hockenheim for the F1 this year.
They build a food court behind the tribunes in the shade of the trees and serve all manner of food from Asian street food and stirfried dishes made from fresh produce to wonderful Bratwursts and Sauerkraut.

For a good restaurant in the city of Le Mans near the train station we tried this one this year after the drivers parade and for quite an unassuming exterior the food was top notch, not quite the usual LM slumming it but very very nice indeed.

http://www.restaurantlesaintlo.com/

Must have walked straight past that one last year during our vain search for a taxi to get us back to Arnage after the driver's parade.

Could be an alternative to La Boucherie that we've frequented over the last 2 years.

Lovely stuff, take back to camp and reheat with a bit of white wine (or water) to make a bit more fluid, then add to pasta like spaghetti.

Makes quite a nice meal.

>Martini...LB

Enzo, thanks for the tip!  :D


"You talkin' to me?!"  ;)
Err, yes, Paul.  8)

Yes you, sir!

not quite trackside but it was bloody good bangladeshi chef.
not far from stans jazz club.pints of kingfisher and popadoms yumm.

Precisely. I hate it too. One year we saw a nasty French kid throw a piece of his used chewing gum into the simmering pan of stomach acid, pre-digested onion and cow's bile. We concluded it would make things a bit more palatable.

Good option, but when camping?? Ewwww..... Guy ropes needed to pin the sleeping bag down?