Club Arnage

This was posted on another forum.................not good

Have just got back from WSR in Le mans and have to report the circuit has gone "cashless" a la Nurburgring. Have to pay for (1 euro) and charge up a card from various cash cabins set up around the place and then use that to buy all your drinks and food etc. Plan is that at the end of the day you line up and get refunded anything not used over 1 euro but you can imagine the queues at the end of the day so most don't bother.
No displays on the tills either so difficult to know how much balance you have left. This was a much smaller event that the 24 hours and cannot imagine it working too well once 1/4 million people are using it.
It all looks permanent as well so guessing it will be in place for the 24h in 2016.

More booze and food will be carried in to the circuit then I guess.  ???

Spa tried this sort of thong for a year. Soon stopped, it was more trounle than it was worth. I can't see this going down well at the 24, long queues for cards, and then topping them up, then cashing out at the end of the race. I can't see this happening, it would not be a popular move on the fans

How odd.  I thought the food and drink stalls were privately owned.

I don't spend much so would stop altogether, but then there's the Guinness bar  :o

Hopefully see the error their ways before june, Spa had gone the other way when we went last year, you had to use cash for the entry ticket!!! No Cards accepted!

I can see this being a right PITA for any groups that do a whip - such as The Brethren at the Guinness Bar on Saturday afternoon.

Dx

I think the cafes and bars aren't giving the ACO all their percentage, so this will stop them cheating.

The Brethren could have a kitty card, and topping it up every time they have a whip.

But what happens when you order 10 pints and the card only has enough credit for 5  :'(

Yep, in 2013 it was queue up for tokens, use whole or half tokens for the food/beer and then have many left over. And by the end of the WEC race all the token places were shut, so you couldn't exchange back. Bad idea.

If you want to go cashless, just go for Credit Cards only, still a Pain, but better than this plan

Can't they start accepting Apple Pay - that's the modern people's way you know

I've got some rather nice pears and a couple of old bananas.  Will that do?

Everyone loves a nice pear

When you hear a story like this about LM, I always think how it would work with the French, after all the largest number of spectators.
They will hate it and vote with their wallets.

We don't buy that much on the circuit, if this came in, even less.

The only way that the ACO could protect the spend of the spectators would be to have draconian rules and searches to stop food and drink being taken through the gates. Which again the French section of the crowd with their picnics and bottles of red, would take a very dim view to.

If they do implement this, I guess the Tertre Rouge bar will get busier (being the nearest off circuit drinkery / eatery!)

It wasn't that long ago that they were still accepting Cheques (drawn on a French bank) at the circuit for food and drink!

We don't buy huge amounts at the circuit, but it'll probably be even less if we have to mess about getting a card loaded and then unloaded!

I expect it to all collapse into chaos the first time it's used, but I guess they'll get it right in the end, probably why they were trying it at WSR.

It's so terribly French isn't it. Just like President Hollande putting up their top rate of income tax to 75% and being baffled and aghast why it raised less actual revenue than the previous lower rate...

How long for the ACO to work out 20% of something is better than 50% of feck all?

Cretins.

Not based on this year surely!  They were obviously turning people away in droves if they had booze on them given the last minute change in ordinance the week before the race.

I can't imagine going back to that event based on this year.  Utter waste of time.

We didn't have any problem getting beer, champagne and food into the circuit.
They were to busy checking folding chair bags for sniper rifles.  ;D 

Bumpetty bump...

Has anyone heard more about this?

Just seen a similar question being posted on the Midweek Motorsports thread on Facebook.

didnt see a thing near track or any mention of them anywhere else

Just searched the ACO website, no mention of it at all.