Club Arnage

Well what do we think about it?

Personally I thought it looked good and was well done. More choice of eating , more Bars improved toilets and even Showers! However these were out of action by Sunday afternoon.

Its clear that this has been done to attract even bigger crowds and more commerce. Which will put even more pressure on the camping so possibly some white paint may find its way into the popular trackside sites.

But I didn't manage to find the office which gave out the hourly update sheets though! anyone else have this problem?

The first thing Nopanic said as we entered the village on Thursday evening was"Blooming hell we're in Milton Keynes".

Typically french.....All glass and concrete!!!!!

Yes it's certainly different,but I guess it is called  progress even though the old village had much more character.

The worrying thing though is the amount of spectating areas that have now dissapeared around the new village area!!!

Wishy

It was there fronting the access road to the tunnel. come through the tunnel and it was on the right.

Still not sure about the new village, seems more corporate, which is not good news I suspect.

The new village appears to driven the people away that I always bought my t shirts from. The people with the shop that sells t shirts, badges and models from the old huts.

Perhaps its too pricey now.

I thought it looked very good and as for spectating area's I seemed to think there were a lot of new banks that had been built this year....

just hope the whole le mans thing doesnt get to F1 money led as that will be a sad day.

I agree after many a year of prefab timber shacks and sheds, it was a pleasant surprise to see the wide open modern spaces and new buildings.

A positive improvement, I say.

But Steve does it have the character of the old village or does it look like another cement, glass, and steel strip-mall.  Man guys, gotta tell ya, from the TV coverage the whole damn place looks horribly fricking sterile.
Between the concrete walls, acres of gravel, debris fencing, and razor wire the place looks as charming as a concentration camp.
Fax

On early sunday morning the village looked bizarre. There were these shiny new pavements all littered with sleeping people. It was quite a picture. 

Apart from that the new village takes up some spectator space (which is bad). The poo bar moved away from the tunnel (which helps the traffic but gives less opportunity to T.W.A.T.S. sticker up by coming cars). There are too many shops which sell useless stuff (bad) and not enough drink and food bars (bad).

I found it interesting but didn't like it.

Didn't like it, far too boring, no character, it would make a good army camp though!

Chris,
I did talk to Jacque and Lilliane at Mid-Ohio and asked them what they thought of the new village and they said they weren't going to be there anymore, got the impression the ACO is really sticking it to the vendors.
Fax

sounds like Milton Keynes again

I'll reserve judgement until it's finished.  They certainly worked their socks off to produce something given the amount of work they had to do between the end of proceedings last season (LM story) and the race.  Certainly the French punters seem to hate it, looking at the comments on the ACO website.  I really missed the little guy who used to sell stacks of obscure t-shirts etc - he was always good for a bit of retail therapy.  Much better loos though!

I missed the opportunity to slope off discretely to the Beer Bar next door at the poo bar, but it may all settle down.

Had to nip into the "Espace" for it.

I also missed some of the lower priced retail therapy outlets though, too.

Pretty good for work in progress I thought. It was nice to walk around without running the risk of being flattened by a testosterone fuelled scooter driven by an acne ridden gofer. (Have I had a problem in the past?) On a slightly different tack was anyone else pissed off with always having to get out of the way of an Audi taxi (or VW minibus). They were everywhere, seemingly only with one passenger (the cars) or a couple (the minibuses). The highest number I saw on a windscreen was 78 so I assume that there were at least that many. I saw one convoy across the airfield, including a Bentley Continental, of at least 6 cars, all with one passenger in the back. What's the point of stressing the economy of diesels if you need one for each passenger? And are Audi's guests unable to walk? The bloody things seemed to be everywhere.

Scrambles off high horse and skuttles back into his corner.

JT

Gilles and I worked on a stand in the old Village a few years ago. The site was so bad that we and our neighbours demanded - and got - a refund from the ACO. The new Village offers a decent crack at the punters to all standholders. The place looks a bit sterile when its empty, but during the race it hums, even at 2.00am Sunday.
Decent loos are a real bonus. Missed the Vendee food stand, though.

I liked it, looked smart and gave an nice aire to it, definate postive.



Agree with JT's Taxi commetns - Lazy sods

If "losing its character" means more bogs and showers, a better layout, a smarter look to the whole place, a restaurant (lord, with tables and chairs too), less human traffic jams, more pit garages (so more entries) then hurrah for that.   OK, the concrete and glass is not my choice of architecture.   At the end of the day, teams financing entries these days is about sponsorship, and sponsors expect market exposure and somewhere nice to go - without half decent facilities, the sponsors stay away, and you don't have a race with a half decent field.     

Some spectating areas (i.e. bits where you could squeeze round the back of a building have disappeared), but the area now inside the track running from the pedestrian tunnel up to the Dunlop chicane is good.   And no, the view from inside the Esses it is not as evocative as the old straight run down from the Dunlop bridge, but that has gone forever - but what you can see now from the new banking is a full view of the track all the way from the Dunlop bridge, through the Essses to Tetre Rouge.   Nice.

MG Mark   

I know the old village did look old and sad, but the new village (the central walk way) feels so sterile. The shops seemed to be the same as an airport departure lounge area.

As for the shops, what a range, how many people went into the Hermes shop – Why was it there? - 

I nearly got thrown out when I asked for a designer tent!

If it was a skool report, old village= 5/10  & new village = 7/10 but could try harder. (waiting to see the next improvements in 2007)

Couldn't agree more nopanic, full marks for the new loos/showers, glass & concrete is fine for the big corporates, but a bit more space for the "lower end" of the retail market may add a touch more character. That Hermes shop had some bloody expensive dipstick cloths  :o!!

..... I just hope they're not going to Formula-1-erize the place in search of more revenue ..... how long before the €10 beer starts to appear ???

Anyone else get locked in on Monday morng ???

There was always a Hermes shop in the old village wasn't there?  Presumably there are some people who can afford their stuff or they wouldn't have come back but it sure beats me.

The real problem was I went into the Hermes shop to look for a book,

Hermes advetures of Tintin

I think it's a huge improvement on the old Village which was a total dump. It'll be even better when it's finished.  Never thought I'd hear myself saying this but well done the ACO!

I never thought I'd hear you say that either Andy.   :o 

As to the new village...I'm not going to pass final judgement until it's finished but I like what they've done so far.

Definitely a big effort on the Part of ACO and the Le Mans itself, what with the tramway, planned regeneration of the train station could the circuit be trying to attract F1?
I didn't go much for the shops, not my thing as I generally don't like buying stuff at all really.

However I did think the BP ultima display was good, particularly the saabs on the dynos.

Highlight about the display were the Ultima girls with the blue hair, their costumes were so tight I thought it was body paint , wasn't sure so had to get a closer look.

Next year I'll know where to get the hourly updates as well. only a short walk from the Round Kronenbourg Bar at the top of the village.

I think not. The parties involved don't get on, you know.



I thought it a shame that Ultima couldn't have bought the girls some clothes that were actually big enough to fit them. Still they kept stopping to have their photos taken, and at least the weather kept warm for them.

SANITISED...SHAME...


>Martini...

I meant to go back and have a proper look at the shop with the paintings and arty stuff... but kinda got distracted because of having to keep re-hydrating - then forgot completely!!!

I thought poo bar location was much better for CA meeting purposes - not so dusty, noisy, busy -  so long as a few people have ACO bracelets to get the beer!

Toilets also good, until I forgot where they were and had to go between two parked cars  :-[ - still - when in France ... etc.

As for outside the track, who on earth had the idea of putting the fairground and  running a little train up the busy pedestrian bottleneck...  ::)

F

VERY DISSAPOINTED. AFTER 25 YEARS WITHOUT A BREAK, THIS
WAS MY LAST ONE! GENTLEMEN ACO ARE GOING CORPORATE.
THE ATMOSPHERE HAS NOW GONE IN THE VILLAGE, THE RACING
IS PRETTY PREDICTABLE, AND NOW I BELIEVE HOUX ANNEX, WHERE I HAVE CAMPED ALL THESE YEARS IS TO BE SOLD OFF.
SWIMMING POOLS HAVE BEEN BANNED, AND I BELIEVE THE BIG  FIREWORK DISPLAY ON THUR, OR FRI? WAS PUT ON ,MEANING
FIREWORKS WILL ALSO BE BANNED NEXT YEAR, I SHALL HAVE TO PARTY ELSEWHERE NEXT YEAR!

While I would have prefered the old village was maintained as it should have been instead of having fallen into decay, I quite liked the new one.
What is certain, had the aco not pulled down the old one, it would have fallen down fairly soon.

Wide open plaza with TV screens, some trees giving shade, bars where not charging the earth (poo bar excluded) and the loos where good.

hopefully when its complete it will be even better and I hope the aco can maintain it.

lemans25 - a couple of points, do the aco own the houx annexe site? I don't think they do, so have little control over its future, the swimming pool ban was not the aco's doing, there is a water shortage in that part of france.
I can't see why the aco would want to ban fireworks, if they tried it would be pretty hard to police in any case.

btw after 27 years without a break, I have every intent of returning next year.

No, houx annexe does not belong to the ACO and yes, I can confirm we have a hosepipe ban here - record low rainfall this winter.

Those Floridians ask you on entry to the circuit whether you are carrying fireworks or firearms. That certainly doesn't work!

Good post Nordic. I agree with every point. No, the ACO does not own Houx Annexe.
lemans25 - The ACO firework display was to celebrate their centenary. Given the amount of fireworks we let off in France on 14th July, I really can't see why the Préfect should even dream of banning them on the campsites.

Considering it was not finished, I thought the village was ok really.

Not the same as the old one, granted, but was easier to walk around without getting caught up in crowds concentrating around certain bars or food outlets.

Not sure why it was not finished though, did not look too complicated a task.

Certainly appears to be more commercial / corporate based, so not sure how that will work out. Nice for the casual visitor, but not of much interest to the regular race goer I suspect.

Will be interesting to see what it finally looks like finished and if the ACO see it as an ongoing evolving area of the circuit, or will they just leave it for another decade(s) until it starts to fall down again.

I also found the new set-up a significant improvement over the rubble years gone by.  I also call bollox on atmosphere.  Surely everyone's so p i ssed they don't care what's around them.  Next you lot will be saying you're interested in the race!

More bars, more different bars, more (and SIGNFICANTLY better) bogs, restaurant terraces you can sit in and view the track from, much wider thoroughfares and a ground surface that's shaping up to be far more R2D2 (rolling coolers) friendly.

I must say, I thought the Champers bar was comical.  Location allowed zero potential for shade - and I have nothing but abject pity for any poor souls purchasing their product.  We bring our own kit which was excellent this year.  I tasted someone's purchased champers and nearly vomited.  Sweet, marginally cold and 50 Euros!  Comical.  In years gone by they actually sold reasonably OK stuff.

Corporate, F1-style, sell-out, sterile...  whatever you want to call it, unless you like shuffling around in decades of dirt, how could you not want this place to clean its act up.

If you look at my previous posts, you will know that ACO-bashing is my bete noir!  I have visited the circuit half a dozen times or more during the last year and can tell you that a huge amount of work has been going on all year.  Don't forget that it was not just the village that was being re-done.  They are re-modelling bits of circuit (which has upset a few people I know as well it might, but there it goes), are having a tramway built alongside/through/under other parts of the non ACO bit; are building 5 new pits and have built a new tunnel (which pedestrians can now walk through in safety and avoid p***heads on bikes etc).  The eta for the new village was always 2007 and I guess they knew that they could put up temporary stuff there whereas if they had been late with the trackworks, the race could not have gone ahead.  This year the Classic is being held in July, not September, so they can start again.
Another sport I love, horse racing, had a similar disruption to two of its major courses in the last couple of years - Ascot and Kempton - and what did they do?  Closed the things down altogether and moved the events to other, sometimes controversial, venues.  Wembley anybody?
Please reserve judgement on this. Ta.

Even a fairly brief drive through France will demonstrate the French style of property maintenance!! Not that I am knocking it, I rather like the faded crumbling grace of many of their old buildings - far preferable to the decking and laminating of Britain that the likes of Titchmarsh and Lawrence Llew-Bow are spreading.......it even makes me think I might be able to afford a little chateau of my own, one of these days!    :)

Not sure I was bashing the ACO to be honest.

As I said in the full post generally I thought it was ok. It is nicer to walk around even if the stalls / shops are not of real interest to me.

Granted, the whole re-work that has gone on and is planned to go on is a huge task no doubt, I just thought that the actual village structures did not look that complicated that they could not have finished more of them.

It was more a comment than a bashing.......

Agree with what you say for old world buildings.......

But I think the image the ACO has created with the new village should be visually maintained.

Old wooden sheds can have a certain appeal when the elements and passing of people have left their mark, but modern materials need to be maintained or they will just look scruffy......rather than possessing character.

I only got to see where they had got to at Test weekend - which wasn't as far as they wanted to by all accounts. The old sheds were cockroach ridden and needed repainting by the poor unfortunates who rented them before they could even lay out their wares. I know it looks a bit corporate but you can't knock the ACO for wanting to upgrade and improve. They are investing huge sums to make things better...would we really prefer dodgy loos??? Atmosphere and history are one thing but let's not let being misty eyed about the past blind us to the upside of progress.
As to lateness of finishing, who knows? Termietermite rightly draws our attention to the fact that that they could have closed it all down until they'd finished but they carried on as best they could  - I think the track took precedence (but was the pit exit lane a good idea the way they had it this year?)  That would have been like moving the Last night of the Proms (oh they did that already????)

Fairy nuff.

If you mean the way it was for the Test Weekend, it was changed for the race after good sense prevailed over FIA advice.

You are quite right...thanks for that! Doh!

I think you will find that it is illegal to set off fireworks on any camp site in France  let alone Le Mans it is just that the ACO or the french police at present decide to ignore it.

You may be right, but remember, apart from Houx, all sites are just fields, so are probably not subject to the same laws.

Del