Club Arnage

Hi there :)

I'm a newbie in going to LeMans and seem to have been made a little mistake in my travel plans. Since I'm not travelling with a car but just with my backpack I didn't bother to get myself a camping place since it also included a place for car...now reading the forum...maybe it wasn't the most brilliant idea. I'm just coming with my tent, is there any way I can squeeze myself in?

Any information would be grateful :)

Cheers!

There's a single camping space available for sale here
http://www.clubarnage.com/forum/index.php?topic=7024.0
It includes two GE tickets but they are always off-loadable at the gate.  The spaces are just spaces, you don't need to put a car in them!  You may find somebody has a few square feet on a large pitch (sadly, not me as I have 8 people in 2 spaces already) though.

I think that's a difficult question this year....

In past years the answer would have been "you don't need a pass if you don't have a car - you can just walk on and pitch".   Given the zoning of MB and Bleu that may no longer be true - the problem being we won't know until we get there. 

I'd imagine you should be able able to walk on to BJS without a pass as there is no zoning on that currently. 

I think you've got to choose whether to take a flyer and it might be fine on MB and Bleu when we get there or stump up for a ticket for peace of mind. 

We're full already!

Hi,

You don't say how many nights you plan to stay.   If it's just the Friday/Saturday everywhere will be packed.  If it's Thursday  you may need to hike about a bit before you find a place.     I think I'd try Karting Nord Technopark and Houx annex in that order.   Some friends of mine stayed in Techno last year and could find spaces on the Friday but not a space large enough for their needs.  But some negotiating soon fixed things.

But please don't camp in someones parking space.  I've had people do that to me before now.  >:(

t.

I nearly reversed over the last ones that did that to us on the Friday night  ;D    The ignorant sh*ts didn't even have the decency to speak to us the next morning when they packed up and pi**ed off! 

Hi there,
if you arrive without any ticket at all it is a good idea to go the the track-side booking office, the "Rotunde", a round-shaped building near "the parc d'exposition", just 5 Min walk from the main entrance. Last year they still had the "Beausejour" campsite for sale, but also sometimes other campsites which were officially sold out because some people use this booking office to offload excess campsite tickets there, they have some "we sell them for you"-service.

Have fun at Le Mans and don't forget to download and print our free Le Mans guide before going there, it will be available from 6th June at www.clubarnage.com/caguide

That happened to us in 2005, but they blocked the van in too! I had drawn the short straw to stay sober all bloody day so we could drive down to Indianapolis in the early hours. They turned back up the next day and looked like we asked for a kidney when we asked them to move the tent so we could get to the supermarket. I had to restain my mate from having a sh*t in their BBQ! :o

Hahaha  ;D I'm trying to make sure I'm not setting myself in in sombody's car space :D don't wanna be squashed...I'd rather go for friendly people with a little space extra space :)
As to how long we're planning to stay...well trying to find a space on wednesday and would be leaving on sunday...
It looks now that i do have to go for walk in and find your own little space option :)

Hi clematolia,

As you can see, I'm also a newby on this forum, however this is my 15th LM.

If you are guarenteed to arrive on the Wednesday, I'll reserve you a pitch within our lot. Thurs & Fri are generally manic. We have between 7-10 tents and a 'clubhouse' tent so we grab as much as possible then allow others in we like! The cars are also parked within the pitch next to internal road so those can be moved to give extra space if needed.

The site is Expo and we're 5mins walk from main entrance. And yes we have grass and in sone shade.

As this will be both a first for us as CA members, we should go to the 'Poo Bar' on the saturday night to meet the other CA madhouse personnel.

We'll PM each other nearer the time as I'll probably loose the info.



Jerry

I want to say something funny,

but there are to may options -  ;D

Where do you start ?

Most people are friendly - the approach is to talk to folks and ask if you can use space you see, rather than just pitching in it. 

If our Friday night campers had wandered over on Saturday morning and said "really sorry, we just couldn't find anywhere to get our tent and now we're off" we'd have been a lot happier about it all. 

Everyone needs space, but I've paid for the space that I've got (we have enough passes to only use 7mx5m per pass) and I'm going to get narky if you've just camped in the middle of my pitch.

A bit like getting home and finding someone camped in your back garden!   

Glad to see our newbies get the spirit of the forum and have hooked up together.  Yes, please get your backsides over to the 'poo bar on Saturday (that's one month from er.. tomorrow!! ;D)

Damn, I'll have to find somehwere else to stay when I visit Bristol!  ;D

And you should drop by on the fridaynightparty at Maison Blanche ofcourse. ;) Don't forget to pick up your wristbands!!

Lang tall,

I'll be looking out for you at DfH area.

Jerry

You cannot miss him - "Just what it says on the tin..." ;)

Hey Clem I should keep an eye on your barbie too just in case you find an extra sausage?? ;D

It would be easy to spot, you don't find pork and sweetcorn sausage in Carrefour!

clematolia,  we have a camping place in Blue Nord that is just going to be used to park a car for the weekend, so you are are welcome to use that for your tent (Free of Charge).  Just let me know if you want it.

Nick

What else do you want me do find it for you chris  ;D

Hi there, Clematolia.

I'm headed for Le Mans on foot as well, so here's a few pointers.

You've got offers for a camping spot so that's no bother.

1. Weight. When you're packing your kit, pack absolute essentials first and then check you pack to see how much it weighs. If you're going to be self-sufficient for a few day (Pack, clothes, tent, food, stove, folding chair etc) then the last thing you want is unnecessary baggage as you'll be weighed down with kit as it is.

2. As you'll be carrying your kit on foot, I don't suggest walking from the train station to the track weighed down with it all. If it's raining you'll be soaked to the skin before you've even got your tent up and if it's dry then the sun will bake you alive and you'll end up soaked in sweat instead of rain. Either way, not nice. So get a cab or a bus from the railway station.

3. Be sociable. Race fans are a pretty sociable lot as a rule and you'll enjoy it a lot more if you can tag along as part of a group instead of keeping to yourself.

4. Learn some French. Not just on practical grounds, but also because I've noticed that, if you do have problems and make the effort to speak the language, then locals will probably be a lot more sociable and helpful in return. I wouldn't find it easy to speak French here in the UK, so don't expect the French to speak English in their own country. A little time and a decent phrasebook will help out a lot when you're actually there.

5. Excercise your drinking abilities. ;D

I like #4 Pilgrim.  Couldn't agree more. :)
You can actually survive pretty well without a stove.  Before I lived down the road I never took food and mangaged perfectly well- although god knows what my cholestorol count was like!

Hi clem. If you are camping on Bleu nord i strongly recommend calling into Bleu Sud for cold beer with us. Just look for the big Gulf Flag.

Hehehe  ;D I'm gonna do my best to visit you all...once I've set my tent up it can be found by blue-black-white striped flag :)...there has to be room in my bag for my flag :) Cheers for all the advice though, should be fine...except my French...but I'll do my best :D

Moi française est merde
But i manage to scrape by
(Being from Yorkshire my english isn't great either!)

 ;D