Club Arnage

Over the years we have stayed at various sites kn(when it was covered in piles of earth,tetre rouge,beausejour and expo.

What I want to know is WHY!!! does everybody rave about bleu,maison blanche,houx and houx annexe ;D :)

After all surely.... a campsite is a campsite????

Give us a clue!!!

Wishy

Wishy, I suppose it all comes down to who you have around you, the security of the site and the facilitys that are provided.
Paula a newbie.

Hi paula

don't get me on security.....see robbers on the help section.

Not one to complain but over the years we've had no probs apart from this year.

Must be something to do with the company we keep ;D.

we have always had a good laugh on all the sites generallly....and I guess that is why we come back every year....just to soak up the atmosphere of the event......and to waych,where possible some motor racing :o

Tried Bleu, Houx and MB since the coach lark got binned and started camping from '89. Fave is definitely MB. Bleu is outside of the "walls" so not so secure and the only year we were in Houx was the very wet '95, so perhaps memories are a bit tainted!

Either way, 11 trouble free and very enjoyable years on MB make it our first choice every year. Facilities are slowly improving I guess but as mentioned above, doesn't really matter too much when you have a good crowd around.

Cheers

Rick

KN last year, turned up Friday evening so was a little short on space, but still exceeded expectations. Houx Annex this year, a bit more green, a bit more space and a bit more entertainment (at roudabout Sunday night) and better fireworks!

The main differences we've found is location in relation to the track/bars/stands etc. We all had mountain bikes this year which was an absolutely inspired idea!

Only been twice but not had any thievin' gypsy problems. People like to go with what they know, so if a site is good enough, they go back the following year. This also helps people meet up with friends they met before.

HTH!

There's a list of the various siites on the beermountain website.  http://www.beermountain.com/Campsite_Guide.htm

I don't think it's fully up to date, but it gives you the pros and cons of many of them. Houx obviously is an allocated pitch so it doesn't matter when you turn up. You also get electricity. Otherwise it really depends on your preferred location.

Does that allocated pitch thing really work? It certainly wasn't in operation (or at least being adhered to) when we were in Houx in 1995 - absolute free for all that year!

As for MB, the pitches used to be allocated but they seemed to give that up years ago, even though the permits had numbers on them!

Not stayed on Houx myself but people I've spoken to say it is all marked out and they make sure you stick to your own area.

Anyone out there stayed there recently who can update us??

For me the main advantage of MB was that we got six people in two vehicles through the gates without the unecessary expense of having to buy Enciente Generale tickets. I just drove straight past the little man and pitched camp. Although I didn't realise it at the time, as I had thought we would have to buy EG tickets later in the week, but no, we were in for nowt!

We also all went in and out of the curcuit a couple of times on the friday and got back in by just showing the contra marque given to us on the way out.

This gave us a saving of Eu330, or about £234 in proper money. TOP!

The downside with MB is that, ye gods, there are some very strange folk pitched up on there. In fact many of the names you see on here quite often!

Oh and it is quite "gay" too. Lots of cruising and cottaging in the bogs etc.

Any heterosexual swinging going on though?

Yeah, whilst visiting Smokie, one jumped on my back. I did'nt know whether to let him go or toss him off. Luckily I had come in the backdoor allowing me to make my escape.

Stu

Didn't stay there, but cycled through it a couple of times the other week . Looked very regimented to me. The plots were actually quite small. I prefer the ability to pitch where ever looks best when you turn up and then mark off a nice area with some 'F*ck Off' tape. Houx does have what looked like it's own Bar though.

No but there was some rather undignified talk on the old CA forum of getting me to turn the Commer into some sort of mobile brothel. Actually I don't think the rear bump stops could take that sort of action these days. (I am referring to the van, not to my own physiology)

Yes,  Houx is marked out spaces.  At the end of each line of spaces is
a Water and power supply so you don't need to take a Gennie just lots of cable.  The Shower block is execlent but undersized for the number of people on the site and yes there is a bar in there.  None the the less it's
still a fair wark to the Tribunes and not a patch on the old Tribunes
Campsite where the fair ground has now been moved to.  The space is adequate for a Car and Four man Frame tent and there is still room for a BBQ ect.  In fact I think you'll find that all of the sites have a limit on the
amount of space you are allowed.  On Beausejour this year there was a guy showing us where we could pitch and but with the Language problems we were more or less left to sort it out for ourselves.  But he did make it plain that we should only use a 16m x 18m area for the three tickets we had.  :-)  With the 'numbered' plots in Houx it's more difficult to be flexible with your positioning.

I was on Technopark, what I whant know is

Who the hell pinched our shower-block?

Apart from the walk not a bad site, and we invented our own shower system, using 2L Evien bottles.........

Info on how can be supplied

We were on Houx Annexe this year.

Stu saved some space for a few of us. What am I saying, same space, he saved us a football pitch!!!   :D :D :D

I'd told him my uncle was flying down on Saturday morning, I think Stu had tried to get us our own airstrip!!  ;D

Between three cars we had 12 tents and a gazebo set up that covered 13m x 6m. Somehow I don't think we would get it all onto three pitches in the Houx campsite!

Is it common practice to get a camping pass for one of the sites and then just blag your way into a different one that you prefer?

We had a 'Chappel' pass, but couldn't find our way in, so after trying to explain this to a bowling ball shaped local at the gate to Houx Annex, he just waved us through.

We also noticed, as we cycled though other sites, that there's generally a blatant disregard for being in the correct one!

It takes some going to be so @nal about camping tickets before the event, and then to leave it up to the discretion of the jolly chappies at the site entrances as to where you can or cannot set up camp!

Does anyone else swap sites when they get there?

Hope these weren' the same sort of 2 litre bottles that emerge from the average tent in the morning?  :o

Probably the same guys that nicked the Showers from Beausejour.
I know it's difficult to carter for so many people. But it's not like they
don't know we'll be there.   So why not just order two or three times the number of WC/shower units and so on?

I think I have been moniterd!!!!!

Evien bottel showers.........

Rule 1 Avoid bottels with yellow liqued in them.
Rule 2 Fill two bottels to the rim
Rule 3 Pour into kettel enough watter so that the water is up to pionty bits on the bottle
Rule 4 Heat on stove/Barbi
Rule 5 Eat breakfast/drink beer
Rule 6 Pour hot water into bottles
Rule 7 Tip bottles over head, (tip use 1st bottle for soap 2nd for rinse)

You will know if the temp is right, if top of head is scalded to much hot if nuts dissaperd to much cold. But in some cases I am told this can be difficalt to tell!

Haaa, I noticed your car in Houx Annexe.
I thought this year that the Annexe was far less crowded than in previous years.  We had 8 cars (one a 1964 Cadillac conv), 9 tents and a 10m x 3m gazebo in loads of space behind "f... off" tape and had now hassle from the rotund gent on the gate or the camping police.
We prefer the Annexe for it's feel, fun, cammeradie with you fellow campers, and the mainly Brit atmosphere.
It's close to the village and grandstands plus the northern part of the circuit right up to Tetre Rouge is a short walk.
Also, to get in and out by car, there's a couple of routes.  Oh, and the fireworks are pretty impressive.  :D

Steve,

We had a camper van which we parked up on arrival, hopped on our bikes, went to check out what 'Chappel' was like, came back and decided to stay! We then found a spot where we knew we would be blocked in by the following day and sat pretty for the rest of the trip.

You're right, there was a ton of space left. They could have sold another 40 - 50 tickets if they wanted to pack us in. There was a TVR with two two man tents near us which had enough space for about 8 more tents.

We were near the Loo block by the round-about so got showered in ash by the fireworks from the round-about and the ones from the Elise club... well worth the show though! May pack a few sparklers for next year!

You obviously weren't the only ones in Houx Annexe with a Chappel pass then.
The fat controller on the gate didn't seem to worry what pass anyone had, as long as it had 'Le Mans' on it.  He seemed to be quite amused by the 10 of us wedged in the Cadillac as we came and went from the site.

Personnally, I reckon you were better off in Houx Annexe.  I don't fancy the idea of people walking back and forth past your front door in Chappel or Musee Interior.

I have been going to Musee Interior for the last 6 years. I think it's as gresat spot providing you pitch up at the far end. To do this you need to get there by Wednesday. People generally turn off to go over the bridge before they get anywhere near our tent.

One year we pitched closer to the entrance and hated it. Loads of people walking past and our tent got raided.

Tony

We were there in 2001, right next to the grass bank (which unfortunately was removed by the remodelling of the Bugatti circuit. :()

Great to be near the action, but as you say, lots of "passers by" all seemingly quite happy to barge past your cars and walk through your gazebo to cut the corner. Still, two guys in our crowd being built like night club bouncers and screaming "Get Off Our Land" in a Nazi styley soon saw most of them off!!  ;)