Club Arnage

see http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=481921

Oh Lord, disaster area :( :( :(

Thanks Werner, Now glad we are on Blue Nord !!

f**king god dam works firewall - i cant get on PH here :(

Kev,
   Here you are

Don't worry its the same as last June, just no sign of any tents but mud everywhere.

cheers guys  :)

looks a mess

My guess would be, if the ACO are saying they will be 400 pitchs down for 2008 on MB, that zones A and B will not be useable due to the construction site/quagmire. These pictures look like zones A and B, possibly encroaching into C.

Mind you, my garden looks like that at the moment. ::)

If you look at the building plan, most of the work will indeed take place in zone A and B, as far as I can tell from the plans it will make it impossible to camp there from now on, only tarmac planned and pits and stuff. So what remains is former zone D and E, an that will be it I guess for years to come.

Christ on a bike!!! What have they done???

Looks like they've jus went on it with a tractor and tried to do a few doughnuts >:(

OK I think we'll just switch back to the motorhome again this year, because tents definately don't seem a workable option this year.

Hope you've got a gardener! (http://forum.drinkingforholland.com/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif)

Few of us will sleep in the back of the truck, for the rest we'll probably sort out some kind of flooring :-\
Then again -like knetter says- the works will effect zone A+B only, we'll be further up.

It looks like thay are putting in some drainage, so that may not be a bad thing.

If it rains in June we could have the LM version of Glastonbury with a mud slide though DFH ;D

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Bad news Paddy, just means we will have further to walk ;)

The fact that it looks like sh*t now, doesn't mean it will in June. Anyway, you can always set up tents, you do not need grass to set up a tent.

On the danger of ruining some people's day - I just found this statement on the PH forum

"According to the workmen there Maison Blanche will not be open for Le Mans this year. The work is provisionally to be finished ready for the Classic but not Le Mans. Obviously this is not absolutely certain but I suggest you get ready for the bad news and plan accordingly. I have to go to the press office and the ticket office later this week so if I hear more I'll post."

 :( :( :(

It's probably a good idea to follow this thread on PH for a while

Werner, the zones A and B will be torn apart by the looks of it, but D and E in the back (where we got the tickets for through an agency) will be untouched. So camping there will be possible, no matter what workers locally say. It fits in to the statement of the ACO that they will have 400 places less on MB this year....

...and otherwise we'll take a bulldozer and make our way through the outside wall >:(

Couldn't DFH ake a LOT of scaffolding, and buy 1 pitch on KN and 1 pitch on MB, then link the two together with a bridge / grandstand / accommodation /entertainment construction?

I suspect the ACO <may> have something to say about it though.

Hmmmm, hopefully they are wrong, but keep us posted werner. Would be a shame to pay that much money and still end up on Blue Nord.

The post on PH was made by Lowdrag who post on CA as Lynx..

Just tickets have confirmed that my 3 passes on MB are safe, they did ask if I wanted to put a deposit for 09 with them, I said I'd wait until june and see what state the building site is in MB is in.

Lowdrags latest post on PH
So I went to the ACO this afternoon to get a definite answer. Well, call it a definite possible answer then. They said theat it will certainly not be finished for the 24 hour bike race in April, possibly for the GP bike race, and if necessary they'll work night and day 24/7 to get it ready for Le Mans. I asked them "what if that isn't enough"? Erm, they assured me it would be "because the contractors have signed the contract and guaranteed it". Ever heard that before?

Today it has thrown it down and rain forecast for the rest of the week delaying the work. I am not trying to be a prophet of doom and gloom but doing my best to keep you abreast of what I see here with my own eyes and what I hear, sometimes from the supposed horse's mouth. I'll keep you informed as things progress and all we can do is keep our fingers crossed.

As I've said on PH, assuming I get offered Bleu tickets rather than MB as I've requested, I shall hold the MB tickets that I'm having from Powermite and also tickets for Bleu until things are clearer.  I'm concerned that if MB goes tits up on us they'll bounce us out to bleeding BSJ as Bleu will be full.

Piglet, great minds think alike, edzachery my thoughts as well. We still have 15 tickets for BN and my guess is we should hang on to them untill things get clear(er)

As said on our own forum, Knetter, a few have already been sold promised to Chris24...

It will be okay, definitely.

Let's hope for the best, prepare for the worst, or as in german wurst ;D

If I get what I asked for I'll have a number of spares. 

As I have mentioned earlier....  yes it looks like a Pig-Sty (he he) but there are 6 months to go until any of us have to set foot on it. Our French friends ;) are actually very good at such work, they may b totally negative when asked about things... but thats a French thing.

As I said on a previous post.... the road improvement towards the west coast looked like shite when we drove through it in the 90's but was transformed in 2 weeks for our return journey.

Fingers crossed all will be ok...

Will visit the mud bath tomorrow.  It has not stopped raining for about a week so everywhere looks like that at the mo'.

looking forward to the pics ( dont forget the camera ;) )

Not yet, FS; I got caught up with something else.  It will be Wednesday now (and it's hasn't rained for four days.)

I will do my best, but can't promise anything.  Raining again...

Does anybody know the scope of work yet? It may just be the ACO scaremongering / covering their backs. I hope so, although i'm not confident i'll get my tickets for MB this year.

Have a search for the pics combover. It's extensive with a Big E.  :)

Sorry, I have not had time to annotate these yet, and am expecting to have a busy afternoon, but here they are.  We went anti-clockwise round the circuit, starting at the MB entrance, the White House, Porsche Curves, road into Entree Sud with KN on the left, and looking across the track to MB, then on to the tramstop, looking across to the Bugatti, the final pics are taken from inside TR looking across to the new Bugatti works. Hope this makes sense!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97986095@N00/sets/72157603779568740/

 :o Good lord! That appears to be a hell of a lot more work than I imagined. It really doesn't look like it will be ready in time now! Does it look to be progressing well?

Jeez, if they leave it like this, they can run Paris - Le Mans there and not bother with Dakar! :o

Thanks for the pics, Termie! (http://forum.drinkingforholland.com/images/smiles/icon_thumbsup.gif)

They have a Moto GP and numerous other bike races before it's our turn, so they'll be focussed!  Although obviously the camp site is less relevant then. There are certainly loads of people on site and much activity.  I remember at the same time a couple of years ago when they were building the main entrace tunnel and there was a vast hole where the track had once been.  It was ready in time.

I'll check back again when I pay for my tickets (if my allocation turns up - but I'm relatively low down the list so I don't reckon to get mine for another week or so - they go out in customer number order - not booking number, if I remember rightly).

Edit : Sorry about all the fencing etc guys, but I can't get on site without permission so had to take what I could.

Good stuff Termite! Thanks for the pics. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Wow, all they need now is to uncover a couple of unexploded bombs, or have they let them off alredy ;D

I'm starting to feel sorry for the bikers that wll have to camp in this lot before us

I think Rusty took care of that last year at le Mans ;D

Nowt like a good bang at LM!

Looking at the pics, they have been very busy little little frenchmen.

All is looking good compared to the last pics.... We have to remember that it is 5 months to go. the grass may not be as long and fluffy as previous years but... it will be there.
"OUR" event generates so much money for the area and The ACO that they wont leave it like my garden.

There must be a Civil Engineer amongst CA that can comment on what can be done in 5 months, to turn that into what we expect ???
PP

I felt very sorry for the occupants of the Maison Blanche (whose fence some of the pics are taken through) who are jammed in the middle of a massive building site.  The forecast is dry for a few more days, and sun on the horizon so with luck there'll be few hold-ups for a day or two anyway!

As far as the grass goes, remember as well that there is likely to be someawhat less of it, as the amount of tarmac and gravel traps being laid out in the area will be increasing.

MG Mark

Thye must be putting in some fancy shitehouses judging by the size of the pipework. Too late though...