Club Arnage

sorry if this has been covered before ;D

What manner of LPG is available at Le Mans, Propane/Butane?  Which type/size of valve would the cylinders accept?  and the final query is, where might spare supplies be obtained during a busy LM?

Many thanks for your kind attention and sensible replies 8)

IIRC the regulators are different, but inexpensive. As for stockists, I am led to believe from the BM forums that Carrefour will provide.

From what i can remember when we swapped a bottle for JPC a few years back, Carrefour stock loads of Camping Gaz bottles, but they have about a £10 surcharge if you don't have the handle on the top (maybe someone else can confirm). I assume you'll get charged that on top for your first bottle. See http://www.campingaz.com/sunbeam/distribution/index_cartridge.htm and search for Le Mans. Regulators to suit Camping Gaz bottles are readily available from outdoor stores over here if you want to get sorted before you go.

What?  

- Take all fun away!  ;D

Almost any reasonably-sized supermarket stock camping gaz  907 904 and the smaller cartridges.  They used to be cheaper than the UK, but who knows with the exchange rate what it is.  There was a problem a couple of years ago when there was a complete dearth of refils in the LM area - all supermarches had sold out and I eventually got one in a small 'outdoor' shop in Arnage.  If you are taking an empty bottle back, go first to the accueil in the supermarket where they will take the empty and give you a ticket that you present to the checkout to save you having to pay the deposit (again).

You will not get refills for any other bottle that is available in the UK (Calor, Flogas etc) as, as has effectively already been pointed out, the regulators are unique to each manufacturer.  In an emergency, there is a plentiful supply of the larger bottles from supermarkets, garages etc, but you will have to pay a deposit on the bottle plus buy a regulator.

Summary:  Stick with Camping Gaz or take enough with you.

Del

Refilling would take too long during a pitstop, so I guess that's why the ACO won't allow it :-\












;D

Peter, as Paulydee says, Camping Gaz is available at most supermarkets.

What we did last year though was to get some "local" cylinders and regulators. Much cheaper to refill, and very cheap to obtain (certainly compared to the UK!)

I can't remember exact costs, but it was something like €25 for the Full Cylinder, Regulator and the Cylinder deposit for a large Butane bottle.

This was from the petrol station at Carrefour!

Are you cooking for the whole of Houx Annexe Peter???

It was the large cylinder. I can never remember what weight is which but 15Kg seems to ring a bell. it's the same size as goes into a Patio Heater.

Our's are stored in France. We ran the Gas BBQ off one and there was still plenty left at the end of the week. Also used one for the Turkey Fryer and one for the Scottle. Both of those are probably at elast 3/4 full still!

The mincer will come in useful  ;D

Peter, any chances of getting a similar kit somewhere?

Might be usefull with a group of 30. ;D

You take one if you like but don't bring it anywhere near our camp

probably at an army-dump-store, and then buy all they have on the shelf

 :o

I know where you can get these, but I didn't realise they included "2 x slutted serving spoons"  20% off at the minute             

As LPG has only 80% of the calorific value of petrol, then you would have an engine 80% down on power for the same fuel consumption. :(

Remember fuel consumption is actually slightly worse on LPG, but the fact that it's much cheaper to buy means people quote an equivalent fuel consumption figure. But when has cost bothered a race team? ::)

Buck

You're partly right, Buck.  The calorific value of LPG is less than that for petrol, but against that, as LPG is a gas (rather than a vapour as with petrol) you get a much more complete 'burn' of the fuel in the cylinder (which is also why LPG is much 'cleaner').  Ok, the net result is that LPG is still down against petrol, but not by that figure.  Depending on the engine, the LPG equipment etc, it can be as little as 5%.

This is for 'road' cars - I have no experience or data relating to 'tuned' engines.

Del

I used to have a camper van, and on occasion it had huge amounts of gas in the back.
Under no circumstances could it have been called 'clean' though.
H

But with a turbo thrown into the mix, it gets more interesting.

Under high boost, there is a much lower risk of detonation if you're running on LPG, so you can basically whack the boost up to whatever the drivetrain will take.

And if you bung LPG into a clattery diesel engine you get heaps more grunt and better fuel economy (Don't try to run it exclusively on LPG though, otherwise you may melt your engine) (OK, you WILL melt your engine)

An engine runing on North Sea Gas will have much cleaner oil, and won't need a cat, but you must bear in mind the onerous responsibility of dragging the pipe around behind the car.

I once set off a fire alarm with a particularly noxious bottycough. My wife says I shouldn't be proud of that, but I can't help it.

I did one that made my dog wretch which I was proud of. I've also made someone spew up in a lift once which I was also proud off although funnily enough, my wife says its nothing to be proud of.

Calorific value of LPG to farting humour. How did that happen?

I once let rip in the ops room at work, and my neighbour was heard to remark 'Jesus, Livingstone, what the hell have you been eating? Tyres?'

Not tyres. Old foam backed carpet.

The fire alarm was in a hospital too  :laugh:

Because I'm also traveling to Le Mans this year with a car that runs on LPG. I was also looking for the samething, a site or something that has all the LPG gas station in it. I found this (http://=http://stations.gpl.online.fr/appli/index.php?parDep=72) website. It has all the gas stations in the area.

You could try this site too French Government run with prices for diesel GPL and petrol
http://www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr/

Of all the vehicles I could take this year my 4.7L V8 Jeep is the last on the list! (I'm taking the smallest engined instead - 599cc!)

Having said that, I did keep an eye out for LPG pumps last time out in France and I don't think I saw any Autoroute service stations without LPG.

Bugger, how did we get back to LPG, I much preferred the farting  :o

Who thinks LPG smells of rotten veg? The puff you get when you disconnect the pipe makes your hands stink for ages. :P

Buck