Club Arnage

This will make you smile... (if you didn't pay for MRI hospitality that is!)

Don't remember if I mentioned it... probably because I was trying my hardest to put it out of my mind... but I seem to recall sitting in the MRI hospitality just ONE HOUR INTO THE RACE when... oh...oh dear.... THEY RAN OUR OF BEER!!!  >:(   >:(  >:(

Needless to say we didn't hang around, and only returned with about an hour of the race to go to find... oh...oh dear.... THEY RAN OUR OF BEER!!!  >:(  >:(  >:(

I've been finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that somebody in charge of the planning for hospitality at Le Mans would over look the amount of beer required to such an extent that it didn't even last until 6:00pm on Saturday.  ??? How dumb do you have to be???

If I see any posts inquiring about the quality and value for money of MRI hospitality, I'll be happy to relay my accurate and frank experience.

As this is not simply hear-say, and I can even quote what I was told by the bar staff..."Sorry, we have no beer left"... I'm hoping it won't get removed, and as an information resource for veterans or virgins alike, I think it's important to let people know the truth.

OK...that's off my chest... lesson learned...and duty to pass this lesson on completed.

Please use this thread to relay any other Hospitality success stories...

Well I hope you have demanded your £50 back Russ!!??!!

Try coming to the The Wine Benders hospitality village next year. Entrance is free of charge upon presentation of the correct credentails (beer). We may not have drivers giving guest appearances but you are guaranteed a good time (and MRI don't have porn!! ;D)

Cheers JP,

We always pick up some one-handed cliterature for the journey, so can contribute to both...  8)

We always contribute to the producres of such literotica, but we also take a TV and videos  ;D ;D

Don't (much) want to start an "I told you so" topic - but AVOID OPERATORS LIKE MRI like the plague. They promise and do not deliver.
But thet DO charge!!

local operators are quite better (ok I make my own communication)...

... they provide you fridges and in echange of a single car park and 5 CA stickers they welcomed you at MB with a fresh champagne bottle !!!

JP, the perfect hospitality... I just hope the floor doesn't get too sticky!  ;D

Kpy, I remember seeing comments before about MRI, but at the time, it was the only way to secure a camping pass (foolishly left it to mid February!) I now know why they had so many left!!!

In my defence, I'd say that with the threat of not getting a camping pass at all,  we opted for paying the extra just to make sure we'd all be there.. me lud!

Won't happen again, I am truly sorry for what I have done and will endeavour to rectify my behaviour in the future....

I'm sure I'll just get nominal community service from you guys for at least making sure my lot attended.  ::)

I think the trick is that everyone should boycott the commercal operators.  They buy up vast quantities of tickets and create an artificial shortage.   Whilst I tend to go to Le Mans on my own and thus only need one camping ticket it's a bit easier.  

I first went in 1980 missed out in 81 and have been every year since.  Only once did I fail to get an ACO camping site.  That was 2000.  Even then I found  a private campsite in a Motor Cycle Club behind the Tehno Park.  This year  I still managed to get extra campsite tickets for some friends that  were going to arrive later in the week.  So I my advice is take the  chance.  Or I think CA may be bying up some tickets next year.

Pesonaly I'd never pay more than Face Value for any Le Mans ticket.

Of course if your a large group then being sure that you get the number of campsite places you need can be tricky.  But one or two cars should not be a problem.

Just changing th subject slightly...................I noticed the comment about MRI and others doin large block bookings for tickets......It really makes me.......ANGRY........that the ACO allow tickets for the members grandstand to be sold to these companies!!!!!!! ::) :'(

Wishy

Seems stupid because they must sell at a discount when we would pay more!

You all must have guessed by now that I regard the tour operators as vermin. For the most part they add at least 50% to anything they sell and add the magic word "hospitality" when they are actually adding a sandwich or two. To run out of beer by Saturday pm, is IMHO well worth a solicitor's letter - yes seriously; if they offer free refreshments and run out before half time, they are in breach of contract. No kidding.
At least we had the pleasure of seeing at least one operator screwed by the ACO at the last minute this year, and their clients were able to find much better deals direct. Gilles and I are only too happy to offer "on the spot" advice.
See you in November??

I believe that MRI don't even give free food and drink, you have to pay for it. However, part of the deal of using them is that they have  refreshments available so you are still correct Kpy that it deserves following up.

And wasn't it nice to see Ai****ck have some problems, just like the good old public do. I managed to help out one guy with three campsite tickets and seven GA's at face value. He then boked BETTER ferry crossing for their three cars, and he still saved over £700!!

Looks like I lit the touch paper with this thread...

JP, your'e right, MRI charge for drinks and food. and the 'screens' for watching the action are just a few 24" TV's on stands dotted about the place.

So it seems the best hospitality is of the good old British variety... bring some beer and leave the rest to the guys who wish for nothing more than beer and good company in return... a fine example of the Brits ability to provide in a crisis... It's no wonder we fly the flags so high over the camp sites!

So is it better to get tickets direct from the ACO, or is 'Just Tickets' an acceptable alternative?

Go direct to the ACO Russ. Or grab a ticket from someone here on the forum nearer the time. This year there were plenty available.

Just Tickets are another agency who charge a fortune for normal tickets. They somehow manage to take a large allocation from the ACO, then sell them to us, the public, at a huge mark up. They then insist that you buy a minimum of two general admission tickets with each camping ticket (that's what I got told when I phoned them two years ago). These GA tickets have a face value of 50 Euros and they sell them at £50. Add that to the fact that a campsite ticket for Houx Annexe with a face value of 35 Euros is sold for £41. Then to top it all, they put an ad on their web site saying that as the pound had fluctuated with the Euro, an extra 5% would be added!!

A couple of guys I know booked helicopter flights over the circuit through them too. They were charged £99 each. When the went for the flight, they could have booked it there and then for 69 Euros each!!

So, I think my answer Russ is NO!!  Just Tickets are not acceptable.  :(

Piont taken JP, I think I'd rather throw the difference in price down my neck than into the pockets of rip-off merchants!

This reminds me of my student days... how about we take flyers next year and hand them out to those who have the 'Just Tickets' or 'MRI' ticket pouches listing how much they have paid compared to the ACO prices!!  ;D

Talking of ticket pouches... how about some CA pouches? One for another thread perhaps...

Club Arnage posing pouches? Now there's a thought. Leopard skin I hope. Smokie you'll have to ask Dave Davies.

The likes of MRI and Airtrack seem to have screwed up big style this year. Airtrack were hilariously relocated to Beausejour just days before the race. I think they had to offer people their money back. To say that Page and Moy are sub-human scum is maybe putting it a bit strongly, but they aint far away from it.

If you have to have hostpality the only half reasonable group are maybe, just maybe, Club Racing Lines. They come in at £150 for a free bar, six meals and somewhere to pitch your tent. I think CLR was started as a result of people being pissed off with MRI etc and it seems to be run by enthusiasts. Fine if this is your bag. Its not for me though.

In another post, BigH mentions the CLR secret agent who put up a post on CA forum a few months ago entitled something like "Club Racing Lines, the Hospitality Guys for Me!!" and we all soon rumbled him. This put me off them, but hell anyone can screw up once i suppose. But I did speak to a couple of blokes who were at the CLR pitch this year and they seemd moderately satisfied with the deal.

Each to their own and some people are just lazy in the planning and execution stakes. I always reckon you only get out what you put in.

Would like to say hello to a number of guys who I met this year... particularly, Big H, Albert and the rest of the guys (again) Kyps, Canada Phil, Gilles and The Liverpool Boys... Great to meet you...

Am normally an avid reader/viewer of the forum but felt it was about time I made a contribution...

My group travelled with MRI this year and I have to say that our overall experience with them was very good. They had a couple of problems with beer etc however, as we basically cater for ourselves and we weren't using the MRI facility as a base this didn't cause a problem. I certiainly don't recall seeing anyone up in arms about it...

We booked in the full knowledge that we were going to pay a premium. The simple reason for it is that several years previous experience of trading and attempting to get tickets for a group was a real headache... in 2002 for instance we were still struggling with camping passes 48hrs before departure... not great.

They got us the tickets we oredered, when they said they would... and if like me, first thing in the morning, you have to release the pigeons with a minimum of delay, the facilities are a godsend..!!

Sorry, if this was a bit of a long one... but felt that I had to speak up for what I thought was an OK deal that did what it said on the tin.


Best wishes

The Dark Warrior

Dear Mr Warrior (or may I call you Dark?)

You are most welcome on to the forum. Your views are entirely valid and bring an interesting perspective. Afterall, this is a forum for sharing experiences and not just sycophancy.

Do post again, don't be shy.

Andy Z

PS LOL "release the pigeons". Very funny!

Andy

DW is how I'd normally be refered to... although I've been called many things over the years...!!!

DW

DW,

If you were satisfied with MRI then they must be getting something right. But for me, they simply didn't get enough right for my money. (the part of my money that was spent on getting a bar in hospitality anyway)

We didn't mind that the beer (before they ran out) was getting served in thin plastic half pint cups so we had to get two each, we didn't mind queing for 10 mins to get it, we didn't mind the c*nt on the door who said "What's this? f*cking Halfords!" as we took our bikes in to lock them safely by the loos and we didn't mind that had we not arrived in good time, there would have been seating inside only. We did mind that at about 5ish, we couldn't get any beer.

I have to say, the 'tin' I read when looking into their hospitality said...

"Twenty-four hours is a long time to survive on a diet of sausage and frites. For this reason we will be employing our own team of caterers to preside over a well stocked bar and an appetising choice of menu."

This is directly quoted from their web site.

Hopefully you can see why I was not expecting them to run out of beer. And of course why this would constitute as false advertising, and hence more a case of "didn't even come close to what it said on the tin".... for me anyway.

I have to agree with Russ on that one. "An appetising choice of menu" does include beer.  ;D

Russ

Fair points and well made, and am dissapointed that they took the attitude that they did re your bikes... I'd say you have every reason to be pi33ed at them... however, the primary driver for our using them was to take the worry out of getting tickets etc... In previous years we've only got what we needed by the skin of our teeth... and the help of some damn fine people on the CA site.

We did find the facility useful for 'early morning pigeon racing' etc and I also have to say that listening to Andy Wallace was excellent... One of our group also managed to get to hear Perry Macarthy and he's still going on about what a great speaker he was...

Personally, and in the full knowledge that we pay a little more than we would if we sourced everything separately, I'd use them again.

DW

I must confess, the main reason I used MRI was down to the fact that I was unable to secure camping passes at the time and MRI were able to deliver. So on that part of the deal, yes, they came up with the goods. Not denying that.

It's just a shame they then abuse their position of having camping passes by forcing you to pay an additional £50 each for what turned out to be a tent with loos outside... which of course ironically we already had, through the use of the camping pass.

It does make me wonder who was in charge of beer supplies! Perhaps they would be more suitable for looking after a pen or a pencil.

In hind sight, to the guy who said "What's this?? F*cking Halfords??" I should have replied... "It's as much F*cking Halfords as it is well organised value for money hospitality!"... ;D

Good to hear from you DW, You have now found out that its not to painful to post on CA. seriously though keep reading and posting it makes the time go quicker til next June.   How many sleeps is it til we go now Bri?
   Regards

          Ian

Only 312 days to go and counting to when we set off in 2004, would have been only 311, but it's a rastard leap year. :'( :'( That's an idea what about a count down timer, Stu.

It is of course a vicious circle.  If the ticket agencies didn't buy so many camping tickets in the first place, the ounters would find it easier to get tickets without going to them!