You really would have thought that they would have caught on now that theres a race on and lots of people who need fresh supplies on a Sunday!!

You might, but there is a law in France preventing supermarkets over a certain size opening on Sundays with the exception of the last three weekends before Christmas.
Marche Plus (see Stu's useful maps etc.) is open on Sundays 9:00am to 1:00pm
The bakeries and little food shops - butchers, charcutiers etc are open in Arnage on Sunday morning too.

Do you mean Super U?
If so it has moved. There is a lovely shiny Super U on the Le Mans road out of Arnage just north of the Shell garage roundabout.
Opening hours are: 9:00am to 7:30 pm every day except Friday, when they close at 8:pm, and Sunday - closed all day.

There's a big Carrefour right on your route at Caen. It's at Mondeville, near the Paris turn-off on the Caen ring road, only about 18 km from the port.
Follow the signs for "Centre Commercial - Mondeville 2 (the cinemas are there too) off the ring road just after the Paris A13 exit.
It closes at 9.30pm.

Official expected completion date is "end 2005"

Stu -

Yes I looked in the same place yesterday (it's connected to Ouest France, newspaper I think). But could find no relevant information.

It was a pre-planned closure by the local police to avoid the high jinks of previous years. The information was certainly available pre-race week, perhaps on the ACO site, but they are pretty useless so far this year.

Two solutions:

1. Buy the newspaper

2. Look for similar articles on the Telegraph site, which is non-subscription.

Good luck.

Both
English: 107 MHz
French:100.3 MHz

Yes they do, with the exception that the vehicles are unmarked. They are linked to Gendarmes a little further down the road who will (if you were breaking the limit) pull you over, breathalyse you, and generally give you a hard time before fining you in cash (credit cards not accepted) and sticking you on their national computer.
At the moment they can't put points on your licence or ban you from driving outside France (that's on its way via Brussels), but they CAN ban you from driving in France for a fixed period on the spot.

Suggest you rent from a company close to a channel port. You'll be be able to to rent a 4 berth camper for less than a  large car from Avis.
You'll be able to get foot passenger returns for 10 pounds each via Newhaven- Dieppe, (PM me to find out how this is possible)and a quick train journey to Rouen will get you to the camper and on your way. Picking the thing up at Le Mans would be ridiculous, as you'd have to pay return fares UK - Le Mans return for each of you.
For instance these peeople
http://www.masters-rouen.com/
 will give you a decent size ( 7 person (theoretically !) camper for 700 pounds a week with ample free milage, and if it's not big enough you can always buy a cheap tent from Carrefour, Auchan etc
Good luck

Count me in with PM & co.

Don't panic. It just means you can't park a motorhome in a CAR PARK, except in Blue, Red or Antares parks, where they'll be waiting to collect your 38 euros. They won't admit motorhomes to any other car parks.
Have fun and see you there!

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And happy bidding .................................... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2777585100&category=2875

This has nothing to do with me - it turned up as I was browsing for something else.

Look forward to seeing lots of you in the Sarthe this year.

and a tiny crustacean motif !