oh dear God that was disgusting.

Arnage is a great spot though at any time in my opinion. Many happy an hour spent boozing in the bars on the main street watching the rolling roadshow

Good idea. I'll be wearing a red or grey white rabbit racing polo shirt

I'm going Saturday. Would be good to meet any CA members up there.

Thanks for the support guys.

Not looking at chancing it with CA in terms of a sales opportunity. I have been doing this long enough not to march in unknown to an established forum without checking with 'Der Management' hence why I have the support of the likes of Pistonheads.

@ Bas. You're not far off in your calculations mate. Good effort!

I'm not sure that sarcasm is quite called for do you?

It's merely trying to explain why there is a premium attached to the cost from an 'agent'

I'm not an agent so the €10k part doesn't apply.

Yes, I do it for the love. Nothing more and nothing less. I love Le Mans, I love taking people to Le Mans and really get a massive kick from putting it all together and seeing everyone arrive and have a good time. I cover my costs and that is it. Would you like me to show you the post event accounts?

I'm sorry you can't appreciate that some people actually do do things for the love of it. I give you Club Arnage as a classic example. How much time and money do the organisers of this site spend on the website, paying for the bandwidth and the hosting as well as the countless hours preparing and updating their Le Mans guide which is without doubt the undesputed bible of the event? Do they make money from it? No. It's for the love. 

I'll be going to the Classic in a bunch of Healeys. Went in 2005 and absolutely loved it. A wonderful event not to be missed. And only 1/5 the numbers of people as well as open access to pretty much everywhere.

To add to Piglet's comment.

If it was that simple then we'd all be doing it. There seems to be a lot of grumbling on Le Mans sites about 'rip off agencies' so let me add a few points to consider.

To start off with, it costs in the region of €10000 to become an official ticket agent (for just one season!) so you've got to sell a shitload to make it worthwhile. You only get a 5% commission on sales too so do the maths.

In terms of renting a private space. It is of course possible but there is a minimum space you have (about 100 cars worth) and the price per sqm is about 4 times more than it would be if you simply bought 100 camping tickets. A hell of a lot more. Trust me! So, if TL's prices seem inflated then you know why.

From a personal point of view, for 2007 I am taking 15000sqm of space. I am putting up fencing, employing security marshalls, paying for a private toilet/shower block and adding a members bar and catering. So I am providing a lot more than a standard camping place and crucially, I am limiting the number of cars coming into that space so everyone gets loads more room than they would normally. And of course, that pitch is guaranteed no matter what day they show up and I can also put aside larger spaces for groups.

I have to run this event as a 'business' however, all I make out of it is enough to cover my costs. My end sale price is as low as it can possibly be without going into loss. Because I am a fan doing it for the fans but trying to offer a little more into the mix. It takes a lot of hours to arrange and administer so in the end, it's not actually particularly profitable. The likes of Airtrack make profit when I can see how much it costs to run a similar operation to theirs and they are charging nearly 200% more than I will!

Notwithstanding, the use of my own chat forum in the run up to the event and the fact that everyone will be together in one spot means that I am lucky enough to develop an awesome team spirit and everyone feels like they know each other by the time they arrive. Everyone sharing plans, getting together for convoys and posting up pics of their cars before the off all stickered up. It's also perfect for newbies and those flying solo as they can easily meet people in the group who can show them the way and new friendships developed. We even have a boy/girl couple that met on my Le Mans tour in 2006 and are still together

So there's an example of by the fans for the fans. My absolute resolve is to provide value for money and at all times, to keep the cost of my camping operation as minimal as I can possibly make them. There are other events that I will do in due course where they might be more profitable but Le Mans is done for the love of it.

I hope this explains why tickets from independent operators have premiums.

Gracias!

We'll be here:

This is not strictly true Jay. I think you might have lucked out with your spot.  Yes BSJ is massive but it is now also zoned with low level fencing and manned gates. The frenchies have tried to put the space to better use but they have just ended up pissing everyone off. What they now do is open the first section nearest the entry on Weds. Pack that to bursting point then open the next, pack that and so on until eventually the whole place is full. I had a private place for White Rabbit Racing in the back corner nearest the trees last year and they wouldn't let me in when the first convoy tipped up at dawn on the Wednesday. Took my shouting at them and waving my contracts and a lot of moustachoed haw haw hawing and eventually the opened the gates and let us through. Next convoy had the same problem until eventually the Pierres recognised the logos on the cars!

What this zoning meant however, is that the hardcore that showed up on Weds and tried to bag space for their mates got squeezed in and thus, mates joining them on Thurs/Fri couldn't get anywhere near. I heard a lot of stories like this after LM07 from a lot of disgruntled people!

Personally, I have tried several campsites and tbh, all this talk about which is best is nonsense. Ok I grant you some are less of a walk but, put it realistically, how many times are you going to walk back and forth? Once each way probably when you think about it. Or do what I do and get a ticket for parking vert then drive back and forth. That's easy when the race is actually on and the traffic has cleared. The atmosphere on any of the campsites is equal to the other and if anything, BSJ now has one of the best if you ask me.

BSJ also has the added benefit of being very close (through the trees dodging marshalls fun) from one of the fastest points of the track where I was lucky enough to witness Scuderia Ecosse crashing out in 06. See this video for some awesome night shots that I took back in 2006. If you can't be arsed to sit through the whole thing go to 16 mins 44secs.

BSJ is also spitting distance from Arnage where the atmosphere boozing on the main road from one of many bars watching the amazing kit cruising by is great. And it's only a 20 min walk up to the fairground now.

3 cheers for BSJ......

That is fckin cool! Truck looks awesome.

Dan at Hollographics is a wicked bloke and really helpful.

He did over 60 sticker packs for white rabbit racing last year including unique door numbers for everyone. I went to pick them all up to find them all individually bound so I could just send them straight out.

Can't recommend them enough.

Have used your awesome guide before but not had a good look round. Lots of passion for the greatest race on earth in here and it's great to see!

So I'm Guy, I'm from London and I run White Rabbit Racing which is a friendly private campsite for fans of the LM24hr. None of this faceles corporate rubbish. I had 94 cars in my gang last year on a 5000sqm bit of the Beausejour area where we put up fencing and had some security guards. And despite the rain, had a wicked time!

My plan for WRR 2008 is a 15000 sqm camp with access for 300 cars. Quite a long way into recruiting them already so it's looking good to hit target.

Looking forward to getting to know other LM fans!

Roll on June!

Hello everyone. Just thought I would pop in and say hello. Had an interesting conversation with a couple of your members yesterday. Pretty sure I can help solve your problems. Looking forward to hearing from the powers that be to discuss!

Cheers

Guy

www.whiterabbitracing.co.uk