Do I need a track pass?

[Robspot]

Hi

I've read somewhere that you need a track pass at a cost of about 40€ per person to get to the campsites inside the track. Is this true?

Thanks
Rob

[Nordic]

No, the only ticket you need apart from the camping pass is your general entrance ticket, this is the ticket that gives you access to the track.

Some campsites have direct access to the track, but all have access from the public roads.

[jpchenet]

We have a couple of guys who come along for the trip but don't watch any racing so this is something we have considered over the years!!

If we are on a camp site within the General Admnission area (i.e. Interieur Musee, Chapelle, Maison Blanche) then you also need a GA ticket to get to them.

If however your camp site is outside of the GA area (i.e. Beausejour, Technoparc, Houx Annexe, Expo) then you do not need a GA ticket to get onto your camp site.

I'm not sure about some of the sites as to whether they are classed as being within the GA area (Tertre Rouge, Houx, Karting Nord)

I've been told that there is a possibility, depending on the new road/path, that Maison Blanche may be outside the GA area this year. Perhaps Gilles can confirm this??

Which site have you got a ticket for?

Hope this helps!!

[Robspot]

Thanks.

We have tickets for Beausejour at the moment because that's all ACO had left by the time we actually decided we were going to go! However we are really aiming for Houx Annexe if tickets become available as that sounds like the best site for us.

Last time I went (2002) we stayed in Blue but the bloke we went with was a blagger and didn't buy tickets for the race, he just got in for free.

We are definitely buying tickets because otherwise, events like this would soon dry up with nobody paying, so I guess we'll be fine on any site.

Obviously where I read track pass they were referring to entry tickets. Probably written by the bloke I went with!!

[BigH]

Welcome Robspot,
I'm surprised you've gone for Houx Annexxe.
It's as good a choice as any, I suppose, as long as you know what you're letting yourself in for.
It's changed a lot over the years. It used to be just a bit of old paddock turned into a rough and ready temporary campsite. Last time I strolled past, I hardly recognised the place. It seems to have found its own microclimate, and there's a strange atmosphere hanging around there now.
Just inside the gates, once you've navigated the Turkish ticket collectors there's the usual pandemonium of bears dancing jigs and hermaphrodites tottering around on stilts, but what sets it apart from the other sites is the brimstone fog shrouding the place and lying between the pines. Especially at midnight. Behind all this the ACO have set up a temporary pub/bar, The Shell and Grapnel, and you can get a few good shots of what you fancy in there. The lounge bar can get busy, what with the giant bejewelled dogs and miniature nut trees. Keeping just to left of this place, beyond the lean tos and tree houses, past the widows, orphans, cripples, idiots, madmen, victims of fire and flood, vicars, ranters, ravers, quakers and midwives, is the most popular camping spot. I think the attraction is the standpipes. Those, and the encampment of Austrian barber-surgeons that usually pitch up there. There are some leech stalls near the swamp, and some of the vendors there will be able to help you with beer cooling.
You'll have a great time, keep your wits about you though.
For 40 Euros you can't complain really, it's either that or Maison Blanche with its rolling sea of linseed and harvest of mushrooms. ******* mushrooms.
H

[Steve Pyro]

Welcome Robspot,
I'm surprised you've gone for Houx Annexxe.
It's as good a choice as any, I suppose, as long as you know what you're letting yourself in for.....

....as well as the Flame and Thunder show from the East Anglian Cobras  

[Kpy]

I've been told that there is a possibility, depending on the new road/path, that Maison Blanche may be outside the GA area this year. Perhaps Gilles can confirm this??

The three sites, you mention are outside the GA area. The new pedestrian arrangements - a footpath on the public road and a foot/cycle path round the back of MB grandstand have no effect on the entrance to MB campsite being within the GA area.

[Robspot]

Thanks BigH

Do I detect from your tone that you're not overly fond of Houx Annexe?

I thought that for a combination of reasonable price, closeness to the action (track action that is - not overly fond of haemaphrodites on stilts!) and alleged atmosphere it would be the best bet.

Short of remortgaging my house for a pass in MB what would you recommend? There are seven of us in tents with two cars and a typical Le Mans evening involves bbq and drinking beer and red wine until unconciousnous kicks in.

[smokie]

I did the Annexe for a couple of years before discovering MB and it was great - and I think facilities have improved since then.

As you can see, BigH has his own particular style which provides us all with many laughs, but maybe he shouldn't be let loose on the uninitiated...

btw, if you could find MB tickets, two cars between 7 of you wouldn't involve a remortgage... OK it's a bit more, but split 7 ways...?

[Steve Pyro]

Thanks BigH

Do I detect from your tone that you're not overly fond of Houx Annexe?

Robspot,
BigH has a unique and special Tone that he has nurtured over many years  

[Andy Zarse]

I'm surprised he didn't also mention about the four toed dwarfs, trolls that live under the bridge across the Bugatti curcuit and the fluctuating pi to be found on HA. He warned me about these when I made a similar enquiry some years ago. What he failed to mention was the terrible state of the toilets (see below) which we had to contend with all weekend.

No, you'd be better of with us down at MB. It's a bit gay really, but the George Michael Memorial Toilet Block is much cleaner, just look out for men dressed as american coppers, construction workers, red indians etc and  the waist-high 2 inch "glory holes" in the bog walls.  

Take your pick!

[hgb]

Andy, I hardly believe that your picture shows one of the loos at Houx Annexe. Despite the fact that there are still some sheets of toilet paper left it looks rather like a loo at Monza.

[Andy Zarse]

Talking of motor curcuit toilets reminds me of a story I once heard Barry Sheen tell, I think it was on the Parkinson Show.

He was at Zandvoort for a GP in the early seventies.  Apparently the driver's toilet block was in such a hideous, stinking state, in a drunken moment of madness, Sheen and his mate Steve Parrish decided to burn it down. They tipped three gallons of 4Star into the interior and a gallon over the top, then threw a burning rag through the door. Because the fuel had vapourised, there was a massive explosion, then engulfing the whole block in a huge inferno, leaving Sheen and Parrish with blackened faces in cartoon fashion. I seem to remember he said the police were called, but they managed to wriggle out of being charged somehow.

It's hard to imagine Valentino Rossi doing something like this, fine rider that he is.

[Russ]

The worst thing about the HA loo block is the offensive boat race on the old hag sitting out front. The lenths the authorities go to put people off having a hand shandy!!

Having been to the likes of Knebworth to see Oasis and Robbie Williams, I've never experienced else where such utter disrespect for the big white telephone and the duties carried out within. (or indeed the big blue telephone box's set up row after row after row and still there's a 200ft queue!)

This may surprise you all, but the HA loos are pleasantly clean in comparison, even on Sunday night! Perhaps I've been fortunate, but I've not seen anything like Andy's picture on either HA or KN.

Perhaps I should stop sh*tting in my tent...  

[Andy Zarse]

The worst thing about the HA loo block is the offensive boat race on the old hag sitting out front. The lenths the authorities go to put people off having a hand shandy!!

Having been to the likes of Knebworth to see Oasis and Robbie Williams, I've never experienced else where such utter disrespect for the big white telephone and the duties carried out within. (or indeed the big blue telephone box's set up row after row after row and still there's a 200ft queue!)

This may surprise you all, but the HA loos are pleasantly clean in comparison, even on Sunday night! Perhaps I've been fortunate, but I've not seen anything like Andy's picture on either HA or KN.

Perhaps I should stop sh*tting in my tent...  

The old hag's face never stopped Chris Z draining his spuds in HA bogs, but then amputating both his hands wouldn't stop him either. I think he's indulged in "beastliness" on every campsite at LM.

Know what you mean about Knebworth Portaloos, totally beyond parody, excretas of all shapes, sizes and hues floating in an aquamarine sea amongst the flotsam and jetsam of "ladies things". The shock and horror I felt the first time I lifted the toilet lid was unimaginable. I reckon my lower jaw was slacker than if I'd found the chopped up and disembowelled corpse of Nicolas Witchel with a dead hedgehog stuffed up his rectum floating in the Elsan Blue fluid.