New Village.

[Robbo SPS]

I liked it, looked smart and gave an nice aire to it, definate postive.



Agree with JT's Taxi commetns - Lazy sods

[mgmark]

If "losing its character" means more bogs and showers, a better layout, a smarter look to the whole place, a restaurant (lord, with tables and chairs too), less human traffic jams, more pit garages (so more entries) then hurrah for that.   OK, the concrete and glass is not my choice of architecture.   At the end of the day, teams financing entries these days is about sponsorship, and sponsors expect market exposure and somewhere nice to go - without half decent facilities, the sponsors stay away, and you don't have a race with a half decent field.     

Some spectating areas (i.e. bits where you could squeeze round the back of a building have disappeared), but the area now inside the track running from the pedestrian tunnel up to the Dunlop chicane is good.   And no, the view from inside the Esses it is not as evocative as the old straight run down from the Dunlop bridge, but that has gone forever - but what you can see now from the new banking is a full view of the track all the way from the Dunlop bridge, through the Essses to Tetre Rouge.   Nice.

MG Mark   

[nopanic - neil]

I know the old village did look old and sad, but the new village (the central walk way) feels so sterile. The shops seemed to be the same as an airport departure lounge area.

As for the shops, what a range, how many people went into the Hermes shop – Why was it there? - 

I nearly got thrown out when I asked for a designer tent!

If it was a skool report, old village= 5/10  & new village = 7/10 but could try harder. (waiting to see the next improvements in 2007)

[Spidey]

Couldn't agree more nopanic, full marks for the new loos/showers, glass & concrete is fine for the big corporates, but a bit more space for the "lower end" of the retail market may add a touch more character. That Hermes shop had some bloody expensive dipstick cloths  !!

..... I just hope they're not going to Formula-1-erize the place in search of more revenue ..... how long before the €10 beer starts to appear

Anyone else get locked in on Monday morng

[termietermite]

As for the shops, what a range, how many people went into the Hermes shop – Why was it there? - 

There was always a Hermes shop in the old village wasn't there?  Presumably there are some people who can afford their stuff or they wouldn't have come back but it sure beats me.

[nopanic - neil]

The real problem was I went into the Hermes shop to look for a book,

Hermes advetures of Tintin

[Andy Zarse]

I think it's a huge improvement on the old Village which was a total dump. It'll be even better when it's finished.  Never thought I'd hear myself saying this but well done the ACO!

[Doris]

I think it's a huge improvement on the old Village which was a total dump. It'll be even better when it's finished.  Never thought I'd hear myself saying this but well done the ACO!

I never thought I'd hear you say that either Andy.    

As to the new village...I'm not going to pass final judgement until it's finished but I like what they've done so far.

[redstu]

Definitely a big effort on the Part of ACO and the Le Mans itself, what with the tramway, planned regeneration of the train station could the circuit be trying to attract F1?
I didn't go much for the shops, not my thing as I generally don't like buying stuff at all really.

However I did think the BP ultima display was good, particularly the saabs on the dynos.

Highlight about the display were the Ultima girls with the blue hair, their costumes were so tight I thought it was body paint , wasn't sure so had to get a closer look.

Next year I'll know where to get the hourly updates as well. only a short walk from the Round Kronenbourg Bar at the top of the village.

[Kpy]

Deffinetly a big effort on the Part of ACO and the Le Mans itself, what with the tramway, planned regeneration of the train station could the circuit be trying to attract F1?

I think not. The parties involved don't get on, you know.

Highlight about the display were the Ultima girls with the blue hair, their costumes were so tight I thought it was body paint , wasn't sure so had to get a closer look.

I thought it a shame that Ultima couldn't have bought the girls some clothes that were actually big enough to fit them. Still they kept stopping to have their photos taken, and at least the weather kept warm for them.

[Martini...LB]

SANITISED...SHAME...


>Martini...

[Fran]

I meant to go back and have a proper look at the shop with the paintings and arty stuff... but kinda got distracted because of having to keep re-hydrating - then forgot completely!!!

I thought poo bar location was much better for CA meeting purposes - not so dusty, noisy, busy -  so long as a few people have ACO bracelets to get the beer!

Toilets also good, until I forgot where they were and had to go between two parked cars  - still - when in France ... etc.

As for outside the track, who on earth had the idea of putting the fairground and  running a little train up the busy pedestrian bottleneck... 

F

[lemans25]

VERY DISSAPOINTED. AFTER 25 YEARS WITHOUT A BREAK, THIS
WAS MY LAST ONE! GENTLEMEN ACO ARE GOING CORPORATE.
THE ATMOSPHERE HAS NOW GONE IN THE VILLAGE, THE RACING
IS PRETTY PREDICTABLE, AND NOW I BELIEVE HOUX ANNEX, WHERE I HAVE CAMPED ALL THESE YEARS IS TO BE SOLD OFF.
SWIMMING POOLS HAVE BEEN BANNED, AND I BELIEVE THE BIG  FIREWORK DISPLAY ON THUR, OR FRI? WAS PUT ON ,MEANING
FIREWORKS WILL ALSO BE BANNED NEXT YEAR, I SHALL HAVE TO PARTY ELSEWHERE NEXT YEAR!

[Nordic]

While I would have prefered the old village was maintained as it should have been instead of having fallen into decay, I quite liked the new one.
What is certain, had the aco not pulled down the old one, it would have fallen down fairly soon.

Wide open plaza with TV screens, some trees giving shade, bars where not charging the earth (poo bar excluded) and the loos where good.

hopefully when its complete it will be even better and I hope the aco can maintain it.

lemans25 - a couple of points, do the aco own the houx annexe site? I don't think they do, so have little control over its future, the swimming pool ban was not the aco's doing, there is a water shortage in that part of france.
I can't see why the aco would want to ban fireworks, if they tried it would be pretty hard to police in any case.

btw after 27 years without a break, I have every intent of returning next year.

[termietermite]

No, houx annexe does not belong to the ACO and yes, I can confirm we have a hosepipe ban here - record low rainfall this winter.