Someone else thinking like me

[Fax]

This is a thing of beauty.
Fax
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=222148

[Steve Pyro]

You old curmudgeon, John 

[Fax]

That's me Steve, Grumpy Fax
But really, I do love going to the event.  The Harper family group and the CA'ers I've met over the years are some of the best people I've ever known and every second spent with them is great fun.  But as for the race itself?  Gotta tell ya, they've lost me quite a bit.  The circuit is just a point & squirt, chicane & gravel trapped mess, and as I mentioned on another thread, the whole place seems to have lost any sense of charm or history about it.  You watch it on TV and you can barely see any spectators. Hope everyone had a great time...and dammit! Pick up your garbage!
(How the hell are you supposed to keep a place with 200,000 spectators clean? Ought to see the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a race? Talk about a disaster area!)
Fax

[Kpy]

Reads like uninformed rubbish to me, but hell what do I know - I was there. 

[Snoring Rhino]

Hey Grumpy, gota tell you that the viewing perspective up by the Dunlop bridge both looking towards it and looking towards the Esses was fanstistic at night (didnt go in daylight so ?) yes its a fair distance but my eyes arnt that knackerd, think about it, if your on top of the track the less viweing area angle you'll have. You really need to view it for yourself.
BE THERE NEXT YEAR. 

[Robbo SPS]

Even if the race is poor, the friends you make are there, and keep you all sane, clean, fed ans watered.

When the rest of the car world comes to the table for a fight, it'll be a good one.

[Fax]

Rhino & KPY,
I was there just a couple of years ago, trust me I've seen it, looking uphill, downhill and every way in between.  The viewing is sh*t, maybe your just used to it and accept it, I expect better for my hard earned income.
Fax

[Fax]

Guy's, I mean that in the nicest possible way too.  Would be great to meet you guys and share a beer and discuss this in person, but nothing, and I mean nothing you can say to me will change my opinion on this subject, the viewing at Le Mans sucks!  I've spent hours trudging around that place looking for a decent vantage point and have yet to find one.  I take that back, in 1998 I found a little hillside on the inside of the esses looking straight back up the hill to the Dunlop Bridge, thought that was SUCH an evocative view.  Thats gone now, replaced by more gravel.
Fax

[johnevans3]

I know the spot well with a few trees around for shade and watching the cars go thru the esses coming down from the Dunlop Bridge.  At 3:45 on Saturday afternoon, my heart was pounding out of my chest from the excitement of being somewhere where I never thought I would ever be able to go.  I went there in '04 after walking miles to find a suitable viewing spot for the start of the race.  I did not have a grandstand seat then so walking the track is all I could do.  ...and you are right in that it is very hard to find a place to take decent pictures.  But thankfully, Le Mans is much more and does provide a awesome adventure like none other.  I do like Sebring and Road Atlanta for viewing and picture taking and I understand Leguna Seca is outstanding.  I want to go there sometime.

[Fax]

John,
You hit it on the screws, Le Mans is more than just a motor race, its the experience taken as a whole. And I enjoy it enormously.  And when I bitch about spectating I'm not being nationalistic either, I'm still pissed at Mid-Ohio for putting in debris fencing in some of the places they did.  But good grief! What the hell is the razor wire for at Le Mans? And all the huge cement walls?  Call it Stalag Le Sarthe....
Fax

[alibongo]

Hey guys I think that viewing was much better this year but still not ideal, the one place that is begging for a grandstand/veiwing area is the mulsanne maybe one just before a chicane and one where you can experiance the cars flat out .........Corvette fighter bomber.........what a soundtrack

[Spidey]

Anyone else regret the passing of that great stand of shady trees along the inside of the track between the Esses & Tertre Rouge?

I know the new bund in theory gives a better view, but I didn't see many people risking a good flaying to appreciate it.

[monkey]

Fax, I must admit that I was becoming a little disillusioned with the seemingly never ending decrease in viewing places at Le Mans. In 2002 I took my two young sons to the Tribunes and about two hours after the race started we were caught in a human traffic jam for about and hour and a half. Trust me it was no fun and I swore I would never go back there and so stayed at just Mulsanne and Arnage. However, having read about the work that was going on and as my sons were unable to attend this year (exams) I decided to take a look. I am really glad that I did. The improvements were simply outstanding. Movement was easy, the village was a little sanitised, but worked, the access and views at Tetre Rouge and up to the Dunlop bridge were breathtaking. In fact I travelled round the circuit and enjoyed spectacular views that I had never seen before in the 20 years that I have been to Le Mans. Further more I have it on good authority that there is a lot more worked planned for next year too. 'Viewing sucks', Fax, get up to date my old cocker, Le Mans is and will always be the Worlds Greatest Motor Race.

[termietermite]

Here here monkey.  I believe the changes at Tertre Rouge are expected to produce even more banking next year.  "Sanitised" gravel run-off areas and miles of catch fencing  do change the character of the circuit but maybe some would prefer a repeat of 1955 or the repeated major deaths and injuries to drivers which used to occur in the old days.  That way they could whinge about how dangerous everything was intead.  Perhaps we should ask David Piper if he'd prefer the old-style circuit or his leg back?

[gibberish]

Some sort of temporary stand at virage d'arnage,virage mulsanne, and what has now been called virage porche, etc would be very useful.  It's a bit galling to have to fight for a bit of earthen bank at such a prestige event.