Biggest British/European sporting event???

[Newcastle Dave]

I was thinking on the amount of time I have spent on getting my car ready for Le Mans this year and also prompted by DeanoX and his midget and the thought crossed my mind that Le Mans has a possible claim to be the biggest single british/european sporting event considering the number of people and level of commitment of those who attend to watch an event live as against armchair veiwing on the TV.

Consider the number of days being spent by people across the country preparing their vehicles , completing rebuilds, doing all those jobs that need sorting, cleaning , polishing and stickering up to give the individual look that each of us want for our cars.

The amount of time spent travelling and camping and large distances travelled.

The amount of money spent on vehicles, fuel, ferry, tickets and beer etc

The amount of enjoyment we all get from our different experiences

Factor all that lot above by the number of people travelling and the outcome is huge if you consider a similar comparison of the above above for spectators at the British Grand Prix or Cup final or Wimbledon.  Maybe the TT races are similar to Le Mans??

Though LM is an enigma because conversely the vast majority of people (including many car enthusiasts and motorsort fans) are not aware of any of the above.  I for one quite like that fact since it means that we can escape to the Sarthe each year leaving everything else behind for 5 or 6 days. 

For me ...seven days to go

[Lawnmower Man]

I think that as a "British" event it may well be the "Biggest" evnet. 

I would think that in miles traveled to get there it's bound to win.   
Time spent perpareing and and going yep I think that my well come out tops too. 

I'm not sure about the cost side though.  Some of the Ferry cost are stupid these days.  But the Race tickets are a bargain.  (OK some fools pay vast sums on Ebay and to Ticket Agents)
But if you bide your time you can normaly get somthing at the right price.

IMNVHO  Le Mans is more a "Way of Life" than an event.     Show me a sane person and I' cure them. 

t.

[Cissie]

Well Lawnmower Man you must come to Cheshire as there are loads of "sane" people because when I say I am going to LeMans again this year they say "where? what for?" I then have to explain it all to them and then they looked shocked that a woman (I use the term loosely) is interested in racing!

[Lawnmower Man]

Well Lawnmower Man you must come to Cheshire as there are loads of "sane" people because when I say I am going to LeMans again this year they say "where? what for?" I then have to explain it all to them and then they looked shocked that a woman (I use the term loosely) is interested in racing!

If they don't understand your need to go they are obviously insane.   Anyway bring them along I'll give them the treatment. 

t.

P.S.  I don't do home visits.

[Lazy B'stard]

It certainly has an element of religious fervour about it.
The Lombard RAC used to claim to be Britains biggest sporting event with an optimistic estimate of 2 million peeps in attendance. Certainly had a great feeling to the event just like LM, I followed it  every year from '78 to '01. But the powers that be decided to change it into a bland glorified autotest in an unattractive part of Wales and the magic (and spectators) have gone. We decided to give Lm a try and it has the same feel but nicer weather

[Nobby Diesel]

Biggest 1 day crowd has been the World Superbikes round.

When Foggy was riding, 125,000 was an average crowd. I know that Foggy used to attract a huge Northern following, being a fine Blackburn lad. The column of bikes travelling south to Brands was a sight to behold.

This was all for a single day event.

[monkey]

I agree with most of this apart from one thing. Le Mans is a French event. Held in France, organised by the French. And although very well attended by us Brits, it will be for me, forever unashamedly French.

[Lazy B'stard]

Monkeys right- for all the french love of red tape and gallic shruggery, it couldn't happen here, they'd never get past the Health and Safety risk assessment. And can you imagine what the logo would look like?

[Lawnmower Man]

Sorry monkey, 

It's a "British" motor race.  I't just that we hold it in France and let the French think they oganise it.

t.

[Newcastle Dave]

Yep its a French event of course,  and we are forever grateful to them for organising it and letting us visit every year 

[ewan]

Sorry monkey, 

It's a "British" motor race.  I't just that we hold it in France and let the French think they oganise it.

t.

 

If it really was British, like we all know F1 to be even though we sometimes allow the Italians to win, that wee jakie Ecclestone and his pal Moseley would have muscled in, regulated and priced it out of most fans' reach, and probably decided that 24h is a bit too long for the TV audience and shrunk the race. And probably reduced it to one class, so the leading drivers don't have to deal with all those bothersome backmarkers in 911s.

Say what you like about the ACO rule changes and the track layout tinkering, but thank the big man that the French can't even be bothered to bugger it up good & proper...

[Lorry]

Can anyone think of anything bigger.  I thought the gate was about 350,000, compared to Indy's 400,000, and Reading (soon to be enlarged) FCs 22,000.  The Olympics might have 3 x 80,000 stadiums on the go, so we beat them, the Isle of Man is only big enough for about 20,000 and cricket grounds are tiny.

Weird, isn't it.  10,000 people turn up to see some football/cricket/golf/horseracing, and its prime time television.  60,000 Brits go to another country and its not even on Channel 5.

[monkey]

Weird, isn't it.  10,000 people turn up to see some football/cricket/golf/horseracing, and its prime time television.  60,000 Brits go to another country and its not even on Channel 5.
[/quote]

I have to say that I am not sure it makes great TV. I remember the BBC carrying coverage of a 1000K back in the 1980's when the Jags were doing so well and they really did not have a clue what to do with it! The commentary went off at normal F1 speed and began to flag after about half an hour when they realised there was about another five and a half hours to go.

Having said all of that, the thing that has never ever failed to amaze me is the pitiful coverage the Worlds Greatest Motor Race gets in the print media. Check out any UK paper on the Monday after the race, and if you find more than a couple of paragraphs I would be amazed.

[Steve TTTD]

The Times report after last years race went something like

KRISTENSEN SETS RECORD
Tom Kristensen won his seventh Le mas 24 Hour race in France on June 16th.

[Lazy B'stard]

The british sports media have always been disinterested in motor racing, look at the Sunday times- page after page of rugby coverage (a game that involves men groping each other covered in mud for gods sake), motor racing only gets a look in when some brit has a good run in F1. It hardly covered rallying when we had 2 of the best drivers in the world. The so called specialist press doesn't fare much better when it comes to Lm- the motoring news has had about 5 paragraphs in the last month- and thats it.