Where have you been? What have you seen?
By G MacDonald
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1527446
My wife has just given me a rare weekend pass to go to the Le Man 24 hour race, to tick another much wanted item off my bucket list.

My thinking is to fly in Friday evening and leave Sunday evening. Does anyone have any recent experience of this and camping advice?
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By Rob P
#1527449
The very first thing to do is to contact the airfield and ask if this is even possible. During the race period the airfield is rammed with Citation, Gulfstreams and vast eggbeaters. You may well find they are not interested in a UK puddlejumper that didn't book its parking space the day after the last event.

Le Mans are very helpful, and very responsive to e-mails, even in English or GoogleFrench. Two years back the contact e-mail was Lemans.aerodrome@wanadoo.fr

Flying in is very straight-forward the rest of the year.

Rob P
By johnm
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#1527458
You'll probably struggle to get a slot at those times I should imagine.

If you haven't been before I'd take a car anyway. While you can't get as close to the circuit as you could when I used to go in the 1970s, during the night you can still get round to places like Les Hunaudieres and enjoy a beer while watching the traffic on the Mulsanne straight, you can also get to the corner and the area opposite where the old pit boards used to be at the end of Mulsanne too I believe.

Camping easy but you need to get on with booking via the info on the website if you haven't already.
#1527462
Get down there midday Friday, visiting an out of town hyper market on the way, filling the CAR with supplies. If I remember rightly, the correct ratio was one loaf of bread to one trolley of drink!

Head out to Les Hunaudaires early evening to get a good spot before dusk. Stay up all night. The inside of Tertre Rouge at dawn, drinking coffee as the sun comes up.

Indianapolis corner is good as they come out of the curves. If you can get near the Ford chicanes by midday Sunday you might be able to invade the track at the end.

Go to bed Sunday evening, head for a late Monday ferry.
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By MarkOlding
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1527564
At this stage you may struggle to get a camp site. You could hire a car and camp in that for the duration of the weekend like many of the French spectators, unfortunately there are less spots up for grabs these days due to increased security.
+1 For inside of Tetre Rouge at sun up on a Sunday morning.
We have camped there with a group called Team Langoustine for the last 8 years.

Best advice is save your pass for next year, book early, get down on the Wednesday and soak it all up for 4 days then head North once the race has finished on Sunday for a late Ferry / Tunnel

Cheers
By G MacDonald
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1540296
Just a quick update on my planned visit to the 24 hour race next weekend. Due to time constraints I only have the Saturday and Sunday.

I have slots to fly in on Saturday morning (must be before 12 local) and departing Sunday afternoon ( exact slot time alocated on landing on the Saturday).

As for accommodation me and friend are taking a small tent and winging it. It appears quite a few pilots have done this before in recent years and managed to find a campsite to put the tent up (not on the airfield in recent years I am told).
By G MacDonald
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1541697
I have just returned from my first Le Man experience.

Weather was hot and perfect. I had slot booked for landing anytime before 12 local. Flew VFR across channel 9500 and stayed at 9000 all the way to top of descent 55 miles out from Le Mans. Had to circle for about 5 minutes on downwind leg before ATC found the space for me to land. Landed at 1100 local. Flight time with holding from Lasham 1h 35 minutes. Anybody who can cope with Bournemouth at busy times, will not struggle with Le Mans on their busiest day of the years.

Marshalled onto grass Apron B amongst many PC 12 and King Airs. I appeared to be the only single engine piston at that time. Mini bus efficiently took us to terminal where we cleared custom and paid landing, parking, passenger tax and custom fees. 137euros in total. Staff all very friendly and efficient. I did not need fuel and booked the desired departure slot for the next day (1400 local) to get me home in time for some Father's Day celebrations with kids.

Immediately outside terminal building was a fairly empty camp site for our pop up tent. Had to pay the staff in terminal to use it (29 euros). 30 meter away was the bus stop that went inside the airfield permeter to the circuit entrance every 20 mins ( but seemed quicker).

Was in race circuit less than an hour after landing having pitched tent etc. None of this was organised before we arrived. Entrance ticket 82 euros (includes the Sunday as well). The circuit was busy and impossible to see the track initially during support races. I listened to radio Le man online on my iPhone (in hindsight my Bluetooth ANR headset would have done a much job of keeping out the noise). Eventually found bar overlooking track with food/beer and watched start of race (1500) then spent a few hours watching race near Dunlop curves.

Spent a few hours walking around and exploring. We tried to visit other parts of the circuit having finally twigged you could not walk around it on foot. But by then the internal buses had stopped. The advice of a foldeable bike was good (and not heeded by me) and in hindsight a grandstand ticket would have been money well spent.

Went to bed very happy at 3am. Woke at 9 after dreadful night sleep in hot tent and despite being half a mile from the track the roar of the cars ( the Corvettes made the best noise I reckon) was constant. Breakfast in terminal (far cheaper/better than circuit burger and chips).

Over breakfast filed flight plan and GAR back to Lasham using SkyDemon. Used my own 4g all day as terminal and circuit wifi useless. Then spent the morning at the circuit, which had much smaller crowds. VFR return trip was very quiet at the airfield and beautifully efficient. Less than 10 minutes from walking through the terminal to reaching my plane. Return trip was flown at 7500ft. It took 1hour 30 minutes. Customs chose not to meet me on this occasion.

Great trip and feel very motivated to do it again. But next time with foldable bikes, Bluetooth ANR headset and grandstand tickets.
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1541714
Interesting, thanks for posting. I'm amazed to hear Corvettes still in play. That brings back memories from the early 70s with the shrieking whine of the high revving Matras alongside grumbling high capacity (7 litre I think) Corvettes!

If you can, go the traditional route next time and aim to leave on Thursday and come back on Sunday night using the Ferry from Portsmouth to Caen. Then Caen, Falaise, Alencon, Le Mans. People used to drive down in classic and vintage sports cars.

If you have a car you can drive round the outside of the circuit to places like Les Hunaudieres on the Mulsanne straight, the bottom of the straight itself and on to Indianapolis and Arnage. You can drive round much of the circuit on Friday and go into town on Friday night for the parade.

It's not quite the spectacle it was all those years ago as there's been a lot of development around the mulsanne straight, but I guess it must still be pretty impressive!
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By MarkOlding
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1541834
Glad you enjoyed your first visit, as John says it is worth while going down for 3 or 4 days and seeing the Thursday practice, Friday drivers parade in town and the finish.

And what a finish for Aston Martin this year ! After 24 hours of racing there was less than a second between first and second place (Corvette and Aston) starting the last lap, with Aston finishing 1st and 2nd at the end !

Great event amid blazing sunshine
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