SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Feature: Le Mans

One thing that must be endured as a character-building part of the Le Mans experience is the treatment of normal middle class peaceful motor racing fans by the locals. The chip on the shoulder felt by some French towards the English is well documented and certainly not for debate here. What I do find upsetting is the French calling in riot police (complete with batons and water cannon) to “police” the motor racing fan to and from their campsites. The French seem to take delight in labeling the racing fans along with those thugs who bring other sports into disrepute despite there never having been any trouble with supporters at Le Mans. Aside from being deeply offensive, this only goes to demonstrate how delicate the local French (and in particular the ACO who sanction this behavior) are from those who are supporting the event that they are laying on. Sadly this is an area of the event that has progressively deteriorated in recent years.

Back to my experiences of nearly a decade ago. Having entered the circuit I and my friends went over the Dunlop Bridge and entered the “Paddock”. Unlike the Formula 1 Paddock, this Paddock is open to the public and, outside of the practice and qualifying sessions, there are plenty of opportunities to wander around the paddock and see the gleaming machines at close quarters and even meet their drivers and mechanics. Behind the paddock sat the sponsors lorries. Bridgestone had rocked up with two Ferrari Formula 1 cars which we were allowed to attempt a pit stop challenge on. We lost badly (to a team of young ladies) but we blamed it on the beer mountain we had constructed previously. One of the classic Le Mans campsite pastimes is to turn the small green (empty) bottles of French beer into a pyramid worthy of the Pharaohs themselves! For information and rules please visit here.

Lots of 'glass and carbon fiber.

Lots of people!

Go To Page 3

Click here to go to top of this page.