a bit late

[mick]

Hello - my intentions were to attend Le Mans this year , but because of my work schedule I won't be able to make It.I will however be In france on June 29.Is there reason for me to go to LeMans anyway. Is there any thing for me to see there as far as museums of previous winners or anything in relation with the race and its history.Thanks for any information
Mick

[paul-collins]

Yes, there is a museum, and they have a number of winners on display. Plus you'll get to drive (most of) the circuit.

[Aysedasi]

Yes, definitely go Mick. You can do the museum (which I've never managed in 18 years!) and help pick up the litter from the race weekend......

[rdjones]

The museum is well worth a visit, I have been round it twice once about 10 years, ago but not during race week, but on the day I went, there was some F3000 testing going on so I sat I watched them in Dunlop Grandstand. I also went had a look round again 2 years ago and from what I remember it was not that expensive to get in either.

[Aysedasi]

Always worth a cruise up the Mulsanne and on to Indianapolis and Arnage anyway.

[FG1]

The place has a very special atmosphere. You can get into the complex if you ask at the gate to go to the shop. They don't seem to mind people wandering about too much.

Also (and a bit off topic!) Le Mans old town is well worth a visit if you are into that sort of thing. The Cathedral and Roman walls are worth a look.

FG

[Adam43]

If you get by the grandstands when the race isn't on it is spooky. It has a real atmosphere. A sense of a big occasion, but you just can't hear or see it.

All the senses are unusual. There is noise when at the race all the time, cars, people, etc... It is so much quieter and the sounds you here are very different. The smells are different. No food, no cars. The sights are different - the things to look at are the empty grandstands not the track.

It is odd, but evocative. It always reminds me of the quiet before the race in Le Mans the film.

[rdjones]

Originally posted by FG1
The place has a very special atmosphere. You can get into the complex if you ask at the gate to go to the shop. They don't seem to mind people wandering about too much.

I would agree with that, as I said above I first went about 10 years ago and was luck enough to be there was some testing on. Just walking around you could feel the history. There is just something about the place.........

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by AdamAshmore
If you get by the grandstands when the race isn't on it is spooky. It has a real atmosphere. A sense of a big occasion, but you just can't hear or see it.

Like Reims, eh Adam?

[Adam43]

Yes a bit like Reims. Although at Le Mans there is that feeling that thousands of people could suddenly come through the gates! The ghosts are still new at Le Mans.

This year we are doing Nurburgring on the way back! er, its sort of on the way!

Rouen is another, although that is different yet again. There is little left now so the ghosts are quiet. What is just left is a unbelieving sense that the down hill sweepers just couldn't have been part of a race track, surely!

Call me a romantic, but there is something about an unused race track, especially an old one. To stand at Masta and wonder how they took it so quick. You'd love the old Spa (or Rouen etc...) GPL is pretty spot on!

Yet I go on about all this and I haven't been to Brooklands! Madness! and I work for the company that now owns it!

Sorry all off topic, but you got me going

[paul-collins]

You'll see this...

[mick]

Thank all of you for your suggestions. I will be booking a couple of nights at Chateau De La Barre with my wife and 4 year old son(1st week of july)- If any body is up for dinner I,m buying.Let me know
Mick

[dretceterini]

There is also a good model shop in the center of town in Passage du Commerce