[LM24] Your Favourite Viewing Place at Le Mans?

[Aysedasi]

Echoing another topic elsewhere regarding Brands Hatch, where is your favourite viewing spot at Le Mans?

[pink69]

Dunlop curve, because you get to see the bes part of the race, the start! and you can see all the way down the pit straight!

[iucrmh]

Especially when it is damp, you can watch from the inside of the corner from the breaking zone, through the corner as the power goes down for the start of the Mulsanne. You can also get clear unobstructed photos over the fence!

[Truckosaurus]

All of the above!

The beauty of the 24hrs is that you can spend quality time at each of the viewing spots.

[Adam43]

Indianapolis. In 1995 I was stood in the pouring rain around midnight listening to Radio Le Mans. JJ Lehto was in the middle of storming round loads quicker than anyone else (and you could really tell).

It was great. The cars coming towards you through the trees. The lights, the noise. Wow.

Since then they have added flood lights and last year they increased the gravel trap and shortened the viewing area which has compromised the view of the cars coming out of the forest. This was a shame, but it is still a great place to watch. Fantastic.

[Kpy]

Originally posted by Guy Humpage
All of the above!

The beauty of the 24hrs is that you can spend quality time at each of the viewing spots.

How I agree, but don't forget to take your bike with you, or it takes ages to get from one spot to another. Le Mans is the world's greatest race in that there's time to see it all. As long as you're there for the racing

[SL]

Adam, I agree with the race. We were at the Esses / Tetre Rouge and seeing JJ during his "night shift" was amazing. Was he not some 10sec quicker a lap than just about anyone else ?

Best place has to be the approach to Tetre Rouge, seeing the brakes glow, then hearing them scream off along the straight. Good speed is required round Tetre so they can carry it along so most try quite hard to get a good line.

However 24 hours is quite long enough to get to most places plus the 8 odd hours of practice.

Simon

[Liz]

Arnage/Indianapolis at 1:00 a.m. when it is NOT raining. Love to see them stand on the brakes and go shrieking off into the night.

Also I like the Mulsanne straight because I like to see the prototypes come screaming up behind those GT cars like flying saucers.

But I agree with those who say ALL OF THE ABOVE. I just love Le Mans!

[Danielsun]

Ooh, how can you possibly say that one spectator area is better than another at that place?!

If I really was forced to choose, I'd say the run out of Mulsanne Corner. The cars take off from there and scream past the barriers and off into the forest. Quite an amazing experience at three in the morning...

For daytime viewing then it really is hard to beat the run along the stadium section from the Ford Chicanes to Tetre Rouge. The speed is incredible and the early laps are a buzz there...

[Adam43]

It's all great isn't it! I even like it when it is really late watching the night pit stops. It's a great place to be and you can really get a handle on the way the race will unfold.

We try and take in each part of the track at different times each year - to get the full flavour! This is becoming more difficult each year.

Has everyone seen the plans for the Esses? An extra left-right before the existing left-right after the Dunlop bridge. This is apparently to increase the run off for the Bugatti circuit.

[Danielsun]

Forgive me for sounding like a right arse when I say this, but WHO CARES ABOUT THE BUGATTI CIRCUIT?!?! Shhhooorly the main concern is what La Sarthe is structured like...

[Aysedasi]

Danielsun, spot on!

[Bluebottle]

There's nothing quite like having a drink at the bar in the Chinese restaurant on the Mulsanne straight during night qualifying with the cars seemingly only inches away! If you want to actually see the cars, you can lean out of a window or go to the gate at the side where there is usually something to stand on.
This year, Hurricane and I watched the sun rise from alongside the straight bit after Mulsanne Corner, the best place to see the cars at speed.
We camped at Arnage corner, there you have the view back from Indianapolis, during the night you see the lights through the trees before the cars come round the curve, blinding you with their headlights before you see their brake disks glowing through the corner. At the other end of that viewing area you can watch and listen to them blast their way out of arnage and along the straight.