Moto GP: another Le Mans thread!

Sorry for starting another Le Mans thread, but I don't want to hijack anyone elses!

I'm planning a 2 month journey round Europe (I'll stick more details up another day), and pretty much my first stop will be the Le Mans Moto GP.
I've never been to a race of any kind before, and I'm just looking for some general advice really. I think I'll be staying in a hotel, as I'll have the bike fully loaded up and don't want anything to go missing within the first week of the trip, and I'll be getting a ferry to Caen. I know I'll need to book both soon.

Now, what's the deal with it all? Do I need to book a ticket in advance? In fact do I need to get a ticket at all, or just watch it from a good spot somewhere? Any advice would be great since I'm pretty clueless at the moment

Jonny_L said:

Sorry for starting another Le Mans thread, but I don't want to hijack anyone elses!

I'm planning a 2 month journey round Europe (I'll stick more details up another day), and pretty much my first stop will be the Le Mans Moto GP.
I've never been to a race of any kind before, and I'm just looking for some general advice really. I think I'll be staying in a hotel, as I'll have the bike fully loaded up and don't want anything to go missing within the first week of the trip, and I'll be getting a ferry to Caen. I know I'll need to book both soon.

Now, what's the deal with it all? Do I need to book a ticket in advance? In fact do I need to get a ticket at all, or just watch it from a good spot somewhere? Any advice would be great since I'm pretty clueless at the moment

Click to expand...

(1) http://www.gpfrancemoto.com/site/general.php?id=1&l=en

All the info here. Give them a ring, speak excellent english.

(2) Loads of hotels in Le Mans itself and surrounding areas.

(3) Campsites are FUN.

(4) Loads of good viewing points. Avoid the main straight(s) as they simply flash past. Get on one of the bends. Watch practice, it's much easier to get around the cicuit and you can work out where's best. If you have a decent collapsible chair, so much the better as it's a fairly long day.

Jonny_L - sounds like a great trip you are planning. A group of us did something very similar last year, starting with LeMans, then taking in Oradour, Milau, Tarn, Ardeche, Verdun, Monaco F1, Tuscanny, Mugello-MotoGP, Stelvio, Nurburgring, then LeMans again for the 24hour.

This year we are just doing LeMans.
If you need a hotel and track tickets for LeMans, we are still short of one person (to complete a twin room) so you are welcome to join us.
We are staying in a hotel within ten minutes walk of the circuit, so it isnt cheap, but having done this a few time we think worth while and you get garaged bike parking. We will be riding down to LeMans via the tunnel on the Friday, returning to UK on the Monday.

If you are interested let me know and I will put you in touch with the booking folks.

Wapping, Thanks, that's given me pretty much everything I need to know! I think I'll try and book one of the cheaper grandstands. The Garage Vert looks like a good option for views, and the Carrefour grandstand has protected parking. It's nice to know I'd get a seat in advance too.

rkydd, Sounds like the trip you did has a lot of places I'm heading to. I'll put a post up later of what I'm planning. Thanks for the offer, I'll bear it in mind. I am a bit of a snorer though so a twin room might not be a good idea
I'm tempted to go back to Le Mans for the 24 hour and meet some mates there, but it's only a month after this year, so I'll probably be in the middle of Slovenia about then!

rkydd, I've been looking everywhere for hotels, everyone seems to be booked out already! Any chance you could give me some more info on your plans, like what hotel you're looking at.

Thanks

Jonny_L,

hotel is the Green7 - there are currently five of us going and we are booked through one of the tour operators.
Whats the best way of getting in touch with you?

Email's easiest, or PM me on here.
I can't seem to PM you for some reason, so email me at: Jonny_lockwood (AT) hotmail . com
Obviously without the spaces and replace (AT) with @. I dunno if that'll stop spamming but it's worth a go!

I was looking at the Green 7, very close to the circuit, and looks nice too. I'm not 100% on this yet though. I've found a nice little privately owned campsite run by bikers just down the road, so I thought I'd try and get a spot there first. I'm trying to cut my costs down at the moment so camping would make sense (just ordered some Touratech Zega panniers, there goes the budget ).

What GP tickets have you gone for? I think I'm gonna go for the Garage Vert grandstand to see some cornering. I'm amazed at the price difference between Le Mans and Donnington TBH.