[Deschodt]

BTW, quick comment on Le Mans 24 in person...

The wife used the trip as an excuse to book a castle nearby and invite 15 friends to share the costs, so that part was fun - highly recommended. Of course 13/15 did not buy tickets on time and they sold out fast, so that was less nice..

Le Mans in person is interesting... It's very cool to see the structures in person and experience the event live, but for those of us used to US events, it's nowhere near as approachable. Fences all over, very few vantage points where you aren't seeing a fence in your line of sight outside of reserved seating... Access to cars/drivers is more restricted than in the states too... So if you come in person, book a seat in a stand somewhere with shade (for rain too), or come to the week before the race and watch the parade in town, the qualy, etc... The race itself is a friggin' zoo !

Parking was impossible, lucky I had a friend locally who stored our car and gave us a ride. 350K people is a LOT of people and you are swimming in a sea of people going from place to place - I caught Covid shortly thereafter (for the 3rd time) and I doubt it's a coincidence. You'd think "hey it's a big track, spread out a little" but no. In reality the public - as far as I can tell, is pretty much concentrated from the end of the Porsche curves (so before the end of a lap) to the last turn before the first big straight... So I'd say 95% of the spectators are basically occupying 5% of space around the circuit - as far as I can tell you cannot go see the chicanes after the long straights, either that or it's a completely different mode of access but not from the main entrance. I did not see any shuttles to go there.. the paths just end.

The lines for the stores were huge, food and drink the same, there is lots to see and do aside from the race (the museum is incredible and free but also, lines for an hour) but by and large it's not super pleasant overall due to the crowd everywhere. I came once before for le Mans classic, and that is now 240K folks but over 3 days. You can pick a seat for free, access more stuff. If you come, I recommend coming for the classic le mans instead of the 24h race, which is easier to follow on TV at home anyway. Classic OTOH has was more free access to paddocks and you see more cars all over the place, like you would at rennsport, say.

Still an interesting experience, down to getting my US license taken away ("you cannot drive on french territory anymore for 3 months") by french gendarmes in a nicely setup speed trap.... (it's easy to be 40KPH over the limit.... if you drop the limit 40KPH and hide the sign right behind a truck I was passing), azzholes in reality because I slowed down immediately after when I saw the cones, but no points because they can't touch a US license. Wife had to drive rest of the trip !

All in all, I'm happy to have seen it and smelled the "merguez" - but you will get a much more personal experience and 10x better access in IMSA, at any track (I recommend laguna seca for visibility). The Nascar entry was insane and clearly wowed the crowd, you could hear it come from a mile away over all the noise of the prototypes...Lots love for the corvette also. The Ferrari was the crowd favorite, nobody there wanted Toyota to win, kinda funny...

So yeah in my book, Come for LM classic, not 24. Watch the speed traps, and get a booster shot ;-)