WEC 24 Hrs Of Le Mans - Anyone Attend In Previous Years?

I was planning to attend an event at Spa the first weekend I will be in Europe in June, until I noticed WEC has their round at Le Mans that same weekend. While I've been to France in a car when my dad drove the streets that were part of the circuit, that was in 1971. I'm assuming it is a bit different today.

Originally, I was to fly in/out of AMS and have a car (main purpose of trip is in the NL), however, getting to the track would be a one-way 450 mile drive. It is about 150 miles from CDG, so I may fly into there instead. Since I will be on a multi-week business trip, I will have a bit of luggage, so I will most likely need to have a car while in France. I will, however, probably take a train or fly between CDG and AMS.

I need this to be on the cheap - as long as I am reasonably safe, the accommodations do not need to be fancy. I will go to grocery stores for some meals and snacks - no "highly rated by Mr.Bib" places needed for me.




Interesting article: https://www.businessinsider.com/early-michelin-man-photos-2013-12

Any insight and/or suggestions would be most welcome. TIA!

 

My wife and I happened to be on our honeymoon in Europe a few years ago, and we were in Paris over the same weekend of Le Mans. We almost made the impromptu decision to rent a car, drive down for just the race, and then drive back up to catch our flight to the next destination. We didn't, and we've been kicking ourselves a little bit since for missing out on the opportunity, but also we realized it probably wouldn't have worked out well anyway... (not enough clothes/gear in case overnight weather got gross, we'd never have made it out of the car park in time after the race to get back to Paris to continue our itinerary).

Since then, we've wanted to make a trip specifically to go to Le Mans with all of this in mind, and have been waiting for a year that logistically everything works out for us. CDG to Le Mans would be real doable with rental car, accommodations can be as spartan as "sleep at the track" with a camping ticket depending on how long you'll actually be at the race. (ie, just the race, a race+practice day, race+a couple days). Formal accommodations are probably very booked/remaining availabilities are probably very expensive at this point. However...

Last we checked, tickets are already very sold out for this year, aside from a couple practice sessions. iirc, they're doing wacky things with the grandstands for the 100 years of Le Mans anniversary celebrations, so there were even less tickets than typically available. I do remember hearing a rumor that more tickets may eventually be made available closer to race date (I think from John Hindaugh's podcast - you know, THE sportscar announcer guy, so, reasonable possibility it's true), but no idea if that's still the case.

For now, the resale market would be your only option to get a ticket.

 

Yeah, after checking the ticket situation, I've elected to maybe try for this in 2024.

 

I can get you in contact with a guy who finished 2nd at the Le Mans 24 hour, in 1991. He may not be able to help you with any current travel arrangements though, I would guess. By the way, he finished ahead of a young Miguel.

 

It’s a ton of fun. Much different vibe than sprint racing. The campgrounds are chaos all night. Honestly, any of the French endurance races.