Le Mans

Le Mans is famous for the 24-hour race, which is a favourite of many British car racing and classic car enthusiasts. Various classes of sports car compete in a battle of reliability, attrition, fuel efficiency and speed during one weekend a year in mid June (13-14 June 2009). It is a full weekend event; the race starts on the Saturday afternoon at 2pm and runs continuously for 24 hours, but for the average British person the fun begins some days before at the start of the road trip to France. And there are some races and testing in the days leading up to the race weekend. The race is organized by Automobile Club de l'Ouest and the official web site is www.lemans.org and ...  Read the complete review

If you love cars, a visit to the Le Mans 24 hour race is a must. Most of the year, Le Mans is just a fairly average French town, located in the Sarthe Region of the Pays de la Loire. It has two motor racing circuits - The Bugatti circuit, which is a short permanent circuit, and the Circuit de la Sarthe, which comprises of a section of the Bugatti circuit plus some public roads (closed!). It is on this circuit that the 24 hour race is run. I haven't been to Le Mans other than for the race, so I can't comment on what it is like at other times of year. I will tell you about the race week though. Getting ...  Read the complete review

Most of my holidays in my lifetime have been made through my school as my family has pet dogs and unfortunately we cannot go on holiday leaving them behind in kennels for too long and so we are limited. In October of 2003 I made a visit along with my classmates to Le Mans in France situated in the Loire Valley. This however was not an ordinary trip as I will describe to you further down. The trip was to cost me (or my parents you choose) £500. At first I thought hmmm that?s a tad pricey for what I?m getting here but I was desperate to go as I felt my French speaking could benefit from the practice after all this was the supposed point of the trip! Le Mans was ...  Read the complete review

Le Mans, the administrative centre of the Sarthe departament of France, situated 200km west of Paris on the main auto-route towards Nantes. I someone had said Le Mans to me a couple of years ago, I would have thought of the world famous road circuit and the small 24 hour race that is run on it once a year. Now after visiting in June 2001, I saw that there is an awful lot more to do than what you may think. As with most French cities, Le Mans is based round a Medieval town which still exists. Lots of narrow roads flanked on either side by tall terrace buildings, many of which are now souvenir shops and little restaurants. In the old town opposite ...  Read the complete review

The 24hour du Mans in June has become something of an obsession with me, and I make the pilgrimage every year with a group of mates. It is a perfect blend of road and race track, and has numerous places to view the race, and courtesy coaches to reach the one further afield. Camping facilities vary greatly from the under equipt and pitted "Karting Nord" to the better specified "Camping Houx". You need to book early if you are to get your tickets from the ACO (race organisers) and not pay a load extra through the various agencies. You can even join the ACO for around £50, but you will save that back again when you get a £48 discount on your ...  Read the complete review