Boards.ie race trip 2013?

frostie500

I've been thinking of this for a while but how about a boardsie race trip this year? Basically we pick a race and as many of us try and go to it as possible! It would give us all a chance to actually meet up face to face for a change and enjoy a race weekend together!

As many of you know I've been lucky enough to get to lots of races over the last few years but for me there is something extra special about the Le Mans 24 Hours. I went in 2009 with my dad and it was the best race weekend that I've ever experienced. Nothing else has come close to it.

All of us here love speed and Le Mans is one of the fastest and most spectacular tracks in the world. It's one of the most spectacular circuits in the world with the drop from the Dunlop bridge into the esses a superb place to watch any race car. The Porsche Curves and Indianapolis offer a race opportunity to see a high powered race car in full flight and I've been told that going there at dusk or dawn is one of those "hair on the back of your neck" moments that aren't forgotten.

Le Mans has a festival like atmosphere with a quarter of million race fans all converging on a sleepy French town for a week long homage to speed. Le Mans is one of the few races where fans can get as close to the action as possible with access to the pitlane on the Saturday before the race and lots of spectator areas where you are right beside the track. There's also the drivers parade through the town on the Friday evening where all the drivers are driven around the town centre in vintage cars. 24 Hours is a long time for a race and obviously taking a break is all part of the weekend but with the carnival and various concerts taking place.

I'm sure that I'm underselling it so check out the likes of Beer Mountain and Club Arnage websites for some first hand views of the weekend.

When we travelled in 2009 I remember looking around our campsite and seeing stickers on caravans from the years that the owner had travelled to Le Mans. There were stickers from as far back as the eighties (those caravans looked very much the worse for wear nearly 30 years later!) and I remember thinking to myself, "Come on it cant be that great a race weekend to come back so often" but after leaving the race that year I thought that it really is that special that coming back year after year was worthwhile.

One of the key reasons that I'd pick Le Mans is that it offers the best value for money for any race weekend; the total cost for the weekend is about €250 a head. I was pricing my flights earlier today and you can fly from Dublin to Paris for €90 with Ryanair. A general admission ticket, that gives you access to the pitlane walkabout and the main grandstand opposite pitlane, only costs €70 and is valid from Wednesday onwards and gets you a free copy of the programme and last year's race review on DVD. The ticket also grants you access to the terrific meseum where you can see various race and road cars and bikes.

The campsite that I stayed at before costs about 20 quid a night for a tent pitch and it features a lot of activities over the course of the race weekend with a historic car show one of the pre race highlights. It also has a decent resteraunt, pool and BBQ facilities.

It's hard to beat any race meeting. As motorsport fans it's very different to football or rugby where matches are easily accessible but for racing it's generally a once a year trip to see one. It's therefore important to make the weekend a special one and I can't think of too many ways of topping a weekend with good friends, good racing, good food and drink and great craic. Le Mans offers all of these in spades and would be a great weekend to (hopefully!) start a tradition of all of us getting together once a year!

Le Mans will be next year for me, I'm going on a road trip for Belgium with a few mates this year, wanted to get to a race before they get rid of the V8s. The original plan actually was Le Mans but timings didn't work out. It really does look like an amazing week though.

frostie500

Deleted User wrote: »

Le Mans will be next year for me, I'm going on a road trip for Belgium with a few mates this year, wanted to get to a race before they get rid of the V8s. The original plan actually was Le Mans but timings didn't work out. It really does look like an amazing week though.

You should just do the two of them I'd say that Spa would be great, definitely have to get there in the next couple of years.