Le Mans (not just) for Dummies The Club Arnage Guide to the 24 hours of Le Mans 2007 "… to be honest, I did it purely for the money at first. I went to Le Mans hoping that the car would break down. I came away in love with the place." (Eddie Irvine) Copyright The entire contents of this publication and, in particular of all photographs, maps and articles contained therein, are protected by the laws in force relating to intellectual property. All rights which have not been expressly granted remain the property of Club Arnage. The reproduction, depiction, publication, distribution or copying of all or any part of this publication, or the modification of all or any part of it, in any form whatsoever is strictly forbidden without the prior written consent of Club Arnage (CA). Club Arnage (CA) hereby grants you the right to read and to download and to print copies of this document or part of it solely for your own personal use. 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Table of content Foreword…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1 Call for Donations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 2 Le Mans for Dummies – introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 The “Circuit 24 Heures”……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8 War of the classes………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11 Sporting regulations………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 13 Map of the circuit…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 14 Where to watch……………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 15 Leader Lights……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18 Race week schedule……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18 Entry list……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 19 Pit allocation………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 35 Administrative Checking & Scrutineering………………………………………………………………………………... 36 The drivers Parade………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 38 The support race…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 39 The trackside campsites…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 42 Alternative campsites………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 52 What to take and what to leave behind………………………………………………………………………………….. 55 Transport in Le Mans……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 57 Left something at home? – Shopping in Le Mans…………………………………………………………………… 58 Bars & Restaurants………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 63 Other useful stuff…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 67 The A.C.O. village……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 67 The automobile museum……………………………………………………………………………………….. 68 Wi-Fi Hotspots…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 68 Karting……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 69 Funfair……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 69 Golf Course………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 69 First Aid – the Medical Centre………………………………………………………………………………….. 69 Visitors with physical disabilities……………………………………………………………………………….. 69 Banking services – ATMs at the circuit………………………………………………………………………... 70 The “Ceremony of Hands”………………………………………………………………………………………. 70 Helicopter flights…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 70 How to get tickets…………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 71 A.C.O. Membership………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 74 How to get to Le Mans…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 75 France and the French - Instructions for use……………………………………………………………………………. 85 The Saint Saturnin Classic British Welcome……………………………………………………………………………. 89 Mad Friday………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 90 Waving the flags and so much more – The marshals………………………………………………………………….. 91 “We also want to have fun”… The Kruse Motorsport Campaign……………………………………………………… 93 Racing for Holland’s road to Le Mans……………………………………………………………………………………. 97 Stefan Johansson's Le Mans 2006 experience…………………………………………………………………………. 98 Radio Le Mans – Tune in at 91.2 FM……………………………………………………………………………………. 100 Why the hell do we go there every year? - Fan perspectives…………………………………………………………. 101 It happened to me………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 104 Club Arnage Forum Gathering……………………………………………………………………………………………. 108 Who, When, Where… – Meet other Club Arnage forum members…………………………………………………… 109 24 Blisters du Mans………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 113 Le Mans related web sites………………………………………………………………………………………………… 116 Foreword Welcome to the 2nd edition of the Club Arnage (CA) guide to the 24 hours of Le Mans. The 75th edition of the race is ahead of us and this year it looks very promising: For the first time since 1999 we will see 2 large manufacturers fighting against each other for overall win and yes, we exclude the 2003 Volkswagen-Group-Bentley-Audi train on purpose. Both Audi and Peugeot will use the same Diesel engine concept which scored an historic win with Audi in 2006. The most visible difference between the two cars will be the closed roof chassis of the Peugeot 908 versus the open roof R10 of Audi. Analyzing last year’s performance and the test day lap times, even with the smaller fuel tank one may expect to see another Diesel-engine win this year; but 24 hours are just that and King Henry “the beard” Pescarolo might hit a surprise strike! The GT1 class will see another battle of giants, with Chevrolet and Aston Martin competing again for a class win and of course the Saleens with their proven reliability and speed are having their chance as well. Let's all hope this duel will be as exciting to watch as it has been in the last 2 years, current score is Yellow 2 – Green 0. As far as teams are concerned, there is a lot of French flavour in the GT1 soup this year. Larbre, Luc Alphand and Oreca are running 2 strong cars each and might become an unpleasant surprise for Prodrive and the Pratt & Miller guys. The “small” prototype class P2 is very colourful this year: 11 entries with 7 different makes and 4 different engines. A Dome, two Zyteks and a Pescarolo chassis entered by the German Kruse Motorsport team are competing for the first time in this class. Although the 2005 and 2006 winning RML Lola is again on the grid it is rather difficult to pick out favourites in this group. The picture in GT2 class has changed a lot compared to the last year; just 4 Porsches on the grid is probably an all- time low for the Germans and they’ll compete with strong Ferrari, Spyker and Panoz teams. Will the Panoz repeat their surprise win from last year? Last year's first edition of this guide was a success. Although it was published in haste in just 4 months, we had a lot of downloads and positive feedback. This year’s guide is more comprehensive; we had much more time in hand and more people contributed to it. The background and the publishing process of this guide have remained the same: the whole project is managed on the Internet on our project page at www.clubarnage.com/caguide, it’s still non-profit and free to download – although we ask you for a donation to a charity – and CA members discuss the guide and its progress on the Club Arnage forum (www.clubarnage.com/forum) throughout the year. The following list of contributors – using either their CA forum nicknames and/or their real names - is probably not complete, our apologies if we forgot someone. Special thanks to: Deborah Dudley aka “termietermite”, our field officer at Le Mans for her invaluable first hand information from the centre of the universe and countless contributions; Derek Appleyard aka “Delboy” for