Le Mans must have ( LAW in France )

[Helen]

Will you be in the 356 or the Sporto Helen ?

356 is the plan.

i have the sporto on very limited miles for 2008 (bad mistake on my part)

[hot66]

Insurance companies will always allow you to extend limited milage agreements if you ask

[Helen]

Thank-goodness Bootsys organising the tickets for us this year as it dosn't look li PCGB could organise a p155 up in a brewery at the moment.
its worth the £60 joining fee just for the amusment value.

[Spydermon]

Could someone -who is a veteran at these things- write a short list of necessities, i.e. minimal camping gear and stuff?
I don't need a camping 101! What I need to know is what fits, or, what can you cram into a classic 911? I mean there aren't going to be any roof-racks or trailers are there?
Just looking at the profile of a 911 says that it's no MPV, so what do people pack into them? Must be even harder with a POB?


Steve.

[Barry]

Last time I was lucky enough to be offered a lift with Paul (Ferryman) and we were amazed just how much gear the 911 swallowed: two small tents, chairs, bedding, clothes, camp-cooking gear including washing up bowl and stove etc etc. Even then, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't really crammed in.

Basic camping list at the bottom of this post, but these are some points that apply to LeMans:

You do a deceptive amount of walking, so decent, comfortable shoes.

The showers that I used didn't have hooks in the cubicles, so you had to put any clothes on the floor: brilliant if your next door neighbour's pubes float through onto your stuff: therefore I'm going to take a bit of bent wire, just in case I need a hook .

Flip-flops (see above ), plus the thought of paddling bare-foot through someone else's bogey's probably isn't going to set you up well for the day

Toilet roll: the loos run out of them after a while.

A good camping chair: if the evenings are nice we'll probably be chatting well into the night.

A torch / lantern so you can see which tent you've just tripped over.

Talking of which, I seem to remember that the ground was a bit tricky for getting pegs in, so a mallet / hammer / car's jack or something might be an idea.

Lots of people bought cheap BBQ's at the local supermarket, and just left them there at the end. Also, don't bother bringing food / drink, for the same reason (except possibly sausages, which they don't seem to do).

Some people cook on site (both breakfast and dinner), but there is also the option to get food in some of the local towns and villages, as well as the circuit and on the campsite. Lots of options, depending on what you fancy.

Car: worth bring spares for anything you are doubtful about (e.g. had a recent misfire? Then consider spare CDI box, coil and points). Nearer the time you'll probably gather who is likely to take what. Clearly is would be silly for everyone to lug a large trolley jack through France, only to find no-one has any axle stands for example. You might want to bring some car cleaning stuff, if you're that way inclined.

Map or Euro Sat-Nav, legal stuff (flu. jacket, first aid etc), Euros, recovery cover, and Paul and I have found it difficult to travel far without the aid of Fruit Pastels, but that might just be us .

Oh yes: the correct DDK .

General: much of the attraction of the event is the 24H running, therefore you might want to get up at some wierd hour and watch some of the action: so (depending on weather), body warmer/ warm fleece / coat etc. Pocket torch. BTW, this is an excellent time to grab a shower whilst they're quiet.

Here's my basic camping checklist, out of interest:

Tent: check pegs and guyropes B4 leaving. If new, put up well before leaving and allow to get wet and then dry again: they are not sold as waterproof until this has been done.

Hammer or mallet for tent pegs.

Sleeping bag: some have a pocket that you can sleep either side of, depending on temperature: ideal for CLM as it can be very hot, or barely warm.

Mattress: I started with a small (inflatable)mattress which was terrible (kept rolling of it, it was like trying to sleep on a beachball), and quickly replaced it with a full single size, which was much better.

Pillow: either rolled up clothes, or a proper one. I can't get on with the inflatable ones.

Lantern: they now do tiny ones that are very good, which take little space, light well, and last for ages.

Chair.

Cooking: if you're going to cook, then: washing up bowl (brilliant for washing plates and for storage: I take two matching ones, which take no more space than one, so as to have one for me, and one for the dishes , stackable pan set (including kettle), plate and bowl (for the home-made trifle you've just knowcked up on-site).

knife/fork/spoon/cooking knife and fishslice (for fry-ups).

Stove with spare gas.

Cooking oil, ketchup (etc), tea, coffee, sugar, powdermilk (for emergencies).

Bit of chocolate (for emergencies ).

J' cloth (washcloth) and a dash of washing up liquid. I find that all of the cooking gear except for the stove goes in the stacked washbowls, with a carrier bag to hold it all together. Easy .

Obviously whatever clothes and wash-gear you want.

[Spydermon]

Thank you Barry, this is just brilliant!

Thanks for the time taken to type up all this info for a CLM spode. What quality info it is too, no point being squeemish, I want to know about the bogies before I go! Top points! I'd ask James to make it a sticky, but I don't want to upset him.....

I have printed this out and tacked it to the wall next to my CLM agenda. I suspect this may get done before point one, which is;

1) Buy a 911.

But I am closer, and have some interesting leads to follow up, but enough thread creep.

I seriously appreciate this and I think it is superb, to the point and sounds absolutely correct and redolent of actually having experienced it!

Cheers,

Steve.

[Barry]

Glad it's of use. In fact, I'm sure I thought of something else that might be useful. Unfortunately I've forgotton again, but I'm sure it'll come back to me, and it was only a detail (nothing major).

Writing the above post up has really got me looking forward to it again: can't believe that the last one was a year and a half ago .