Welcome to the "Your First Time at Le Mans" story series.
I decided to break this huge week+ long experience into smaller sized and self-contained stories you can read either in a sequence or in the order you prefer.
I hope you enjoy the stories as much as I did writing them!
Feel free to reply if you have any feedback, or if you had similar experiences and want to share. I read and get back to all replies.
If you really liked the article, it would be amazing for you to share with others who might also enjoy it!
Without further ado, today's story is:
Chapter 1: Opportunities you don't expect
Social media can be a horrible thing.
But some times it brings opportunities you would not get otherwise.
Me going to Le Mans is one of those.
Experiencing Le Mans has been in my wishlist for the longest time. I'm sure that if you have not been there, you can relate. Thoughts like "Oh, that would be SO cool to do. I should do it some time!" were frequent.
Most of the times, just wishful thinking but not a real "this can really happen" kind of approach. Until it did.
For a while I've been talking with my friend Ash in socials (currently on Bluesky as @upallnight.racing), and I learned he had been going yearly to Le Mans for 10+ years with a group of friends.
I sort of jokingly said that it was super cool that they did that and I'd "love to join". He replied that if I was serious about going, he could absolutely make me part of such group and we could go together.
Suddenly, the possibility was real.
Planning and preparing
I thought about it for some days, did some math (both financial as well as in terms of time: day job time off, other holidays, etc.) and surprisingly it looked like it could work out.
"Entering" to the 24 Hours of Le Mans itself is not a very expensive endeavour as, for example, doing so at F1 can be. It's all that's around it that makes it a harder bucket list item than "waiting for the race to be nearby".
One reason I was able to do this, is proximity.
I am very lucky to currently live in The Netherlands, around 700 to 800 km away from Le Mans (that's between 430 and 500 mi for my weird unit using friends).
This is more than doable. But that was not always the case for me.
When I lived in Argentina, I was almost 11.000 km (~6800 mi) away from Le Mans and with an Argentinian salary, which made this trip complicated enough not to be feasible since it means adding between 1 and 1.5k in flight costs alone.
After confirming I was interested in going, and with my own car, the guys did the necessary arrangements.
This included getting:
- A parcel for me/my car at the campsite,
- My tickets for the week, and
- Guest ACO ("Automobile Club de l'Ouest") member status to get access to some "members only places" + discounts.
I needed to sort two specific things out:
- Making sure the car was up for the challenge, and
- Getting myself some camping gear since this was going to be my first time camping. Ever.
The first point was sorted with a no-expenses-held-back sort of service + MOT that I had to do in April. The car did well, and with a couple of euros on top it was in tip top shape for June.
Now, about that camping gearβ¦
Buying anything for the first time. How to start?
I am a person who watches/read TONS of reviews/articles before making a purchase decision. Especially if it's something I am not familiar with.
My process goes roughly like this:
- I investigate about the things I need to buy. Can't buyproperly if I don't even know what to look for.
- I learn about what features those things have. What's good to have, what I should avoid.
- In general, I try to find some beginners oriented lists. For example, tips for beginners, or typical beginner mistakes. I know I would make these, so why not skip the pain?
- I reach out to people who know about the topic, if I know anyone, and get a quick chat about this.
- I ask "what would you have liked to know when you started?" and similar things. Many times it's the question that triggers advice, and not something generic as "tell me everything I need to know".
Finally, I try to take it easy. I'm still a beginner, and beginners make mistakes. That's how you learn. Go easy on yourself and turn mistakes into experience.
Camping purchases
The main things I got were a tent, sleeping mat, pillow and a sleeping liner. I did not need a sleeping bag because my wife already owned one and it worked fine for me as well.
I won't give much detail on these unless you need me to, because I think it's nothing remarkable. I will point out that the tent I bought in Decathlon was great. It's called the "2 Seconds EASY Fresh & Black".
I bought the 2 people one, so I had space for me and my bags, clothes, etc. inside.
- It's water proof (key!).
- It's spacious for one person (duh).
- It has a great deal of pockets and well thought out hooks, nets and features.
- Most importantly: you can set it up in very little time (that's where the name comes from). The system is basically "two embedded umbrella-like structures" that you "pop up" by pulling two strings, for lack of a better definition.
- This takes a couple of seconds to do after you know how to approach it. And after that, it's just pegging it to the ground, and you're done.
The main con is that the whole system makes this quite heavy, so it's definitely for car camping, not for hiking. A bit under 5 kg in weight when packed.
How this all really ended up working
In short: I was joining very experienced and prepared people.
My friends have been going for 10+ years, and camped there every time. They know what things to expect, what they need, and they have been adding gear to their arsenal for years now.
A lot of things in this experience, outside of the tent, worked for me thanks to them.
Things they brought include:
- Gazebos for us to stay in a bit of shade during high temperatures out in the open.
- Huge coolers (passive and active) to keep both drinks and food cold.
- Enormous power banks to power everything else (cooler, phones, individual power banks, etc.).
- A couple of solar panels to charge the enormous power banks.
- Camping chairs and tables.
- Cutlery and various kitchen related items (for use, to clean, even cook a bit)
- Portable fans (KEY with the warmth we went through)
These are all things that I couldn't have ever thought about, while my head was already on the suite of other things I mentioned above and that I, as a beginner, took care of myself.
This is the end of "Chapter 1: Opportunities you don't expect". Stay tuned for "Chapter 2: Road trip to Le Mans".
In Chapter 2 I'll cover:
- How my two-part 800+ km (500+ mi) trip was set up
- What I learned on how French tollbooths work, and
- The experience of driving on the Mulsanne
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That's it for today. If you enjoyed it, let me know! See you on the next one.
All the best,
Juanma from Creating Lightly