This weekend is the Le Mans 24 Heures Moto. I went last year and it was an incredible experience. I really want to go again but I’m not sure I’m ready for that campsite again just yet. I have heard there are slightly less mental campsites than where we were but being Le Mans everything’s relative.
I like this description from May 2012 Bike Magazine:
Only the deranged or chemically numbed actually enjoy camping at a French 24-hour motorcycle race, but that’s no reason not to eagerly sign up for the experience.
The Gauls have few rivals when it comes to organising a race-centric party. They think nothing of goading the Gendarmes to the point of distraction, then scarper when the paramilitary CRS goosestep on to the scene. If they’re not doing that they’re revving a brand new GSX-R1000 until its headers glow cherry red. This kind of idiocy is best viewed through beer goggles, but it’ll stay with you forever.
Then there’s the racing. If you don’t camp you’ll be itching to leave by 10pm to get back to the B&B before it’s too late and you’ll miss what makes 24-hour racing special. Camp and you can sit, like a gargoyle with a swollen bladder and pink eyes, mesmerised by the glowing discs ’til sunrise. You’ll get a good 43 minutes shut-eye before a 1988 VFR750 with no silencer is ragged around your chosen field. But you have to experience it once.
Here’s a few videos I took last time.