#lm24 blogging | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kingofthering · 23 days

Text

Read @flyingfabio's thoughts on her weekend in Le Mans and realized it could be nice for me to give mine as well. Also going to go under a read more for the sanity of everyone's dash.

context/overall things

This was my second MotoGP race weekend and my second time in Le Mans. Last year I went alone with a grandstand ticket (Zarco GS) that I bought in January kind of an on a whim. In October I had access to the presales for 2024 and I got two VIP tickets (Club Grand Prix to be exact), one of which I gifted to my dad for Christmas.

These were a hefty price (650 euros) and if I were to do it again, I would go for one of the other VIP ticket packages (probably Sunday lodge/box [can't find the right translation but the things above the garages] for 500 euros). I do realize that it's a lot of money but I'm in a place in my life where I can save money every month and afford to splurge on things like this occasionally, so, yeah. And I think that overall, the experience was worth it.

This was my first time being alone with my dad and traveling with him for 4 days. I love my dad but he's had a lot of health issues in the past years and he's done a lot of work to be better physically but he's still a little diminished now and can't walk as fast as I can and needs to take breaks every now and then. I will admit that this wasn't always easy to manage because of my excitement and my lack of patience at times but we had a good time overall. I was also stressed because I needed things to go well and I didn't sleep much (and didn't eat much because of the stress) so my dad ended up having to take care of me on Saturday night but we both survived in the end.

I will say, even if you have a GS ticket or even a GA one, a weekend in Le Mans has so much to offer that I think people should really attend if they have the chance to. In addition to the usual MotoGP/Moto2/Moto3, you also get MotoE and the Rookies Cup which means that there is always something happening on track (pretty much). The fanzone events with the riders are really nice (I didn't attend this year but I had a really good time in 2023) and the Mechanical Show on Saturday is pretty cool as well.

One thing that I will also always give to Le Mans is the access to the circuit. You have the tramway (that runs through the whole city) arriving 150 meters away from the East gate of the circuit. There are a lot of people riding the trams but it was okay, I even found the organization of Sunday afternoon pretty great (while I was stressed of being too late at the train station and I sure wasn't).

The sound of the bikes at the start might be my new favorite thing in the world. I will say, please if you come to a race weekend, have stuff to protect your ears (earplugs or headphones), you will need them (they do sell them at the track if you forget).

I knew from Thursday already that we were going to break the attendance record. The number of people on track on Thursday and Friday already were insane. Le Mans has always been a popular GP (duh, it was holding the attendance record already) but Wednesday and Thursday being holidays in France (and a lot of people not working on Friday as a consequence) definitely helped.

VIP things

Access to the stands' building : This was my favorite thing in the ticket. I could have done with just that (and the paddock visit). This building is the one right above the garages so you got the pit lane on one side (and a lot of seats you sit in in the 4th floor to overlook the circuit, the pit lane, the podium) and the paddock on the other side. You essentially get to watch things happening in the paddock and people working there and it's so interesting. When you're on the 1st floor, you have gates that riders come up to sometimes to interact with fans. This was quite eye-opening to me on how much riders interact with fans throughout the weekend (and that we don't get to see when we're at home). The one that I saw interacting the most with fans throughout my days there was definitely Marc (he's so loved but he gives so much back honestly). On the 2nd floor you had the media room where they do their rounds of media and if you were there at the right time, you could interact with the riders when they were going up or down from media center. Most of them stopped from autographs and photos all the times I was there (Thursday afternoon for the press conferences, Friday afternoon after PR, Saturday afternoon after the sprint).

Paddock tour/visit : maybe my favorite part that I want to replicate so badly. I had to pick a time among offered slots and I chose the 10:30-13:00 on Friday because I didn't want to be missing any important sessions. You're basically free to roam the paddock as you want during your time slot and I saw so many familiar faces, it was insane, even non-riders like Massimo Rivola or Jack Appleyard (from the MotoGP broadcast). The first rider I talked to was Cele and at first I wasn't sure I had recognized him and I didn't want to run so I walked fast to get him before he went into the VR46 motorhome and god, I was so awkward at first (sorry Cele) and he couldn't hear me well because the MotoGP bikes were doing FP1 at the time but I did ask him about his collarbone (and he said he was fine) and told him I was hoping we could see him back soon. He seemed shy as well but very sweet. I also got to talk to (and take photos with) Fermin, Manuel (Gonzalez) and David Alonso. After my brain remembered how to speak Spanish I congratulated David for his best rookie title last season and told him I was betting on him for this season (and wishing him luck). He was really sweet as well. On the MotoGP side, I waited an hour in front of Yamaha's side to see Fabio (also got to see Rinsy first) and well, I did see Fabio from very up close but things were very chaotic and people behind were pushing and that wasn't exactly fun but, well. In the meantime, my dad got to talk to Bezz and he told me he seemed like a very nice and funny guy (more on that story here) and I will say I got a little jealous of that. Overall a really cool experience.

Pit lane visit : I thought we couldn't do it at the supposed time and in the end, we were able to enter the pit lane around 11:40, after quali. Honestly, seeing the bikes from up close like this is so cool. Like, shit, they're so pretty it's insane. Also, I feel like the garages look much bigger on TV? It was quite cool to see. I saw Mav coming back to his garage and start his debrief with his team. Also saw Bezz in his box and I saw Mig, who I didn't get to talk to but love even more now anyway. After about 10-15 minutes we had to leave so that was quite short but cool anyway. I know they did a pit lane visit open to everyone on Thursday but there were so many people, it seemed a little scary (but probably worth it if you're ready to queue early and throw some elbows around if needed).

Club Grand Prix access : the box was on the main straight. It was quite comfortable and I will say that the access to easy bathroom and free drinks was quite nice. I didn't eat much because of the state of my stomach but people were complimenting the food. Oh and having screens in there was quite practical. As I said earlier, it's not the ticket I would book again. I was a little frustrated by the fact we were not in the open air and it took away from the race experience for me. (Still amazing for a lot of people and my dad really appreciated the comfort but I know I personally would have been better in the stands' building.)

My experience is subjective because of the times I was there but like I said before, I saw a lot of Marc taking time for fans (one time he couldn't go up to a little kid but he sent JL to give him a slider), saw Maverick a bunch of times as well, Rinsy too. I heard people say that Johann was also taking a lot of time for the fans. I saw Jack give his cap (fully unprompted) to a little kid on Saturday on his way down from media. The only time I saw Pedro he didn't have time for the fans and most people I've heard were saying that he never seemed to really be engaging with people (but I talked with a guy who fully understood it as "it can't be easy for him getting all that attention all of a sudden"). He sure got a lot of appreciation from the public in the stands, though. Bezz spent a lot of time to sign everybody's stuff on Saturday. Alex (Marquez) was the last one to go to media and I asked him for a photo right before he got in for a media and he said "two minutes" and came back 10 minutes later and immediately came to me for the photo and was super sweet about it. I already had a good experience with Alex last year and I was really happy to have another one this year as well.

the racing

I will say, I definitely need to watch the sprint and the race calmly because I'm so confused about what happened when. Like obviously I remember the last lap battle between Marc & Pecco and I remember Pecco's retirement in the sprint (even filmed him coming back to the pits) but hm, yeah, things are a big mess in my head. Moto2 was eh (filmed Tony getting to his box and being not so happy when talking to his team) and Moto3 was pretty entertaining.

People were so happy with Fabio got directly to Q2 and I was as well. Quali was fun to watch as well. I'm just sad I didn't get to see practice starts in front of me but the real starts were cool too.

We see them on TV but the sheer amount of people that are on the grid before races is insane. And the way everyone immediately starts running from the pits when the guys leave for the sighting lap? So impressive to watch. I honestly could have spent my weekend watching teams work, it was so interesting to me.

#lm24 blogging #guess I will put it in there #sorry this got long #I probably forgot a lot of stuff still #10 years ago I was having the roughest of time during my post highschool studies and now here we are #anyway let's not overthink this and just hit post

29 notes · View notes