Club Arnage

Anyone interested in trying to get a block booking of camping tickets from the ACO for next year??

It seems to be that the TVRCC managed to get a whole block for Camping Houx, the Lotus 7 club got a huge block of Camping Bleu passes. Other clubs seem to get large allocations all together too (Morgan had their own area sealed off on Expo last year taking most of the sheds)

So how about a Club Arnage booking for 2004?? I'm sure we could get a large enough booking to get the ACO to take notice.

If you're interested, post your preferred site. We'll then work out the most popular choice, verify with everyone they are happy to go ahead on that site and approach the ACO and to see if it is possible.

What do you think??

Beginning to have (after 24 years) a good knowledge of local psychology, such an action will have a better success if it's administratively related with a local contact...

... if you know what I mean !  :o

Can we take that as you volounteering then Gilles   ;)

The question didn't even have to be raised !

(  :-\ oups for my English grammary!!!!!)

Do you think it would be a possibility Gilles?? Other groups such as owners clubs seem to be able to arrange large bookings and overcome the problems that we normal people encounter from the ACO.

Has anyone else approached the ACO before with a similar request??

It's more than a possibility...

... just have to raise a lot of people and a lot of strong intentions for using this way to be more credible face to the ACO officials.

Locally, I know at least one company who could even do that job !

But your idea of CA campsite is a good one and join my last year's one to organise a CA hospitality.

it could answer also to all the "problems" with our who's who and where's who.

Could we have a private campsite like club motorsport ?

Gilles

I like the idea of a CA Hospitality as well Gilles :)

This year it will just have to be at our camping pitch though!! ;)

As far as a dedicated site is concerned, this is also appealing, although I do like being very near the action and not having to worry about driving or getting back late at night.

In my opinion the idea is a good one, although I think I prefer the idea of a group booking in one of the existing campsites, rather than being off-circuit.  Being able to watch the action, whilst supping beer and then a (relatively) brief walk to fall into the tent does seem to be a bonus.

Rather than full hospitality I'd like to see an ability yo buy fresh bread, croissants, ice on site at an affordable price (accepting the need for some mark-up), maybe even cold beer and wine.  Full hospitality sounds like making meal times etc too regimented, and presumably adds to the cost.  Maybe paying a local to do the supermarket run ould be more effective?

I reckon this is a blinding idea and you can definately count the Up North Crew in .

As far as which compsite suggest Houx, KN, MB or Bleu at a push.

Any chance of each team getting its own sock so as not to have to rely on PM's good nature!!

Cheers


Jem

I'm surprised that there are no socks in the CA merchandise. Sold singly of course.

Count me in as well - although lets get the tickets organised first before we try to enlarge the scope with 'franchises'

I would want 2 passes for any of MB, KN or Blue (in that order).

This is going to have to be done pretty sharpish - I was about to place an order anyway for 2004.

DB

Great idea,
if we all can agree on a common CA camping site. put me on the roster with 3 tickets for me and my mates. I suggest HA because of it's convenient location, almost equi-distant to either the Start-Finish-Area, Dunlop Bridge, Tertre Rouge, the viallge and last not leat the fairground. But Expo or MB would also be OK.

Cheers

Werner

www.lemanszone.de

Please vote on the poll about this. With enough support I'm sure something can be arranged...

http://www.clubarnage.com/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=212

I would definately be in on a block booking idea - I am sick of the worry of "have we" "haven't we" got tickets each year, and then worrying about them getting here on time - mine are still not here yet, but the ACO say they are on their way (tickets, not the ACO  ;D )

A block booking would be a great idea, but wouldnt that just mean harder for everyone else to book, pushing up the price....?

Either way, I'll join in the CA buying pool

Count Les Tres Hombres in on this idea - quite brilliant. We've gone corporate with Motor Racing International for hassle free booking but we'd be all for a block booking especially on our home from home, Maison Blanche. Gilles, perhaps you could be our agent, negotiating deals with local beer & ice suppliers.
Where do we sign?

Lord Steve

Just wanted to thank JPCHENET for managing to indirectly 'prof' me a bottle of that very same wine...!

I was at a punters house this evening (I am a computer engineer), and he had a row of these bottles on hi side, and I jokingly said "never seen those until today" (his place and on the CA forum) and he said "here have one"

Cheers JPC!  hic....

[shadow=red,left,300] Could be your agent for that deal [/shadow]

i'm sorry but I wanted to play with all these dings, such a "pleasure" we didn't have in the old forum.

Ice dealer really seems to be impossible to find, except if you've got a refrigered truck and that you do your own ice. But that's the deal to make your own ice, such a truck should better transport beer.

CA campsite could also be the occasion to drink real beer with all the machinery dealing with and not drink this piss of can or bottle.

But I'll prefer to run a wine bar, that could be more original and convivial.

Just try anyway to find an ice solution

Gilles

I'm sure a man of your resources will find one though Gilles!! ;)

Worst case scenario.....we bring a chest freezer down on the back of a trailer or in a van full of frozen ice blocks. As long as we have elctric of some sort (mains or generator) when we get there it should survive the journey unopened.

Hey Dereamracer, glad I could help!!!   ;D

Which type was it?? I have to say that value for money wise, it's not  a bad drop (equivalent of about £1.50 a bottle last year but with the Euro rate now probably closer to £2.00) And no I don't work for the company!!  ;)

Wierd bottles aren't they. I assume the dimple n the side is to compensate for the bent neck.

We contacted the Uk agent last year asking then to sponsor us by providing some t-shirts etc. but I think he looked at our web site and was put off!!!  :(

Our group normally does some sort of Hospitality (not this year).
In 2000 we had 50+ people watching the football (England vs Germany) on a 14 inch TV thanks to our dish satellite.
We served burgers and Hotdogs afterwards.
Last year we again hosted the football matches on TV, but this time we had a 21 inch TV and Sky Digital.
(http://www.andrew.beck.dsl.pipex.com/pics/LeMans/football.jpg)

Perhaps we were thinking of something on a larger scale??!!  :)

Last year we had a 14" TV/Video combi and 12 hours of porn.

Went to bed at 4am Thursday night leaving a "neighbour" watching who promised to lock it away in the open boot of the car when he finished and he did....good as gold.

Same guy, smae thing Friday night, except we crashed at about 4am again and he was still there watching when the first of us got up at 8am.

If tickets are block booked, do we get a better rate for general entyr tickets as well?

I would think we should, although I wouldn't expect a huge reduction.

To my mind, just getting an early confirmation that we have the correct number of tickets for the correct site without the hassle or worry would be worth paying face value for each one.

I've already got the feelers out....will update when info comes through

In case we come together for something like a CA-compound on one of the campsites for the next year, we really should try to optimize by sharing our resources. Our team could probably provide the refrigerated trailer which we had the last years and which was a little bit oversized for us (runs either on electricity, leess noisy, but has also a generator). Takes easily about 1000 Liters of beer (in barrels, drink it fresh from the tap!!!) and in case people are interested we could organize buying good german beer (cost-sharing, no profiteering)!

This could be the start of something big.
Imagine in 5 years time the whole of Maison Blanche being a "Club Arnage Tours" Campsite.
Burger, kebab and chip vans would abound and bars would be conveniently located at 100m intervals.
A pre-bookable sauna and "massage parlour" would be nice as well.
Oh, I'd also like toilets with seats on them and somewhere for Bagshott to keep the horses.

Lord Steve

 :o Why you want to import german beer ?  :o

I can provide you some from local dealers even in industrial quantities. There's a local dealer I mentioned on the old forum last year being called "Le Palais de la Bière" (Beer Palace for non-french-reading people) which may ahve more than 200 types of beer.

Concerning General Entrance tickets, we could be eligible to serie C price. This price is quite nar to the ACO price and is dedicated to group booking.

As for the ACO a group is at least made of 20 people, we seem to be far from the minima !!!

Having just dug out the empty its a 2001 Cabernet Syrah, and not the last I will have!

The dimple is a great idea - makes sure you hold onto the bottle easier too...!

Unfortunately they are not the easiest bottles to build a mountain out of though   :(
But my thoughts now go again to a mass CA site next year. At least 100 cars have suggested they would join it at the last count, average 200 people??  Imagine the size of the bottle mountain.

Beermountain!!  We're going to need your specialist knowledge  :)

If tickets are bought, could you get the orders mixed up and send them out late. Just for old times sake.

Nice one Rhino!!   ;D

Spoken to the troops and we would be interested in the ticket booking service, particularly given ACO cock ups of the last two years.

But not intersted in a hospitality tent, a la MRI etc, I don't like the idea of plastic palm trees and meals at a set time. We'd rather do our own thing.

I would certainly be intersted in a block booking. The only requirement I have on the campsites is that I have electric hook up to keep the beers cold.
I normally book in september but may have to book earlier this year as I am an ACO member now and need o ensure I get a ticket.

There's only 5 in our gang... we don't have sports cars  :-[ (well one of us has a TT but you know what I mean) , we don't even use a tent.. (motor home with awning), and there's only really one of us that knows anything about cars, and that's not the TT owner obviously... and to top it all off, we've only been once before... so on the scale of Robin Reliant to Aston Martin, we're probably somewhere around the Ford Mondeo... Putting that aside though, we're hooked after somehow blagging grandstand seats opposite the pit exit for the last hour of the race last year! ;D

We had the expected trouble with camping tickets this year but are sorted in P16 with MRI... :-\ I know, but I'm sure we're not the only one's who panicked and found the bottom of the barrel...

Seems like a nice track side roped off CA area would fit the bill 'cos I've read sooo many postings going on and on about how sh*te the other organisations are at providing it all... so would be good to see you lot put your money where your mouths are... only one draw back that I can see... who's gonna pay for the pitch reserved for stacking the empties...

I have two sources to pursue, one in the ACO and one elsewhere.

Initially I am just going to suggest that we may be interested in 150+ camping places and see what reaction I get.

I'll explore different options and report back, probably after the event this year. I'm assuming that people will be prepared to commit (i.e. cash) MUCH earlier than they may be used to.

If the idea starts to take off then we can have a discussion about how far we want to go (facilities etc).

I agree Smokie, people will need to show their commitment early by actually paying out the cash. I think getting the site first is the priority. We seem to have many resourceful people willing to help looking at the thread so far. Offers of refridgerated trailers etc. As long as we can get a large generator of some kind we will be able to arrange pretty much what we desire, and of course we will have the best part of a year to sort it.

Top idea all round, I've just voted and would be happy to pay up early just to save the annual "will we-won't we" lottery. Saying that, tickets and camping (MB as requested) have just arrived from Just Tickets. So that's all right then. relax for another year!

GeeBee.

I'm sure endorsed this proposal somewhere else on the forum but count me in for 2no camping passes of your choice Rex.L

Smokie I suggest you and CA officials a meet during the week of the race and a meet after with ACO staff to ask what can they do for us for 2004 campsite.

What do you think about it?

Gilles I have already mailed a conact at the ACO to ask for a meeting on Mon 9th. If you were around it might help any language barriers....

Can I come?
I promise to behave, honest. I was thinking of a nice little off-the-shoulder number, a few sequins...
H

Hi, I book for 10 to 15 bike engined kits each year so sounds like a top idea!!

Simon

I'm up for this and cast my vote earlier. Keep it simple guys. most folk will make their own fun and entertainment. The most important thing really is the getting together part

Agree with you, it has to stay simple.

we don't have the vocation to replace MRI or Autotrack (even if personnally I'ld kill for working for this type of company).

Only commodities could be added, like a genny or refrigerated trailer (and even this could be hard to manage because the first arrive will refresh all their beers and the last won't have room left)

Have first your campsite tickets and we'll see the rest after!

Could we obtain a general agreement on MB as the CA location?... just in case the ACO will be good-oriented with our request !

MB is fine for me, never tried that one before.

How about a poll, and then go in order of votes.

Mind you the only one I wouldn't really be keen on would be Beausejour as too far away!  Even though I am staying at Expo is quite low on my list due to crap facilities!