Club Arnage

Any of you lucky people that did the PQ

have a chance to stroll to MB to see if its been

marked out,had razor wire deployed or gun watch towers built?

Last year they started to mark out pitches on the Monday prior to the race, I expect a repeat ;D

Yes
      I remember that Paddy, just wondering with this zoning

pantomine about to start ,are they going to be a bit more

 prepared, but then again we are talking about the  French

so I have probably answered my own question

Anyone know if the other sites will be marked? On Bleu Sud zone A and worried about not getting a spot when we get there on Thursday afternoon.

Ian, it appears some organisation has crept in as Termie reported last night the individual entry tickets are being scanned, no more contremarques.  Does this mean the end of more than one person using the ticket at a time?

Thanks "Pam",
                  I am still intrigued as to how they will organise the zoning business.

Last year they would not let you in until 8am Monday morning and chucked people out that manged to get in over the weekend.
Mind you it was all done in the best possible taste....lol

Me too - it's going to go one of two ways on Monday - (a) vast queues at the gate whilst they check that each group is going to the correct zone...

or....(b) open the gates and run for the hills  ;D  perhaps with a bit of walking round and checking like they have done in the past for space and pools. 

My money is on (b) - I think (a) will cause traffic chaos!

On that basis it's guaranteed to be a) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My money is (C), which is (a) + (b)!  At the start they will have all the correct officials, especially for the known trouble makers spots, like MB.  Everything will be done correctly, to begin with, (a), once the novelty has worn off/heat exhaustion and general Galic laissez-faire, then condition (b) will prevail.  ;D

Anyway, what do I know ???

They will probably come Thursday afternoon, have a gobsmacking look at our pitch and wonder off again...
(like they did the last two years ;D)

In that case, lets all have a letter/note to the ACO (for those who visit us on Thursday) stating that we've been on this pitch for "X" amount of years (counter signed by our neighbours) telling them that We Pay the Bills & this is what we expect!
Bloody French farmers/lorry drivers do it all the time AND get their way!!!!

It's all going Pete Tong.  >:(

Ian LB, Skinner Tours talking here !!!!

 ::) ::)

Should we set fire to dead animals and blockade the roads as well?  :police:

Hey - BBQ time..... ;D

Don't we do that anyway?  Bit of dead cow on the barbie - and parking is always a littletight come the end of the week  ;D

Never been to MB so can't comment on that one, but in other sites a bit of organisation wouldn't come amiss. For the past few years at Houx Annexe and Bleu its been a right pain to arrive on the Thursday and have to scrabble around for a camping spot cos some groups have fenced off half a bloody field for themselves. One lot last year had enough space for half a football pitch, but only about 6 cars parked in it.

On Houx Annexe they have numbered pitches, so not being able to find a spot if you have a permit can't be true. On Blue you would have the same problem as on MB, Who's first gets the spots. On the other hand, having six cars parked in a pitch doesn't mean they only have 6 passes! Our group has 10 passes for MB, and only from friday on all the cars will be there. But already on monday we will claim the grounds belonging to our 10 passes!

The issue of space on MB has always been a bit of a bone of contention for us as we just can't get there until Thursday lunchtime. Normally we have to scrabble around for ages trying to find a spot and I despair when I see large areas taped off with only a couple of tents and cars.
A little organisation on the part of the officials wouldn't come amiss therefore from my point of view.
Steve

I fear that this 35sqM business will make the problem worse. The ACO will sell enough tickets to fill the divided space, but early arrivers will pitch willy nilly and leave gaps every where. So thurs and friday arrivals will be left with thin strips to pitch on. This has been the case in the past and on Bleu the solution was to go in the field further up, no facilities but space- but this won't be possible this time as it is another zone.  Proper marked pitches must be adopted next year.

@ Langtall - it's Houx that has numbered, marked pitches, not the Annexe.  ::)

I walked through MB at the weekend and it looked like it did at last year's PQ - a vast empty field, no taps, no temp loos, no markings, no nothing. Of course Monsieur could get the painting machine out, or they could install fencing between the zones or whatever this week. (There was none of the fencing at the entrance yet)

They were scanning entry tickets with wireless bar code readers at the entrance, but that wasn't done at Arnage or Mulsanne corners.

They scanned tickets in and out of the MOTO 24 paddock when I was there and had security on each stair well up and down to the pits grandstands..... We can only wait and see....

@smokie - I'm an MB-er, what the hell do I know about the difference between Houx and Houx Annexe! ;D

We'll see what happens next week on monday. I'm not going to worry to much on that, I've got other stuff to worry about first.

I guess we will see next Monday in the queue at the gate or the stampead inside the gate......

This is an interesting change of view since the zoning etc was announced.  It had been that those with acres cordoned off, were the mates of those that could get there till Thursday.  Generally the larger encampments had a dozen or so passes, but there were a few cheats, most of whom attrached the attention of security.

It does need some organisation, as often there are long thin strips or bits at the back you can't get to.  It just doesn't add up. They should mark out roadways to create some barriers, (smaller than zones) and I think it would sort itself out.

I suspect that the ACO are selling too many passes, and numbered pitches won't help, other than to reduce the number of passes and will prevent enclaves.


If they are going to have marked pitches, they should have started last week.  Some will be bigger than others etc, and as I get there on Monday, please don't confuse me with the chap that does give a sh!t

Last year at Bleu Nord, we arrived lunchtime Thursday and the field was only about 1/4 full... but marshalls were waving people down to the front and pointing out where they should pitch - that at least avoided random land-grabs in the middle of the field. We told the marshall we had 3 other cars arriving and, although he looked a bit sceptical, he gave us some extra space to accomodate them.

This year, with 15 camp passes but arriving at different times on Thurs/Fri, I've taken a photocopy of all the tickets to at least (hopefully) show entitlement... I'm hoping they'll let us pitch for everyone, though I've a feeling that a b&w copy might elicit a sharp "Non"...  :-\

Who knows? If they numbered the pitches in Bleu/HA (just by having a grid laid out with clear roadways between), then at least if you bought a group block of tickets, you could get contiguous space like you do with grandstand seats. It would scotch the old practice of having people show up late to join in an existing camp, if they'd got their tickets from elsewhere...

E

What are they going to say if we say "those are not our tents! the people have gone out in their car. They said they will be back on Friday". They can't do anything then.

My understanding is that although the pitches on MB will not be numbered they will be marked out on the ground and it will be strictly one pitch per ticket within the zone allocated.  6 days and I'll know for certain if the painters have indeed been out. :)

I think that's entirely one of the reasons why I have not been a big fan of zoning.  

There are clearly problems (people taking too much space, "odd" bits of land left over and no room on Friday for groups).  I don't entirely see how this years version of allocation will deal with all of these.

I hope that they do get round and mark out pitches, that would help - I guess one of their motivators has been the danger of fire - in it's current guise with very little space between tents/groups/areas and very few fire breaks it's quite a risk.  I imagine that it's been "suggested" to the ACO that a better layout with gaps and access roads is preferable (as per the marked pitches on the zone map).  

We'll have to wait and see what happens when they open the gates on Monday, either it'll take hours to get on whilst they escort groups to areas and check all their passes or it'll just be the normal stampede!  

If it's anything like last year in Bleu, the marshalls were doing the marking as they went along - ie they'd just spray crosses on the grass to mark out the edge of your area. Not exactly scientific...

Last year Bleu nord was marked out in pitches when I arrived 5am on wednesday morning.
Controllers were being very strict, even at this time of the morning, where you could camp, with threats to remove camping passes if you did not conform to requirements, ie next available space with no gaps to the previous arrival. You could not pick your spot in the field.
I had my ACO invoice with me to prove that I had 4 passes, and had a big arguement before they let me stake out x 4 space, had to threaten to get the ACO office involved.

I would suggest to be safe that the first arrival takes all the camping passes, so that you can prove you have paid for the space, even if this produces some hassles when later arrivals turn up.
I don't know how the scanning will work, but I would avoid them scanning tickets (if that's what they are doing) except for the one you are entering the site with.

Look forward to the early reports as to what's actually happening. ;D

Interesting: maybe when we arrived on Thursday, they were just re-inforcing the markings cos the fat controller had a car of spray paint and was happily spraying crosses on the floor to mark the edge of the pitch.
Now that's not a bad idea: I'll take the invoice with me as well as the photocopy of all the passes. It's going to be too hard to get everyone's pass there for the first arrival (won't they want to scan the pass on entry to the field anyway?)
Indeed :)

It may be that when I arrived they had only marked the next section they wanted to fill, and not the whole field, I was to busy wondering whether my 18' flagpole would fit up the jobsworths ar*e ;D

I've arranged to meet Andy at the gate when he arrives, and can give him his camping permit then.