Club Arnage

I have seen photos on other sites that shows the banking on the outside of Arnage has gone. Removed. It is no more.

There is a roundabout being installed which will be sited to the south of the Arnage cross roads junction. I have seen a diagram that shows the road leaving after Indianapolis and taking a southern route across the campsite/parking area to the new roundabout. The circuit remains as is.

I'm feeling very sad. We have lost a great viewing location.

Sad news indeed.  I watched the support races down there this year and was reminded why it was worth making the journey down there. 
Any links to the pictures?

Dx

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=25&t=1554394&mid=0&nmt=Changes+at+Arnage+%2D+Any+news+Lowdrag%3F

post 130:       http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144515&page=9

After the works are complete lets hope there will still be somewhere left to view from at Arnage.

What a utter cluster f**k that is  >:(

I always go to Arnage for the end of the race as I can carry on and get to the house easy but thats a utter farce.

I did see something in the local paper the other month on this to be honest but I couldnt translate it enough to figure it out  :'(

No banking to return :(

(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/kev_mk3/66F0CDFA-22E2-4D20-85DE-34950CC99B74_zpsfyqcdupe.jpg) (http://s9.photobucket.com/user/kev_mk3/media/66F0CDFA-22E2-4D20-85DE-34950CC99B74_zpsfyqcdupe.jpg.html)

This is very odd, I was under the impression, obviously mistaken, that the new road would bypass both Arnage and Indianapolis corners, which would make some sense and you could still retain the banking. The only reason I can think of that this is being done is to improve safety the rest of the year at a dangerous crossroads, presumably a small roundabout at the present crossroads would not be possible because of race requirements. I've also seen idiots race week going round Arnage as though the road from the left was closed on the run up to the race.
Although I believe the ACO would like to encourage spectators to stay in the main complex, and have been pushing that for several years, I would be surprised if there was be no viewing points at Arnage.
Look on the positive side, the new banking a Tetre Rouge is a huge improvement and I hope to eventually see similar at Arnage and if it included banking to be able to see the approach to Indianapolis then it would be a major plus.
 

Noooooooo. My favourite place gone.. What the f&*k are they playing at.

As for Tetre Rouge, I think the improvement sanitised the viewing. The approach against the fence on the inside in the trees used to be a great place and one of the places you could get quite close to the cars. It is getting to the stage where I may go to enjoy the week with friends and watch it on the TV     ??? :'( >:(

When you look at the camping areas for 2016, Arnage is still there (although the photos show a different story). Has anyone got camping tickets for it?

Yup. Up to 45 euros for 2016. Seems they pretty much sold out on 3rd so unclear whether it is smaller, bigger or more popular.

Nooooooo.......that was the last bit of decent, unaltered track and viewing area left since I started going. And my favourite place too, with at least one visit to it every year - an awesome place at dusk and very atmospheric.

It also retained all of the key non-corporate aspects of Le Mans - wonky steps up steep grass banking, empty beer bottles, litter, pissed/sleeping spectators and close up to the racing. 

I can only hope that reproviding a spectator area is part of the alterations........

MG Mark

I've read something about these roadworks some time ago on a French website.  There should be a viewing zone (banking or not ?) left after the completion of the new road and they were talking about the possibility to create a viewing area at the approach to Indianapolis.  Don't know what's left of those intentions, will try to look it up again.

This is the problem, isn't it.  Instead of earth banks, held together by odd bits of concrete, which have moved/disappeared, you get a level concrete slab with a handrail 20 yards further back.  Just like the road.  It just needed a bit more run off area, with a link road at the back, not a bypass and a roundabout.  And who's paying for this.

According to someone who lives nearby the campsite has been extended and some of the banking remains.  I have friends who camp down there and when they booked for 2016 (over the phone) the ACO didn't say anything about the changes.  I guess all will become clear in June...

Dx

The photo shows the banking remaining towards Indianapolis. As you say the extent of our loss will be revealed in June

As far as I can see the photos of ground works on PistonHeads are entirely consistent with the map posted by Kev_mk3 above.

So to totally confuse things (or more likely confirm lack of general awareness as to what is actually happening) my contact was told today by the ACO

• A roundabout is going to be built instead of the intersection and at the same place . So the road will still be the same than before . There wouldn't be a new road built across the camp site . The "Virage d'Arnage" will probably be modified , as it happened at Mulsanne when they built the roundabout a few years ago.
• A new spectator's bank is going to be built and extended until Indianapolis.
• The Arnage Camp Site will be enlarged toward Indianapolis (but the trees won't be all brought down).

As per general consensus we will see come June!

Ill pop and look in the new year for a update as ive got to go sign some documents in France and see whats happened

DSC has an article about the changes around the track

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/11/19/work-underway-on-further-changes-to-le-mans-circuit-and-fire-damaged-trees-felled.html

Potentially good news


http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/12/07/new-le-mans-fan-area-overlooking-indianapolis-corner-on-the-way.html

Till the corporate clowns get their claws into it.

DSC has a photo of new/revised banking at Indianapolis

So potentially this look very good, if it allows spectating at Indianapolis. 

It does look like the arnage campsite could be a bit well, boutique, that's to say small.

It's a real shame about the arsonist cretin but then we have them too. I just hope that they put him away appropriately.

Aricus

Arnage is looking like a war zone at the moment with earthworks everywhere. I'll try and remember to take a photo or two for you. As regards the arsonist, it isn't the first time we have had a lot of such events when we have a drought and the last time it was a part-time fireman boosting his income. However, this time they announced several months back that they have someone in custody but wouldn't say who he was, and still haven't. I have a theory that since the arsonist knew where the police were watching and set fires elsewhere, carefully hidden in camouflage in the forest, it could this time be one of the BiB but I hope I am proved wrong. The means of setting the fires appears to be novel, using tennis balls filled with petrol or whatever and firing them into the forest by catapult from some distance away. Or anyway, that is the latest story going round.

ETA See what I mean?

(http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u216/lynxd67/Le%20Mans%202016/Arnage_zpstqtkfxg0.jpg) (http://s169.photobucket.com/user/lynxd67/media/Le%20Mans%202016/Arnage_zpstqtkfxg0.jpg.html)

Just found a few pictures which were taken last month :
http://www.24h-en-piste.com/Galeries/Photos_Article_052.html

From the plan at that link, it looks like about a third of the banking will disappear...depends on whether they put some staging or something there to fill the gap during race week.

MG Mark

Some interesting pics and chat going on over on PH.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=25&t=1568942

Dx

Yup - see lynxd67 beat me to it with pics in the Where to watch (http://www.clubarnage.com/forum/index.php?topic=12790.0) thread but was passing by on Monday and this is my pic - taken at entrance to Indianapolis with back to Mulsanne:
(http://www.dukla.net/Indianapolis.jpg)

Seems it is being extended approx 50m back into trees (relative to Indy/Arnage "straight") and maybe more. Did take some pics but clearly work in progress still so hard to tell what will greet us in June. Also any fencing between spectator area and campsite still missing so how to access banking at Indianapolis and what facilities will be where for spectators/campers yet to be revealed.

A most spectacular thunderstorm as I passed today but it looked finished and all tarmacked. I'll take a photo next time if it isn't hissing down like today.

Some interesting ariel shots of the new road layout on the 24 Heures du Mans Facebook page.
Looks like banking reduced at Arnage corner but new banking at Indy.

Sorry tried to copy them onto here with no luck.

Is it like this?  At last I have a clue, but need a "before" photo.  It seems like the bank inside of Indy is halved, and the new road to the roundabout goes through the rest  :'(

^^^ You beat me to it!  ;D

Pray tell, how did you do that?

The old Arnage banking went down to just beyond where that gantry over the track is. Looks like 2 new banking areas in the braking area before Indy next to that triangular run off area. Going down there on Wednesday race week for practice/qualifying, will report back.

At least it should help the traffic going there. No more of that single dirt track to get by Indy which always creates a jam.

Just found a few interesting videos of how it looks right now (videos from March)

https://youtu.be/rihcS1IAPYo?list=PL_A8Sku3V2HpuvBVHnV8mYSyvSHt4rcx0

Those videos are helpful - despite misgivings it actually looks as though it might improve things - we'll see once we know how much of it will actually be accessible....

MG Mark

Hi Mark,
            I live in hope that they will make it as accessible as possible. I suppose a free bleacher style grandstand on what is now the new road would be too much to hope for. I will have to make my way there to see.
Phil

I can't help but think the banking neares Arnage corner is in a separate fenced area so will eventually have a paid for grandstand in. I  could be wrong of course..

Indeed it could, I'm just hoping that it'll be open like tetre rouge....

MG Mark

Before / After

(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/kev_mk3/252CC147-B4BC-4456-B827-3D185EB1BCF5_zpspvowsaju.jpg) (http://s9.photobucket.com/user/kev_mk3/media/252CC147-B4BC-4456-B827-3D185EB1BCF5_zpspvowsaju.jpg.html)

I'm hoping that the area both sides of the triangular run off area before Indy is accessible.
Shame about the trees though, ACO don't seem to like trees very much, the forest esses lack a certain something, oh I know trees!

More info & pictures : https://wec-magazin.com/new-spectator-opportunities-at-le-mans/

I'll pass by & take some pictures during testweekend

I hope they still have a bit banking at Arnage corner. Its the highlight of my viewing weekend on the Sunday morning just before dawn.

(Not that I'm a tree hugger but) yet another laod of trees disappeared from the track in the support of 'progress'.
As Barry notes, I used to love the forest Esses when they were in the forest!

Photos seen today that the view is from the kink into Indy and upto Arnage. Not sure how high the banking goes

They've also culled a large number of trees on the inside of the track as you go from Mulsanne to Indi (past the golf course). So the lingering moisture 'through the forest' there is probably history.

Hi Stu,
          Mine too. Something special about your soup ;D I hope to share some again this year.
Phil

I love my tree too, and it certainly adds to the atmosphere both literally and virtually.

(I wonder if that's why Spa is so great).

I was watching Derek Bells' Porsche 956 DVD recently which I think dates about 1984/5 and couldn't help notice the lack of trees, so they must have grown since, but whether they will be left to grow is another matter.

Aricus

I believe the disappearance of trees at the bottom end of the circuit is mostly down to one nutter and his box of matches, numerous forest fires down there last summer.

[
[/quote]They've also culled a large number of trees on the inside of the track as you go from Mulsanne to Indi (past the golf course). So the lingering moisture 'through the forest' there is probably history.[/quote]
I love my tree too, and it certainly adds to the atmosphere both literally and virtually.
(I wonder if that's why Spa is so great).
I was watching Derek Bells' Porsche 956 DVD recently which I think dates about 1984/5 and couldn't help notice the lack of trees, so they must have grown since, but whether they will be left to grow is another matter.
Aricus[/quote]

Hi Aricus,
             Try this from 1955 at about 1 :30 the stretch from mulsanne to Arnage has very few tress in 1955 compared to now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqehZeZJY68
Phil

Is that you wobbling round on the bike in the opposite direction just after the Dunlop bridge Phil?  ???  :P

I've seen the film and noted the lack of trees in 55.
Presumed they are grown for commercial use and would be harvested at intervals.

Hi Smokie,
                Not me. I did not learn to ride a bike until a few years later  ;D ;D
Phil

Just saw this on FB

https://wec-magazin.com/new-spectator-opportunities-at-le-mans/

Aricus

That looks like the view I've always wanted!    ;D
Not sure if this article is correct ref losing the arnage corner banking.
If you magnify the ariel photos it looks like what is left of the banking is still there and there is also what looks like a new entrance gate which matches the new gate into the new enclosure area on the other side of the road.

We live in hope and find out on the Wednesday.

Well, if the local info is anything to go by, they were using tennis balls full of flammable liquid and fuses, firing them with catapults. The loss between Mulsanne and Arnage is bad, but the other side of Mulsanne was 230 acres. No one has as yet appeared in court although it was announced in the paper in October that they had go someone. Incidentally, they are starting to replant apparently, or so it said in this week's paper.

To finish, hope the weather gets better. It is 15C and has been absolutely hissing down since yesterday evening. Hail, thunder, lightning - you name it , we've got it. I can hardly hear myself think.

lynx,

What's a lot of tree gone.

I hope they hang him up by his goolies.

15 degrees?  And I guess that's daytime too.


Aricus

http://www.fiawec.com/en/news/24-hours-of-le-mans-a-new-spectator-area-at-arnage-_4057.html

Went to Arnage this morning, this will be the place to be at night !!!

http://clubarnage.blogspot.fr/2016/06/24-hours-of-le-mans-2016-saturday-grid.html

Looks good, I'm going up on Wednesday to check it out.    ;D

Whilst some viewing banking has been lost between Indy and Arnage the new banking at Indy more than makes up for it, and tbh I say "Well Done" to the ACO. 

The new area at Indy provides great viewing and photo possibilities, and if you are stood at the back you can swivel round and watch from the approach to Indy and to the exit of Arnage!

Well worth the trip out there, but I reckon it will be rammed most of the time.

I was going to have a look Wednesday before the rabble arrive! Can see it being jammed the rest of the time.

Tristan and I are at Arnage sitting in the banking at the start of the qualifying session (waiting for the rain).

I think that Dettore suggested that this will be the place to come and I cannot agree more.

You can see the cars coming from Mulsanne and then through the Indonapolis corners.

On the Mulsanne end banking you do not really need ear protection and the sound through and off the trees is to be relished.

I strongly recommend a trip out here over the weekend.

Couldn't agree more! Think this needs its own thread with "Thank you ACO".

The "give us back Indianapolis" campaign at last gets a result. Viewing all the way back to the Toyota gantry towards Mulsanne. Wednesday quali we could hear cars accelerating out of Mulsanne, then see the lights on the Armco, then the cars appear.

Another new bank not previously mentioned is more or less across the end of the forest road (at the end of the gravel runoff) and extends right into Indianapolis itself. You an see the discs glowing, the turn-in point. And there are parts of both Indy banking high enough to get pictures with no fencing.

Right on Indianapolis itself is a disabled viewing area, if I had a sign and a hilti gun it would already be dedicated to Debs.

At the Arnage end the viewing is extended slightly so if you are at the extreme left  you can see the kink towards Maison Blanche. One lady standing next to us said the view was as good as in 1988!

Went to watch the end of the race here loved it, didn't go to the new end but looked great

Brad and I were also there at the end of the race, also impressed.

We were there on Sunday morning and went all the way to the banking at Indy. Despite the worries that came up when the rebuild was announced I'm really impressed of the result. Good to see that the ACO did a great job there. It's well worth a trip out there.