I've come into this a bit late and here's my 2c worth. Fax is a very close friend of mine and uber-knowledeable and fanatic about motorsport (not just sportscar racing). I've attended the 24 Heures 20 times (though sadly not this year), so I feel I can speak with a little 'wool on my back'. It's easy to get all nostalgic about what it WAS like - progress moves things in good and bad ways.
I feel that modifications made to the circuit during my attendances, which started with the installation of chicanes on Hunnaudiers, moved to reshaping Dunlop, rebuilding pit complex, reshaping virage Ford and lately Dunlop Bridge to Esses have changed the circuit very significantly.
A lot of the mods, I understand, are to make the secondary (Bugatti) circuit safer for motorcycle racing. Gravel traps in the 'complex' before the Esses are unnecessarily large - partcularly when you look at Porsche Curves - similar track conditions run between concrete walls, with a grass verge.
The circuit has lost what I really liked about it - and I have for a very long time, bitched about how miserable the spectating has become in the main enclosures. Sure, it is possible (and I've done it) to covertly visit parts of the track under cover of darkness - but that shouldn't be necessary. I also feel that there is a lot of debris fencing placed in areas unlikely to need that protection from errant cars, or parts of them. I suspect they are there to prevent over-zealous fans getting onto the track before the ACO wants them to.
Finally the US circuits that we visit are far superior to Le Mans if getting up close and personal with the cars on the track is your aim (I don't go to LM to watch the race anymore - and I don't think I'm alone in this - the party and the friendship is the attraction for me these days). Read the back of your ticket - the "motor racing is dangerous" bit - and let's not piss and moan about the poor beleagured drivers - they know the score.
Hurling insults at one another is the weakest form of debate (can be fun - but can also be quite hurtful, particularly when written, rather than spoken).
You don't suddenly become an authority because a tyre nearly hit you once upon a time - or your buddy got creamed in a track accident. Rightly or wrongly, that's what happens in this sport sometimes. Bending the track so that the race field comes to a frickin' halt on lap one isn't a solution.
