| So you want to join the quarter of a million people at one of the three pillars of motorsport, the 24hrs of Le Mans. Well before you book anything please read this it should save you large amounts of cash. The majority of this article is aimed squarely at those fans travelling from the UK and wanting to camp. Hotel dwellers and those flying in from afar how you can save some money is towards the end of the article. The first piece of advice is to forget using the tour operators unless you want something very specific and can�t find it elsewhere. Every thing we suggest here can be booked either online or via email or fax. Just to put things into perspective here is a break down of what the 3 major tour operators are charging for a basic minimum package of 1 car, 4 people, and up to 5 nights camping and a return ticket on the Eurotunnel Folkestone-Calais-Folkestone on a per person basis. Airtrack :- �125 MRI :- �110 Page & Moy :- �119 In fairness to Airtrack their price is based upon their VIP camping area which has clean toilets and security. � But the majority of the campsites how have fairly clean toilets and provided you take sensible precautions then security not a serious problem. Ok time to save some money � Here we go. Based upon the same variables above and using published brochure prices on the Eurotunnel then it is possible to get the whole price down to �36.75 per person for the ferries To bring it down even further then using one of the channel crossing consolidators such as ferrysavers.com or directferries.com it is possible to get the price per person down to �22.25 per person. Booking camping permits directly with the ACO can be a touch scary at times, however they normally deliver if you book in time else try the French tourist board they normally have tickets. The face value of a permit depends on which site however they are typically between �20 - �45 if purchased directly. Remember that you only need 1 permit per car not per person or per tent! So there you have it Le Mans for up to 5 nights for just �27.25 per person a saving of up to �98 per person. All you have to add to that price is the general admission tickets which are cheapest purchased direct from the ACO online or even at the gate for around �40 per person. Hotel Dwellers take note it is the normal rule that the further you get from the track the easier it is to get accommodation at a sensible price. If you want somewhere that is clean and you can have a shower etc then look at the Formule1 or similar chains and expect to have to go as far as 40 miles away to get some rooms at a sensible price. If you are willing to commute you can get great prices to the south in Tours or to the North in Alencon. Formule1 and the like are cheap and cheerful and cost of 25 Euros (�16) per room per night and can be booked on line at hotelforumle1.com. Rooms all sleep 3 people. If you want something up market then try the awesome Hotel Les Haute Roches just outside Tours, it is upto 240 euros a night for a double room and has 4 stars. (www.leshauteroches.com) Coming from the US then to get a cheap flight try out some of the online consolidators such as tiss.com or priceline.com it is worth noting that there is a date at which the prices rise to �high� season which is some time in early June and varies from Airline to Airline but sees the prices increase by 50-60%. |
| LE MANS FOR UNDER �30 IS STILL POSSIBLE! By Noel Bradford |
| Parcfermeuk |