The journey down to Le Mans should be a pleasurable and relaxing part of your adventure. That is, of course, unless you have had to get a last minute ferry via Holland and are doing the driving in the middle of Friday night! Take our advice, if you can, travel on an overnight ferry, drive down during the day, and enjoy a few coffee stops on the way down. It’s all part of the experience.

Once at Le Mans, getting out and about is all part of the experience - take the time to work out the best routes to wherever you fancy heading - some of the traffic jams can get quite bad in the build up to the race.

Michelin road map of the area - get your head around the concept of an inner and an outer ring road if it is all new to you - navigation hint -"Le Mans Centre" signs mean right in the middle, not the way to the track..

 

NEW ACO 2008 map of the car parks, lay bys and trackside areas at Le Mans. 6 maps

NEW ACO 2009 map of camping plots/spaces

NEW ACO map of circuit and past winners

2008 map of the Le Mans tram system

ACO 2007 map of the car parks, lay bys and trackside areas at Le Mans.

ACO 2007 map of the complete circuit and spectator viewing areas.



Large scale map of the track and vitally local roads - this will allow you to navigate around the one way deviations during the race. Nothing feels better than getting through via the back roads - your team mates will think you are a bit of a star!

This map is courtesy of the Racetours, and shows the circuit and surrounding areas complete with things like cash points, shops and bars. (With thanks to Neil aka Dobbo).

NEW ACO 2008 map of the grandstands.

ACO 2007 map of the grandstands.

Robin Donovan's guide to where to apply the brakes and where to change gear as you try your hand down the Mulsanne Straight! (courtesy of BM "associate" David P who used it to get to grips with a 250LM for the Classic)

Le Mans city centre - major car parks and roads - handy for getting to scrutineering and the Driver's Parade.

Directions to "Classic British Welcome" event at Saint Saturnin

The map of the Driver's Parade route in the centre of Le Mans

A map to get you in the general area of Carrefour, our favourite shop in the world!

  

NEW Maps to guide you to the Nurburgring.

Google Maps - A great site which can be zoomed in to really close detail, and is capable of planning a route from a start point to a finish point.

Via Michelin Maps - Another great site which can be zoomed in to really close detail, and is capable of planning a route from a start point to a finish point. You can also include waypoints.

Mappy.com where you can, as well as maps, get aerial photos of the circuit. If you print the page in colour, then pan around the circuit printing each frame, you can then stick the images together jigsaw-style on a sheet of A3 paper to make a truly accurate aerial view of the entire circuit.

Map24.com - BM member Muz recommends this map site for it's hybrid map/photo ability.

For more detailed maps of some of the campsites, please visit our campsite guide

Finally, please be aware, some elements of the French law enforcement community take a dim view of people with lots of horsepower and the need to get a bit of a "hurry on" - please be careful out there, especially if you are driving North on Sunday afternoon! You might want to read BM member Buzz's guide to local road law