One of the first things I did as a Le Mans 'anorak' when I put up my website back in February 2001 was to scan in my Le Mans tickets. Unfortunately I hadn't saved any between 1986 and 1990, but I managed to obtain copies of some of the missing ones.
2019 update. I've now managed to acquire tickets for the years that I didn't retain them, including some that I didn't have in the first place. For the record, I've kept all my tickets since 1993. I thought it was time to put scans of them up again and, in case there is any interest in this, a little 'running commentary'..... I am very much 'in the market' for tickets, if anyone reading this has any that I don't appear to have.
Post Le Mans 2019 update.
September 2019 I recently acquired the 1985 programme which brought with it pristine entry, grandstand and contremarque tickets. I also recently received from my good friend Tony a number of parking tickets including the 2017 tickets that I hadn't retained. These have all now been added as well as a contremarque from each of 1972, 1989 and 2001.
December 2019 I've obtained three tickets from 1983, the enceintes generales, a Raccordement stand ticket and a general contremarque ticket. All in remarkable condition. And bearing in mind the current interest in the 'Le Mans '66' movie (or 'Ford v Ferrari' depending on where you're located), I've also pulled off quite a coup in getting hold of three contremarque tickets from the 1966 race - a general entry, tribunes and a Balcon des Ravitaillements. For 54 year old tickets, they look absolutely brand new. Incredible to think that they were once owned by someone who was lucky enough to be at that incredible event.
February 2020 I've now added another batch of recently acquired tickets. There are three 1993 tickets, a large ticket for Parking Vert, plus two contremarques (as well as a spare entry ticket). Then there are some older tickets from 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969 and 1972. The majority of these are contremarques. Bearing in mind that the ACO used thin paper for entrance and grandstand tickets up to 1996 but issued card contremarques (as these tickets were constantly being given out and handed in again), it isn't surprising that the contremarques are easier to find and tend to be in better condition. Having missed a good collection of 1957 tickets on eBay I managed to obtain 4 tickets from that year (which was the year of my birth, so these tickets are as old as me!). Two contremarques, a slightly worse for wear grandstand ticket and a ticket that I've never seen before which appears to have been for an event held on the Friday of the year's race involving (possibly) vintage cars (?) as it refers to a 50th anniversary and the 'Championship of the Ancestors', whatever that was.
May 2020 - I bought a 1979 programme as it had two tickets in it, a Tertre Rouge, Mulsanne, Arnage 'Virages' ticket (which I don't think I have seen before) and a contremarque. What I hadn't appreciated until they arrived was that the previous owner had taped the tickets into the programme for safe keeping - doh! It took me a while to extract them, trying to do minimal damage to both tickets and programme however the tape can't be removed from the tickets. Nuisance. I've also picked up some tickets from 1983 and 1984. The 1983 ticket was for practice only. The blue ticket from 1984 is unusual too, as it appears to be a pit access ticket, which I've not seen before. While revising my 1992 story, I found tickets in the album of photographs. After checking all of my other photo albums, I found a few more which I had long thought lost. These are my original 1992 entrance ticket and Maison Blanche grandstand ticket, my 1993 ACO grandstand ticket, a Parking Rouge ticket from 1996, a contremarque and members enclosure tickets from 1997 and a Welcome ticket and Espace Club ticket from 1998. These have all been inserted into their respective years.
July 2020 I have now acquired four more tickets, a second enceintes generales from 1983 (different series), a Citroen 'Zone Blue from 1985, a series C enceintes generales from 1987 and another series C enceintes generales from 1988. This takes my grand total now up to 156 tickets.
August 2020 I have now acquired a set of four each of the entry ticket and contremarque from the 1977 race. Then an unusual one, an entry ticket for the Le Mans museum, believed to date from 1967.
October 2020 A few new acquisitions. A contremarque from 1995, another contremarque and a grandstand ticket from 2005, and best of all, a splendid tribunes access ticket from 1981, my first ticket from that year and one that I've not seen before. I've also now acquired an additional contremarque from 1965 an enceintes populaires.... Plus an additional 1984 enceintes generales, different to the one I already have and a 1983 contremarque. That takes my collection up to 166 tickets, not including swaps.
November 2020 Two more 1978 tickets added. Another Tribunes ticket, a 'Serie A' to add to the 'Serie B' I already had, plus a Balcons Ravitaillement ticket. And a super condition Balcons Ravitaillement ticket from 1963. Next on the acquisitions list is a Garage du Panorama car parking ticket from 1965 (together with a contremarque that I already have). The ticket is printed on very thin paper and is sadly in a poor state of repair. I can't imagine that many of these will have survived 55 years! I have also acquired a Series A entrance ticket from 1986 to go with my Series C. (171 tickets)
December 2020 - Update - Quite a 'bumper' month! Firstly, 2 new tickets added for 1989. A Parking Blanc ticket and a G/C code enceintes generales. Then a 1979 tribunes ticket, followed my first 1982 ticket, an E/B enceintes generales and my third different enceintes generales from 1983. I then acquired a bit of a gem, a 63 year old pit pass ticket from 1957, still with it's original tag. To finish off the month (and the year), I picked up two more 1982 tickets, an E/C code enceintes generales and a Citroen stand ticket.
January 2021 Three more tickets added to the collection, a Series A Tribunes ticket from 1979, a similar ticket from 1981 and a Series A enceintes generales from 1982, which means that I now have Series A, B and C enceintes generales from that year.
February 2021 A rather unusual addition this month. a 'Gratuit' (free) enceintes generales from 1989. I can certainly say I've never had one of those before! Another unusual acquisition is a pristine 1986 Series E 'A' enceintes generales as it was never used and still has the practice tear-off. I also obtained a 1986 contremarque as well. The final addition this month is a Parking Rouge Reserve ticket from 1991.
March 2021 First acquisition this month is a Chrysler-Simca grandstand ticket from 1969, quite fragile this one due to the validity perforation that the ACO used at that time. I have now also received a batch of tickets from 1991 through to 1996. 1991 - Parking Vert plus a spectator contremarque, 1992 - another spectator contremarque, 1993 - A series C enceintes generales, 1994 - another series C enceintes generales, plus a ACO stand ticket, 1995 - another series C enceintes generales, together with a pink (as opposed to green) spectator contremarque and a Benoist grandstand ticket, 1996 - yet another C series enceintes generales (complete with all of the tear-off slips), plus two contremarques, one general spectator and the other for Mulsanne/Arnage. A nice little haul! New editions are a 1981 Series C enceintes generales (completing my set of A, B and C) plus a 1981 contremarque.
April 2021 First acquisitions of the month are two tribunes tickets, one from 1976 and another from 1979. Not in the greatest condition, they appeared to have been stuck in a scrapbook at some point, but not too bad. The 1979 ticket is marked 'Service' and has no price on it. I assume it was either a free ticket or a ticket issued to a grandstand marshal. I've now added a third different contremarque to 1964.
May 2021 I've obtained a couple of tickets from 1984 that I didn't have. One is a sadly rather tatty and torn 'Service' ticket which appears to be relate to a stand in the paddock area but not one used by competitors... The other is the equivalent contremarque for that stand. Next is another enceintes generales, a series G/A from 1988.
June 2021 - Three new contremarques added from 1982.
July 2021 - A very quiet month for tickets. The only thing I've added was a rediscovery. Having started to tidy up my shocking mess of a study today, behind my bookcase of Le Mans photos (just the 33 albums!) I found a Parking Rouge ticket from 2007, still in reasonable shape.
February 2022 - Although I haven't uploaded any tickets for quite a while, I've still been busy collecting them and have added 19 tickets from 1971, 1983, 1987 (2), 1988 (3), 1989 (2), 1992 (2), 1999 (2), 2000 (2) and last (and definitely least) for their novelty value, four 'new old stock' unused tickets from 2020.... (disappointingly exactly the same design as the year before). I've also now added a nice Garage du Panorama Service ticket from 1965 sent to me by Christian Panaretos. Very similar to the ticket I already have, with slight differences.
March 2022 - A quiet time. Just one ticket to add so far - Camping Maison Blanche from 1986.
April 2022 - A rather splendid Enceintes Permanentes des Virages, a ticket giving access only to the Tertre Rouge, Mulsanne and Arnage corners) from 1981 has now joined my collection along with a Parc Rouge contremarque from 1998. I don't think I've seen a parking contremarque before. I now also have my second ticket from 1976, a ticket for the Wimille grandstand.
June 2022 - So, following my return from Le Mans, I have three tickets to post up. The first time in my experience that the enceintes generales (general entry) ticket has been combined with the grandstand ticket. In addition I have a 1990 Series C ticket as well.
July 2022 - I have two additions to the 'flock' from 1975, a 'Stand' (pits) car park ticket and the associated 'Service' entry ticket, which is a free ('Gratuit') ticket. In addition I have an absolutely splendid 1973 Garage Vert Reserve parking ticket in really good condition bearing in mind that it is just shy of 50 years old! From 1992, we also now have a Parking Vert car park ticket and a Nissan Tribune grandstand ticket.
August 2022 - A nice little haul of four tickets from 1986 including a rare E Series B entry ticket with full stubs to go with my E Series A ticket (also with full stubs), plus tickets for the Parc des Coureurs which I believe is something to do with competitors and the Balcons Ravitaillements (the refuelling balconies). These take the collection up to 250 tickets.
October 2022 - It's been a slow last couple of months. A few tickets added from 2005 and 2007 taking me up to 255.
November 2022 - Still slim pickings.... One Tertre Rouge contremarque to add to the 1986 collection.
December 2022 - One more acquisition and an unusual one. It appears to be a marshal's (commissaire's) ticket from 1990. I didn't know that marshals needed tickets....
January 2023 - The first of the year on the first day of the year. Having waited years to get a marshal's ticket, I've now got another. A parking ticket of some kind from 1996. I now have another two tickets from 1988. A Maison Blanche (now Raccordement) grandstand ticket plus an unusual Series B enceintes generales, which completes my A, B and C set.
February 2023 - Four more tickets from 1998 and 1999 (the years of the 'bland'!). Plus a 1989 Tribune Supplement 'B' ticket (which I've never seen before) in immaculate condition.
March 2023 - Another really good batch of tickets arrived today covering 1983-1985. From 1983, a Balcons Ravitaillements and a Loge J-P Wimille. From 1984, a Series A Enceintes Generales and a Balcons Ravitaillements (complete with stub). From 1985 another Balcons Ravitaillements.
June 2023 - It's time to put up my tickets from 2023. General entry/grandstand (combined) plus Panorama (formerly Rouge) which was unused and Mulsanne Arnage. There is also an unused Mulsanne/Arnage sticker (which doesn't scan well) and my e-ticket for Expo parking.
July 2023 - A super haul this month - 10 tickets from 1981 to 1994 including six more unusual 'Gratuit' - tickets. I understand these originated from one seller at auction who was presumably rather well connected to get so many 'freebies'! I've also acquired 7 more contremarques, mostly from the 80's but also one each from 1990 and 2010.
August 2023 - Just one so far this month, but it's unusual - a 'Commissaire de Piste' (Pit Marshal) pass from 2016.
October 2023 - After a slow period, three new tickets from 1997.
December 2023 - Very slim pickings recently, just one Wednesday practice day contremarque.
January 2024 - A good find of three tickets from 1972, all in good condition, one Citroen grandstand and two contremarques.
March 2024 - It's been a very slow few months for tickets, but I've picked up a couple of contremarques from 1998 and 2000. And now four nice tickets from 1992, including a rarer 'B' series Enceintes Generale and my first ever Sunday only ticket. The sudden arrival of tickets continues with three from 1990, two contremarques and a prized Series 'A' enceintes generale which completes my Series 'A', 'B' and 'C' collection for that year.
April 2024 - A wonderful pristine 'B' series enceintes generales from 1987 - pretty rare too. Another rare one - having picked up a 'B' Series 1992 ticket last month, we go one better with an even rarer 'C' Series from the same year!
June 2024 - Having returned a few days ago from Le Mans, I can now put up this year's tickets. General entry + grandstand, plus two parking tickets. These were in fact two tickets that I resold back to the ACO. The tickets I kept were exchanged at the parking entrance for windscreen stickers. (316)
August 2024 - After a quiet couple of months I've picked up an interesting selection of tickets - three Parking Bleu tickets from 1990 (very tatty), 1991 and 1993, a Camping Bleu ticket from 1989 and a 'Jonction' ticket from 1988. I've never heard of this ticket before. It appears to be some kind of contremarque. 'Jonction' translates simply as 'Junction' but beyond that, I've no idea! Also a very smart stubbed Benoist grandstand ticket from 1981. Finally am Enceintes Populaires from 1972 - a 52 year old ticket in near-mint condition! (326).
The collection - as at 30.05.22:-
I'm not quite sure why I find these tickets fascinating, probably because most Le Mans 'memorabilia' captures my interest. But the development of the tickets, even over the 34 years I've been going (it is now February 2020) has seen a lot of change by the ACO, albeit not always for the better. The tickets are now much more robust than they used to be, card having replaced flimsy paper in 1997 and we have bar codes for the automatic recognition of the tickets at the entrances/exits. This has also (largely) spelled the demise of the 'contremarque', the ticket received on leaving the track (or a grandstand), the production of which on re-entry was supposed to make it impossible to hand your ticket on to someone else. The tickets have also got bigger, so the ticket holders that some of us use have also had to increase in size (actually making them more awkward in that they're prone to blow about in the wind), but sadly the designs have become very corporate indeed, lacking the imagination and artistry of my early days at the race.
By the way, the images are all 'thumbnails' which will take you to larger images of the tickets.
1986-1989
My first 4 years at Le Mans. Great tickets which included the image from the posters for those years. The red and white ticket from 1986 gave access to the reserved parking in Garage Rouge (or Parking Rouge). The 1987 tickets show (at the time of writing) my first example of a contremarque. The 'Welcome' ticket enabled access to the relatively tall building just beyond pit out which gave a great view down the pits and the straight. But it wasn't cheap - 100F in 1987 (nearly 32 years ago) was a decent sum of money, around £10, based upon the old 10F to the £ rule of thumb. You can also see how the prices of the various tickets have altered year by year, although you do have to compare the same price 'series', as the ACO has always sold discounted tickets to members and others.
1986
1988
1989
1990-1999
The tickets from 1990 to 1995 continued the pictorial theme however the decline began in 1996 with a rather dull sponsored ticket, however even that was at least colourful compared to the bland offerings that followed for the rest of the 90's (and beyond). 1990 was the first time I had a grandstand seat (although the Tourists actually only had three seats shared between the four of us) which we bought on the quayside at Portsmouth. I also had a grandstand seat in 1992, where 'Pierre' and I sat in what was at that time called the 'Sarthe' grandstand (or was it 'Maison Blanche'?) which now has the rather less inspiring name of Raccordement. Surprisingly I didn't retain any contremarques through this period. The 1992 ticket (which is not one of my originals) appears to have been a 'freebie'..... The 1993 ticket is one of my favourites in that it retains some of the tear-off parts for days of the event. As these tickets were effectively issued for the week, the ACO needed some means of identifying which day(s) you had attended - it's now a familiar enough concept. 1994 saw the arrival of bar codes on the tickets, although from memory, the 'zapping' of tickets at the gate, initially with hand-held zappers didn't begin until a number of years later, so I guess the bar codes had some other purpose at this time. The 1995 ticket (and the programme and poster) were a real disappointment, featuring as they did not a photograph of a Honda NSX, but an artistic impression.... The rot really set in between 1997 and 1999 with probably the most boring and unimaginative tickets the ACO have ever issued. 1997 was my first year as an ACO member and the eagle-eyed will see that as a result I paid 80F less for my ticket than I had the year before. It was also the first ticket on card rather than paper. In fact, the cost of the members enceintes générales (general entry) ticket didn't increase again until 2001, which was pretty impressive. Note that the 1999 ticket shows the cost in both Francs and Euros.
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000-2009
What can I say about the noughties tickets? The era of the bland? Well, slightly less bland than the end of the 90's, I guess. There was clearly a dominating Audi influence throughout most of the decade, particularly towards the end of it, however you only had to be at the circuit during these times to see the extent to which Audi had 'influence' with the ACO over advertising and corporate matters with larger and larger banner adverts and the 'adoption' of areas of the track for guests of Audi to get what I suspect was a relatively brief look into the event which they had dominated.
As to the tickets, note the disappearance of the Franc from the tickets in 2002 and my continued dalliance with the wonderful Welcome building. More importantly, in 2002 I had my first grandstand seat since 1993 courtesy of my new French friend Fab. In fact, that ticket raises a bit of a quandary in my mind as the ticket shows Tribune T07. Now there is no Tribune T07 nor (as far as my research goes) has there ever been a Tribune T07 opposite the pits. My photographs suggest that we had a good view across to pit in which to my mind equates to Leonard (T20) or Tavano (T21), but I can't be sure. The plot thickens further in that my grandstand seat for 2003 says T12 which is actually now Benoist, but I've never sat in that stand and I know for sure that I sat with Fab in the pits grandstand (T34) in 2003. In 2004 I sat in T34 again and that is what the ticket for that year shows. So did the grandstand numbers change between 2003 and 2004? Can someone enlighten me?
2005 saw me manage to salvage a Parking Rouge ticket for the first time from one of the Tourist's cars. They tended to stick these to the windscreen (as you were supposed to) but they were difficult to remove again in one piece. I don't think this one was ever affixed! 2006 and 2007 were my two extravagant years when I had not one but two grandstand seats, Tertre Rouge (down near the corner) in 2006 and Dunlop in 2007. They were indeed a true extravagance as I doubt that I spent more than an hour in each of them in those years. My 2006 Tertre Rouge ticket has all of its stubs which enhances the illustration significantly. The tickets were gradually getting bigger and we ended the decade with quite a departure in 2009 with something of a Pescarolo celebration, a case of nice ticket but surely it should have been a Peugeot celebration? 2009 was also a major moment in my Le Mans 'career' as it was my final Le Mans with the Tourists.
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010-2018
And so to the last eight years. The 'theme' of 2009 continued into 2010 with that vague hope that Henri might just pull off something the French could rightly be very proud of, but it wasn't to be. I like the tickets though. 2011 was colourful and patriotic while 2012 actually showed a return to a bit of artistic imagination. 2013, whilst not doing the same, is still memorable because of the departure from anything quite like it previously - for the 90 years celebration of course (or 91, as you prefer....). Although 2014 showed some promise, 2015-2018 were sadly very bland with virtually no difference between them - disappointing.
We did of course have the fun of 2014 and the tickets that turned black in the sun. The parking ticket I retained gives the general idea but I saw many much worse than that. 2014 and 2017 also saw rare reappearances of the contremarque for Mulsanne and Arnage, unsurprisingly missing the technology of the entrances back at the main part of the circuit.
And what of 2019? I could put up scans of my tickets, as I have them already (although that would probably not be sensible...) but I can say that they're a departure from the last three years (thankfully), something akin to a return to 2014, and with a degree of patriotism....? (now added - 19.06.19).
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
MISCELLANEOUS
And just to round things off, I went to the first Le Mans Classic in 2002, having been invited by Tourist Chris, whose brother was competing. I went along with several competitors, Willie Green, Whizzo Williams and a chap named Peter Neumark, a wealthy chap who was running a D-Type as I recall. I took photos for him and his pal but never received any kind of reply when I sent them to him. Ah well.... It was a seriously expensive weekend and I completely ran out of money! And the tickets were dreadful. I've never been again, not because I have no desire to but in 2004 the biennial event was moved to July and there was no way I could do Le Mans in June and then go back again for the Classic just a few weeks later. The 'Concurrent' (competitor) badge was given to me by someone on the trip, I don't remember who. I reckon it just about counts as a ticket....
The 1978 tickets were obtained by coincidence. From time to time, I buy Le Mans programmes when I can pick them up cheaply on eBay and I bought the 1978 programme last year. In it were the two tickets - a bonus. Its interesting how the ticket design has some stylistic links to some of the tickets from the 'noughties'.
Since writing the notes above, I've acquired a large number of additional tickets, from the years that I attended and other years as well. If anyone out there reading this has tickets that I don't appear to have and is willing to get rid of them, just drop me an email.
LE MANS CLASSIC 2002
1957
1960
1966
1972
1973
1976
1977
1978
1979
1983
1985
