Le Mans Classic 2025

Where do I begin?

It’s the best Classic/Historic event in the World! Imagine Goodwood FoS times a thousand.

Below; All aboard, on the Shuttle to Calais

The amount, the quality, the friendships and more is incredible and you lucky people they’ve now decided to host it every year before you had to wait every other year.

Even on the start driving down to Folkstone to catch the Shuttle started getting the juices flowing. We pulled up at the shuttle terminal and that was like a car show in itself.

Once boarded with no delays 30 mins later we disembarked at Calais and straight onto the motorway. We decided to do the hopefully stress-free toll motorway and pleased to report it was stress-free, also smooth and hardly any traffic – amazing.

Below; the famous Caulder CSL Art Car

Once we found the site and parked up we decided to go into the circuit, the weather was hot and once again, as I warned Pat we were like “rabbits in the headlights” you didn’t know where to look next.

Below; the 02 Heidegger 2002

All around of course were historic and classic cars driving around, it’s like you’ve gone back in time to a much friendlier time. After walking some 9klms or so we found our way back to the site for a well-earned cold beer, some food and good night’s sleep.

Second day after a fabulous full English breakfast it was off into the paddock again and we were not disappointed. Paddocks were divided up into years (50-60’s, 70-80’s etc) and I have never seen so many stunning cars in one place, where you can smell, look and talk to the drivers and mechanics.

I didn’t even try counting the amount of historic 328’s, M1’s, Bentley’s, Alfa’s, Porsche’s, Jaguar’s, Ford’s, Mercedes, Lagonda’s and Aston Martins to name a few. Then we managed to find a spot over-looking the pits and watch the cars leaving and racing past the start line.

We found the BMW Car Club France which had a lovely mix of BMW’s on their stand, but no 02’s, yes apparently the old French 02 Club Horizon is no more. However, there was two gorgeous Polaris Silver 1600GT’s to drool over.

Other delights include the replication of the old races including the old running across the finish/start grid and jumping into the old race cars and off they go. Lots of more choices for food and drinks now, I recall years ago it was just burgers or pizza, but now there is a lot more choice. Shops and stalls selling everything from pictures, models, memorabilia, clothing and other oddities.

If I could pick a few highlights, it would have to be seeing all those incredible M1’s, 328’s, CSL’s and 02 in the paddock, being able to smell, touch and listen to the cars and talk to the crews was awe inspiring. Everyone is so friendly and just enjoying the whole weekend.

Arnage city centre is another great place to be, to see classics going up and down the street to cheers from the crowds and everywhere you looked you see classics parked, it’s like going back in time to a better era.

Apparently over a quarter of a million people attend this event from all over the world.

“Gentleman start your engines” for 2026 – 2^nd to 5^th July.

Bookings are now open and packages can be found with these companies, or of course you can get tickets directly and find you own accommodation if preferred.

https://motorsporttraveldestinations.com/en/historic/lemans-classic

https://1st-tickets.co.uk/event/le-mans-classic-2025

https://www.classic-car-tours.com/le-mans-classic

Direct tickets here; https://www.lemansclassic.com/en/