Le Mans 2023, what to know before attending?

A friend of mine has been pestering me for almost a decade about going to Le Mans for the 24 hr. We've both been to the all the major US endurance races, and this is kind of a bucket list thing for him. I hate airports and I've never been to Europe, but I'm giving it some consideration, and he's pretty serious about going next year. 
Have any of you been to the race? How did you get there? I just assume if I try to camp it'll rain all weekend so I'd like to find cheap lodging if this actually happens. Am I sorely under-prepared if I only know a handful of French words spoken very slowly? What should I expect? 
If the race ends up interfering with our champcar schedule, I'll obviously prefer racing over spectating and won't make the trip, but if I can go without it being a thoroughly arduous experience, I'll at least entertain the idea.

I have no useful advice but if you need someone to travel along being useless but  amusing I should be available 

I can't speak to going to that race but I can speak to international travel. Learn how to say "I'm sorry I don't speak French, do you speak English?" That should be the starter in French. If you can't take the effort to learn that phrase your success rate of people speaking English will go down greatly. A few other key words, please, thank you, beer, coffee you know the essentials! 
It is way easier than it used to be with Google translate. You can talk to your phone, it will write it in French. Same thing with reading menus. My experience is France is amazing, wonderful country, kind people. I have been there maybe 5 or 6 times and people were always great and accommodating. 
I hope you get to go it sounds super cool!

I've been to the Le Mans Classic. We stayed with "Travel Destinations", who set up the cutest little hotel room/container setup within a short walk of the track. Waterproof if it rains, just big enough to use as a base of operations and reasonably priced given the event. They had showers and breakfast (IIRC) available on-site. Give them a call or email to find out about rates without the ferry.
https://lemansrace.com/accommodation/travel-destinations-flexotel-village/

We had tickets for the grandstands on the straight, but also wandered around to different corners to sit on the hillsides and watch.

You can take the train from Paris to Le Mans easily. Fly in to Paris, take the train to Le Mans, take the tram to the circuit. No need to rent a car.

Le Mans is really an English race held on French soil in a lot of ways, so a lack of French shouldn't be too bad. I don't recall specifically because I do speak French with an atrocious accent. The Google Translate app can actually translate print directly via the camera - you just point your phone at the text and it magically shifts on the screen. You'll need data to pull that off, but it might help.

Get ready to walk from vantage point to vantage point. Get ready to experience the complete disregard the French have for standing in an orderly line. If you decide to check out Paris as well, keep in mind that you'll be there during peak tourist season so it will be crowded.

Bucket list trip. Endurance racing is my favorite.

I did it in 2005, so some of this may be outdated.

We flew to Paris CDG, then drove out to our accommodations in a rental (plenty of speed cameras - watch your speed, even on rural roads). The hotels within walking distance are all expensive, probably booked already, and have rooms the size of closets. We rented a 14th Century farmhouse about 40 minutes from the track for less than a hotel would have cost. I don't recall the site we used to rent it, and it might well have disappeared in the last 17 years anyway. The point being, don't restrict yourself to the obvious choices.

As to the track, it's enormous, so there's plenty of places to spectate from. The atmosphere is great. Definitely go to qualifying and practice sessions if you can - they will be far less crowded, and you can get into the grandstands across from the pits even if you don't have tickets for the seats there. Soak it all in, and don't miss the Grand Marnier crepe tent.

You should be fine with little to no French at the track. There's tons of Brits there, and people from lots of other places too, so plenty of languages floating about, but English is pretty well understood, at least enough to get by.

There's nothing like walking out onto the front straight for the end-of-race festivities.

2023 is the 100th anniversary, should be big

In reply to NY Nick :

Normally I'd agree but with NASCAR going this year  i feel it's more appropriate for me to just keep talking louder in English until they help me.  

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

Lol. I am sure you wouldn't be the only one! 
The first time I ever went to Germany I was young and dumb and people wouldn't help me. I asked a more seasoned traveler and he told me that piece on asking in their native language. It made a world of difference on the next trip. 
I didn't know NASCAR was heading to Europe. Cool. 

It's seems to rain every other year , so watch out for the that , and bring extra shoes etc

if you have the money doing something like Keith said above with a Travel company is the way to go , 

I would rather go to Le Mans Classic  as I might know some of the racers and get "backstage"

Backstage is pretty close to the front stage in the Classic. And it's also the biggest classic car meet in Europe, so it's an amazing place to wander around the infield.

But on track, I was always aware that it wasn't a true enduro. The cars only run for about 60 minutes at a time. That takes something away, even at 2 am. I'm glad I went, but I'd go to the real race if I went back again because I want to see that. 

I didn't have the travel company do everything for me. I simply booked a room in their Flexotel units. I took care of everything else. 

One thing to know about attending an endurance race - you'll have much less of an idea of what's going on than you do when watching on TV :) Don't expect to follow the action, take in the experience instead. 

Je parle un peu de francais and I managed okay for both the 24 and the Classic.

I also flew into Paris and took a train to the track. (Then I got a ride the rest of the way.)

Coolest thing was running into people I knew. Small world, right? 

It gets dark way late there, so total opposite of Daytona. 

And, like Keith said, just take it all in.

I haven't been to Le mans, but I have done a lot of international travel.

• If you don't like airports, buckle up.  CDG is probably the worst airport on the planet.
• If you're going to try the 'learn a bit of basic local language' thing, practice it.  A lot.  Since English is kind of a universal language (if two people meet and one speaks German and one speaks Swahili, they'll probably communicate in English) you've got a lot more practice listening and deciphering really broken English than the average person does in other languages.  I've always found I'll be saying something that to *my* ears sounds exactly right, but will just get a confused "I have no idea what you're trying to say" response and not much effort to try to figure it out.  Not necessarily anyone's fault, but just something to be aware of.
• Be cool, be nice.  For the most part everyone everywhere on this planet is pretty cool and nice.  Even if they don't understand you (see above) they'll work with you to try and figure out what you need if you're kind and patient.

In reply to BA5 :

I've thought about flying into London and visiting friends there before taking a train to Le Mans if it could work logistically. I've spent a good bit of time in Quebec over the last decade and I like to think I'm pretty good at being humble about the fact that I only know one language and I appreciate the patience of my hosts. 
02Pilot's farmhouse stay sounds right up my alley, especially if it provides a little break from large crowds. The replies so far have gotten me more enthused about making the journey, and seeing a bit of France outside the race. Circuit de la Sarthe is something like 8 miles long, I wonder if they rent bicycles at the track?

Double-check my math, but I seem to remember front-stretch seats being reserved. Even late at night, they were checking tickets. 

BA5 said:

• If you don't like airports, buckle up.  CDG is probably the worst airport on the planet.

This.  I had to go to Switzerland for work and figured a 2 hour layover would be relaxed to get to my next flight.  One hour and 49 minutes later I was still walking to the gate........

triumph7 said:

BA5 said:

• If you don't like airports, buckle up.  CDG is probably the worst airport on the planet.

This.  I had to go to Switzerland for work and figured a 2 hour layover would be relaxed to get to my next flight.  One hour and 49 minutes later I was still walking to the gate........

CDG isn't so bad if you think like the French. Be prepared to offer emotional appeals to the line wranglers - stories of being separated from long lost loves and such work well. If you try to be practical ("I'm going to miss my connection!") or domestic ("My wife and kids are waiting for me!) you're doomed. But your hot nymphomaniac mistress that is cooking your favorite meal for dinner upon your arrival? Line, what line? Please, monsieur, après vous.

I watched Andie MacDowell get lost in the line barrier maze from check-in to security there once. The French personnel did not seem in a particular rush to assist.

Now Heathrow, that's another story. I made every head in the terminal turn to see what the ruckus was when they jerked me around for the third time after BA's lack of organization caused me to miss a connection. That was either going to end up with me on a plane to JFK or in jail. Fortunately, the BA people recognized my flawless logic and found me (and my girlfriend, and at least half of the dozen or so French people that seemed to be following me around) a seat on the last plane out that night.