For the trip of a lifetime to the Le Mans centenary event at Le Man Classic, what better vehicle to take than its namesake? TV presenter and CamperKing video presenter, Paul Cowland ticked the ‘5-star’ box and did the weekend in style by travelling to and staying at the world-famous race track in one of our CamperKing Le Mans campervans...
"Certain phone calls need very little thinking about. The one that went ‘Would you like to come to the 100th Le Mans Classic and make a film about the biggest ever historic Bentley race?’ was one of them. I’d already packed my toothbrush and spare pants before I’d put the receiver down, which just left the small matter of where I was going to stay.
As you might expect of an iconic race celebrating 100 years of high-octane success, finding accommodation within 50 miles proved to be somewhat problematic. Hotels were either fully booked or wanting many hundreds of Euros a night, and even the usual trusty Airbnb alternatives were proving to either be too far away – or the equivalent to the national debt of a small country…
Then inspiration hit over a cup of tea with CamperKing founder, Spencer. ‘Why not take a Le Mans to Le Mans?’ he quipped. And before he’d had time to reconsider, I’d booked my camping, my ferry and a van out of the fleet!
Find out more about the Le Mans model Paul took...
I decided to have a quick trial run the evening before my trip, staying at the fantastic Fir Tree Farm campsite, right next to CK HQ. It’s where we have been filming many of our videos for CamperKing, and as well as million-dollar views of the lake and valley, it also boasts simply fantastic loos and showers. Talk about starting the weekend right! Then, it was simply a dash down to the ferry at Dover, a quick hop over the water and a few hours of AutoRoute down to Le Mans.
Paul has recently been filming our new model series...
After a great night’s sleep in the van and a hearty breakfast, I soon blasted the miles away. The T6.1 platform is such a great motorway mile eater, and with the armrests folded down and the cruise control set to the speed limit, I soon arrived at the iconic Porsche curves – getting a pretty decent 36 mpg for my trouble.
Setting up camp took all of about 30 seconds, and after chatting with my neighbours in their tents, it was clear that bringing a well-equipped van had been the smart choice. With no hook-up and a ton of gear to charge, I was very glad of the in-built solar panels to keep the fridge and phones in peak condition. After all, nobody wants warm milk on their cornflakes, do they? How very un-British.
The rest of the weekend passed in a blur. 15-hour shoot days and a hectic schedule saw me getting back to the van around 10 pm every night, to be serenaded by the incredible sound of historic race cars navigating the nearby turns at full chat. It’s the most wonderful noise to fall asleep to, which isn’t hard when your phone tells you you’ve done 26,000 steps that day. Le Mans is a big place, it turns out – and I was very grateful to have a ‘proper’ bed to get into each night.
And with the event done and dusted, the Le Mans and I were leaving Le Mans. As a travel companion for any race, it’s pretty hard to beat. An epic cruiser that’s easy to park and place with fantastic interior appointments and lots of thoughtful touches that make van life cosy and comfortable. I can feel a bit of a theme developing here. Now, who wants to see if I can persuade the guys to let me take a Monte Carlo to Monte Carlo next year?"
