Epinettes

Overall Beermountain Rating 

Camper Profile

Friendly refugees from other overbooked sites thankful they have somewhere to camp!

Beermountain Special Award
A tram spotter's paradise.

Current issues
None.

OUR RATINGS

CATEGORY	RATING	COMMENTS
OVERALL		"BETTER THAN I EXPECTED"
SECURITY		AVERAGE, KEEP VALUABLES LOCKED UP
TOILETS / SHOWERS		CLEAN AND FUNCTIONAL
NOISE		A LITTLE PARTY MUSIC
ATMOSPHERE		RELAXED AND FRIENDLY

Summary

Added for 2015 to replace some of the camping pitches lost due to the construction of The Porsche Experience Centre on Maison Blanche.

Pros:

Close to the tram so good for the Drivers Parade and Carrefour. Flexibility of pitch allocation on arrival.

Cons:

Longer than average walk to the track. Too soon to tell if prone to flood or excessive dust.

Close by:

The tram terminus is a 10  minute walk away.

2016 review by Mr Gove:

Campsite review for Epinettes. GearsnBeers attended the Classic this year and chose to go somewhere different to Bleu Nord for the event. after struggling to find the entrance, as we had not ventured this way before, we arrived on what appeared to be a very secure site, security fencing all around and security staff on the gate at all times. Our pitch was large enough for 3 cars and a camper along with 3 large tents and a gazebo, at the left hand end of the site. The loos and showers were kept clean all of the time, until one block was closed due to blockage, which was quickly sorted by a monsieur cutting the waste pipe and letting the contents empty on to the floor, then fixing cut pipe with duct tape. Fortunately we were far enough away to not smell the contents. The site also had good lighting and electric hook ups which we took full use of to keep the camper fridge cold. Lots of different nationalities on site, and I know the classic is normally quieter but there was very little noise. That said, we did have a party of 21 french gentleman next to us on one pitch, that were all deaf! I found this out when I let them use my electric pump for their air-beds, its amazing, sign language is multi national... Great we thought, they will not get disturbed by us, unbeknown to us they had some form of floodlighting in their gazebo so they could all chat, with their hands, and all was quiet, until they started grunting and laughing really loud at 3am. needless to say I exited tent and gave them a few more signs and they quieted down slightly, but was on it until sun up. This however did not spoli our weekend, the walk in to circuit was ok, about 5 mins and on the Bugatti circuit and then a slow stroll to the village. All in all a good campsite and I think our choice for next year, definitely 4 bottles, and the walk back from Jannines on Fri nite was not too bad either!!
2016 review by Mr Kowalski

Arrived 13:30 on Thursday, at the gate one of the youthful stewards said he needed to have a look in the boot for security reasons. He saw one red wine box and said "NO ALCOHOL", our driver gave him an incredulous look and closed the boot - inspection OVER. The very visible large Eskimo cooler on the back seat full of (CANS) of 1664 remained uninspected. So.... the rules and enforcement of such regarding alcohol, remain completely unclear and random it seems.

Our two Epinettes pitch tickets were exchanged for two stickers (Le Mans Epinettes 2016) which we placed on the inside windscreen. One of the stewards then cycled in front and took us to our 'pitches'. I say pitches, but she just paced out the rough area that two pitches would occupy, I'm not sure about the rest of the site, but certainly the pitches in our area were NOT marked. I quickly marked out the area with pegs & tape. There still seemed plenty of space on the site.

From what I could see, in most areas, the ground was good & grassy (fairly soft due to heavy rain), but didn't see any standing water. There were areas that were left unoccupied, whether it was due to the ground being boggy or just not sold I couldn't be sure. There was a fairly small area near the entrance where you could camp in the trees, the terrain looked a bit muddy though.

The campsite was an international mix, there seemed to be an area in the middle dedicated to motorhomes, of which there were a significant number. The vibe was good, campers were getting their own party on, but didn't see any trouble or 'reckless' behaviour over the weekend.
'WE ARE THE WORLD' and a few Lionel Richie numbers were heard, VERY VERY LOUD at 4am on Friday, but they'd clearly 'peaked' too early and these strange people were silent for the next 2 days.

Toilets & showers - very clean all weekend, showers - hot. Longest queue I saw for toilets or showers was never above 4 people.

Security at the gate was present all weekend with around 4 people, which dropped to 1 or 2 on Sunday night / Monday morning. The site felt secure as long as you adopted a common sense approach.

Being close to the TRAM was a real plus for getting into town or Carrefour. The village / circuit was accessed quickest via Houx campsite or straight on between Houx & Houx Annexe campsites, both involved going over the Bugatti circuit and a reasonable 20 minute + walk.

All in all, a very good campsite option. I'd not camped here before & the above is based on my experiences only.
2015 review by Mr JlS3405

We arrived Sunday night, 7th. Easy to get to, although we were initially guided through the main gates and the village until a security person realised. Probably only 30 or so groups already in place, the girl on the bike placed us with other British people, all really friendly, sharing electric and tips!

By the end of the week the site was very full, with tents and caravans in every available space. Friendly, family atmosphere, I have heard stories of other sites which I am sure you are all aware of!
Several shower blocks, queued only 1 morning for 10 mins for a shower, would suggest practising getting undressed and dressed in a small area where you do not want anything to touch the floor!

Water taps available to fill up bottles etc. Cleaners several times a day and toilets never ran out of bog roll! Hot water all the time except for the morning after that storm.

Bit of a walk to the circuit but I understand thats the norm, ideally they need to put a gate on the Houx fence so you can cross the road rather than walk all the way down.

Great for the tram to town, 5-10 minute walk, also had a few cars, water bombs etc on the same road on Mad Friday.

Sunday night after the race when other campers/visitors were wandering around the site looking for items left...made sure all our stuff was packed away! Had no issues all week, leaving items out.

2015 review by Mr GT1

We were placed on Epinettes this year, having requested HA but booked too late I think. Initial reports of unnumbered pitches etc caused some pre-trip concern about what the facilities and security would be like but to be honest it was a pleasant surprise. On arrival on the Wednesday we were shown to our 4 pitches ( they're all marked out but not numbered on this site - well this year, anyway!) and when we requested different pitches we were accomodated with no fuss.

The overall impression of this campsite was " like HA but without the Morons". It was full, lots of different nationalities, toilets cleaned regularly, always hot water in the showers, security fencing all around the site, and the (single) entrance well controlled. Its also well drained - unlike HA, the heavy rain showers we had this year didnt seem to cause any flooding in the parts we could see.

Okay, now the downside - the guy camped next to us was naive enough to leave his 3 petrol scooters in a tent overnight outsdie his motorhome and they were nicked on the Saturday night. And this leads me to a conclusion thats been growing for a year or two...we were right at the back and only someone located near us would have known that this guy had his scooters in that tent. I suspect they were pinched by fellow campers. Something we should all look out for - there are people I think who legitimately book camping pitches and do so with the sole intent of robbing from tents around them. Shows the value of getting to know your neighbours!

I would recommend Epinettes though, depsite this incident, and we'll be booking it next year.

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