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. I didn't think much of it after that, however about 7 years ago I acquired some more tickets and it then became it a bit of a quest to obtain more. I've reached the stage now in June 2026 that I have something close to 340 of them, dating back to my earliest ticket from 1957 and I've called a halt on my acquisitions!
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 39 years I've been going has seen huge changes 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, totally lacking the imagination and artistry of my early days at the race. More importantly, the paper ticket is now effectively a thing of the past, as most people now buy their tickets electronically and only dinosaurs like me insist on having paper copies. I dare say the ACO will stop printing them eventually.
By the way, the images are all 'thumbnails' which will take you to larger images of the tickets. The tickets are ordered initially for the years that I have been to Le Mans, i.e. from 1986 to 2026. After that are tickets that I have acquired for the years prior to 1986.
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
2010-2026
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.
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
