Anyone know Marseille?

[m666 edd]

I'm going Marseille, France tomorrow to watch the FIA gt1 race at Paul Ricard Circuit.

We've got passes to watch from the pits with the Nissan gtr teams. Should be fun.

Whilst there I was wondering if anyone knows of any places to visit nearby as I've never been to that area of France.

Cheers

Ed

[havoc]

Depends if you've got a car and how long you've got. In terms of sightseeing and staying within a couple of hours travel:-

- Get out of Marseille ASAP - even the French think it's a sh'thole - like Liverpool without the music!
- NW and W (roughly) are the Camargue and Provence - both very pretty, and Provence is famous for good food.
- E along the coast and you get to the start of the Cote d'Azur - Frejus etc. Don't know which towns are best, but the area is supposed to be well worth a visit.


If you've got longer:-
- 4-5 hrs (possibly less, can't remember exact distances down there) would get you to Monaco and/or the Col de Turini.
- A little closer are places like Cannes, St Paul de Vence, and the Route Napoleon if you've a car to (ab)use.

[matpp]

I presume you'll be flying to Marseille airport (Marignane) which is well away from the city and the circuit Paul Ricard is 20 km north of Bandol, so nowhere near Marseille.

If you like beach and road action, head south from the circuit Paul Richard to Saint Cyr sur Mer....one of the best beaches on the entire coast is called Les Lecques: there's some great beach bars selling freshly caught fish: try "family Baines".

The other best beach on the south coast can be found at Cavaliere (not to be confused with Cavalaire)......head east on the coast road towards Saint Tropez and you'll find this small bay approx 4 km after Le Lavandou.

Have fun.

[m666 edd]

It was a good trip despite being messed around by the rental company we had booked.

Unfortunately we were staying IN Marseille but it was cheap accommodation.

The FIA GT1 races and support races were great. It was really interesting being able to watch the race from in the pits and also doing a grid walk with all the teams out and tv crew about, not to mention the grid girls! ~31°c on the Saturday and ~25°c on the Sunday.

My mate's brother is a mechanic for the JR Motorsport's no. 23 car which won both the qualifying race and the main race. It was interesting to talk a bit about car setup, spring rates, cambers etc. The sound level of the cars is pretty amazing when stood just meters away from them doing a pitstop.

Didn't have time to do much sight seeing due to rental car problems otherwise we would have headed south from Paul Ricard to have a nose about but we didn't have much spare time anyway and were primarily going there for the racing.

[m666 edd]

Some random Sunday phone shots:

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/Paul%20Ricard%2011/Pits.jpg

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/Paul%20Ricard%2011/Pits2.jpg

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/Paul%20Ricard%2011/Grid2.jpg

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/Paul%20Ricard%2011/Grid.jpg

[m666 edd]

and a carbon prop shaft:

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/Paul Ricard 11/Carbon Prop.jpg