Grandstand or not

I skipped it this year but am planning to attend next year.

In the past, I’ve always had a grandstand seat, which has been nice, but the cost keeps increasing. Realistically, it’s now around £300. This year I realised I probably only spent about three hours in the grandstand on Saturday and a couple of hours on Sunday.

For those of you who don’t use a grandstand, what’s your experience of watching from trackside?

Has anyone watched the start from Mulsanne? Was there plenty of space, or did it get very crowded?