Our trip to the Le Mans 24 Hours was brilliant! Clint picked me and Nick up at about 2am(!) on Friday morning and we set off for Dover. An overturned lorry near Colsterworth meant we were diverted off the A1 before we'd even left Lincolnshire - not a good start to a 1000 mile round trip. However that was the only problem we encountered and it didn't really delay us too much.
We arrived at Dover in time for a coffee before we boarded our 6:30am ferry. Even at that time there were a group of lads in there who were on the beer. It seems that seaports operate in the same time bubble as airports. The crossing was as smooth as a mill pond and the three of us enjoyed SeaFrance's version of a full English breakfast (I've had better).
Calais was a bit drizzly but it was still early in the morning and it wasn't long before it cheered up considerably - in fact the weather for the whole trip was pretty good, the only real rain we had was when we were in the car on our way home. We picked Steve up from the Eurostar station in Frethun (just outside Calais) - he'd come direct from London as it was cheaper to get a train to Calais than to Dover, go figure.
The journey south was a riot of interesting cars - we saw everything from modern Ferraris and Lotuses, to classic Triumphs and Astons, to stickered up Beemers and Porsches. On some stretches of the autoroute there were more British number plates than French. We saw people with cameras stood on the bridges waiting for the exotica to pass beneath. Some of the cars were crap but with motorsport (or beer) inspired paint jobs. Some people obviously put a lot of work into their trip and we felt a bit inadequate without decoration of any kind!
We stopped for lunch and provisions in a town called Alencon which is about 40 minutes north of Le Mans. The Auberge we picked (totally at random) was great and we had a three course lunch for about 12 Euros. When we arrived at the circuit we picked up our tickets and then pitched our tents. The horror stories we'd heard about the campsite toilets proved to be unfounded - there were loos and showers and they were cleaned regularly. I'm not saying it was luxurious but I've been on worse campsites.
It's not called 'Crazy Friday' for nothing. There were hundreds of thousands of people there (and millions of bottles of beer) but everybody was in a good mood - it was loud and it was raucous but also good-natured and friendly. There were crowds of people lined up on either side of the road at a couple of points - they were encouraging each driver that passed between them to do a burn out. They were even watering the road and lifting the driven wheels to reduce the friction and make it easier. Some drivers gave in to the pleas and really smoked their tyres - to huge cheers from the crowd.
We walked up to the main pit/paddock/village area (it was about a 30 minute walk from our campsite or we could take one of the free 'trains' that run between the main parts of the circuit) - there were stalls selling every kind of motor racing related item you could possibly want. Need a pair of knickers with 'Peugeot' on the front? This is your place. We spent 2 or 3 hours surveying the lie of the land, checking out all the shops and stalls, and having a couple of beers; before heading back to the campsite for a barbecue. We'd been up since just after 1am so we weren't late to bed.
Saturday was race day, but before the main event (at 3pm) there were a couple of support races. We watched the Le Mans Legend race (50s/60s) sports cars from the outside of the Porsche curves. It was a good choice as we got a terrific view of the D-types drifting through the right-hander. After that we walked up to the entrance of the Ford chicanes and watched the Ferrari Challenge support race from there. We had a good spot with a clear view of the track and also one of the big screens, so we decided to stay there for the start of the main race.
The current crop of cars make such a variety of different noises - after a while I tried closing my eyes and attempting to identify each one just from the noise (this resulted in me nodding off more than once). The Lola-Aston V12 screams like an F1 car, the V8 Corvettes have a low growl that makes your giblets vibrate and the Audi V6 diesels are almost ethereal as they whoosh by with hardly a whisper. Boy, oh boy are these things fast - they top 250mph at three points on the circuit and they corner at speeds you have to see to believe. The overall race was a straight fight between the three Audis and the three Peugeots. There were three other classes racing at the same time however, and they were much more open.
Audi #3, driven by eight-time winner Tom Kristensen with Allan McNish and Dindo Capello crashed spectacularly on the 14th lap. McNish was at the wheel and his accident meant that Kristensen didn't drive at Le Mans for the first time in 14 years. Eight hours in, Audi #1 met with a similar fate when it was clipped by a Ferrari while trying to pass on the Mulsanne straight. Luckily the drivers walked away from both accidents. The last sixteen hours featured a single Audi (#2) versus the three factory Peugeots and also a semi-works Peugeot run by the Oreca team. The lead swapped many times - usually when one of the main protagonists pitted for tyres, fuel or a driver change. After 24 hours (and over 3000 miles) Audi #2 led Peugeot #9 by just 14 seconds - much to the disappointment of the locals. It was Audi's second win in a row and their 10th in the last 12 years. In the other classes, there was a win for the Zytek-Nissan of Greaves Motorsport (from Peterborough) in LMP2, both GTEPro and GTEAm were won by teams running Corvettes. The team that picked up 3rd in GTEAm featured a husband and wife driving team (plus a gooseberry) - and the race finished on their wedding anniversary!
After watching the first part of the race by the Ford chicane, we gradually moved up the circuit and stopped at several points before reaching Tertre Rouge at about midnight. It was at about this time that Audi #1 crashed and it entailed a two hour procession behind the safety car while they repaired the crash barriers. We decided to take advantage of the break and move back to the Porsche curves (this time on the inside of the track) where we watched for another half an hour or so before heading back to the tent at about 2am. On Sunday morning (after a night spent listening to the noise of racing engines) we returned to 'our' spot at the entrance to the Ford chicane and stayed there until the finish. When the race had ended, the crowd were allowed onto the track and we walked up the pit entrance to watch the podium ceremonies and have a general nose about in the pit lane. We took our time and ended up back in the village for a sandwich and a couple more beers.
We decided to have dinner in Le Mans itself so caught the tram from the stop near Antares. We found a great restaurant (although it wasn't difficult, this is France after all) then, after three courses and coffee, retired to a bar where they were showing the second half of the rain-delayed Canadian Grand Prix. Jensen Button had a fantastic race and moved from last to first. He overtook Sebastian Vettel on the very last lap to huge cheers from the English people in the bar. They offered around 150 different beers so we were very happy to stay there picking from the menu until well after midnight when we asked the owner to call us a taxi.
Monday morning dawned to an almost empty campsite - at least 90% of people had packed up and left on Sunday afternoon. We decamped and hit the road (via a quick blast up the Mulsanne straight). Clint and I were sharing the driving again and it made the journey seem nothing like 500 miles. We stopped just outside Calais for a late lunch and to pick up some French comestibles then it was back on the boat and we were home at about 10pm.
An absolutely fantastic weekend and one that I hope we can repeat before too long.
