Click the thumbnail pictures for lots of Le Mans Photos!
I made my second trip to Le Mans with a friend from New Orleans who came over to Europe for the race. David Butscher currently owns a black 993 C2S and was very keen to make the trip in a Guards Red 964. I booked the trip with Motor Racing International (Channel Tunnel crossing, Houx campsite, General Entry ticket and Arnage excursion) at a cost of £400 for the two of us. Booking with MRI gets you entry into their hospitality area where there are decent toilets, OK food, TV relays and briefings by drivers. As June 16/17th approached the weather forecast looked pretty poor so I bought two Grandstand tickets for £50 each via the Sell/Swap forum on the Club Arnage site. This site is and excellent source for pre-race research and as the event approaches runs a number of message forums full of helpful advice for experienced trippers and newbies.
A
great start to the Le Mans weekend is the trip down. I prefer the Calais
routs as it involves more driving than the Brittany/Normandy routes and doesn't
really take any longer. We left Newbury at 7:30 am and where at the
circuit by 5:30pm. The Tunnel was very busy and we were delayed by 45
mins. No problem as there were plenty of cars to look at. Route to
Le Mans was the A28 to Rouen and N138 to Le Mans. Plenty of Porsches on
the road and we were overtaken on the A28 by a convoy of three brand new
Bentleys travelling at 130mph. I moved over....they looked very heavy.
Houx
campsite has marked pitches and ours was in a quiet corner. We were
travelling light and had set up camp in 20 minutes. As usual there were
some very impressive camps, including swimming pools, disco arenas and amazing
constructions at Porsche Curves to see over the fences to the track. Found
Melvin camped next to a major French Red Cross base. Never found out if
he needed their help. Usual excellent firework displays from Houx Annexe
campsite next to us. Thanks folks. We actually spent very little
time on the site. Probably missed out on some good beer and BBQs.
Houx Annexe over a wall from us sounded particularly good fun. 2 hours of
revving and doughnut activity at 2pm on Saturday morning; until the rain came.
On
Friday the pit lane is open until 8pm. Garages are roped off but the teams
display bodywork etc. and are happy to talk to you if you approach them.
Of course, much attention was centred on the Bentley and MG pits. We went
straight over to the pits have parked and got there around 7pm. The sun
was shining and there was plenty of time to stroll up the line in awe at all the
machinery.
The
part of the circuit that is over public roads (Tertre Rouge to Porsche Curves)
is opened on Friday morning until 6am on Saturday morning. So when the pit lane
closed we went back to the camp site, picked up the 964 and headed out to Tertre
Rouge where we joined the Mulsanne Straight. The traffic is still two-way
so you need to take care as you blast along not to attempt a racing line round
the curves. There are police around, especially and Indianapolis corner,
to keep your speed moderate but they seemed to have no problem with my 120mph
down Mulsanne or with high rev starts leaving Arnage corner. The
atmosphere out on the circuit is amazing, especially in the early evening.
Groups of drivers and spectators cheer on any interesting cars at Arnage where
they will stop you with a chequered flag and encourage much burning rubber as
you can produce before they will let you through. All sorts of motors are
showing-off on the circuit and you can park up anywhere and watch the
blasting. Met Wayne Chambers at Porsche
curves and photographed his 964 alongside mine. Almost ran over Ray Northway as he waved madly at me from his parked
993 Turbo as I passed him for the third time. Didn't see it but a Ferrari
smashed into a Seat Ibiza at Arnage causing a load of damage to his front.
Did a runner and shot off. Bet the French Police found him in the end.
Circuit blasting is a must event at Le Mans, even if you arrive late on Friday. Around 9:30 we drove over to Arnage and had dinner in a crowded, noisy brasserie. Good value, three course fixed price. Outside a large crowd was blocking the main street. To run their gauntlet you had to burn rubber or have beer thrown at you. Not on our way home, so we passed on this one.
The
morning kicked off with a full-blooded 45 minute race for cars that raced
Le Mans between 1949 and 1964. With a Le Mans start of course. Over
60 cars were lined up for inspection in their temporary pits at Maison
Blanche. Heading the list was Sterling Moss in the Jaguar C-Type that won
the race in 1953. We watched the race from the Total grandstand and
enjoyed this Le Mans warm-up in sunshine. Knowledgeable commentary of course from
Radio Le Mans. Essential listening throughout the weekend in English.
We bought one of their mini radios from their stall in the Village. Click the Thumbnail for my photos. After the
Legend race there was a cavalcade of classics. Check out the 917.
An excellent race due to the weather which was extremely variable.
Major downpours and bright sunshine caused no end of tyre changes and pit
stops. Most cars had electrical problems due to the amount of water
entering the car via any orifice. All the drivers had visibility
problems. For a brief summary of the race check out this Club Arnage
race review. Full results
are here and here are detailed hour-by-hour
updates..
We watched the start from the Total grandstand and wandered round the outside of the track to Tertre Rouge in the late afternoon. Back to the Grandstand to skip the downpours and then off to the campsite and car to drive into central Le Mans for dinner in Le Brasserie Berry . Excellent quality meal over looking the square where we watched some great cars run yet another chequered flag gauntlet.
Around 11pm it was back to the circuit at Arnage. We missed the MRI coach tour to Arnage and Mulsanne that we had booked and would recommend going independently anyway if you can access your car during the race. No real traffic problems and we got into the Arnage car park easily. Due to the wet we did not see the usual glowing red discs as cars braked for the Arnage corner. Too wet to brake that hard. Onto the Mulsanne car park for good view of the cars sweeping round Mulsanne corner. Finally a stop on the Tertre Rouge banking before bed around 4am. Bentley number 7 still running.
Got up around 11 and breakfasted on croissant and coffee. Packed-up tents and car ready for a quick off. Spent midday on the inside of the track between the Village and Tertre Rouge. Pretty wet. Lunch was pizza in the Village and a visit to the Champagne Bar to celebrate a great weekend so far. Then back to the Grandstand for the finish. Great support for Bentley's third place. Down onto the track for the podium presentations and back to the car.
Took
us about an hour to get out of the campsite/circuit and onto the new A28
North. At the end of this brief piece of new autoroute, we decided to head
to Bernay, our overnight stop, cross-country. Wise decision as we found
some superb well-maintained, straight and flowing French D roads. If
you are heading back via Rouen, then this is the way to get there. From Le
Mans, D301,D938 to Mortagne-au-Perche, D932, D3 to L'Aigle, D830, D56, D25 to
Beaumont-Le-Roger, le Neubourg, D840 to Rouen.
We went straight to dinner an excellent, one Michelin star restaurant in Beaumesnil, L'Etape Louis XIII. Not too formal or expensive. Superb cooking, everything freshly made, so be prepared to wait. We then made our way to the Hotel Le Lion d'Or in Bernay. Simple, inexpensive. Book ahead for both. After a brief explore on Bernay (worth doing) we headed back to Calais via Honfleur (coffee break) and Etretat. Simple lunch by the pool at Le Donjon. Coast roads to Dieppe and Abbeville and then A28 to the tunnel. We thought our shuttle was at 18:30. Turned out we were booked on the 16:21. Told us we would have to now wait until 22:00. Spun a yarn about having to get David on a plane to the States that evening and she booked us on the next train. Home by 9pm!
