My Le Mans trip

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Here's a short story about my trip to Le Mans (sorry it's taken me long to write this):

This was my first time at the main event, been to the testing weekend a couple of times. It started when I left the UK on the 08:00am ferry on Thurs 10th June, pulled up at Dover and had to wait 1/2 hr. In the meantime I spent what seemed ages looking at the gathered exotica, Ultimas, Caterhams, Lotus 7's Porsches and a handful of Ferraris. and an old Aston Martin DB5. very nice. Heard through the people next to us that a Range Rover had reversed up the front of a brand new Lotus Exige at the Ticket Gate 👎

Anyway, arrived in France and the noise coming from the ferry as we docked, was amazing, have'nt heard anything like it before. drove for about an hour stopped for fuel and a quick pitstop, saw a F355 which had broken down aswell as a bright yellow 500 Griff, back on the road again and the Ultima we saw on the ferry, I never saw again till I was at Le Mans. He must have floored it all the way down, we were'nt hanging about, so he must have been going like a bat out of hell. so Thursday was mainly travelling, 6 hours in all (incl fuel and food stops) we arrived at Le Mans early evening, pitched the tents and then proceeded to get drunk, whilst watching the qualifying for the race. I spent most of my time at Tetre Rouge

Friday:
I missed the legends race, french beer the night before. most of Friday was spent getting supplies (food and drink) and chilling out. before, what came the best weekend I have ever had. Friday night we went into Arnage, to watch the craziness and drinking Amstel. man that stuff is beautiful :drool:

Saturday:
Most of Saturday was getting geared up for the race, Hat on, shorts on, and listening to radio Le Mans, walked over to the track at about 3:15 got ourselves a lovely viewpoint, just in time for the start. Noise and smell was fantastic, I can't explain it. Spent 6 hours at the track, various places, opposite the pits, dunlop bridge, tetre rouge, ford curves. everywhere you could walk to. went back to the campsite to get something to eat and went back to the track at midnight and stayed out till 4am, again back at tetre rouge watching brake discs glow, and I could feel the heat coming off them too. 👍

Sunday:
Went over to the track at 2pm, got ourselves (behind some dutch guys) to watch the end of the race opposite the Dome pit garage, 4pm came and then went onto the track, got some lovely pics, (which I will put up soon after I figure out how too) went back to campsite around 6pm, went into Arnage to watch the football and witness some stupid Brits completely trash the place (spoilt it a bit)

Monday:
Travelling back, and the Gendarme were out in force, saw loads of Brits being pulled over, and seeing all the exotica again, quiet day really, just coming down from a really good weekend.

Summary:
Excellent weekend, the smell, the noise and the atmosphere. I recommend it. the noise the cars especially the 911 gt cars, the panoz, and above all the corvettes ;) ;)

Sorry it's a bit long, but I just can't explain how much of a good weekend it was, I'm sure there is more I could tell you all.

Will I go next year? HELL YEAH ;) ;)

Thanks for reading
Jay
 
Sounds like a top weekend, I would love to go there sometime. What car did you drive down in?
 
Wow, that seems awesome, i cant wait till i can go there, i live in California though, so maby one day :)
 
Nick, I thought you liked Nascar, not LeMans? :lol:👍
 
I like racing, and lemans is cool but NASCAR is starting to suck, ****ing money whores! 👎
 
So I take it you didn't have to sit in a certain seat to watch the race like at the USGP? There were IMS Safety Patrol Members who checked your ticket to see whether it was for the Terrace you were entering. Sounds like it was a blast. I would have loved to see Le Mans live instead of on TV but I'm overseas in the US.
 
Hi, Yeah sorry. forgot to mention what I went down in. Honda Civic Type R with re-mapped ECU and Blitz induction kit. good for 140mph + was supposed to go in a Griffith, but we opted for comfort. as we did the testing weekend in the griff 2 years ago, and that was bloody uncomfortable.

Save up your money, that's what I have started to do as from this months pay packet, as we are going down in a motorhome next year.

This is one thing you all have to do before it's too late. :) :)

Later
Jay
 
No offense, but NASCAR... STARTING to suck? :odd: Le Mans should be a motorsports holiday and treated as such. For more on the race itself, read my topic called "The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2004" in the "Drifting and Other Motorsports" category of threads.
 
I would have gone... I had the time in between exams, got the time off work, had the free train travel sorted (my dad works for Eurostar) and was about to book myself a ticket, until I realised: no passport. Too late, cancel it all, get a passport and hope to have the money next year.

Sounds like fun, Jayjam. Is it true that most people there stay in the campsites, as opposed to going to the race track, because of the atmosphere? And can you recommend any good places to see the cars?
 
Hi Roo

The Best place, and this is MHO has got to be Tetre Rouge (sp!) at 2'o clock in the morning, the awesome view, you are standing about 20 feet from the track, the cars are coming into the corner at about 180mph braking hard and turn in for a good exit to take you onto the mulsanne. Brake discs glowing and the heat, has got to be felt to be believed. Just the sight of these cars and the amount of G force the drivers must encounter, Unbelievable. 👍 👍

And yes, it is true many people don't even leave their campsite for the WHOLE weekend, there was a party of lads across the way from us in Bleau campsite, that only left their site to go and have a shower and to use the toilet blocks.
Mad is'nt it?

Beer mountains galore, and the fireworks at night. GREAT atmosphere.

If you decide to go next year, I recommend you go into Arnage for the Mad Friday, every car got stopped at the fountain, and were asked to do a wheelspin, and generally rip up the road, If you did'nt oblige you got soaked by the water pistol gang, superb. Ferraris, Porsches, Caterhams and one dodge viper that got pulled by the Gendarmes for revving his engine. excellent

Later
Jay
 
I didn't know you're from Malaysia, Under18.

Anyhow, to be honest, if I were to actually make it to the Le Mans race, I'd want to be sitting around on the front strectch. But to be honest, I don't know where I'd want to camp or sit at to enjoy the race. To me, I have the best seat in the house at home, but there is nothing like being there and soaking up the atmosphere. To me, it beats Daytona and Indianapolis combined. Even though both of them are big races, nothing beats Le Mans. The history, the track, the drivers, the action... nothing like it, man.

But it's a weird question. Watch the race somewhere else, or enjoy the race on the actual race surface? Tough question. Answers vary. Planning on hitting Petit Le Mans this year, mate?
 
I was going to go, but everythings gone screwy recently. My mums going in hospital for an op, I had a fight with my dad, an other **** i dont wana talk about. Thats why i havent been here for a while.
Why didn't you go in the Griff? I know you said comfrt, but its LE MANS! You should have taken the Griff, you'd feel more at home because of the amount of TVRs that go down there.

I cant describe what its like coming back after Le Mans (I went in '99 and '00). Head down two up on an R1against the Ferraris and Lambos is just incredible.

Thanks, you've just made me more depressed because I didn't go!
Oh well, hope you enjoyed it.
 
Pics soon, get camera back tomorrow.

Reason we did'nt go down in the Griff, was because we had passengers plus 2 tents, 3 sleeping bags, duvets, pillows and everything else that you need for 5 days in france, and have you seen the size on the boot on a TVR :) :)

Bet the R1 was a good laugh? did you get pulled by the Gendarme at all? Sorry to have depressed you, but it was a good weekend.

Later
Jay
 
Nah dint get pulld by 'em, we passed one doing 150mph but he was to busy doing some bloke with a F355. How we got away with it i don't know. Outdragging LAmbos from toll-booths while trying to keep the wheelie down is soo funny. Im less pissed off now.
 
-_-
I watched the damned race, part of it, in my aunt's house.
I envy you. I hope someday I'll have the resources to make it to tha mother of races. And Im of course also waiting for pics, dude! you can't leave us like this!

Cano

very cool description, I want to go.
 
We were going to go this year, but didn't because we were in maternity. Maybe next year, it really depends on how our daughter is.

My parents go each year. My father is running the Club des Pilotes du Mans, which is the club for Le Mans drivers, so he organises a club outing there each year. They went "sensible" taking Mum's 2.5TDi A4 Avant Quattro, having been unable to persuade Audi to lend them a 4.2 A8, as they did last year.
 
You ARE Giles from ClubArnage! I didn't know it was you. I'm opposite locker, though admittedly I don't post that much.
 
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