Le Mans 1992 - Ayse's Story
Page 7 - Sunday 21st June - As the Race Ends, So Does the Rain...
As the morning dawned, Peter and I took our breakfast in the Chequers marquee. The availability of the marquee had one very important advantage, which I had not previously experienced at the circuit itself - private toilets! For the very modest outlay of five francs, we were able to use the loos, and this brought considerable relief, in both physiological and psychological terms! (Just knowing it was there was a great comfort, after my dreadful experiences of 1987!).
After our breakfast, we spent some further time watching the activity in the pits. By this time, the Toyota challenge had largely faded, and the lead held by the No. 1 Peugeot looked pretty well unassailable. I had purchased tickets for us for an excursion by coach to Mulsanne Corner and at about 1.00 p.m. on Sunday, we headed out to the corner to watch from there. The coaches there and back were hot, stuffy and absolutely packed, and lack of sleep began to take its toll on me - I slept all the way, there and back!
At Mulsanne Corner, Peter and I had a beer and yet more frites and, while Peter took some more video footage, I took quite a number of shots of the cars as they headed off towards Indianapolis. After this time, there was little more to be said about the race. The Peugeot victory was complete, although Toyota 33 did manage to lay claim to second place, albeit six laps adrift. After all of the poor advance publicity and the pessimistic predictions, the race had proved to be a surprising success, with fourteen of the twenty-eight starters making the finish, with a further two cars still running but unclassified. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, the sun was out (at last!), and the race finished in vastly better weather than that in which it had started!
Peter and I watched the conclusion of the race and the post-race presentations from our seats in the Maison Blanche grandstand, before heading back to our coach. Prior to this, we visited the shops to buy souvenirs for those back home. I bought a Le Mans dice game for Toby (with all of the instructions in French!), together with a couple of small model Mazdas* and rather smart Mazda stickers for both boys. Of course, as in every year, t-shirts were purchased for the whole family.
(*2020 edit - I really do wish I still had those models now.....)
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