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So we left T17 and headed back to James' car for
the trip out to Arnage. At 2 am-ish, the traffic wasn't too bad at all and
we arrived at Arnage around 2.10. Despite the fact that we had a parking
ticket for Arnage and Mulsanne, we weren't able to get into the first of the car
parks so had to park a little way away. This was my cue to adopt my Le
Mans night 'attire'! Out came the thermal long-johns, thick socks and
jumper. I had learned my lesson in 2011 when it was bitterly cold during
the night at Arnage and Mulsanne and I was taking no chances at all!
I think we were all beginning to feel 'it' in our
legs. I had tweaked a muscle in my leg on the stepped banking on the
outside of Dunlop on the way down to Tertre Rouge a few hours previously so the
walk was even more tiring than usual. What with the delay to get changed
and then the walk, we didn't actually make it into the corner enclosure until
2.50 pm, when the challenge became one of finding some kind of vantage point
from which I could take some photos and video.
For as long as I can remember now, I have tried
valiantly to take photographs at night at Le Mans, despite the fact that every
year virtually every shot I take is pretty miserable. But I just carry on
in the hope that one day - one day - I'll get one truly great shot. Well,
sadly it didn't happen in 2013 and having stripped out the real dross, you see
here what I was left with. Thirteen measly photographs! If this is
what I'm prepared to keep, you can imagine how bad the shots were that I
disposed of! Still, better luck next year - I'll never learn!
It was cold (but nowhere near as cold as in 2011),
and it was drizzling off and on and if I'd been anywhere else but at Le Mans,
I'd probably have felt pretty miserable, what with the safety car intervening
what seemed like every ten minutes. But this was Le Mans, in the
middle of the night - in fact the last few hours of it - and I wouldn't have
wanted to be anywhere else.
We stayed at Arnage until dawn broke - by which
time my camera had long since been confined to my rucksack. We headed back
to the cars and set off for Mulsanne Corner at about 5.45 am.
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