Ayse's Story - 1989 Updated
Part 3
As the evening wore on, I began to get a little concerned about the whereabouts of the others. Only a little concerned as on this, my fourth visit to the circuit, I was by now pretty familiar with the layout and the facilities on offer. I wandered back to the garage rouge a couple of times - well, the cars were still there, but where was the team? At about 9 pm I went back again and you've guessed it, the cars were gone! I guessed that they had gone off for some dinner, tired of waiting for me not realising I'd been waiting for them for hours....
I had no choice now but to seek sustenance myself, and for once I was rather pleased to be able to dig into merguez and frites all on my own. I made the mistake at this time of doing some shopping, only realising afterwards that without a car boot to dump the stuff in I was going to have to lug it around with me. Eventually at about midnight I went back to the car park, and finally found the cars with tents pitched, but no occupants. I decided to take the considerable risk of leaving my purchases under Ian's car, in the hope that they would still be there when I returned. I was later to find out that the boys had returned after dinner, but had then headed off to the fairground in search of entertainment.
I came back to the cars in the early hours to find everyone asleep, that is those who had decided to stay, in any event. Not wishing to wake anyone up, I rested for a while by the side of the car, listening as always to Radio Le Mans , and halfheartedly tried to get a little sleep. After dozing for an hour or so (probably around 3.00 a.m.), I headed off into the circuit, for another check on the state of the race. Eventually, at around 6 am. I was joined opposite the Jaguar pits by Ian, who was relieved to find me safe and well. He assured me that they had waited for me at the allotted time, but eventually they could see no point in waiting any longer, and headed off to Hunaudieres for dinner. They knew that I could find my way around the place and were sure that I would be safe and sound until they met up with me later on.
Eventually, they all surfaced, and the sleepy-heads who had actually slept in a bed on Saturday night returned to the circuit. By this time, the Jaguar challenge had well and truly fizzled out, and the three Mercedes were reeling off the laps in metronomic fashion, with little hint of a mechanical problem. Even by mid-morning, with several hours still to run, the race was effectively over.
By this time it had become very hot indeed. The sun was high and there were some very pink-skinned spectators around! We spent our usual time at Mulsanne Corner, before heading off to the scene of my most infamous behaviour at Le Mans out at the Mulsanne Kink! (Later note - for some reason, I called the restaurant at the kink La Ferme, whereas I believe it is now called the Hotel Arbor).
Well, if truth be told, that's about it as far as the race was concerned. Mercedes won with great ease. After considerable battling during the night, the race became something of a non-event from the morning onwards.
After the race, we set off as usual for our Sunday evening watering, showering, eating and sleeping stop at St. Symphorien, where once again we sampled the delights of one of M. Le Bigot's superb meals. If I remember rightly, it was 1989 that saw my introduction to calvados. I was finally persuaded by Monsieur to take a (large) glass with the others at the conclusion of the meal, and although it took me the best part of a hour to drink it, I soon realised just how good it was! I've been well and truly hooked on the stuff ever since!
After a good night's rest on Sunday, we decided to get up bright and early on Monday morning, so that we could get to St. Malo without delay and check out whether or not we would be going home on Monday or Tuesday. Once we got to St. Malo, the lengthy negotiations began. Not only were we there on the wrong day, we were actually at the wrong ferry port, St. Malo instead of Cherbourg! We spent a very long time waiting that morning, and on to lunchtime. Ian T. and Ben didn't enter into these negotiations. Although their tickets were also for a return trip on Tuesday, they were both quite happy with this, and therefore they made no attempt to get back any earlier.
After what seemed like ages, we were allowed into the queue for the ferry at St. Malo. There was still no guarantee of a place, we were dependant upon the few non-arrivals that there always are for any sailing. Eventually both cars did make it onto the boat and we breathed a collective sigh of relief.
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