Ayse's Story - 1990 Updated
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As always at the start of the race, unless you have a front row position, or are seated in the grandstand, there's little point in taking pictures of the cars until the race begins to settle down. In 1990 my first shots of the cars were taken at about 5.50 p.m., almost two hours into the race! As usual, we then started the clockwise migration around the circuit, from the Dunlop Curve down to the Esses. The journey was then retraced, and, for the first time in five years, we went as far (on foot) as we could in the other direction, taking us within sight of the end of the Porsche Curves. (You have to bear in mind that a large part of the circuit, probably as much as 75%, is not accessible to the general public, and is kept that way by large numbers of patrolling gendarmes).
As the evening drew on, for the first time in all my trips to Le Mans the team missed out on the evening meal at Hunaudieres. On a previous trip to France, Alan had discovered a small restaurant, about five or six miles away from the circuit, in a small village called Moncé en Belin, near to Arnage, called Le Belinois. He was sufficiently taken with the restaurant and its cuisine to suggest to Ian that a table should be booked for our Saturday evening meal. Without a doubt, one of Alan's better ideas!
The restaurant was quite 'posh', serving an up-market clientele, and I suspect the staff were a little taken aback when four dirty and dusty racegoers (including one in grubby jeans and t-shirt - guess who?!), descended upon them. Still, they took it all with good grace as I suspect do the vast majority of the locals on the one weekend each year when their town is taken over by motor racing fans. (They did hide us upstairs in a corner though, obviously not wanting us to "contaminate" their other clients!).
The restaurant had another terrific advantage in that it boasted excellent loos, together with soap, hot water and towels! Although we were only five hours or so into the twenty-four, we were already sweaty and dusty in the hot, dry weather. This was therefore a heaven-sent opportunity for a wash and brush-up before our meal!
The restaurant was also the venue for the evening meal of some of the gendarmes who turn out in force for the race, primarily to control the traffic around the surrounding roads. They were eating on trestle tables, out in the car park! The food at Le Belinois was superb, probably the best that I had sampled in France since my trips began in 1986. We spent an excellent evening at the restaurant, thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Following a fairly lengthy meal, we then headed back to the circuit and the garage rouge.
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