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Le Mans 1997 - The Tourists' Story

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Having picked up my programme and list des engagés from the ACO, I met up with the others for a Grand Marnier crepe before we set off on our usual tour from the Village to Dunlop, the Esses and Tertre Rouge.   

Yes finally, a shot of the race! Here, the 49 Lotus GT1 of Lammers, Hezemans and Grau "leads" the 25 Stuck, Boutsen and Wollek Porsche GT1, with the 84 Calderari, Bryner and Zadra Porsche GT2 in the background.            I thought the 44 Team Lark McLaren of Tsuchiya, Ayles and journalist Nakaya looked pretty good in this colour scheme. Shame about it's relatively early demise.

We left the garage rouge about 7.30 for the short trip out to the Mulsanne restaurants, where I was able to take a few pictures, hanging over the fences at the Restaurant des 24 Heures as usual!

Whose says that you can't take photographs when hanging over the fences at the Restaurant des 24 Heures?! One of thousands of marvelous flame-outs from the Moretti Ferrari.            Courage and McLaren - but who is passing who? Notice the signs for both of the famous restaurants on the Mulsanne. They really are that close together!

Our visit to the Mulsanne was fairly short this year as we were due to eat (once again) at Le Belinois at Monce en Belin.   Unfortunately, the service was very slow on this occasion and I had rotten  indigestion even before I had eaten anything!  We finally left Le Belinois at about midnight to return to the circuit to catch up with the news.  (During our meal we did have a couple of radios tuned in to Radio Le Mans, but the reception there is pretty poor).

Our evening meal was taken, as many times before, at Le Belinois at Monce en Belin. (I hope my friend Mr. Truswell will note that we were still determined to keep up with news of the race, courtesy of Radio Le Mans!)

I left the others in the fairground at about 1.00 a.m.  They would soon head back to Le Grand Lucé for some sleep before coming back to find me later that morning.  I spent quite a bit of time down at the Esses (a great place to watch from during the night), before heading back towards the garages.  Having joined the ACO this year, and thereby gaining free access to the "Welcome" area, I thought it was about time I investigated what was on offer.

And on to the night. From the ouside of the Esses. (So who is that letting off the fireworks? The Brethren? Or the Pie Eaters perhaps? Rusty and Abs, I think we should be told!            Having had very little success with my flash shots, I mucked around here with a multiple exposure (and was surprisingly pleased with the result!).

Having entered the "Welcome" area, I watched the race for a while from the white park benches alongside the fencing.  It was then that I noticed the stairway leading to the top of the building at the Dunlop end of the straight.  I guess I'd always assumed that this was out of bounds to the ordinary spectator but I saw people standing up on the top of the building and no sign of any security presence.  On the basis of nothing ventured, nothing gained, I went up the stairs and found myself on top of the building with no more than a handful of other people, and with a marvelous view of the start finish straight which I'd obviously not seen before.

As dawn really takes hold on Sunday morning, I'm back in my lofty perch at the top of the "Welcome" building......            .......as you can see.........!

I already knew that I was likely to be here for quite a long time - in fact, it turned out to be the best part of 6 hours, in between visits to the restaurant for coffee and a quick trip acorss to the tribunes to watch a few night pit stops.  I suppose the thing that amused me more than anything, was that up on the top of the building there were two or three people asleep in their sleeping bags.  Yes, I know that it was about 4.00 a.m. but this was Le Mans!!  I still don't understand how so many people can sleep away what is for me the most vital part of the whole race weekend?!!

This is the Kremer Porsche GT1 of Christophe Bouchut, Andy Evans and Bertrand Gachot which finally retired with engine failure after 207 laps.            The 54 Panoz GTR of Andy Wallace, James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger lasted longer than many would have expected. It was another engine failure casualty, after 236 laps.            Jim Downing is at the wheel of the Mazda LMP he shared with Franck Freon and Yojiro Terada. It finished 17th and last.

Well, you can watch the cars actually on the track, or on the "TV" - or you can even do both - sometimes!

Eventually I dragged myself away from this view and moved across again to the tribunes, where a group of Japanese Nissan fans were continually singing and chanting away opposite the pit of their one remaining car.  I couldn't help but marvel at their resilience (the fans that is, not the R390s!).  

The 61 ORECA Viper of Olivier Beretta, Philippe Gache and Dominique Dupuy went out in an accident after 263 laps.            Also seen here at Dunlop, the 43 Schnitzer McLaren of Peter Kox, Roberto Ravaglia and Eric Helary made the podium in 3rd place. 

By 5 a.m. I was down at the Ford Chicane, feeling a lot better than I had earlier at Le Belinois, if a little tired by now.  As dawn fast approached, I made my way back along the tribunes, picking my way through the slumbering bodies and reminding myself that there were still over 10 hours to go!  Surprise, surprise, I couldn't resist heading back to the "Welcome" area to have another look at the cars from there as it gradually got lighter.  At that time of the day, bearing in mind the hundreds of thousands of spectators who throng the track at both the start and finish of the race, it is incredible how few people are still wandering around like me at 6 on Sunday morning.

I eventually dragged myself away from my lofty vigil and looked around the stalls that remained open for some t-shirts and things to take home for the kids.  As I walked back into the Village at about 7.30 I immediately bumped into Ian, Martin and Peter, who had just returned to the circuit from Le Grand Lucé, leaving Jim, Alan and Geoff having a lie-in.

After getting the others into the "Welcome" area for a quick look it was back to the car for the trip back to Le Grand Lucé for breakfast.  It was at this time that I realised it hadn't been a good idea to wear that brand new pair of trainers to Le Mans - the blisters took several weeks to disappear!

Rather later in the day, here is the same car having just rounded Indianapolis.            One of my favourites from 1997. On his last tour, Michele Alboreto acknowledges the crowd and the marshals on the way to the victory he shared with Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen in the "Lucky 7" Joest TWR Porsche.

After heading back to the circuit and indulging in another Tourist essential - champagne - we decided that, just for a change, we would head out to Indianapolis and Arnage and we would stay to watch the end of the race from there.  It was just before we left the Esses to go back to the cars for the trip out to Indianapolis (while Pierre and I were waiting for the others to return from their visit to see the girls!), that we heard of the demise of Porsche GT1 driven by Bob Wollek.  It wasn't long before the second of the works Porsches was lost in a fiery ending on the Mulsanne, leaving the Alboreto, Johansson and Kristensen Joest Porsche out in front.

Having waited all weekend, I finally indulged in a couple of merguez for my lunch - and jolly good they were too!  I was able to get some quite nice shots of the cars as they finished the race, including the one above of Michele Alboreto acknowledging his victory to the crowd.  As far as pictures were concerned in 1997, my real difficulty here was in deciding which ones to leave out!

Back at our hotel on Sunday evening in Richelieu, there's nothing like a few glasses of calvados to round off the day - who needs sleep anyway?!            And to finish, the famous floating chateau at it's moorings at Azay Le Rideau. (!)

The Tourists stayed overnight on Sunday at the Hotel Le Puits Doré in Richelieu, a very nice hotel in a very nice place (although the menu was a little spartan for our tastes!).  The following day, quite refreshed, we paid a visit to the chateau at Azay Le Rideau, before heading off for a round of crocque mesdames at Saumur.  After filling all available crevices in the cars with wine at the hypermarket it was off to Honfleur where we had another meal!  (Anyone would think we do nothing but eat, but I've compressed several hours on Monday into just a couple of lines here!).  By this time the weather had finally broken and it was raining.  But who cared now?

In the end it was bit of a dash back to Le Havre to catch the ferry - a dash which proved to be rather pointless when the boarding was delayed by over an hour, so that we didn't get onto the Pride of Portsmouth until midnight.

I guess that's just about it for Le Mans 1997.  We all went back Ian's home and went our separate ways.  I got home just about in time on the Tuesday morning to say goodbye to the boys before they left for school.  1997 was definitely a good year.  A pretty good race, in good weather and, as always for me, spent in good company.  Not only that, but I found the "Welcome" building as well!  I knew I would be back......