Le Mans 2002
The Tourists' Story
Le Hotel Restaurant Le Cheval Blanc at Le Grand Lucé has itself become almost a fixture in the Tourists' Le Mans weekend. In one form or another, the Tourists have been going to Le Cheval Blanc since 1993 and this year, as in 2001, we stayed there on both the Friday and Saturday nights.
I guess this is one of the few times in the Le Mans weekend when the wishes of the rest of the Tourists begin to conflict with my own. Like most people, I'm very partial to a good meal and a few glasses of wine, but this is Le Mans you know, and after 2 or 3 hours I find myself itching to get back to the circuit, particularly as by this time it was dark, and the night is, for me, the most memorable part of the whole race.
As it happened, I faced even greater competition than usual in dragging some of the Tourists back to the circuit after the meal, as we had shared the restaurant with a party of French ladies enjoying a hen party! There was a clear spirit of friendly rivalry going on here, evidenced only too well by the singing on either side! Needless to say, a substantial amount of wine was consumed that night!
Eventually, I did manage to persuade a small and vaguely inebriated band of Tourists to head back to the circuit. We did so via the restaurants on the Mulsanne but found (to my disappointment) that the already limited vantage points there had been barricaded off. Undaunted, we headed into the fields beyond the Hunaudieres Restaurant and found a rather nice gap in the hedge from which to watch. I found it (as I always do!), quite spell-binding. No hope of photography, of course, but I did run the video for a couple of minutes and although there is little to actually see, the soundtrack is pretty inspiring, I can tell you!
Before long, it was back to the circuit at, I would guess now from memory, about 1.30 a.m. The others kindly dropped me off at the outside of the circuit at Tertre Rouge, before heading back to Le Grand Lucé for a few hours of sleep.
I was very fortunate in that I had my grandstand ticket, courtesy of my French pal Fab and I spent a hour or so up at the top of the grandstand, taking both pictures (with tripod) and video. In fact, by this time I was feeling a little less than 100% as I'd come to France with a bit of a cold and here, in the middle of the night, my sinuses were really giving me some trouble - I was certainly grateful for the opportunity to sit down!
Inevitably, however, no matter how I may feel, the urge to go wandering in the night always overtakes me and I did my usual trip down to the Esses. I was quite keen to see the cars through the new section of track after the Dunlop Bridge and before the Esses. Opinion? No, for what it's worth I'm not in favour of it. And frankly, changing the great circuit for the sake of entry to the corner on the Bugatti circuit for bikes - you've gotta be kidding.Sadly, the ACO wasn't........
Of course, race-wise, the 2002 Le Mans was effectively over already. By the halfway point at 4 a.m. the No. 1 Audi was two laps clear of the No. 2 sister car with the third works car about a minute further in arrears. First non-Audi was the Bentley, a hugely disappointing 5 laps down. One of the MGs was still going strong in LMP 675 (13 laps down), while the GTS class was led by the impressive Prodrive Ferrari (2 laps up on the nearest Corvette). The GT battle was down to less than a lap between the Freisinger and Racers Group Porsches.
Well, dawn came and went, and I carried on walking, watching and snapping from around the circuit, although, having had no sleep of course, I was no longer particularly inclined to walk for miles!
It wasn't long before Robert returned to the circuit to find me and to take me back to Le Grand Lucé for my usual Sunday morning breakfast!
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