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We
were soon on our way out of Paris, but our initial good pace was slowed by
traffic. I wasn't terribly worried at this stage as I knew it was inevitable that we
would meet heavy traffic leaving Paris at that time on a Saturday morning.
In fact, I guess it took us less than an hour to rid ourselves of the worst of the
jams and Robert had the Kia belting down the autoroute in fine
style. Circumstances
dictated a watering stop about half way, but fortunately we didn't convert
that into anything more (it was suggested that it might be a good time to stop
for a beer!), but subsequently I was to thank our lucky stars that we didn't lose any more
time at that stage. It
was a comfortable enough journey all in all, the Kia proving to be a perfectly
acceptable Espace replacement and before too long we were on the outskirts of Le
Mans. We had tuned into Radio Le Mans at the earliest opportunity and I
was enjoying listening to the pre-race discussions, really looking forward to getting
into the circuit, meeting Fab and hopefully some of the other Ten Tenths
regulars, and getting into my seat in the pits grandstand in good time for the
driver parade. By the time we reached that familiar road that leads down
alongside the garage rouge, I guess it was about 12.15-12.30 pm. Not quite
the 11.30 Ian predicted, but not so bad. At least we would be parked and
into the circuit in good time for the driver parade......
In
fact, we were lucky to get away with blagging our way down the road in the first
place as we didn't have a garage rouge ticket yet..... I'll just
repeat that for you, as its quite a significant statement. We didn't have
a garage rouge ticket yet..... Leaving aside the the years when
Peter and I travelled on our own to Le Mans (92, 93 and 98), until 1999 (and for
me, that was 12 years in total) we had always arrived at the circuit on
Saturday lunchtime, sometimes as late as 1.00 - 1.30 p.m. We always seemed
to manage to get onto the tribunes in order to watch the pre-race festivities,
which (at the risk of repeating myself), are one of my favourite parts of the
whole weekend. I guess I became spoiled after 1999, when we finally made
it to the circuit on Friday and then managed to do the same for each of the
following years. But the point was that from those early years, up until
1999, we had never bought our garage rouge ticket in advance. We
had always bought the ticket either on the road in Le Mans leading down to the
circuit, or on the gate itself.
We
reached the first gate but the marshals there weren't about to let us in without
a ticket. On driving down to the other entrance at the bottom of the road,
it was no dice there too. It was pretty obvious that were weren't going to
get into the garage rouge. What followed was I guess 45 minutes of driving
around the outskirts of the circuit, looking for anywhere to park. There
was absolutely nothing. With the French optimistic for a Pescarolo victory
plus the Brits out in force for the return of Aston Martin, it was obviously
going to be a bumper attendance - good for the ACO, but not so great for us,
still searching for a parking place the with clock ever ticking on.....
Eventually
we drove back beyond Tertre Rouge and started looking for somewhere (anywhere)
to dump the car along the road within reasonable walking distance of the
circuit. Eventually we found a spot about half an hour's walk away from
the garage rouge entrance. That solved the immediate worries and we were
quickly walking at a pretty brisk pace to get into the circuit, but I was seriously
concerned about what would happen later - if we couldn't lay our hands on a
garage rouge ticket - or indeed any garage ticket - that would be a major
blow to our plans for the rest of the race.....
I
suppose its at times like these that you pray for a spot of luck and, just
occasionally the Gods deliver.... Except in this case it wasn't the Gods
at all but predictably it was my good friend Fab who delivered! He had
obviously been wondering what had happened to me, as I'd not only missed the Ten
Tenths meeting but most of the driver parade as well. We exchanged a few
text messages and - manna from heaven - his brother-in-law had a spare garage
rouge ticket. Talk about relief! Even now as I write this many
months later, I know we didn't express our gratitude sufficiently to Fab or his
brother-in-law, because they really saved our collective Tourist bacon, and its
important to me that Fab in particular knows just how grateful I was (and still
am). So
my blood pressure had eased slightly by the time I bought my enceintes generale
and we hurried into the circuit. Time had flown on from our initial
arrival and the drivers parade was long over. I left the rest of the
Tourists to find their way onto the tribunes while I dashed off to the pits
grandstand to find my seat and my friend Fab. Luckily for me, knowing that
I could end up very tight for time, Fab had kindly sent me the grandstand
ticket, so after grabbing a quick bite to eat and some water, I was soon at my
seat with him, very hot and flustered indeed.
So
there I was, doing my best to calm and cool down (I don't think I've ever felt
quite so hot!) and along came Adam Ashmore from Ten Tenths. Not quite the
pre-race meeting I had in mind before I went to Le Mans, but nice in the
circumstances...... 
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