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Perhaps
unsurprisingly, bearing in mind the circumstances of our late arrival at the
circuit, the 4 pm start for the 2005 Le Mans 24 Hours seemed to be upon us
much more quickly than usual this year and, as expected, once the flag was
dropped, the two Pescarolos raced out in front, carving out quite a gap to the
chasing Audis. As usual, I've no intention of detailing the progress of the
race here - that's been well documented since the race took place
- so I'll concentrate on my photographs instead.
As
always, those who were lucky enough to be at Le Mans in 2005 will recall
how incredibly hot it was at the start of the race. I know that my
temperature had been inflated by the rush to get there on time, but in all
my 19 previous visits, I couldn't remember a time when I felt quite so hot
- so much so that after an hour or so of the race, I had to go off in
search of plain ordinary water....
Like
many, I'm always rather sad to see changes to the circuit and the surrounding
buildings. Circuit changes aside (which I rarely agree with), alterations
to the environment of Le Mans are sometimes good, some times less
so. In 1990 I was lucky enough to be able to get up onto the pit balconies
for the first time, which was particularly fortuitous as they were demolished
after that race, to be replaced with the massive new pits and pits grandstand
complex for 1991 - I can't believe that's now over 14 years ago! I remember standing opposite on the tribunes, wondering
why anyone bought a ticket for such a steeply-raked grandstand and I guess it
always annoyed me that it seemed to be filled with pretty people who didn't take
up their seats until half an hour before the race and left them about an hour
after the race started. Well, thanks to Fab, I first sat in the pits
grandstand in 2003 and returned again in 2004. The view is tremendous,
with no debris fencing to get in the way. I suspect I may not be up there
again in 2006, and I shall miss it.
One
of the advantages of the pits grandstand to the photographer, apart from having
that unimpeded view, is that once the race is properly under way, people do tend
to disappear from their seats. In 2005 this was especially so because as
the sun dropped lower and lower in the sky, the
direct sunshine started to rise up the stand, row by row and began to incinerate everyone
sitting there! So it was that Fab and I were able to disappear down to the front
row to take more photographs. Couldn't stay there for long, mind you - it was so incredibly hot. If ever there was a year when my advice about
making sure you wear a hat was vital, it was 2005!
And
so it was that my first stint in the grandstand came to an end. Roasted to
a frazzle and in near of sustenance, Fab and I parted company and I headed off
up through the Village for the rendezvous with the other five Tourists at the
champagne bar.
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