Le Mans 2007
The Tourists' Story
Splish-Splash - Down Comes the Rain
By now we were about an hour and a half into the race and it was clear that the rain would be upon us very shortly. And this was unlikely to be just a brief shower, so we were led to believe. I'd suffered rain at Le Mans before of course - many times over my previous 21 years, but there had thankfully been relatively few heavy downpours. The last of real consequence was back in 2001 when we got seriously soaked a couple of hours into the race. Well, being in the stand would hopefully provide some protection....
Finally the rain we had been waiting for hit us a minute or two before half past four, (which allowed me to watch Le Mans in the wet from the relative safety of the grandstands for the first time). And when it came down it was pretty heavy, deluging the track in a matter of minutes.....
As to protection from the rain in the grandstand, this was the first time since I took up residence in T34 back in 2004 that I'd had the chance to test it!
The rain managed to make its presence felt and it wasn't possible to remain in my seat even though I was quite well back in the grandstand, as the rain was blowing in quite hard on the wind, but I did have the definite advantage of being able to go and stand right at the very back of the grandstand and take some wet weather shots without fear of my camera being damaged by the rain. In recent years I've not been one to use my camera when it is raining heavily, as many years before I lost a zoom lens to mould after shooting in all weathers.
The wind that accompanied the rain was actually quite cold and it was good to be able to get up and move around for a few minutes - it's easy to get cramped in those grandstand seats!
Although the ran was heavy and hard, it was (for the time being) mercifully brief. I've been trying to remember how long it lasted for, but the best way, I guess is to look at the timing of my first rain shot - which was at 4.28 and the first shot I have showing a bit of sunshine - which was very clearly at 4:38 - so, just 10 minutes or less. It seemed a lot longer, looking back on it!
The end of the rain and the return of the sunshine was enough of a signal to me that it would be prudent to move on, while I had the chance in the dry. I left the grandstand and walked back up through the Village and took a few shots from the entrance to the Dunlop Curve/Chicane. Not easy to take them from there as you have to anticipate them on sound alone and the fencing is a nightmare, but I've included them for posterity anyway.....
I watched from here for a while before my thoughts turned to our intended rendezvous at the Shell stand at 6:30 p.m. But not having eaten since breakfast - it was now about 5.20 pm - I was absolutely famished! As it was likely to be another couple of hours before we ate back at Le Grand Lucé, I decided to have the baguette and drink that I had wanted about 2 1/2 hours ago!
Before long, Martyn and I managed to make contact by phone but unfortunately I missed the meeting of the rest of the Tourists at the champagne stall - sadly no champers for Aysedasi at Le Mans! One piece of good news however was that the 11 Tourists had now become 13. John and David had made it, having come over on the ferry late the previous night and driving to the circuit during the morning. While their journey to the circuit had apparently been straightforward, getting access to a parking place proved to be as difficult as I had earlier predicted it would be. Nevertheless they were here and able to enjoy Le Mans.
Somehow it seemed that despite not having grandstand seats, the others had managed to stay relatively dry, and from our meeting point between the champagne stall and the Shell stand at the top of the Village we made our way back out of the circuit to the various cars. Inevitably these were scattered all over the place in the car parks. I knew where Ian's car was as I had come to the circuit in it, but I had no idea at all where Martyn and Nick had parked, save that they must be in the garage rouge somewhere. So I went back with Ian and Jonathan while Robert was ‘loaned’ to accompany John and David on what was for them an unfamiliar journey back to Le Grand Lucé.
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