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The rest of the day two teams continue to arrive - Young Driver, Kruse Schiller,
and the surprise 56th car, the Team Race Performance Radical.
Beechdean Mansell Ginetta #5
Things were beginning to wind down a little
and after watching the Strakka HPD go through, we stood and listened to the Audi
drivers up on the stage as they gradually got more and more worried that their
transporter was going to leave to go back to the circuit without them! Soon we
were down to the last few cars, Flying Lizards, BMS Scuderia Italia and the Mark
VDS Ford, with the Beachdean Mansell team bringing up the rear. I'm not sure if
this was planned as a kind of grand finale, but it seemed a bit of a
disappointing damp squib as a lot of the crowd had left and we even managed
(with some ease) to make our way into the photography area to get some photos of
"our Nige" while the ACO officials quickly set about stripping bare the
scrutineering area.
Strakka Racing HPD #42
Flying Lizard Porsche #80
BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche #97
Marc VDS Racing Ford #70
Was that the lot then? Oh no, I nearly forgot, one
more......
Audi Sport (Team Joest and Team North America) Audi #7, #8 &
#9
By this time we'd walked out of the main throng up to the corner by the police
station where we could see the transporters and flatbeds arrive from the
circuit. Strakka arrived and James was in conversation with Carl Patman when he
completely missed Alan McNish walking past us. Allan seem to have come to the
town separately from the other Audi drivers who came in the team transporter
with the cars, or so I assumed.
We finally left the centre of Le Mans at
around 7.15 for the journey back to the hotel, stopping at the Auchan
hypermarket for supplies of snacks, water and even a little cider on the way.
Having eaten at the Buffalo Grill on Sunday evening, we settled upon the local
Courtepaille eatery for this evening's dinner, and the steak brochette proved to
be very good indeed, as did the refreshing beer that went with it! The
it was back to the hotel for a good nights sleep, interspersed with strange and
unintelligible French TV from time to time.
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