Aysedasi's Le Mans

Le Mans 2012 - Ayse's Story

Page 4 - Monday

Some Sun, Some Rain, Some Toyotas and a Deltawing....

We were up and about pretty early on Monday morning, there's nothing quite like the wonderful knowledge that you don't have to go to work on a Monday to put an extra spring in your step!  By 8.45 we were in the car and off to pay our first visit of the Le Mans week to Madame at our favourite Bar Havane for 'wake you up' coffee and croissants.  It was a reasonably quick visit as we were both keen to hit the road and get into town for 'scrutineering part 2'.  Emily guided us in again quite magnificently and we were soon parked down by the river (a la 2010) ready for a 20 minute walk up to the Place de la Republic.  It wasn't too crowded there yet and almost inevitably, we bumped into Walter and Tom again almost immediately, who invited us to join them for coffee. 

After this, James and I headed back to the area where the cars were entering scrutineering, through a fenced 'tunnel'-like affair where it was possible to get an excellent view of the cars and occasionally a driver or two, including Jody Firth, one of the drivers of the Murphy car, who James was able to have quite a long chat with. 

After a relatively slow progression of cars, we soon hit the lunch-break and we walked into the centre of the town (coming across Walter and Tom yet again!)....

....to take a look at the plaques in the pavement with the hand (and in some cases, foot) imprints of winning and legendary Le Mans drivers.  I was a little disappointed to be honest to see the state of some of the plaques, which really needed a good clean and polish - a little disappointing in Le Mans week itself when you might have thought the town and the ACO would have wanted to show them off to best effect. 

We also took a quick look at the old site of scrutineering - the Places des Jacobins - which is now a huge building site.  After an excellent jambon beurre baguette we walked back to the entrance to the scrutineering area and had a quick look around the 'show' area where drivers signed autographs and the cars were paraded for photographs and where (as it happens), the Murphy boys were again doing their stuff....

We were pleased to see the arrival of the Rebellion Lolas.  I l've always loved the black and gold 'JPS-style' livery and I thought it looked good on the Rebellions, but I still feel that the previous white, red and gold livery was the best of them all.  Bart Haydon explained to James how he had been following the Ten Tenths pit visit thread with interest.....

Up to this point, the weather hadn't been too bad at all, but it was now beginning to deteriorate and by the time the Corvettes came down the line into the scrutineering area, it was raining steadily and I had to employ my 'Jack-in-a-Pack' rain mac to try and keep dry.  This task wasn't aided much at all by the Frenchman standing behind me who was periodically emptying his brolly onto my hat, much to James' amusement....

Being in a relatively confined area, there seemed little point losing what was an excellent viewing spot by trying to get up close to the parade area where the drivers posed for shots with their cars after they were scrutineered.  We were better off staying where we were in the entrance area.  As the scrutineering began to draw to a close, both James and I were eagerly awaiting our first look at the Deltawing and of course the Toyotas. 

The Deltawing looked very strange indeed, but somehow intriguing as well, while the Toyotas simply looked magnificent, sleek and purposeful in their beautiful blue and white livery.

By the end of the scrutineering session the rain had pretty well set in for the rest of the day and we headed back through the Place de la Republic.  At this point we bumped into another Ten Tenths member, Vincent (vincegail), who correctly guessed that he had spotted two Tenths moderators!  We would of course see Vincent again as the week went on.

We then faced that 20 minute walk back to the car and what was a relatively easy journey back to the hotel, arriving about 7.10.  We were keen to get out and eat and decided to try the Italian Del Arte restaurant.  After a pleasant tomato and mozzarella salad, we both indulged in our first merguez of the weekend - most unusually, on a pizza!  And very good it was too.  For me, the meal had a perfect ending with pannacotta, which I love.  From there we only had a fairly short drive back to the hotel to store up some more 40 winks to stand us in good stead for the rest of the week.