Aysedasi's Le Mans

Le Mans 2012 - Ayse's Story

Page 5 - Tuesday

The 'Day of Rest' - an Empty Circuit and the RLM Gang Ride into Town....

Every year I go to Le Mans and every year when I start writing up my story, I wish I'd made a decent note of what we did and when we did it.....  I even took two notebooks with me this year for the purpose but still failed miserably.  The problem is that I start with all good intentions, writing good notes while I'm there for the first couple of days and then practice and qualifying kick in, putting me a couple of days behind from which I never seem to recover!  Next year I'm going to have to put notes onto my mobile or maybe download some app to actually record them!

So, to Tuesday - the fabled 'Day of Rest'.....  James and I had nothing in particular planned, so it was a good chance to take a slow start to the day.  If there was a plan, it was the same one as most mornings, to go up to the Bar Havane for breakfast....

There was one thing we did intend to do - to check out our tickets with the ACO.  Only a few weeks before this year's event, the ACO discovered that they had a problem with the tickets, in that they were apparently turning black when exposed to the sun or hot conditions - like on a car windscreen!  I jest not!  It was apparently something to do with the card they were printed on or maybe the ink that was used.  It was probably fortunate for the ACO that there wasn't a huge amount of sunshine predicted for the week.....  But it meant that for the first time ever, my ticket remained either in my pocket or in my camera-bag for the whole week, instead of being the usual prominent feature in a ticket holder around my neck!

James and I took our by now traditional visit out to Arnage village to visit the patisserie/boulangerie there for our fix of fromage and jambon baguettes for lunch.  The weather was pretty dull by this time but we still walked down to the river for an enjoyable half hour of complete peace and quiet, albeit watching the progress of some unpleasant-looking grey clouds.

After our lunch at Arnage we decided to pay a visit to the circuit for the first time this year.  On our way there, we passed the Le Belinois restaurant at Moncé en Belin where we would be taking dinner on Friday night with Ian and the Tourists.  Or at least we thought we did.....  More on that later. 

We didn't actually know if the circuit itself was open to the public, but we knew the museum would be, so that's where we headed for, having parked up the road on the verge nearby (as the car parks were closed).  We weren't actually aiming for the museum - as we did the museum trip two years ago, neither James or I were particularly inclined to do it again this year, but we did want to have a look around the shop.  And it would have been all too easy to spend a lot of money in there, particularly in the book section, but I resisted the temptation, limiting myself to a keyring and a car sticker!  We did manage to establish though that we didn't need to do anything with our tickets and we were told that provided we kept them out of the sun, we shouldn't have any problems. 

So having done that and with nothing else really planned for the afternoon, we checked to see if we could actually get into the circuit and the answer was yes.  So just before 2 pm, we walked through the entrance and into an almost deserted circuit.  We walked along behind the grandstands and up onto the empty concrete 'tribunes'.  It was actually one of the more surreal moments I've experienced at Le Mans over the years.  The pit garages were all occupied of course, with mechanics and team personnel working on the cars, the occasional engine bursting into life and cleaning vehicles trundling up and down the pit straight clearing up the dust and detritus.  But no spectators.  Empty grandstands and tribunes.  Actually, not 100% true, as we did see 4-5 other people in the 45 minutes or so that we spent there, but it was a strange experience, bearing in mind what this spot would look like in just a few days time. 

The only other thing that we had in mind as a possibility for Tuesday related to the arrival at Le Mans of Paul Truswell of Radio Le Mans.  For the last two years we had managed to meet up with Paul on the Tuesday afternoon - last year with the bonus of a number of his RLM colleagues.  We knew already that Paul wasn't driving himself to Le Mans this year, he was in fact a passenger with his co-commentator Paul Tarsey, who had also collected Charles 'Chuck' Dressing from the airport on his arrival from the States.  Paul's arrival was a bit later this year, but eventually he confirmed that they were approaching Le Mans and we agreed to meet them at the Bar Havane as we did last year.

I guess it was around 5.45 when Paul, Paul and Chuck arrived and it was a case of refreshments all round - and let's talk Le Mans!  The beauty of having the chance to talk with these guys is that they have such an incredible depth of knowledge on all things sportscars and sportscar drivers.  I've known Paul Truswell for quite a few years now and have been able to spend some time with him at Le Mans on quite a few occasions and it's always good to listen to (and ask questions of) the Honorary President of Team DoT!  You also learn of strange coincidences, like the fact that Paul Tarsey lives in Emsworth, where I was born (and my father before me)!

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my 'proper' camera with me, so had to make do with my iPhone, and the resulting photos wouldn't normally rate inclusion, but as they're all I've got, I've included them anyway!

But before long the time came for our three guests to take their leave and go off in search of their digs with RLM for the rest of the week, so we said our farewells.  James and I were hungry and decided to head straight off from the bar to eat.  After our successful trip to Del Arte the evening before, we thought we'd give that another go - we even had to wait in the car park for the restaurant to open!

My starter was OK, but I goofed massively with my main - another pizza.  James had sensibly decided to hit the merguez pizza again but I fancied a change and went for the 'con carne' version.  I'd expected a normal pizza with a light sprinkling of meat but did a double-take when it arrived at the table.  The entire pizza - from edge to edge - was covered with a centimetre thick layer of very dry and grey minced beef.  If I said it tasted of cardboard, I would be doing cardboard a severe disservice.  It was inedible.  I tried to scrape off what looked more like a layer of ground tarmac but it was so thick and glue-like that it took the tomato and cheese layer with it.  I really should have sent it back, but I felt embarrassed, I had ordered it, after all - but surely it wasn't supposed to be that bad???

The saving grace came with the dessert, as I indulged in pannacotta again.  The meal didn't take long and having started at 7, we were back at the hotel by mid-evening, ready for another good night of putting sleep in the bank ready for the two qualifying evenings that were tantalisingly just around the corner....