13page2

Predictably, I was up and about rather early on Sunday morning. I'm awake by 6 am most mornings due to my work routine and today was no exception. We had a busy day in store, what with the drive down to Le Mans from Caen and then into the city for the first scrutineering session, so I was up and ready to go by 8 am. We had made the decision the day before to try and get on the road early so we could reach our hotel in Le Mans before the manager departed for the day. If we were able to do this it would mean that we could leave all of our bags in the hotel instead of having to leave them in the boot of the car in a car park in the centre of Le Mans for the rest of the day. It has always bothered me slightly leaving all my worldly goods in the car - I much prefer to have them somewhere safely stored!

James soon joined me outside and we loaded the car up again and set off for Le Mans. As usual, we had decided to avoid the autoroute, preferring instead to take the scenic roads. There is a lot of very beautiful countryside in this part of France and it has always seemed a shame to us to miss it just for the sake of saving 5 or 10 minutes using the autoroute. Again, as usual, I was surprised by how little traffic we encountered and we were on the outskirts of Le Mans by 10.30. Just a few minutes later we pulled into the car park of the hotel that has been my home for the last four visits to Le Mans. Happily, although the manager was just about to leave and we couldn't get access to our rooms as they were still being cleaned, he was perfectly happy for us to leave our bags in his office.

The first surprise of the week came just a few moments later when our German friend Walter, better known to some on Ten Tenths as 'lemansfan' arrived with his friends Ton, aka 'Mr Orange' and Kurt. Walter had finally worked out where we were staying and had hoped to beat us there. He duly returned to James the umbrella James had loaned him at the Silverstone WEC race in April, plus some chocolates as a thank you! It was a very nice surprise for both of us to see Walter and Ton and their friend Kurt so early in the Le Mans trip. They headed off to Le Mans to get ready for the start of scrutineering and James and I were soon back in the car ready to do the same.

So it was that Emily (James' sat nav), took took us into the centre of Le Mans for the first time this year and we soon located the same car park we used this time last year, handily placed for the scrutineering which was again being held in the Place de la République. I guess it was almost inevitable that the first people we bumped into when we walked into the square were.... yes, Walter, Ton and Kurt! We joined them for coffee in exactly the same way as we had last year - and in the same place, the Galand restaurant.

By this time we were also feeling pretty hungry, having had absolutely nothing to eat since our meal on the ferry the previous evening. So we wandered down into the town in search of food. Of course, being a Sunday and despite the large numbers of people coming into the centre of the town for scrutineering, many of the shops and restaurants were closed, however we finally found a restaurant that not only had a decent-looking menu - but was also open.... Unfortunately, despite the power of the internet, I've not been able to identify the restaurant again and 'report' it here, which is a pity as the food was very good. James had a terrific-looking omelette (which he said tasted as good as it looked) while I had a very tasty pizza. All of this washed down with a nice cold beer, setting us up very nicely indeed for the rest of the day.

And so it was that scrutineering got under way and we watched from various places, although being a Sunday the city was packed with locals. Interest heightened of course whenever one of the big teams arrived, such as Toyota and later on in the afternoon the SRT team with it's two very smart looking Vipers. As we had done last year, we again tended to watch in the area where the cars were arriving from the circuit as the crush in the actual scrutineering area was so dense.

We did walk back there though at about 6.30 when the Toyota cars, drivers and team members started to assemble for the traditional team photographs. The crowd at the barriers was about ten deep by this time and normal photography was impossible except for those at the front, however I did manage to get a few shots with my iPhone's camera by holding it above the heads of the throng in front of me. I was actually quite surprised that I managed to get such good results!

It must have been at about this time that we bumped into another Tenther, Eric, aka 'Batmobile', who has the very significant advantage of not only being French, but also lives in Le Mans! A thoroughly splendid fellow, Eric has been one of the French Ten Tenths hosts at Le Mans each year, gradually coming much more to the fore with his advice and news updates. This year he had gone much further than before - but more on that later.... We spent half an hour or so in his company in the by now bright and warm sunshine. With the last of the cars having gone through we decided it was time to head back to the car and go back to the hotel to book in and get our stuff sorted out in our rooms.

This year on Tenths there has more interest than ever in the subject of where people had chosen to 'camp' at Le Mans. As regular readers will be aware, I don't do the camping 'thing' - and if I'm honest, I haven't really done it much in the past either. I like to have reasonably mod cons and I'm not bothered at all if I collect the label 'namby-pamby' if that means I can spend my Le Mans week enjoying the facilities that a small hotel can provide. I understand that for some, being under canvas at the circuit or near to it is an essential part of the experience, however for me, missing that does not detract from my Le Mans enjoyment one jot! Each to his own....

It was really good to get settled in - everything in it's place, i.e. the same place it was in last year. I was actually in a room I'd been in before for the first time here, the same one as in 2011 One of the things that James and I are conscious of during the build up to the race is the need to stock up on sleep, ready for the all-nighter over the weekend, so we were quickly out again for the short trip up the road to the Hippo Grill, where we were able to sit outside on a warm and pleasant evening enjoying our meal with a couple of beers. After that it was back to the hotel to begin to stockpile that sleep.