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Tuesday is quite a good day in Le Mans week, I
always feel. Well, good from the point of view of not having anything
specific to do. Our 'rest day', and after standing up for most of a
day and a half at scrutineering, I was happy to have that rest. A chance
then to do something perhaps that you wouldn't otherwise get to do later in the
week. In 2010, we paid a visit to the Le Mans museum - a first for me
after 25 Le Mans trips! In 2012, we actually went into the circuit,
dull and drab in the drizzle, but still mesmerising, even with nothing happening
on the track and virtually no-one else to share the experience with - apart of
course, from the teams working hard in the garages. This year however, we
knew that there was to be some kind of event on the Tuesday at a part of the
original circuit, the Pontlieu Hairpin.
The original circuit, as used from the first race
in 1923 until the 1928 race ran out some considerable distance into the town
from the start/finish straight - the circuit was 10.726 miles then - and reached
a sharp 'point' at Pontlieu. The literal translation would appear to be
'bridge place', but I don't know if there is any particular meaning in the name.
The hairpin was perceived to be too dangerous for the cars to be belting along a
narrow street lined with houses, so it was truncated for 1929 by the short-lived
Rue de Circuit, which cut across about a quarter of a mile from the hairpin.
This only lasted until the 1932 race, by which time new track was laid between
what we now know as the Dunlop Curve and Tertre Rouge, reducing the circuit
length by nearly two miles. So, history lesson now over, on to Tuesday....
When I woke up just after 8 am, it was raining
steadily. Well, better today than tomorrow..... James eventually
stirred and we made our first trip up to our favourite 'Bar Havane' for
delicious coffee and croissants. After that, we headed back to the hotel
before deciding to head into the town to find the Pontlieu Hairpin. James
will smile when he reads this, I suspect, as he, like me, will well remember our
lengthy tour of Le Mans and it's environs in search of the elusive bloody
hairpin! We knew it was around here somewhere......
After the best part of two hours of misdirecting
each other, we retraced our steps several times and finally headed out of Le
Mans alongside the tramway when we both suddenly realised we'd just driven past
it! The old repro sign and the straw bales were suddenly a bit of a
giveaway! We stopped to take a look.
There was nothing much happening and if you hadn't
known that the hairpin (which was still much as it must have been at the time)
was of historical Le Mans significance, you would have just passed it off as
some locals looking to cash in on the race.... It was still raining -
harder now - so we stopped for just long enough to record the sight for
posterity. There was no sign of anything happening, so we guessed that
we'd either missed it or that whatever was going to happen would do so later in
the day.
We drove back from Pontlieu and followed the
circuit around back to the main entrance. It was by now raining too hard
to stop and muse wistfully as we passed the various parts of the track on which
sportscars would be unleashed for the first time tomorrow afternoon.
By now it was well past 2 pm and hunger was making
it's presence felt so we nipped to Auchan for some lunch. The weather was
a bit too grim to make our normal stop for baguettes at Arnage.
After eating, we went back to the hotel to await
Tony's arrival. He reached the hotel in fine fettle at about 5.15 pm and
thankfully had kindly brought some better weather with him. After leaving
him to get settled in for an hour or so, we headed out to eat again at Del Arte,
where we all indulged in more merguez and chorizo pizza, enjoying the antics of
Paul Truswell's second adopted chien while we did so..... (Well, we
adopted it for him. Fortunately, this chien neither smoked nor
peed. Private joke - see 2012.... ).
Now seriously full of pizza, it was time for
another good night's sleep before the on-track action started in earnest
tomorrow.
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