|
After three nights already in France, we had
finally arrived at the 'time for action' and I think it's fair to say that all
three of us were looking forward to it immensely. I was up and about at
around 8.15 and I was pleased to see that the weather was pretty reasonable - it
wasn't raining! James, Tony and I made our now de rigeur trip up to the
Bar Havane for breakfast before heading off to Auchan for a spot of shopping.
Sadly, by the time we left at around 11.30, it was absolutely lashing it down.
Leaden skies, thunder and lightning and the car park was literally awash....
Terrific.
There was nothing in particular to do so after
returning to our rooms we just relaxed for a couple of hours, while all the time
the rain continued to fall. We left the hotel for the circuit at 1.20 and
arrived, with the rain still showing no sign of abating at around 2 pm. We
parked up in the garage blanc for the first time in 2013, and decided to wait in
the car for a while instead of getting soaked! The car park was very wet,
with huge puddles everywhere but fortunately, after 20 minutes or so, the rain
finally eased and we made our way into the circuit.
We decided to head straight down to the ACO's
Espace Club on the inside of the circuit at the Dunlop Bridge in order to
collect our armbands and wandered through the top part of the Village on the
way, bumping into Eric and his brother Stéphane - as well as a glorious
Porsche GT1!
By the time we got there, the weather had totally
changed. It was now bright and sunny and coats and waterproofs were being
quickly divested! The Espace Club was supposed to have been open for
business from 3 pm but there seemed to be no urgency as a queue began to
develop, most of whom seemed to be British, apart from Eric and Stéphane who
joined us there. We got in about half an hour or so late and signed on,
before making out way straight out to the inside of the track to watch the start
of the four-hour free practice session from 4 pm to 8 pm.
The cameras were quickly out as the cars appeared on the track for the first
time and I was able to catch most of De Grassi's spin in the Audi just nine
minutes into the session.
We also saw Hugh
Chamberlain in deep conversation with a friend and although he acknowledged us,
it was clear that he didn't remember meeting us at Silverstone last year!
At about 5.45 we walked back up from Dunlop past
the bridge and happened upon what turned out to be the new Audi Fan Area.
A bit like a stand (with no seats) overlooking the Dunlop Curve. We didn't
think there was much chance of getting in there but went up the stairs to have a
look anyway. There was no queue and only about a dozen or so people
standing at the front rail with a superb view over the corner! Although
there were Audi people there, no-one seemed to be concerned about who came up to
watch, so we settled down with our cameras - only for the rain to bucket down
again!
Fortunately, this was only a brief shower and
before long, the sun was out and it was actually getting quite hot!
Luckily though, the Audi people were even dispensing bottles of cold water from
their fridge to all-comers - nice touch! We stayed here until the end of
the free practice session - the premature end at 7.35 that was, due to Tracey Krohn's
massive accident just past us on the run down into the Esses. While James
and I just nipped out for a moment, we bumped into Tenther Chris (Kpy).
The fan area provided a great vantage-point,
particularly for the photographers, up above the debris fencing. That it
was available for 'ordinary' spectators and not corporate guests was a real
surprise - and well done to Audi for that. Of course, we Tenthers like to
think that it was our association with Audi in 2011 which started all of this
'fan' stuff off.....
|
