Aysedasi's Le Mans

Le Mans 2013 - Ayse's Story

Page 21

Ayse's Post Script

In some ways it might be tempting not to bother with a post script this time, as even now in February 2014, as I come to the conclusion of my story, the thoughts of what happened at the start of the 2013 24 Heures du Mans remain pretty raw for everyone, particularly those who were there and when summing up a Le Mans trip, Allan's accident is obviously the first thing that comes to mind.  But if you'll forgive me, I'm not going to dwell on it any more.  Much has been said and written, far more eloquently than I could manage, so I'm going to leave it there and concentrate on what was otherwise a fantastic trip.  RIP Allan.

Well, I had a great time.  If I was ever in doubt about the fact that I need to do the longer trip, 2013 dispelled any such doubts.  OK, the weather did us relatively few favours this year, but we were pretty lucky, we didn't really get seriously wet at any time during the week.  In fact, the wettest James and I got was in our search for the Pontlieu hairpin on the Tuesday! 

There's been quite a lot said about the Audi/Porsche battle in this year's race, some of which I consider to have been pretty unfair to Toyota, when you consider what they were taking on.  They weren't fast enough - but only just - and ultimately it was Audi who had a greater share of reliability issues than Toyota did.  With the return of Porsche to LMP1 in 2014, the three-way battle should be something to behold!

But it was the fact that there were battles up and down the field that made the race so exciting.  LMP2 was astonishing all the way through and the Aston Martin v Porsche contest was fully fought right to the end.  I'm not the greatest of GT fans, I primarily watch the LMPs, but I thought the GT races were extraordinarily good this year. 

And as to the rest of the week?  Well, it was superbly arranged as always by James.  Excellent journeys, perfect 'lodgings' and both James and Tony were the perfect company, as always. 

As I write this, I'm still trying to save my pennies for Le Mans 2014.  It's been another hard year and I have one or two obstacles to get over before I'll be able to enjoy this year's race, which is now only just over four months away.  It's incredible just how quickly time does fly....  See you in four months.