Aysedasi's Le Mans

Le Mans 2013 - Ayse's Story

Page 4 - Tuesday

Pontlieu?  Find me a Hairpin.....

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.