Raceday. I don't re-read my past stories
very often once I've written the next one, but I'm sure I've described the
bitter-sweet experience that the day of the race brings. Years ago, when I
only went over for the weekend, often arriving only an hour or two before the
start of the race, I never experienced this feeling, but since 2010, when I
started going with James and Tony, experiencing the whole event beginning with scrutineering in the town, has
left me with a strange feeling that by the time raceday morning dawns, it seems
as if it's almost over, even
though there are several hours to go before the race itself has even started. Weird.
Having had a good night's sleep I was up bright
and early and Allon joined me in my room for coffee at about 8.30. Once
again we had
concluded that there was no need to rush into the circuit at the crack of dawn
for warm-up but were nevertheless mindful
of the fact that a very large crowd was expected, possibly the largest for quite
a few years, in view of the prospect of the three-way battle between Audi,
Toyota and Porsche at the front of the field. Having been caught up in
some heavy traffic heading to the garage blanc earlier in the week we left the
hotel shortly after 9.30. As it happened, the traffic wasn't as bad as
we'd anticipated, resulting in our arrival in the car park at about 10.20.
In accordance with recent 'tradition' there was a minor parking issue when Tony
found that his place had already been taken by a car which should have been
parked behind him, so he took that car's place instead.
I'm not entirely sure now how it came about, but
we ended up down at the Espace Club watching a surprisingly entertaining Porsche
Carrera Cup race before heading back up to the Village to join what has become
(since 2003) one of the highlights of the Le Mans weekend, the Ten Tenths
meeting. On the way back through the Village, Tony, Allon and I became
separated from James and Nane as they headed to the meeting by a different
route. We found ourselves walking right at the back of the Village and as
we came up to a large hanger-like marquee with Porsche markings, a fabulous
Porsche GT1 emerged from inside, followed by a Porsche 962. It was at this
point we realised that we had stumbled upon a cavalcade of rare and much
celebrated Le Mans cars. We even had Le Mans legend Jacky Ickx driving the
936 he won the race in with Haywood and Barth in 1977. It was fantastic to
see.
But we had an important meeting to attend and by
the time we reached our 'spot', there were a lot of Tenthers (and
'guest' Tenthers) already there, together with a veritable feast of delicious
food and inevitably, a bizarre selection of alcoholic beverages!
As one does, I took quite a few photos at the
meeting, but this year I wasn't able to get my own team photo as there seemed to
be what I can only describe as a 'panic' to get the team photo over with as soon
as possible so that
everyone could resume eating and drinking! At this rate, I
wondered how some of them were going to survive the race without being comatose
by 5 pm.... ( say that in the knowledge that this actually is the game plan for some
of those who attend Le Mans!).
It was a very good meeting with one of the largest
gatherings we've ever had and a huge thank you goes as always to our French
hosts, Pascal, Eric and Bernard as well as to those of all the various
nationalities, attending from near and far, who brought local fare to the
meeting - some from incredible distances. I'm sure I didn't manage to get
everyone, but I managed to snap quite a few for a Tenthers' 'rogues
gallery'.......
I'm indebted to Tenths member Skeeskirrt for the superb
team photo!
Compiling a list of who was there isn't easy, but
this is as far as I've got -
The time was really flying as it always does at
this point on race day and as 2 pm approached we prepared to move off from the meeting
after spending what seemed like another half an hour saying farewell to everyone
before the walk to T17 to claim our places for the start of the 82nd 24 Heures du
Mans!
Video 31 (Just one short video of the
latter part of the meeting)
