Off to Arnage and Mulsanne - The
Camera Stayed
Warmer Than Me.....
The trip out to Arnage was pretty straight-forward and we
got there at about 1.30 am and managed to park in the first (and closest) car
park. It came as no surprise this year with the bumper crowd that
the enclosure was still very busy even at nearly 2 am. We
already knew that both Allon and Nane were going to grab a little sleep at this
point and so we left them to do just that in the cars.
All three of us armed ourselves with a folding chair - I was
already hooked on them; I knew how tiring it gets just standing on
that banking for several hours during the night. And it was cold - really
very cold. As far as I was concerned, I thought it was as cold there at
Arnage this year as it had been three years previously - the night that I'd
always considered to be the coldest I'd ever experienced at Le Mans.
And so to one of the strangest aspects of this year's Le Mans,
which will starting to become evident at this point. Where are the
photographs, I hear you ask.....? Well there are no shots - at all - from
Arnage and Indianapolis (or later at Mulsanne). I'm not sure if it was
just because I was so cold or that I was keen to concentrate on the video
camera this year but I just didn't get the camera out at all between leaving T17
and returning to the circuit much later in the morning.
Videos 51-51
The race continued of course and it just seemed to
get colder and colder, so much so that there was never any prospect of us dozing
in our chairs. In fact all three of us were periodically getting up
and jogging on the spot to try and stay warm. I had even taken out my very
thin 'Jack-in-a Pack' waterproof coat and put that on, just for the sake of
having another layer of insulation against the cold, although it made little
difference. A warming cup of hot chocolate did bring some respite, albeit
very briefly.