We made good time back to the hotel, a journey
during which I played my standard 'nodding dog' routine, arriving at about 8.30.
We decided that on this occasion we weren't going to rush and gave ourselves a
full hour of 'recovery' time. I spent a goodly portion of that under a hot
shower getting properly warm again after so many hours of standing still in
absolutely perishing cold, before sitting down on my bed admiring the lovely
warm jumper and coat that had been sitting there all night in the wardrobe....
We got back to the circuit at about 11 am.
Of course, I haven't yet mentioned the fact that we had already suffered the
crushing disappointment of the retirement of the #7 Toyota which had led the
race for so long but retained the (admittedly rather pessimistic) hope that
Porsche could somehow keep up the challenge to yet another Audi victory.
We spent a while standing in the now very warm sunshine at the Ford Chicane, the
weather determined to have yet another laugh at my expense after the rigours of
the night.
Videos 56-
It was then time to head back the our seats in the grandstand.
James graciously gave up his seat to Nane as we waited for the last hour and a
half of the race to pass by so that we could applaud yet another Audi success at
Le Mans. I spent about half an hour of that in search of some lunch,
ending up with a rather unpleasant chicken salad baguette which I feared had
probably been well past it's sell-by date before the race ever started....
But all good things must come to an end
and 3 pm soon arrived. This had been Toyota's year. We knew that.
They knew that. I suspect even Porsche and Audi knew that, but somehow
they had gifted the win to Audi - such generosity! I took a few photos but
it wasn't until I got home that I realised to my consternation that not only did
I not have any photos of the cars crossing the finishing line, but the video I
thought I'd taken of the moment had disappeared as well. Shame that.
Tony, Nane and I made a hasty getaway from our seats, joining
James and Allon back at the car in the garage blanc just 10 minutes later.
We thought we'd made the best choice turning right out of the car park to
head back via the 'country' route but we got stuck in some fairly heavy traffic,
hindered rather than assisted by a disinterested and completely useless gendarme, arriving
back at the hotel at 4.10, with our 2013 return record very much intact.
I was comprehensively exhausted, as I always am at this time and
unlike James and Tony, I hadn't had to drive back from the circuit. In all
my years of going to Le Mans, I have always been really grateful for the
determination of the drivers, both Ian and Martyn in my Tourist days and James
(and Tony) for the last 5 years.
So it was back to that wonderful shower for a change of clothes
and a couple of hours rest - but definitely no attempt to sleep - before we all
rendezvous'd outside the hotel again for a trip out to our final evening meal at
Le Mans. And of course, it just had to be Del Arte again! James,
Tony, Nane, Allon and I were joined by Julie and Andy, and Walter, Ton and
their group were also in the restaurant. James and I achieved a new
personal best of FOUR Pizza Maroccos in just eight days at Le Mans - but can we
beat that in 2015?!
It was a lovely evening, a great way to round off the week,
despite everyone's tiredness. Before long, we were back at the hotel for
our last night at Le Mans and some very welcome sleep....
