I was up good and early as usual on Friday morning after my first night of the trip at the hotel. Now that I'm retired I no longer have to get up early to go to work and life is much more 'leisurely' than it used to be. We had of course been through lockdown which had meant very little getting out and about for quite a significant period of time and this was my first break away from home since December 2019. With so much time and effort having gone into our house move between August 2021 and January 2022 and then settling into the new place, being away (and for so long) felt really quite strange...
Scrutineering was due to start at 9.30 but we weren't in a rush so we left the hotel in James' car at about that time for what we expected to be an easy journey into town to the Place de la République. Surprisingly, the powers-that-be in Le Mans had chosen race week as an opportune time to undertake major road resurfacing work on our route and there were 'accès difficile' signs along the route. To be honest though those road works weren't too much of a hindrance, however beyond them, the traffic in the centre of town was pretty much at a standstill, so what would normally have been about a half hour journey took us the best part of an hour before we drove into the car park at the Place. We then did a couple of laps of the car park, having taken a wrong turn as we entered but we were soon parked and up in the lift to where scrutineering was already in full swing.
I had made a conscious decision this year not to take my SLR with me and to rely solely on photos and videos on my iPhone. As far as video is concerned, the quality produced by my phone (on the highest settings) is way better than I used to get with a video camera and I've never really got to grips with the video on my 10D (which is ironic, as I changed my camera in order to get it). With no fast moving cars at scrutineering and the ability to hold the phone above heads, the phone is pretty much perfect for shots of the cars as they waited to go into scrutineering.
We arrived as the various Proton Porsches were in the line ready to go into the Pesage, and very smartly turned out they were (as the Proton cars always are) although I couldn't help but wish the matt green on the Fassbender car was a mirror finish... After taking a handful of shots there seemed to be a lull in new arrivals so we wandered around the Place and then popped into Galand for coffee and croissants. We knew it was a good decision when the first rumblings of thunder began. Within half an hour the light rain had turned into a full thunderstorm and the rain was absolutely bucketing down just outside. James and I were amused by a chap who stood there with a box (the contents of which remained a complete mystery). He was clearly meant to be somewhere else with his box, but he had no rain protection at all. He must have stood there hovering around under the canopy for well over an hour.
Eventually I put on my 'jack-in-a-pack' and with the rain easing we went back out to find some cars. Predictably the first cars we saw were the Proton Porsches again as they were pushed out of scrutineering and loaded onto their transporter - two at the top and two at the bottom. Despite the tight squeeze it was very efficiently done. They had to remove the driver's side windows so that someone could lean in to steer the cars and they even had custom-made bags in which to put them. Clever stuff!
Lunch break was early, at about 12.15 but we didn't leave in our search for somewhere to eat until about 1.30 pm. We looked back at Galand keen as always to have our croque madames, but saw no sign at all that they were doing meals, so we decided to wander into the town in search of food. Eventually we stopped at a restaurant called Le Capitole, where we had pizza for lunch some years before, and although time was ticking on towards the end of the lunch service, they found a table for us. We both had a really good omelette with frites and salad, although it was a lot of food to eat at lunchtime (and late at that) and not being used to having a large meal at that time of the day, I felt very full!
We walked back to the Place through streets that were obviously having a lot of work done to them (it looked a bit like a building site) in time to see a batch of LMP2s and then we took another circular walk around the scrutineering area, getting a good view of the splendid green Jota Orecas, my favourite livery this year. By now, the rain was a distant memory and we were instead bathed in brilliant (and hot) sunshine. After a few more laps around the Place and having seen the last cars (the WRT Orecas) arrive, we decided to head back to base.
In years past we had often gone to eat at the Hippo Grill, only about five minutes up the road past Auchan, as although the interior was pretty dated and the menu was standard 'steakhouse' type fare, the food was nevertheless pretty good. As my 2018 story recounts we had gone up there on the Tuesday but discovered that the Hippo Grill was no more and was now the Relais D'Alsace. We had a disappointing meal there and we all mentally crossed the place off of our list of potential eateries. This year however we noticed that there was a new Hippo Grill, located just moments away from our base, so James and I decided to give it a try. I drove (enabling James to indulge in an Affligem), and we had a good meal of foie gras followed by rather good 'up-market' burgers. I had amused James by parking my car right outside the restaurant window, completely blocking the view of the couple sitting inside.... Although the food was good I confess I found it hard work after our large lunch and there was no possibility of managing a dessert, so it was back to our rooms for another decent night's sleep. Tomorrow would see day 2 of scrutineering and the arrival of the Powers clan!
