Page 12 - Ayse's Le Mans Story 2022

Le Mans 2022 - Ayse's Story

Page 12 - Wednesday 8th June - Free Practice 2

We arrived at Arnage car park after a pretty easy journey from Parking Blanc and were able to park in the first car park, just across the road from the entrance. Armed with our camping chairs we set up our camp on the Indianapolis banking and were joined by Tony and Tim. Being Wednesday, with a much smaller crowd than at the weekend, it was easy to get a good spot for the five of us. We were all set up by 9 pm, half an hour into the RTLM practice.

The RTLMs were done by 9.30 so we had the wait then until the Le Mans cars came out at 10 pm. I forget now but suspect that we indulged in merguez and frites during this time.

As always, we had that favourite time of mine as the countdown began for the cars coming out of the pits and making their way around to us at Indianapolis. Sadly, the sound has got a little quieter over the years and the ever-present circuit commentator does his best to talk over this magical moment but I enjoyed it none the same. It was getting colder by this point and I was glad that a jumper, bodywarmer and coat to keep my upper body warm. James tried to make a 'sleeping bag' for his legs out of the bag for his chair. It's the legs that stay cold!

As the light disappeared, it started getting really quite chilly and as is customary for me at this time, I stayed on my feet taking lots of photographs, as I find I keep just a little warmer stood up, stamping my feet to keep the circulation going rather than just sitting in my chair.

I was actually fairly pleased with the photos I took during this session. Overall, they were definitely the best that I got this year, as you will see later, they were certainly a lot better than I managed during the race. I'm not saying they're all great and I've including both good and not so good, warts n'all. But a decent haul. Better than my videos, that's for sure!

We were all pretty chilly by the time the session ended. It was an enjoyable session, if ultimately rather unsatisfying as the two hours counted for nothing much at all for us as spectators. However we had watched from one of the best spots on the circuit. We quickly got the circulation going again as we headed back to the cars and had an easy trouble-free journey back to base arriving shortly before 1 pm. One of the surprises was that we managed to find somewhere to park when we got there!

Aysedasi's Le Mans