Page 17 - Ayse's Le Mans Story 2022

Le Mans 2022 - Ayse's Story

Page 17 - Saturday 11th June - Raceday!

Saturday morning was all about getting up, showered and dressed in good time as we needed to pack up all the stuff, cameras, clothes, chairs and snacks that we would need for the next two days. James and Lauren were up and about nice and early and we were soon exchanging Whatsapp messages about our states of play. Having a Whatsapp group (since 2019) has made a big difference to our ability to communicate, although we learned very quickly that it's only useful for those who use it! James F reported that he was feeling a lot better today, but still not fit enough to join the rest of us for a full team arrival at the circuit, which was a great shame.

We managed to squeeze all of the gear in, including Al's as he would be travelling in with us as Tony was aiming to drive in a little later. The journey in was fairly straight forward although it was quite a bind having to access Parking Blanc from the 'wrong' end. At this point we had no real idea why - nor any understanding of the problems that this would cause us later in the day. We were parked up just after 10 am and made our way into the circuit as we fancied watching the second Road to Le Mans race from our seats in T17.

The race finished at 12.15 but I don't think we waited until the end before we headed off to go under the track to the village to meet everyone for the Ten Tenths meeting. The meeting was already in full swing by the time we arrived and most of the usual 'culprits' were there, tucking into the various refreshments provided. It was good to some old friends (I won't mention names as I'd be sure to leave 'important' people out!). Before long, we assembled for the team photo. This was organised by Ton but unfortunately to this point, I've only managed to get a fairly low res version from him.

We were back in our seats in T17 enjoying the obligatory jambon et fromage baguettes long before the cars moved off on their parade lap. We had a great view of the arrival of the start/finish flag and the Patrouille Acrobatique de France who flew over as usual shortly before the start. It's worthy of mention that the start of the race had been put back to 4 pm (the old 'traditional' start time) this year, for reasons no-one really knew....

The two photos below were (obviously) not taken by me. They show the helicopter flying off down the straight after delivering the flag. They were sent to me (by Tim, I think who had found them online) as they actually show us in the front row of the grandstand!

Aysedasi's Le Mans