Who is Aysedasi?
Before we go any further, it is pronounced Ay-Zee-Day-Zee....! I am a 66 year old Le Mans addict! I made my first visit to Le Mans in 1986 and until the interruption of Covid-19 in 2020, I had been back every year since. I could never have imagined when I made that first trip that Le Mans would become such a passion, but I know that there are plenty more like me out there who have real difficulty contemplating the idea of not going to Le Mans every year. Of course the pandemic threw a completely different light on things and I'm still hugely annoyed at missing Le Mans in both 2020 and 2021. But the good news is that I was back in 2022 and again in 2023.
I suppose I was what you would call a 'professional' work-wise and until October 2019 I worked in much the same place for what remained largely the same organisation for 44 years until I retired. I live on the south coast of England in the New Forest, a beautiful place to live, and I'm lucky enough to have a lovely wife who puts up with my Le Mans fixation with great patience and good cheer all year round. I also have two children, one who has been motorsport mechanic (who had his first Le Mans duty in 2020 and was there again in 2021) and currently works for Aston Martin and another a sporty inline hockey, golf and airsoft addict.
I'm a long-standing member of the ACO and a former member of the BARC and for what it's worth I was a member of the now defunct Racing for Britain and the short-lived Motor Racing GB which followed. I've been an avid supporter of motor racing in the UK for many years and before I married I could be seen at a circuit somewhere in the country virtually every weekend during the season. My Inca Yellow MGB GT was a familiar sight at Silverstone, Brands Hatch and my local circuit Thruxton. I wonder if anyone out there still remembers seeing me? I was a great supporter of F3 in the UK, and through Racing for Britain followed the careers of Andy Wallace and Johnny Herbert in particular. Naturally, I was very pleased when Andy won Le Mans in 1988 and Johnny did likewise in 1991. My regular weekend trips to circuits ended a long time ago as I couldn't afford a family and a mortgage as well as the petrol and the developing costs for the hundreds of reels of film I used to take during the season. I now generally limit myself to Le Mans and until recently the annual sportscar race at Silverstone each year, although my recent retirement now brings more potential opportunities to go racing.
I'm a long-standing member and moderator at the Ten Tenths online forum where I spend most of my time in the Le Mans subforum. I also occasionally post on Club Arnage and Pistonheads.
I'm very much a sports car fan - modern day F1 just doesn't have the lure for me that it once had. My F1 era was really the mid-80's to the mid-90's, the Senna, Prost, Mansell, Piquet era. I am often asked what the derivation of the name "Aysedasi" is. It started just as a computer password many moons ago then developed into my forum name at Ten Tenths. I prefer to let my visitors guess what it means. In fact, I've already given you a clue and for once it actually has nothing at all to do with Le Mans. So that's me. Do have a look around my site, which has now been online for 22 years. I'm just one of the many thousands of people who are captivated by what I consider to be motor racing's greatest spectacle and experience. If you've enjoyed that experience yourself, you'll understand my enthusiasm. If you haven't been to Le Mans yet I hope my passion will rub off and tempt you to make the trip. I'm convinced you won't be disappointed.
Don't forget to catch up with me and plenty of other hugely knowledgeable sportscar and Le Mans fans on the Ten Tenths forum.
Ayse
20.10.23
