|
Welcome to
the first of my "sample" pages. Although the very
early visitors to my fledgling site will have seen these shots before, it seemed
logical for me to start with the year that saw my own Le Mans
initiation.
"Just
stop for a minute everybody, and take a look around you and sniff the air, and
just have a feel of this place. It
is fantastic isn't it? Particularly
now as the lights are down, and night's coming on, and it is just the most
wonderful atmosphere in the world. I
don't think I would rather be anywhere else, and you can keep Canada, that's for
sure!"
"I'll
tell you where I would like to be, and that's on the outside of this studio,
'cos
I haven't actually seen a car with it's wheels turning so far.
But, apart from that, I mean, even sitting in this little white box in
the paddock, it's seeping in through the walls, it really is tremendous.
There's just nothing else like it, is there?"
"Nothing
at all"
"Nothing
at all".
The above
quote is actually a bit of a cheat, because I took it from the 1988
"Radio Le Mans" video. But if
it is a cheat, it's a damn good one as
it somehow seems to me to sum up the way that so many of
us feel about the Le Mans 24 Hours, why the annual fix of the Le Mans drug is so
important. So
how did I come to make that first visit? I had known Ian, our "Tourist-in-Chief"
for some years through work. He was by then already a seasoned Le Mans
campaigner and it was his invite that set the ball rolling. 
There were 7
of us in the 1986 Le Mans team (above Ian, Robert (sadly no longer with us),
Bruce and on the far right, Alan. I'm ashamed to admit I'm not sure who
the other two chaps were - help me out guys!). We
travelled over to Cherbourg from Portsmouth (yes, I'm a "Hampshire
Hog!"), staying at a small roadside
auberge, Le Relais du Bois Leger
near St. Symphorien des Monts on the Friday night. At the time I was still
single, living a rather lonely and frugal existence, and the sudden exposure to
the gastronomic delights of La Belle France, together with gallons of vin was
quite an experience, I can tell you! On Saturday morning we made our way
to the circuit, arriving, I guess, at about 1.00 p.m.
Of course,
the big attraction in '86 was the return of the works Jaguar team and, having
seen a Jaguar win at Silverstone only a few weeks before, I was certainly
rooting for them, like all the other Brits at the race.
For
anyone who has never been to Le Circuit Permanent de la
Sarthe, the sights,
sounds and smells as you arrive at the circuit and wander around the tribunes
and general spectator areas are really something else, from the dodgy-looking
fairground rides and stalls, to the frites and the merguez (yes, I love
'em!),
washed down with countless little green bottles of beer, or, if you prefer, a
glass (or bottle) or two of champagne! When
it came to the race itself, sadly, the Jaguars didn't last the distance, and the
race was overshadowed by the untimely death of Austrian Jo
Gartner, who went off
the road on the Mulsanne Straight in the early hours of Sunday morning, after
what was suspected to be a gearbox failure. 
It made the
picture I took of Gartner and Hans Heyer in the driver parade all the more
poignant, and made me think back to watching Gartner win the Interserie race at
Thruxton in a Porsche, only a matter of a few weeks before. But
it was the Porsche of Derek Bell, the late Al Holbert and Hans Stuck which took
the spoils, providing Derek with his fourth win in the race.
But for me,
my lasting impression of Le Mans was very definitely the night. This was
my first experience of racing at night, and I was totally enthralled by
it. I was lucky enough to make my first visit to Le Mans with Ian, who
already knew the back roads around and about the circuit like the back of his
hand, so I had the unmissable opportunity of watching Jaguars, Porsches et al
thundering past Le Restaurant de 24 Heures on the Mulsanne Straight in
the middle of the night. To
anyone who has never been to Le Mans before (or if you have but have never done
it), if you do nothing else during the race, get yourself out onto the
Mulsanne.
I know the straight has been ruined for ever by "those poxy chicanes"
(as they were once described by James Weaver!), but it is still one of those
essential Le Mans experiences, in my opinion. 
For me, the
night at Le Mans is the ultimate motor racing experience, and one which I am not
prepared to miss. Not a problem in 1986, as we kipped at the circuit in
tents and under cars, but my arrangements for it changed somewhat in the later
years, when some of the Tourists found the lure of a hotel bed simply too
much! There
we are then, just a few thoughts about my Le Mans "baptism" and a few
pictures to keep you going!
Now go to
page two to see the pictures added in February 2006!
|
