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I
tried to sleep with the seat reclined in the front of Ian’s car but I continued
to listen in to the brand new English-speaking radio station, Radio Le Mans,
which was brought to us, with a number of familiar commentating voices from the
U.K. circuits, courtesy of Autosport Magazine and TWR Jaguar. Radio
Le Mans was to be one of the major successes of the 1987 Le Mans event.
It was during the early part of
the night that Win Percy had a huge shunt in one of the Jaguars on the
Mulsanne. As soon as I heard this, I endeavoured to rouse Ian G. and one or two
of the others from their slumbers - I’m not so sure that they really appreciated
the news at the time! At that point I gave up on trying to sleep. As far as
sleep is concerned, I had quickly learned that although you feel tired, the need
for sleep is much more psychological than physiological; you feel that you are
tired, and as you would normally be asleep at this time, you therefore feel
obliged to try and get to sleep. In my experience it never really works, but
there are plenty of others, Alan being a perfect example, who manage to get to
sleep, despite the noise and all of the other distractions.
Instead of sleeping then, I headed
back to the circuit to watch the race, and eventually took a few photographs as
dawn soon arrived, finishing the “stint” with one of my favourite shots as the
cars thunder under the famous Dunlop Bridge.
It was as
the sun began to rise that the realisation also began to dawn within me that
this might not turn out to be the best of days. In order to understand why, you
need to appreciate that a race circuit, and particularly a race circuit in
France, does not have the facilities that one might expect to find at other
entertainment venues. Putting it politely, the toilet facilities leave
everything to be desired!
By 5 or 6 a.m., I was in need of
those facilities, but there were none to be found. I had a distinct feeling
that the steak I had eaten just a few short hours before was beginning to wage
the first stages of a very painful battle with my digestive system. I decided
to grin and bear it for the time being.
As the others gradually rose, and
we headed off to the stalls for our croissants and coffee, I began to feel quite
poorly! Not enough as yet to halt me in my tracks, that was yet to come!
As the day wore on, we headed out
to Mulsanne Corner, to watch the action from there. As if to bear witness to my
state of health at this time, there is only one photograph taken at Mulsanne
Corner. I simply had neither the strength or the inclination to get the camera
out!
By the time we moved on to the
spectator area at the infamous Mulsanne Kink (which for some reason I believed
was called La Ferme) I was absolutely desperate for the loo! Salvation
was at hand. At La Ferme was a restaurant, with a toilet! After queuing
for this for what seemed like an eternity, I was able to find a partial, but
nevertheless blessed relief from my main ills.
Not much of a photo, I hear you say?
True, but it is one of those very rare things in my photo albums - a
photo taken at the infamous Mulsanne Kink!
I made a name for myself with the
other team members at that restaurant on that day, one that I have never quite
managed to shake off. Without going into the sordid and very unpleasant
details, suffice to say that after I had finished with it, that wonderful toilet
was put out of service, the French sanitation and drainage system quite unable
to deal with that which I presented it! To this day, Alan, Ian or Martin will
normally remind me, at some time during a Le Mans trip, of the devastation I
caused at Le Mans in 1987, and the fact that the French gendarmerie are probably
still searching for me to charge me with the French equivalent of criminal
damage to one toilet and associated drains!
The day wore on, and despite the
initial easing of my symptoms, I made no further progress. I was so rough that
I really couldn’t care less about the race. After all, the Jaguars had failed
again, and Derek Bell was certain to win for the 5th time.
The end for Jaguar - Martin Brundle
paces anxiously awaiting news of his now ailing car in the hands of John
Nielsen. And, just a few minutes later, the car is pushed away with head
gasket failure.....
Suffice to say
there was nothing else to soldier on for in Le Mans 1987 and
I missed the end of the race,
preferring to head back to the car at about 3 p.m. to crash out and listen to
the conclusion, courtesy of Radio Le Mans. If truth be told, I was also
desperately tired, and with the weakness brought on by the stomach-bug, I just
wanted to get to a bed and get to sleep as soon as possible.
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