Le Mans 1996 - Ayse's Story
Page 7 - Saturday 15th June - Ford Chicane and Le Belinois Again
After taking pictures at the Dunlop Chicane and then down on the inside at the Esses, I met up again with the others, and we took a hike down to the Ford Chicane where I found an excellent vantage-point for some head-on shots of the cars, and then on towards the Porsche Curves.
Afternoon soon turned into evening, and our thoughts towards dinner. Ian had once again booked us in at Le Belinois at Moncé-en-Belin and this would be my sixth visit to this particular establishment. It was baking hot by the time we arrived and all I could think about was a cold glass of coke to cool me down! Our experiences at Le Belinois have ranged from superb (in 1990 and 1994) to very disappointing (in 1991 and 1995). This year thankfully the service and food was excellent, however, the cost was becoming almost frightening! Whilst I would have no problem with going there again, I do begin to feel that, no matter how good the food turns out to be, the prices charged are becoming almost prohibitive for me!
I suppose it must have been around midnight by the time we left Le Belinois, which meant that I'd missed about four hours of the race. Unlike in 1995, when I gave up all pretence of good manners and took my radio into the restaurant, I hadn't done so this year, and had no idea of what was going on out on the circuit. In fact, towards the end of the meal, I did go out and get my camera and radio, however the reception on the radio was so bad, it left me little the wiser...
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