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There
were 10 of us in the 2000 Le Mans
Tourists team but only 8 started out
from the south coast on the Thursday
evening. Those 8 were Ian,
Martin, Alan, Chris, Terry, Clive,
Pierre and myself. As
with Steve in '99, two others, Robert
and Jeff, were already out of the
country. Robert was living and
working in Nice, while Jeff was now
living permanently in Malaga.
The plan was for the two of them to
meet up in Paris where they would
hire a car and drive down to meet the
rest of us. With the exception
of Clive, everyone had been to Le
Mans before.
I
suppose the one main difference for
me this year was that I finally got
on the internet just a month or so
before Le Mans and was amazed at the
information available from the likes
of Club
Arnage
and Maison
Blanche.
Having previously relied almost
entirely on Autosport
for my updates, the internet
certainly opened up a whole new
world.
Once
again we travelled from Portsmouth to Le
Havre on the Thursday evening boat, arriving
in France at about 7 the next morning.
Again as in '99 we stopped in Honfleur to
take breakfast at the Bar
La Bisquine
before heading off for Le Mans.
After
stopping for pastis at Fyé, we
continued on exactly the same journey
as last year, arriving in the garage
rouge at about 12.30 p.m.
Unusually this year, Ian was not
driving, having left that chore to
Martin and Chris, as his car was
already in Nice with wife Carol, who
Ian and son Robert would be meeting
up with after the race weekend.
We
hadn't been at all sure when Robert
and Jeff would catch up with us so we
were absolutely astonished when,
within 2 minutes of our arrival in
the garage rouge, Robert and Jeff
appeared in their hire car!
Their timing couldn't have been
better!
Now
that the 10 Tourists were all
together, it was time to get down
into that pitlane to take a look at
the cars and begin to soak up some of
the atmosphere.
When
we left the circuit to head off to
our overnight stop, we left on the
road to Tours. This was
significant for me, as it was the
first time I had actually driven (or
rather, been driven) down the
Mulsanne. I took a few snaps as
we passed along the straight,
including one of the famous Mulsanne
restaurants.
Our
Friday night stop-over this year was
to be the Hotel
La Croix Blanche
at Fontevraud L'Abbeye, a place
famous (as the name suggests) for
it's ancient abbey. The hotel
was marvelous and the weather was as
good as it could possibly be.
By the time we reached Fontevraud I
was gasping for a drink and, being in
France, strangely enough, all I could
think about was some cider! It
was absolutely wonderful!
Naturally
enough, we did have a wander around
the abbey before dinner. It had
been founded at the end of the 11th
century. When we visited,
restoration was still on-going after
the abbey had been used as a prison
for some years up to the
1960's. I must confess that I'm
not much of a one for ancient
architecture (in actual fact, I found
the atmosphere of the place very cold
indeed), but if you are and you're
passing by Fontevraud, it's well
worth a stop and a visit.
So,
having paid our annual round of
"Confuse the French
Waitress" (it really is good fun
- you must try it!), we enjoyed a
good meal in the restaurant.
After that we had time to take a
brief walk around the town - and it was
brief, there wasn't a great deal to
see apart from the abbey!
Still, the cool air helped the
calvados down, I suppose!
The
routine for Saturday morning was much
the same as usual, off in the cars to
Le Grand Lucé to drop bags off at
the Hotel
Resturant Le Cheval Blanc,
before grabbing a bite to eat from
the patisseries and charcuteries in
and around the square.
From
there it was off to the circuit
where, on arrival, as in '99 I
separated from the rest of the
Tourists in order to stake my claim
for a place down on the banking at
the Ford Chicane for the start of the
race.
As
always, having watched the start and
a few laps after that in the
magnificent weather (sun, sun and
more sun!), I made my way back inside
the circuit to the Village and the
Welcome area, where I indulged myself
and my camera from the top of the
building.
I
actually had a splendid time taking
shots from the roof before moving on
around to the Dunlop Chicane and then
on down to the Esses.
And
what of the race? Well, it was
pretty clear already that barring
mechanical dramas the Audis would
walk it. Although the Brabham
Panoz managed to snatch the lead very
briefly during the early yellow flag
period, that was the last it (or any
other non-Audi) saw of P1. This
had become a team race for Audi - how
much did we miss the Toyotas - what a
shame the Japanese team had withdrawn
prematurely after the '99 race.
In
the lead Panoz, a slightly sad story
was being enacted. Although the
Panoz clearly wasn't a match for the
Audis, Mario Andretti, still on the
quest to add Le Mans glory to his
Indy and F1 successes, was unable to
match his faster team-mates, Brabham
and Magnussen. Mario was the
best part of 6 seconds a lap slower
than team-leader Brabham and when he
finished a double-stint at about 11
pm he had lost an entire lap to
Kristensen's Audi.
Still,
despite the fact that it was fast
becoming an Audi benefit, the race
was entertaining enough, made even
more so by the fantastic
weather.
Soon
enough it was time to rendezvous with
the other Tourists for the trip back
to Le Grand Lucé for dinner.
And not just dinner - football was
also on the menu this year....... |
