Who is Aysedasi?
Before we go any further, it is pronounced Ay-Zee-Day-Zee....! I am a 64 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 then. 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 couldn't possibly contemplate the idea of not going to Le Mans every year. Of course the pandemic has thrown a completely different light on things and even now as I update this page in June 2021, I sadly face another year without my Le Mans fix.
I was I suppose, what you would call a professional (that's work-wise, not a professional Le Mans addict), and until October 2019 I work in much the same place 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 is a motorsport mechanic (who had his first Le Mans duty in 2020) and another a sporty inline hockey and golf 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 every weekend during the season. My Inca Yellow MGB GT was quite a familiar sight at Silverstone, Brands Hatch and my local circuit, Thruxton. I wonder if anyone out there still remembers seeing me? I doubt it! 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 indeed 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 the annual sportscar race at Silverstone each year, although my recent retirement now brings more potential opportunities to go racing (as and when the restrictions lift a little more).
I am very much a sports car fan - I find modern day Formula 1 about as exciting as watching paint dry. 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 20 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.
