Le Mans disaster stories
Discussion
What problems have you had either at Le Mans or that have stopped you attending.
Mine are - G/F had to have an operation days before.
And this year - she had fractured her arm near the shoulder ..
But we are still going this time.
Hope the weather is warm - the water in the fountains will be cold otherwise :D
What's your stories :
Mine are - G/F had to have an operation days before.
And this year - she had fractured her arm near the shoulder ..
But we are still going this time.
Hope the weather is warm - the water in the fountains will be cold otherwise :D
What's your stories :
One group have suffered a few spills on the way to LM, thankfully without any serious outcome.
One pairing crashed a Maestro one year, over night crossing, few beers, lack of sleep...... Car left the road and side swiped a tree, ripping the front corner of the car right back to the B pillar and rolled. One broken arm and a very battered ego...
Another year, a mate knocked off his bike in Pompey, before we even got the ferry.
Another year, same guy dropped his bike on the way to LM, I dropped him back to Dippe the next day after an overnight in hopital, his leather were worn with pride at the top of oiur flag pole!
Few other minor spills, break downs, etc, etc over the years.
Drive carefully everyone!
One pairing crashed a Maestro one year, over night crossing, few beers, lack of sleep...... Car left the road and side swiped a tree, ripping the front corner of the car right back to the B pillar and rolled. One broken arm and a very battered ego...
Another year, a mate knocked off his bike in Pompey, before we even got the ferry.
Another year, same guy dropped his bike on the way to LM, I dropped him back to Dippe the next day after an overnight in hopital, his leather were worn with pride at the top of oiur flag pole!
Few other minor spills, break downs, etc, etc over the years.
Drive carefully everyone!
Mate of mine falls asleep waiting for us to finish our bungy jumping. Has been left in charge of several bags containing passports, wallets etc. We don't see him when we finish the bungy since he is curled up in a corner so we make our way back to campsite. This is c.1.30 am. He wakes up c.2. am, (still v.v. drunk) and staggers off without any of said bags. Decides to take shortcut down through the back of the pit lane - climbs 18 feet high chainlink fence. On other side, is met by french security guard with large rottweiler. Panicks and attempts to climb back over chainlink fence. Gets to top, throws himself over and forgets to remain in contact with fence. Hits ground headfirst and is out cold. Wakes up in local hospital while monseuir le medicine is stitching head up. Returns to campsite and crashes out in tent. We all wake up in the morning and ask "where's the bags with passports etc then". Response is not what we want to hear - but take pity since major headwound. Decide to tackle problem of no passports, wallets, tickets etc by getting stuck into Kronenburg's finest. Worries dissipate soon after. Some hours later we all walk passed the bungy. One bright spark happens to ask a lounging security guard if he happens to have picked up any bags with passports etc. He looks at us as if we were mad (as if!) gives the old french shrug and then presents us with all bags, passports, wallets etc.
The moral of the story - instead of chickening out on the bungy and falling asleep, do it!!
There's more - Sparky, if you read this feel free to relate the many stories you have about breakdowns. The one about the fuel pump and the courier is probably the best!!
The moral of the story - instead of chickening out on the bungy and falling asleep, do it!!
There's more - Sparky, if you read this feel free to relate the many stories you have about breakdowns. The one about the fuel pump and the courier is probably the best!!
Mate of mine falls asleep waiting for us to finish our bungy jumping. Has been left in charge of several bags containing passports, wallets etc. We don't see him when we finish the bungy since he is curled up in a corner so we make our way back to campsite. This is c.1.30 am. He wakes up c.2. am, (still v.v. drunk) and staggers off without any of said bags. Decides to take shortcut down through the back of the pit lane - climbs 18 feet high chainlink fence. On other side, is met by french security guard with large rottweiler. Panicks and attempts to climb back over chainlink fence. Gets to top, throws himself over and forgets to remain in contact with fence. Hits ground headfirst and is out cold. Wakes up in local hospital while monseuir le medicine is stitching head up. Returns to campsite and crashes out in tent. We all wake up in the morning and ask "where's the bags with passports etc then". Response is not what we want to hear - but take pity since major headwound. Decide to tackle problem of no passports, wallets, tickets etc by getting stuck into Kronenburg's finest. Worries dissipate soon after. Some hours later we all walk passed the bungy. One bright spark happens to ask a lounging security guard if he happens to have picked up any bags with passports etc. He looks at us as if we were mad (as if!) gives the old french shrug and then presents us with all bags, passports, wallets etc.
The moral of the story - instead of chickening out on the bungy and falling asleep, do it!!
There's more - Sparky, if you read this feel free to relate the many stories you have about breakdowns. The one about the fuel pump and the courier is probably the best!!
The moral of the story - instead of chickening out on the bungy and falling asleep, do it!!
There's more - Sparky, if you read this feel free to relate the many stories you have about breakdowns. The one about the fuel pump and the courier is probably the best!!
1997…….no horrific injuries to people…….only the car suffered.
After returning to the campsite, several hours after the race has finished, in the usual drunken state, my mate continues his relentless pestering of 'let me have a drive of your car'.
In my drunken state I relent and let him have the keys. That’s it…….off he hoons kicking up a rooster trail of dust across the campsites. Within minutes he has an audience, building his ego into attempting more and more wild slides and handbrake turns. I believe we were in Houx Annex (the one behind the concrete wall with allocated pitches).
At one side of the campsite was an un-useable area of silty sandy swamp land. Engaging diff locks off he goes to explore. By this time the crowd are following him and set up grandstand seats around the edge of the swamp watching him power slide his way around. Suddenly the cheers change tone…..
The car has ground to a halt up to its axels in mud. Wading around in the swamp the damage is assessed and it is decided to limp the car back to firmer ground.
Upon inspection we discover one tyre gashed in the side wall (cannot be repaired), another tyre is flat and off the bead but slowly takes on air from the fag lighter pump, but the crunch is the front drive shifts ripped out the hubs minus the retaining clips.
I just sat down and tucked into another crate of beer, whilst I left him to fix it as best he could. Which involved a lot of scrounging from our generous neighbours.
The car was finally 'road worthy' by about 01.00. We limped back to the UK and dropped it off at the garage for a sizeable bill, the disaster was for him as he paid the bill!. Never again…….
The good thing is that his antics then sparked off a drag competition up through the campsite…….which saw a 50 seater coach up against a Lambretta scooter……..classic.
After returning to the campsite, several hours after the race has finished, in the usual drunken state, my mate continues his relentless pestering of 'let me have a drive of your car'.
In my drunken state I relent and let him have the keys. That’s it…….off he hoons kicking up a rooster trail of dust across the campsites. Within minutes he has an audience, building his ego into attempting more and more wild slides and handbrake turns. I believe we were in Houx Annex (the one behind the concrete wall with allocated pitches).
At one side of the campsite was an un-useable area of silty sandy swamp land. Engaging diff locks off he goes to explore. By this time the crowd are following him and set up grandstand seats around the edge of the swamp watching him power slide his way around. Suddenly the cheers change tone…..
The car has ground to a halt up to its axels in mud. Wading around in the swamp the damage is assessed and it is decided to limp the car back to firmer ground.
Upon inspection we discover one tyre gashed in the side wall (cannot be repaired), another tyre is flat and off the bead but slowly takes on air from the fag lighter pump, but the crunch is the front drive shifts ripped out the hubs minus the retaining clips.
I just sat down and tucked into another crate of beer, whilst I left him to fix it as best he could. Which involved a lot of scrounging from our generous neighbours.
The car was finally 'road worthy' by about 01.00. We limped back to the UK and dropped it off at the garage for a sizeable bill, the disaster was for him as he paid the bill!. Never again…….
The good thing is that his antics then sparked off a drag competition up through the campsite…….which saw a 50 seater coach up against a Lambretta scooter……..classic.
vetteheadracer said:
My mate ErictheBrave from over in Corvette land broke his leg when he fell down a bank (yes beer had been consumed) and he ended up in a French hospital for 2 weeks
Having spent the Sat lunchtime in the champagne tent, we moved onto the banking just before the Dunlop Bridge. We watched Derek Bell lead the first lap ( 1994 ) and then, once he had lost the lead, it was time for me to visit the gents! Seeing the crowd and not being totally sober, I chose to take my not insignificant frame down the bank.
I slipped half way down and ended up at the bottom with a lacerated arm and my left leg pointing sideways. My friend, once he stopped laughing, went off to get an ambulance and I ended up in Le Mans General watching the race on Eurosport. Once the race was over, my "Mates???" came to visit.It transpired that as Steve went off to get an ambulance one was conveniently coming along. He flagged it down and out stepped the passenger in the front seat who was holding his shoulder. "Are you a doctor?", Steve asked. "No" replied the man. "I am going to the hospital". "What's up" asked my mate. "I've dislocated my shoulder" he said, grimacing. "How did you do that?" asked my friend, clearly forgetting me laying there! " I fell down a bank over there" he said pointing with his bad arm. There was a loud crack as the shoulder relocated itself. After he had stopped howling with the pain, the guy grinned at my mate and strode off to watch the rest of the race!!!!!
The ambulance was mine. The doctors at the hospital said that I had to stay there for three weeks whilst they fixed my leg. There was no way that I could deal with that so I managed to get them to plaster me from crotch to ankle , shoot me up with morphine and I went back to Blighty in our camper.There might be those who remember the noise I made as the morphine wore off on the ferry!
I spent 7 months on crutches and it took me six years to get my good lady to allow me to go back again!
Now I take my automatic Corvette ( Still can't use a clutch!) and stay in a B&B. No more camping for me. I still drink in the Champagne tent on the Saturday, I just don't stand on banks to spectate.
Not one of mine but my big bro and a number of his friends went out to Arnarge on the Saturday night for a few beers. 3 up in a Tiv they met a plastered local coming the other way and had to slam on the anchors. The ‘3rd man’ exited the Tiv head first, clearing the entire car, about 3 meters of verge and was only stopped by the barbed wire fence he met face first. Some say his looks have improved since that day…
well, mine is quite poor compaired to some of these... having missed last year we will have to try harder this time!!!
basically after watching the Bentley's win we decided to celebrate with a few (cases) of French Kronenbourg, arguing loudly into monday morning about various car related things...
sometime after 4am we run out of beer, but never fear we were in an english campsite with a bar so someone wandered off and came back with 2 500ml cans of *english strength* kronenbourg each...
well i managed one and was pretty much gone, but a few brave souls drank their 2nd
we got up far too late and then got caught in the inevitable french traffic... in order to try and make up time we did an hour and a half cruise from rouen north at 95mph... never getting overtaken!! (not bad considering the top speeds of the cars we were in ranged from 110-125)
this was all fine until about 80miles shy of Calais upon pulling out of a petrol station my cylinder head blew up, with 2 large cracks in the valves...
i nursed the car to Calais missing the ferry, got home about 1am after setting off about 9am, but it was only at the junction between the M25 and A1M my passenger actually spoke to me, asking if we could go into the services as he still didn't feel too well!!!
basically after watching the Bentley's win we decided to celebrate with a few (cases) of French Kronenbourg, arguing loudly into monday morning about various car related things...
sometime after 4am we run out of beer, but never fear we were in an english campsite with a bar so someone wandered off and came back with 2 500ml cans of *english strength* kronenbourg each...
well i managed one and was pretty much gone, but a few brave souls drank their 2nd
we got up far too late and then got caught in the inevitable french traffic... in order to try and make up time we did an hour and a half cruise from rouen north at 95mph... never getting overtaken!! (not bad considering the top speeds of the cars we were in ranged from 110-125)
this was all fine until about 80miles shy of Calais upon pulling out of a petrol station my cylinder head blew up, with 2 large cracks in the valves...
i nursed the car to Calais missing the ferry, got home about 1am after setting off about 9am, but it was only at the junction between the M25 and A1M my passenger actually spoke to me, asking if we could go into the services as he still didn't feel too well!!!
I lost the keys to my new 'teg in 2000
They'd fallen through a hole in a zipped up pocket at the funfair.
There was absolutely no chance of finding them, so I phoned up 'er indoors back home to have a spare set flown out to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on the Sunday.
Drove to Paris VERY quickly in my mates Griff 5 litre
and eventually collected keys from a deserted freight terminal. Cost was well over £200, but the drive back home through France at 2.00 Monday morning will never be forgotten.
They'd fallen through a hole in a zipped up pocket at the funfair.
There was absolutely no chance of finding them, so I phoned up 'er indoors back home to have a spare set flown out to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on the Sunday.
Drove to Paris VERY quickly in my mates Griff 5 litre
and eventually collected keys from a deserted freight terminal. Cost was well over £200, but the drive back home through France at 2.00 Monday morning will never be forgotten.
To Start.
Our companion in his M3 left his luggage outside his flat.
On arrival in Le Mans he purchased new gear for the weekend.
Thursday night he lost his keys in the fairground.
New clothes were locked inside the M3
Friend broke into his flat to get spare set of keys
(+ cost of locksmith to repair door)
New keys couriered to camp site - the M3 was unlocked
but the alarm went off when the car was opened,due to dodgey spare key.
The car had to be transported to a local Beemer
garage to be fixed before going home to blighty.
Costs kept very close to his chest - best guess £1000.
Our companion in his M3 left his luggage outside his flat.
On arrival in Le Mans he purchased new gear for the weekend.
Thursday night he lost his keys in the fairground.
New clothes were locked inside the M3
Friend broke into his flat to get spare set of keys
(+ cost of locksmith to repair door)
New keys couriered to camp site - the M3 was unlocked
but the alarm went off when the car was opened,due to dodgey spare key.
The car had to be transported to a local Beemer
garage to be fixed before going home to blighty.
Costs kept very close to his chest - best guess £1000.
OK flat6 here's a hopefully amusing recount of our entire 2000 trip which was mainly a disaster.
This is recollection and brief diary of our event trip to Le Mans in 2000
Wednesday: The start of the start
Most of the convoy assembled and headed south to Cambridge for a night stop at Quernseys.
Journey went very well for first 7-8 miles, but then Starsky's windscreen wipers failed in the pissing rain. Soon realised that it was not the simple electrical fault we had anticipated, as wiper mechanism had turned to spaghetti under the dashboard. Managed to persuade Starsky that wipers were only really a silly luxury anyway and as we'd come so far we may as well press on for the other 600 miles !
10 miles further on and we'd lost Starsky again. Turbo pipe this time, but easilty fixed. Eventually made it the full 25 miles to Ashbourne to pick up Tony. (Stasky's turbo had melted his starter motor at some stage, but I missed that bit).
The rest of the journey to Cambridge was fairly uneventful for Starsky however I broke down three times for some unexplained reason. Being an experienced mechanic I realised that ignoring the problem and hoping it would be gone in the morning was the most sensible course of action.
Went for a curry and sat at a different table from Rob, Tony and Al coz they were in a truck.
Thursday : The rest of the start
Set off at 5:00 the next morning for the ferry at 7:45 Bologne, meeting Mark and Brian in Esprit on the way. My Westie only broke down 3 times - result ! Lots of seriously nice cars on the ferry and we began to get in the mood.
We all drove off the ferry and spontaneously headed in different directions. This was not to plan and my only map was a 2" square one in Autocar so we bought a map. This enabled us to eventually find Brian and Mark in the Esprit and we continued for the next hour or so in convoy, which was made much more enjoyable by joining another convoy, consisting of a Tuscan, Subaru, Chimera, and Boxter, for a few miles of high speed nonsense. This sparring for some miles left us with the general conclusion that Subarus are fast, Tuscans are very very fast, and Chimeras and Boxters aren't.
We waited for the truck and the other Westie and then headed on the motorway to Rouen.
Lost the truck before Rouen and the Esprit in Rouen so the Westies carried on regardless.
The last bit of the journey is always the most fun and this year was no different and between breakdowns we got in a bit of Porshe bating, Caterham annoying and general thrashing all the way to Le Mans.
We all set up camp at Karting Nord, got some beer, lit the barbie, got pissed, watched the night practice, and laid the foundations of the beer wall.
Friday:
a.m. Dander up the pits to demonstrate interest, followed by walk through the village and expensive Pizza
Continued:
FRIDAY p.m.
Joined in the fun at the bottom of arnage or somewhere, where some very drunk and hot bloke had arranged an impromptu burnout/acceleration competition, involving everthing from a Ferrari 360, to a Bently Arnage, to the Gendarmes' Renault van. They're very sporting, the Gendarmes at Le Mans. After watching for half an hour with about 200 other intrigued onlookers we had a look around the assembled supecars and then had a go ourselves. After dropping the clutch at 6500 rpm I congratulated myself on the most impressive gettaway of the day (possibly). Starsky wrongly claims that his effort with the turbo fully on song was better. Jonathon R declined the opportunity.
Went kartng at the Alain Prost ciruit. Modesty forbids me from printing the results, but the best man won.
Watched England beat Germany in Euro 2000 with about 30 people crowded round a 14" TV
Later in the evening after a lot of beer and significantly more wine, we went to the fair. Managed to survive a reversing competition on the bumper cars, and a trip to the less expensive of the two strip clubs (a very loose description - and not the only very loose thing there) then headed for the bungee jump. Al and Quernsy had a go, but I didn't as Jan said it was too dangerous, so I just watched. I think Brian also had a go, complete with his "washboard"
I woke up at 4:00am. I was till at the bungee but I was the only one. Got a bit lost, and fell off a fence and broke my head, went to hospital, got stitched up, got back to tent at 6:30am and considered I had had an eventful night and that bungee jumping was not so dangerous after all.
Saturday a.m.
I apparently had had possession of Al's, Quernsy's and Starsky's Passports, wallets etc. on Friday night, but now I didn't - bugger !
Found Al's Stuff, but not the others'. Bugger.
Got a rucksack full of beer and headed for a prime spot on the Grandstand for the start of the race. Went to look for the missing passports, and asked one French bloke at random, who was standing somewhere near where I fell. After a few minutes of pointless conversation he told us he had the passports and he gave them to us. Absolutely gobsmacked at our luck we went back and had a beer.
Everyone fell asleep, and then the race started.
After an hour or so of the race, (Panoz was winning !!). Went to the fair where Nigel came upon the hypothesis that the strippers couldn't possibly strip for 48 hours without a break, and so there must be a shift system. We then all spent the next 8 hours taking it in turns to randomly visit both strip clubs accompanying Nigel to try and prove the Hypothesis. Nigel was wrong, but we agreed it had been worth proving.
Sunday am
A few showers and then more beer at the grandstand for the finish for half the team, with the others going to arnage corner.
Sunday p.m.
Watched the finish of the race - Audi won
Track invasion followed and the now traditional and soon to be legendary Querns sprint down the track in the wrong direction. Hopefully pictures to follow.
Watched the Canadian Grand Prix on a 14" portable TV with some Germans and about 30 other people. Schmacher bloody won again.
A large bonfire was lit on Sunday night but we soon ran out of beer, so a beer acquiring expedition was embarqued upon. After an initial reconnaissence mission it was discovered that the Audi hospitality suite, partying loudly after their win, had an excess of beer. Myself, Jonathon R and Quernsy came up with an over complicated mission to steal a crate of this beer which included various diversions for the security guards, but which was ultimately successful. After having acquired said booty, we fell asleep.
Monday:
Packed up early and began the journey back.
The rest of this trip was relatively straightforward for most of our group, but unfortunately my Westfield fuel pump finally died leaving us stranded only 20 km from Le Mans !!!!!
The journey home for Nigel, me and my Westfield:
The ACO (French AA) proved fairly useless by transporting us to a nearby garage, who refused to do anything when we arrived at about 11:30, as it was lunch time from 12:00 until 2:00 !! We had some lunch and then returned to discover that even when they were available to work, their knowledge of cars and willingness to put in any real effort to help was zero.
The ACO refused to take me to Bologne because it was too far, and suggested I go back to the UK and return some other time with the parts required to fix and recover my car! Thanks very much ACO !
Eventually I called Westfield who said they could get a fuel pump to me by 9:00am the next morning, but the carraige would be £150. I had begrudglingly agreed as it seemed the only way to get home with the car.
Unfortunately all our possessions were in Rob's truck so Nigel & I were stranded with only the shorts and T-shirts we were wearing. As it was about 40 degC and we had been trying to fix the car all day we were very dirty and smelly by this stage. With a bin liner from the garage to carry the few items we had in the car, we headed into Beaumont-sur-Sarthe to try and find a hotel. Luckily we found the town hotel which had a room and was surprisingly willing to give it to us despite our dodgy appearance
We then went shopping for deoderant, and I bought a new T-shirt and some shorts which Nigel claims were womens shorts, but they fitted nicely !
After cleaning up we did the only thing that semed appropriate and went to have a lot beers in the local bars followed by a good meal in the hotel.
Tuesday
After no sleep due to road noise and serious heat we awoke the next morning to find that the fuel pump had not arrived. We waited on the main road for some Jaguar and Healey drivers who we'd met the night before and who had said they had spare fuel pumps with them. Amazingly we saw them, and they stopped, but unfortunately the pumps were SU electric pumps, without the fittings that would be needed to fit to my Westfield. Bugger.
10:00am the pump from Westfield had still not arrived so I called to chase it up, only to get the severly dissapointing news that it had not left the UK as it missed the Monday night flight. Bugger.
Nigel and I were now severely pissed off so we decided to try and get the pump working and drive as far as we could. After a few hours we got to Rouen and just as we thought all would be well the fuel pump started to die every few minutes, eventually only taking us about 1 mile between stops. We stopped at a service station and I phoned Westfield to try and ensure they wouldn't charge me for the delivery of the fuel pump, only to be told that it had now arrived at the garage in Beaumont !!!! Unfortunately we were now as far from Beaumont as we were from Bologne so we pressed on. We broke down finally about 2 miles later.
We called from a motorway phone and got transported from the motorway by a strange old French hillbilly who took us into the hills about 10 miles from the main road to a barn which he called his garage, where he lived with his mad wife and son and a very big dog. Nigel and I simulaneously had recollections of the film Deliverance.
I called the ACO again and insisted they transported us to Bologne, which they finally agreed to do, but I had to pay for it and then try and claim the cost back afterwards from the ACO. £300 and a few hours later and we were in Bologne.
Once back in England we were rescued by the AA who transported us (in several stages) back home, which was fairly stress free apart from one of the drivers almost dying of a coughing fit on the M1. Got home at 5:00am Wednesday.
Altogether I think Le Mans 2000 was a gruelling endurance event, but apart from the journey home it was brilliant. We're already planning next year, when I shall have AA 5 star cover ! See you there.
This is recollection and brief diary of our event trip to Le Mans in 2000
Wednesday: The start of the start
Most of the convoy assembled and headed south to Cambridge for a night stop at Quernseys.
Journey went very well for first 7-8 miles, but then Starsky's windscreen wipers failed in the pissing rain. Soon realised that it was not the simple electrical fault we had anticipated, as wiper mechanism had turned to spaghetti under the dashboard. Managed to persuade Starsky that wipers were only really a silly luxury anyway and as we'd come so far we may as well press on for the other 600 miles !
10 miles further on and we'd lost Starsky again. Turbo pipe this time, but easilty fixed. Eventually made it the full 25 miles to Ashbourne to pick up Tony. (Stasky's turbo had melted his starter motor at some stage, but I missed that bit).
The rest of the journey to Cambridge was fairly uneventful for Starsky however I broke down three times for some unexplained reason. Being an experienced mechanic I realised that ignoring the problem and hoping it would be gone in the morning was the most sensible course of action.
Went for a curry and sat at a different table from Rob, Tony and Al coz they were in a truck.
Thursday : The rest of the start
Set off at 5:00 the next morning for the ferry at 7:45 Bologne, meeting Mark and Brian in Esprit on the way. My Westie only broke down 3 times - result ! Lots of seriously nice cars on the ferry and we began to get in the mood.
We all drove off the ferry and spontaneously headed in different directions. This was not to plan and my only map was a 2" square one in Autocar so we bought a map. This enabled us to eventually find Brian and Mark in the Esprit and we continued for the next hour or so in convoy, which was made much more enjoyable by joining another convoy, consisting of a Tuscan, Subaru, Chimera, and Boxter, for a few miles of high speed nonsense. This sparring for some miles left us with the general conclusion that Subarus are fast, Tuscans are very very fast, and Chimeras and Boxters aren't.
We waited for the truck and the other Westie and then headed on the motorway to Rouen.
Lost the truck before Rouen and the Esprit in Rouen so the Westies carried on regardless.
The last bit of the journey is always the most fun and this year was no different and between breakdowns we got in a bit of Porshe bating, Caterham annoying and general thrashing all the way to Le Mans.
We all set up camp at Karting Nord, got some beer, lit the barbie, got pissed, watched the night practice, and laid the foundations of the beer wall.
Friday:
a.m. Dander up the pits to demonstrate interest, followed by walk through the village and expensive Pizza
Continued:
FRIDAY p.m.
Joined in the fun at the bottom of arnage or somewhere, where some very drunk and hot bloke had arranged an impromptu burnout/acceleration competition, involving everthing from a Ferrari 360, to a Bently Arnage, to the Gendarmes' Renault van. They're very sporting, the Gendarmes at Le Mans. After watching for half an hour with about 200 other intrigued onlookers we had a look around the assembled supecars and then had a go ourselves. After dropping the clutch at 6500 rpm I congratulated myself on the most impressive gettaway of the day (possibly). Starsky wrongly claims that his effort with the turbo fully on song was better. Jonathon R declined the opportunity.
Went kartng at the Alain Prost ciruit. Modesty forbids me from printing the results, but the best man won.
Watched England beat Germany in Euro 2000 with about 30 people crowded round a 14" TV
Later in the evening after a lot of beer and significantly more wine, we went to the fair. Managed to survive a reversing competition on the bumper cars, and a trip to the less expensive of the two strip clubs (a very loose description - and not the only very loose thing there) then headed for the bungee jump. Al and Quernsy had a go, but I didn't as Jan said it was too dangerous, so I just watched. I think Brian also had a go, complete with his "washboard"
I woke up at 4:00am. I was till at the bungee but I was the only one. Got a bit lost, and fell off a fence and broke my head, went to hospital, got stitched up, got back to tent at 6:30am and considered I had had an eventful night and that bungee jumping was not so dangerous after all.
Saturday a.m.
I apparently had had possession of Al's, Quernsy's and Starsky's Passports, wallets etc. on Friday night, but now I didn't - bugger !
Found Al's Stuff, but not the others'. Bugger.
Got a rucksack full of beer and headed for a prime spot on the Grandstand for the start of the race. Went to look for the missing passports, and asked one French bloke at random, who was standing somewhere near where I fell. After a few minutes of pointless conversation he told us he had the passports and he gave them to us. Absolutely gobsmacked at our luck we went back and had a beer.
Everyone fell asleep, and then the race started.
After an hour or so of the race, (Panoz was winning !!). Went to the fair where Nigel came upon the hypothesis that the strippers couldn't possibly strip for 48 hours without a break, and so there must be a shift system. We then all spent the next 8 hours taking it in turns to randomly visit both strip clubs accompanying Nigel to try and prove the Hypothesis. Nigel was wrong, but we agreed it had been worth proving.
Sunday am
A few showers and then more beer at the grandstand for the finish for half the team, with the others going to arnage corner.
Sunday p.m.
Watched the finish of the race - Audi won
Track invasion followed and the now traditional and soon to be legendary Querns sprint down the track in the wrong direction. Hopefully pictures to follow.
Watched the Canadian Grand Prix on a 14" portable TV with some Germans and about 30 other people. Schmacher bloody won again.
A large bonfire was lit on Sunday night but we soon ran out of beer, so a beer acquiring expedition was embarqued upon. After an initial reconnaissence mission it was discovered that the Audi hospitality suite, partying loudly after their win, had an excess of beer. Myself, Jonathon R and Quernsy came up with an over complicated mission to steal a crate of this beer which included various diversions for the security guards, but which was ultimately successful. After having acquired said booty, we fell asleep.
Monday:
Packed up early and began the journey back.
The rest of this trip was relatively straightforward for most of our group, but unfortunately my Westfield fuel pump finally died leaving us stranded only 20 km from Le Mans !!!!!
The journey home for Nigel, me and my Westfield:
The ACO (French AA) proved fairly useless by transporting us to a nearby garage, who refused to do anything when we arrived at about 11:30, as it was lunch time from 12:00 until 2:00 !! We had some lunch and then returned to discover that even when they were available to work, their knowledge of cars and willingness to put in any real effort to help was zero.
The ACO refused to take me to Bologne because it was too far, and suggested I go back to the UK and return some other time with the parts required to fix and recover my car! Thanks very much ACO !
Eventually I called Westfield who said they could get a fuel pump to me by 9:00am the next morning, but the carraige would be £150. I had begrudglingly agreed as it seemed the only way to get home with the car.
Unfortunately all our possessions were in Rob's truck so Nigel & I were stranded with only the shorts and T-shirts we were wearing. As it was about 40 degC and we had been trying to fix the car all day we were very dirty and smelly by this stage. With a bin liner from the garage to carry the few items we had in the car, we headed into Beaumont-sur-Sarthe to try and find a hotel. Luckily we found the town hotel which had a room and was surprisingly willing to give it to us despite our dodgy appearance
We then went shopping for deoderant, and I bought a new T-shirt and some shorts which Nigel claims were womens shorts, but they fitted nicely !
After cleaning up we did the only thing that semed appropriate and went to have a lot beers in the local bars followed by a good meal in the hotel.
Tuesday
After no sleep due to road noise and serious heat we awoke the next morning to find that the fuel pump had not arrived. We waited on the main road for some Jaguar and Healey drivers who we'd met the night before and who had said they had spare fuel pumps with them. Amazingly we saw them, and they stopped, but unfortunately the pumps were SU electric pumps, without the fittings that would be needed to fit to my Westfield. Bugger.
10:00am the pump from Westfield had still not arrived so I called to chase it up, only to get the severly dissapointing news that it had not left the UK as it missed the Monday night flight. Bugger.
Nigel and I were now severely pissed off so we decided to try and get the pump working and drive as far as we could. After a few hours we got to Rouen and just as we thought all would be well the fuel pump started to die every few minutes, eventually only taking us about 1 mile between stops. We stopped at a service station and I phoned Westfield to try and ensure they wouldn't charge me for the delivery of the fuel pump, only to be told that it had now arrived at the garage in Beaumont !!!! Unfortunately we were now as far from Beaumont as we were from Bologne so we pressed on. We broke down finally about 2 miles later.
We called from a motorway phone and got transported from the motorway by a strange old French hillbilly who took us into the hills about 10 miles from the main road to a barn which he called his garage, where he lived with his mad wife and son and a very big dog. Nigel and I simulaneously had recollections of the film Deliverance.
I called the ACO again and insisted they transported us to Bologne, which they finally agreed to do, but I had to pay for it and then try and claim the cost back afterwards from the ACO. £300 and a few hours later and we were in Bologne.
Once back in England we were rescued by the AA who transported us (in several stages) back home, which was fairly stress free apart from one of the drivers almost dying of a coughing fit on the M1. Got home at 5:00am Wednesday.
Altogether I think Le Mans 2000 was a gruelling endurance event, but apart from the journey home it was brilliant. We're already planning next year, when I shall have AA 5 star cover ! See you there.
sparkey said:
OK flat6 here's a dodgy recount of our dodgy 2000 trip which was when flat6 was triumph 4. Starsky's windscreen wipers failed in the pissing rain. Soon realised that it was not the simple electrical fault we had anticipated, as wiper mechanism had turned to spaghetti under the dashboard. Managed to persuade Starsky that wipers were only really a silly luxury anyway and as we'd come so far we may as well press on for the other 600 miles !
10 miles further on and we'd lost Starsky again to wipers not that sparky would know. Sparky had pissed off so it was left to JR to empty the 350i boot to find spanners and screwdrivers to fix the West%&*£$
sparkey said:
10 miles further on and we'd lost Starsky again. Turbo pipe this time, but easilty fixed.
Your memory is going old man. What will you be like when you're my age? Pipe was replaced but far from fixed. Must have come off another dozen times, usually when overtaking you at 22mph.
sparkey said:
Eventually made it the full 25 miles to Ashbourne to pick up Tony.
I think it was Tony that had the pick up.
sparkey said:
The rest of the journey I broke down three times for some unexplained reason. Being an experienced bodger I realised that ignoring the problem and hoping it would be gone in the morning was the course of action. The next morning my Westie only broke down 3 times - result! We all drove off the ferry and spontaneously headed in different directions. This
may have been the year that Rick and myself took a detour to Paris.
sparkey said:
by fluke we eventually found Brian and Mark in the Esprit and we continued for the next hour or so in convoy, which was made much more enjoyable by joining another convoy, consisting of a Tuscan, Subaru, Chimera, and Boxter, for a few miles of high speed nonsense. This sparring for some miles left us with the general conclusion that Subarus are fast, Tuscans are very very fast, and Chimeras and Boxters aren't.
After dropping the clutch at 6500 rpm I congratulated myself on the most impressive gettaway of the day since I was the only one of this opinion.
Altogether I think Le Mans 2000 was a gruelling endurance event, but apart from the journey home for one car it was brilliant. We're already planning THIS year. See you there.
See u as well. J
sparkey said:
We called from a motorway phone and got transported from the motorway by a strange old French hillbilly who took us into the hills about 10 miles from the main road to a barn which he called his garage, where he lived with his mad wife and son and a very big dog. Nigel and I simulaneously had recollections of the film Deliverance.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
andy_vtec said:
and a very big dog. Nigel and I simulaneously had recollections of the film Deliverance.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There was also the dog chasing Sparkey which led him to climb the fence from which he fell to smash open his head.
The mouse which went to bed with Starsky and was dead in the morning and the dutch champagne girls.
It's not a disaster but I had a little event in 2003 that I could laugh about afterwards. I'd taken the ferry to Dieppe and was trying to get to Le Mans using the SatNav in my M3. I didn't have the French roads CD however the UK map had major French roads on. We were doing ok until I left the major road we were on because I needed fuel.
Having rejoined the major road I followed the voice instructions and we drove for a few hours and I noticed the roads becoming surprisingly busy. My mate piped up with "What are we doing in Paris?". I said "Don't be ridiculous, we're nowhere near Paris. It's hundreds of miles east of here". So he comes back with "So, you're telling me that isn't the eiffel tower over there then?".
Oh dear. Cue several hours on the perihperique and probably the longest journey time for Newhaven-Dieppe.
Having rejoined the major road I followed the voice instructions and we drove for a few hours and I noticed the roads becoming surprisingly busy. My mate piped up with "What are we doing in Paris?". I said "Don't be ridiculous, we're nowhere near Paris. It's hundreds of miles east of here". So he comes back with "So, you're telling me that isn't the eiffel tower over there then?".
Oh dear. Cue several hours on the perihperique and probably the longest journey time for Newhaven-Dieppe.
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