Le Mans 2007 Ambulance Project
Discussion
as we pasted 
Hiya guys
Just got back and i'm absolutely shattered so not a big post at the mo as I seriously need my bed but i'd like to say (as has been mentioned) that the LEMANBULANCE made it there and back all ok
. The only minor issue was the starter solenoid needed a clout once as it got stuck. Were glad it raised a few smiles to everyone down at Le Mans despite the very poor weather 
.
Was an absolute blast and pics and report to follow but i'm sure James will be along at some point to explain the experience as I was wafting along in the LC so only drove the bus about round the campsite area's..... But from chatting to him he said the response on the roads from people saying hi was awesome so cheers guys
Just got back and i'm absolutely shattered so not a big post at the mo as I seriously need my bed but i'd like to say (as has been mentioned) that the LEMANBULANCE made it there and back all ok
. The only minor issue was the starter solenoid needed a clout once as it got stuck. Were glad it raised a few smiles to everyone down at Le Mans despite the very poor weather . Was an absolute blast and pics and report to follow but i'm sure James will be along at some point to explain the experience as I was wafting along in the LC so only drove the bus about round the campsite area's..... But from chatting to him he said the response on the roads from people saying hi was awesome so cheers guys
JonFATBOY said:
Went passed on Thursday in a white Thrifty van with a T>W>A>T>S url on the back. Good work all round!!!
We were walking behind you past the grandstands (not sure what day it was though) i think it might have been on the Saturday when we were going to see the start of the race 
but i just remember seeing several people wearing t-shirts with t
ts on and thought that was funny. 
Glyn.
Hi peeps, 
Was a great laugh seeing all you guys tooting and waving on the journey there and back, also driving around Lemans itself.
And great to meet all of ya that came over and said hello.
( especially The Tuscan Rat )
Was going to sell this once i returned, but i've had such a great crack in it this past weekend i havn't got the heart and have decided to use it as my yearly Lemans vehicle.
This also means that i will be giving NotNormal the task of entertaing you lot on the Lemanbulace thread in build up to next years lemans.
Just need to think what to do to it next.
Again, cheers to all that came over and said hi and honked on the way and if you have any pics or movie's please get them on here, It makes it all worth it.
And apart from all the moaning
on some of these threads.
I had a bloody fantastic time, and really liked the rain, and the noise, and bangers, and drunk people, cars, cars and more cars.
Roll on next year..................................
Cheers.
Was a great laugh seeing all you guys tooting and waving on the journey there and back, also driving around Lemans itself.
And great to meet all of ya that came over and said hello.
( especially The Tuscan Rat
)Was going to sell this once i returned, but i've had such a great crack in it this past weekend i havn't got the heart and have decided to use it as my yearly Lemans vehicle.
This also means that i will be giving NotNormal the task of entertaing you lot on the Lemanbulace thread in build up to next years lemans.
Just need to think what to do to it next.
Again, cheers to all that came over and said hi and honked on the way and if you have any pics or movie's please get them on here, It makes it all worth it.
And apart from all the moaning
on some of these threads.I had a bloody fantastic time, and really liked the rain, and the noise, and bangers, and drunk people, cars, cars and more cars.
Roll on next year..................................
Cheers.
I see we made this vid on You Tube as well 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq1EDzNSXN0
And a spotted pic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq1EDzNSXN0
And a spotted pic
Hiya guys, well certainly a bit late in coming but I’ve finally got round to knocking up a report on the Lemanbulance trip to Le Mans so here it goes. As you know from reading on here it amazingly made the trip there and back without any issues so here’s what happened over the weekend.
Since the prop incident we experienced a couple of days before leaving James had a few more hours to play with it before the off, so after a good clean and tidy up of the inside. Another addition in true Ant and Dec style was a “Little Lemanbulance” which was affixed to the bonnet
.
Next up was a cunning plan to try and get the Lemanbulance spotted on national TV. The theory behind this was in the hope that one of the circling TV helicopters covering the race may spot the hilarity when going over the campsite. So what I hear you say did James come up with, well a nice little “Hello Mum” message on the top of the Lemanbulance
Thursday
Well the plan was to meet at Clackett Lane services at 5:30 on the Thursday morning so at about 4am the Lemanbulance set out on its journey from South London
With a slight nervousness about the prop incident there was only one thing that mattered that day and in line with comments on this thread it was the main priority to actually get the thing down to Le Mans so a slow and steady 50mph pace was the order of the day. Despite our best efforts to have clocked up a lot of test miles before the main event, amazingly the Lemanbulance’s first motorway miles were carried out on the trip to meet everyone at Clackett Lane, but the first leg of the journey whent without incident. Result
The next leg of the journey was the trip to the euro tunnel and it again this passed without incident although much amusement was had when even this old thing was going faster down the M20
James and Mark (his passenger for the trip) also were well dressed for the event
With the Lemanbulance being classed as a motor home for the trip on the train it was loaded on with some interesting company such as this 360 race car
Once on the open road and travelling on French highways the level of support from fellow attendees was truly awesome. Big thanks to everyone who slowed down, hooted, gave the thumbs up, even just to this part of the trip it made it all worthwhile. So here’s a few pics of those people cheering James on his way
And even one of me when I caught up with them on route
And here’s what we all saw when driving along from the outside
.jpg)
A call to James about 11/12 ish when our lead group had stopped at a petrol station just the other side of Ruen found out that James was only about 20 mins behind so we decided to wait for him to meet us for a spot of lunch and catch up with tales of the journey so far. The reaction of people just in the petrol station was amazing so on the road it must have been very funny indeed.
We then carried on to our Karting Nord campsite destination but the rain had set in for this latter part of the journey so it’s a good job the wipers (sort of) worked. But despite this there was a massive sense of relief, excitement and a genuine feeling of pride that the Lemanbulance had made it to Le Mans as it joined us in the campsite. What was even more rewarding was the fact that half our group had still yet to arrive, their loss as it meant we could have a few beers whilst setting up camp (between rain showers - lol)
Friday
Well Friday we all awoke to the sound of rain on the tents but that didn’t dampen the spirits to take the Lemanbulance out for a spin. The plan was to meet the PistonHeads massive at Arnarge corner for late morning, but unfortunately this area was blocked off by the police so we instead decided to take a few pics of the Lemanbulance actually on the circuit.
After this we decided to stop at the Pizza place on the Mulsan straight and despite there being nothing other than us and a Lambo LP640 parked up, all of a sudden we noticed more and more people starting to park up with us until it went mental with people doing burn outs etc and generally having a good time. Its amazing what happens at Le Mans when one or two cars just start to park up haha
After watching this we decided to head off and stock up on beers and our trip certainly entertained the crowds with the array of sirens and horns etc, we even had the guy in the Ferrari F40 LM giving us the big thumbs up.
So a trip to Carefour yielding the bonuses of having lots of space for luggage (cough beer)
So its now Friday night and the plan was to migrate down to the Houx Anex roundabout. So we had all 26 of our group piled in the Lemanbulance (yes you did read that number correctly) and I can tell you as driver this thing was truly on the bump stops and shall we say cornering was certainly “an experience”
. But nevertheless our trusty crew in the back were heavily armed for some side window action
You can see by the expressions on these peoples faces that the siren certainly is an effective method for clearing the crowd.
What met us however at the roundabout was a load of police and a fairly busy crowd, these next picture showing our arrival are absolute class.
The expression on the two coppers faces compared to those of the chaps in the high vis jacket and the chap in the blue is sooooooooo funny.
We also encountered some friendly fire to counteract our troops nestled in the rear
With a police car behind us and one in front we decided to go to the Tertre Rouge bar and chill for a bit with the intention to go back later in the evening. Here we met some of the “Race, What Race Crew” and also laughed at the Pirate ship doing fly-by’s.
With James living up to his T-Shirt…
…he and half our group decided to stay in the bar so myself and the rest decided to pop down to the roundabout for a second look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaTc3D_yFMI
It seems that with the police nowhere to be seen the roundabout was choc-a-block with people. After a few parade laps though we just decided to park up and watch as lets just say a few members of the gathering were not in the spirit of the event and with people chucking beer etc it wasn’t the event it used to be. We however did have a chat to a few of you who said hello and also chuckled at the guys with the long range water balloon antics.
After a couple of hours when the crowd had started to disperse we decided to head back to the campsite and with only one lap of the roundabout we soon left quicker than expected as the crowd had turned quite scary with people trying to not only get inside but also lay all over the bonnet with what can only be seen as a stupid attempt to get run over – idiots !!!
Anyhow back to the campsite and the Lemanbulance turned into a mobile disco and with the stereo wound up and the disco lights in full effect we partied into the early hours.
Saturday
Well race day is upon us, so not much happened in regards to the Lemanbulance but after mooching about in the morning and watching a bit of racing it was nice for the sun to finally come out for our pre-planned Hawaiian Curry night and with everyone all dressed up another good night was had by all.
.jpg)
We even had our own fireworks display and as there was no grinder or welder to create some sparks lets just say I think James had far to much to drink again
Sunday
Surely we didn’t drink that much beer ???
.jpg)
Yes this is the results of a weekends drinking and what confronted us when we awoke Sunday morning. We decided on a 3D effect beer mountain as it was soo windy that the first tower started on Thursday started to sway quite a bit in the wind so a number of smaller towers were the order of the weekend.
I even got a bit arty with the bottle tops on the other side
We totalled it up to be around 855 odd bottles
Fortunately the weather had remained dry overnight, so after some late night/early morning watching of the racing we decided to pack up camp mid morning, as reports of rain starting again at lunchtime meant we didn’t particularly want to pack stuff up in the pouring rain……and yes boy did it pour with rain all afternoon
.jpg)
We all went to leave the campsite just after the race which in previous years has never been a problem but for some complete unknown reasons this time the police had literally blocked off the campsite and not allowed anyone out – WTF !!
So yes we sat there for a good 3+ hours before we were actually allowed to exit the campsite, to say we were a tad annoyed would be a mega understatement and unfortunately no amount of sirens or flashing lights got us out of this one 
We eventually made our pre booked hotel but the weather remained rubbish to say the least
.jpg)
But after a good shower and some decent food spirits were still high ahead of our drive home on the Monday
Monday
Well we all (cough well almost) got up bright and breezy and after a good breakfast it was time for our little awards ceremony. It was no real surprise that James walked away with the “Spirit of Le Mans” trophy, not only for the vehicle effort but also for the fact that he acted like a complete Loon all weekend .
We also had awards for biggest beer drinker, and this went to Joe for is amazing ability to down a number of stubbies without even realising what he’d just done. Next up was best injury, and this went to Adam who with an incoming banger landing a foot from his leg made his escape over a plastic table (breaking it) then out the gazebo by going underneath one of the sides with the resulting injury (mainly from the table) of multiple grazes on his legs and arms .
And finally was the best burnouit award and despite some good efforts by the 200SX, the Cossi and the Escort, Matt walked it with his impressive efforts (a search on youtube you can see all their efforts -lol)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmJjMxZ6H8g
So that all meant now it was a case of driving home, with a more relaxed atmosphere and the fact that if the Lemanbulance broke down it was only a breakdown call away. So to this end the pace was stepped up and James rocked home doing 60-70 with no probs at all. In fact actually catching the correct tunnel crossing as the rest of us got cought up with shopping and then stuck in the road works going on by the City Europe complex.
So there you have it, the results of all our efforts. Its been highly amusing for us and we hope kept you lot amused at the same time. James is now talking about making the Lemanbulance and annual vehicle for the event despite saying all along he was to sell it so here’s to next year
Cheers
David
PS. If you want to see all the photo's we took of our trip by all means checkout www.TheMadMile.com (vids will be added in the next few weeks)
Since the prop incident we experienced a couple of days before leaving James had a few more hours to play with it before the off, so after a good clean and tidy up of the inside. Another addition in true Ant and Dec style was a “Little Lemanbulance” which was affixed to the bonnet
.Next up was a cunning plan to try and get the Lemanbulance spotted on national TV. The theory behind this was in the hope that one of the circling TV helicopters covering the race may spot the hilarity when going over the campsite. So what I hear you say did James come up with, well a nice little “Hello Mum” message on the top of the Lemanbulance
Thursday
Well the plan was to meet at Clackett Lane services at 5:30 on the Thursday morning so at about 4am the Lemanbulance set out on its journey from South London
With a slight nervousness about the prop incident there was only one thing that mattered that day and in line with comments on this thread it was the main priority to actually get the thing down to Le Mans so a slow and steady 50mph pace was the order of the day. Despite our best efforts to have clocked up a lot of test miles before the main event, amazingly the Lemanbulance’s first motorway miles were carried out on the trip to meet everyone at Clackett Lane, but the first leg of the journey whent without incident. Result
The next leg of the journey was the trip to the euro tunnel and it again this passed without incident although much amusement was had when even this old thing was going faster down the M20
James and Mark (his passenger for the trip) also were well dressed for the event
With the Lemanbulance being classed as a motor home for the trip on the train it was loaded on with some interesting company such as this 360 race car
Once on the open road and travelling on French highways the level of support from fellow attendees was truly awesome. Big thanks to everyone who slowed down, hooted, gave the thumbs up, even just to this part of the trip it made it all worthwhile. So here’s a few pics of those people cheering James on his way
And even one of me when I caught up with them on route
And here’s what we all saw when driving along from the outside
A call to James about 11/12 ish when our lead group had stopped at a petrol station just the other side of Ruen found out that James was only about 20 mins behind so we decided to wait for him to meet us for a spot of lunch and catch up with tales of the journey so far. The reaction of people just in the petrol station was amazing so on the road it must have been very funny indeed.
We then carried on to our Karting Nord campsite destination but the rain had set in for this latter part of the journey so it’s a good job the wipers (sort of) worked. But despite this there was a massive sense of relief, excitement and a genuine feeling of pride that the Lemanbulance had made it to Le Mans as it joined us in the campsite.
What was even more rewarding was the fact that half our group had still yet to arrive, their loss as it meant we could have a few beers whilst setting up camp (between rain showers - lol) Friday
Well Friday we all awoke to the sound of rain on the tents but that didn’t dampen the spirits to take the Lemanbulance out for a spin. The plan was to meet the PistonHeads massive at Arnarge corner for late morning, but unfortunately this area was blocked off by the police so we instead decided to take a few pics of the Lemanbulance actually on the circuit.
After this we decided to stop at the Pizza place on the Mulsan straight and despite there being nothing other than us and a Lambo LP640 parked up, all of a sudden we noticed more and more people starting to park up with us until it went mental with people doing burn outs etc and generally having a good time. Its amazing what happens at Le Mans when one or two cars just start to park up haha
After watching this we decided to head off and stock up on beers and our trip certainly entertained the crowds with the array of sirens and horns etc, we even had the guy in the Ferrari F40 LM giving us the big thumbs up.
So a trip to Carefour yielding the bonuses of having lots of space for luggage (cough beer)
So its now Friday night and the plan was to migrate down to the Houx Anex roundabout. So we had all 26 of our group piled in the Lemanbulance (yes you did read that number correctly) and I can tell you as driver this thing was truly on the bump stops and shall we say cornering was certainly “an experience”
. But nevertheless our trusty crew in the back were heavily armed for some side window action You can see by the expressions on these peoples faces that the siren certainly is an effective method for clearing the crowd.
What met us however at the roundabout was a load of police and a fairly busy crowd, these next picture showing our arrival are absolute class.
The expression on the two coppers faces compared to those of the chaps in the high vis jacket and the chap in the blue is sooooooooo funny.
We also encountered some friendly fire to counteract our troops nestled in the rear
With a police car behind us and one in front we decided to go to the Tertre Rouge bar and chill for a bit with the intention to go back later in the evening. Here we met some of the “Race, What Race Crew” and also laughed at the Pirate ship doing fly-by’s.
With James living up to his T-Shirt…
…he and half our group decided to stay in the bar so myself and the rest decided to pop down to the roundabout for a second look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaTc3D_yFMI
It seems that with the police nowhere to be seen the roundabout was choc-a-block with people. After a few parade laps though we just decided to park up and watch as lets just say a few members of the gathering were not in the spirit of the event and with people chucking beer etc it wasn’t the event it used to be. We however did have a chat to a few of you who said hello and also chuckled at the guys with the long range water balloon antics.
After a couple of hours when the crowd had started to disperse we decided to head back to the campsite and with only one lap of the roundabout we soon left quicker than expected as the crowd had turned quite scary with people trying to not only get inside but also lay all over the bonnet with what can only be seen as a stupid attempt to get run over – idiots !!!
Anyhow back to the campsite and the Lemanbulance turned into a mobile disco and with the stereo wound up and the disco lights in full effect we partied into the early hours.
Saturday
Well race day is upon us, so not much happened in regards to the Lemanbulance but after mooching about in the morning and watching a bit of racing it was nice for the sun to finally come out for our pre-planned Hawaiian Curry night and with everyone all dressed up another good night was had by all.
We even had our own fireworks display and as there was no grinder or welder to create some sparks lets just say I think James had far to much to drink again
Sunday
Surely we didn’t drink that much beer ???
Yes this is the results of a weekends drinking and what confronted us when we awoke Sunday morning. We decided on a 3D effect beer mountain as it was soo windy that the first tower started on Thursday started to sway quite a bit in the wind so a number of smaller towers were the order of the weekend.
I even got a bit arty with the bottle tops on the other side
We totalled it up to be around 855 odd bottles
Fortunately the weather had remained dry overnight, so after some late night/early morning watching of the racing we decided to pack up camp mid morning, as reports of rain starting again at lunchtime meant we didn’t particularly want to pack stuff up in the pouring rain……and yes boy did it pour with rain all afternoon
We all went to leave the campsite just after the race which in previous years has never been a problem but for some complete unknown reasons this time the police had literally blocked off the campsite and not allowed anyone out – WTF !!
So yes we sat there for a good 3+ hours before we were actually allowed to exit the campsite, to say we were a tad annoyed would be a mega understatement and unfortunately no amount of sirens or flashing lights got us out of this one We eventually made our pre booked hotel but the weather remained rubbish to say the least
But after a good shower and some decent food spirits were still high ahead of our drive home on the Monday
Monday
Well we all (cough well almost) got up bright and breezy and after a good breakfast it was time for our little awards ceremony. It was no real surprise that James walked away with the “Spirit of Le Mans” trophy, not only for the vehicle effort but also for the fact that he acted like a complete Loon all weekend
.We also had awards for biggest beer drinker, and this went to Joe for is amazing ability to down a number of stubbies without even realising what he’d just done. Next up was best injury, and this went to Adam who with an incoming banger landing a foot from his leg made his escape over a plastic table (breaking it) then out the gazebo by going underneath one of the sides with the resulting injury (mainly from the table) of multiple grazes on his legs and arms
.And finally was the best burnouit award and despite some good efforts by the 200SX, the Cossi and the Escort, Matt walked it with his impressive efforts (a search on youtube you can see all their efforts -lol)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmJjMxZ6H8g
So that all meant now it was a case of driving home, with a more relaxed atmosphere and the fact that if the Lemanbulance broke down it was only a breakdown call away. So to this end the pace was stepped up and James rocked home doing 60-70 with no probs at all. In fact actually catching the correct tunnel crossing as the rest of us got cought up with shopping and then stuck in the road works going on by the City Europe complex.
So there you have it, the results of all our efforts. Its been highly amusing for us and we hope kept you lot amused at the same time. James is now talking about making the Lemanbulance and annual vehicle for the event despite saying all along he was to sell it so here’s to next year
Cheers
David
PS. If you want to see all the photo's we took of our trip by all means checkout www.TheMadMile.com (vids will be added in the next few weeks)
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