Our 2017 Le Mans Journey
Discussion
My first trip to was in 1989 with my father & brother. I'm not ashamed to say it was love at 1st sight. Since then I/we have been back 6 times with my son and friends, the last time in 2004 before moving to Canada.
We are now living in Alberta, semi retired, well let's say I'm supposed to be, but way too busy running my Caterham business to think about the pipe and slippers just yet.
As you can imagine the trek to Le Mans from here is quite a journey. Dan, my son (a travel adviser) and I said we'd go again, but as we all know talk is cheep. I've been very fortunate to have spend much of my life as an ARDS instructor and it was at the Track that I've been fortunate to make some great friends. So to cut a long story short 6 us committed to the 2017 race, little did we know the logistics of getting 6 guys half way across the world and neatly installed in a rental car inbound for Le Mans. None of the guys had ever been before other than my son, so guess who were the tour guides ?
Our adventure began with a Limo ride to Calgary Airport and the cheapest nastiest flight we could find to Gatwick. A quick tour around Dorset narrated by yours truly and it was off to the ferry in Portsmouth for our overnight crossing to Caen, followed by a brisk ride to Le Mans in our running on fresh air diesel Citroen people mover.
We arrived at our designated campsite at 1pm on Wednesday. With tents pitched and a few cold ones under our belt it was time for 1st practice. YES. Now I remember why we came back. Love it. Our camp site and all the logistics were organised by Dan, a daunting task in all accounts. Our tour was organised through Travel Destinations, FIRST CLASS OUTFIT. yes I know their not cheep but what a great experience.Tent was 200 yards from the viewing bank on the Porsche Curves, it was top notch and the only people to do this with.
For those of you who went in 2017 you will know it was hotter than hell, all the more reason to drink the huge quantities of cold beer we bought at the local super market. We had an amazing time and plan to repeat the exercise in 2019.
Ended our trip with an overnight in London, a Track Day at Brands, a visit to Gurston Down Hill Climb and a half day at Thruxton.
Huge fun, can't wait to do it all again next year.
We are now living in Alberta, semi retired, well let's say I'm supposed to be, but way too busy running my Caterham business to think about the pipe and slippers just yet.
As you can imagine the trek to Le Mans from here is quite a journey. Dan, my son (a travel adviser) and I said we'd go again, but as we all know talk is cheep. I've been very fortunate to have spend much of my life as an ARDS instructor and it was at the Track that I've been fortunate to make some great friends. So to cut a long story short 6 us committed to the 2017 race, little did we know the logistics of getting 6 guys half way across the world and neatly installed in a rental car inbound for Le Mans. None of the guys had ever been before other than my son, so guess who were the tour guides ?
Our adventure began with a Limo ride to Calgary Airport and the cheapest nastiest flight we could find to Gatwick. A quick tour around Dorset narrated by yours truly and it was off to the ferry in Portsmouth for our overnight crossing to Caen, followed by a brisk ride to Le Mans in our running on fresh air diesel Citroen people mover.
We arrived at our designated campsite at 1pm on Wednesday. With tents pitched and a few cold ones under our belt it was time for 1st practice. YES. Now I remember why we came back. Love it. Our camp site and all the logistics were organised by Dan, a daunting task in all accounts. Our tour was organised through Travel Destinations, FIRST CLASS OUTFIT. yes I know their not cheep but what a great experience.Tent was 200 yards from the viewing bank on the Porsche Curves, it was top notch and the only people to do this with.
For those of you who went in 2017 you will know it was hotter than hell, all the more reason to drink the huge quantities of cold beer we bought at the local super market. We had an amazing time and plan to repeat the exercise in 2019.
Ended our trip with an overnight in London, a Track Day at Brands, a visit to Gurston Down Hill Climb and a half day at Thruxton.
Huge fun, can't wait to do it all again next year.
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