Thread about the good stuff!!!

[Smirnoff]

Got back a 2am this morning, come into the office and yet again all the threads seem to be slagging off what was a great weekend.

I have been going since 1996 and this year, was by far the best. Our top corner of Houx Annex had a great atmosphere. (ok the donuts last night were a bit out of order, the Focus driver had a point) The Race was fantastic (the safey car won all classes).

Ok it was wet, but that didn't spoil too much, did stop me getting sun burnt this year.

WELL DONE! all 6 Astons for finishing.

Great drive back, no police on our route (to Le Harve).

Great time in Le Mans Town for the Drivers parade, a good sing-song with the Danish in one bar, then more drinking with no trouble in the main square.

What were your highlights!

Edited by Smirnoff on Tuesday 19th June 15:05

[Phil Hopkins]

• Pulling up outside the Hunadieres restaurant on the Mulsanne straight with a few other chaps on Friday AM. 30 minutes later it was chocker full of cars and people milling around. Good atmosphere!

• Hunadieres restaurant on the Saturday night. Could barely hear the conversation when the Spykers & Panoz drove past yards away.

• Driving down with team abuse.

• Camping with Team Abuse. The food is legendary!

• The bar in St Saturnin

• Porno on the coaches DVD player coming back from St Saturnin

[Red Firecracker]

Ah, excellent topic.

As virgins, the list has to include;

• The weather. Raining on our first trip, it can only get better. Can't it?

General highlights have to include;

• Sunset at Dunlop
• Sunrise at Dunlop
• The Levellers playing Saturday night
• Rollcentre getting 4th (Damn that Peugeot)
• The trip down, lots of toots to our bus from the faster PH'ers
• Houx Annexe and the friendly bunch of campers (mostly) around us
• Actually, pretty much everything. Why have I waited so long to go?

[coog]

First one for me too...

Bad Stuff

• The weather.
• The thievery.

The good stuff

• The NOISE!!!
• The view from the dunlop curves
• The brakes glowing red at night
• The view from the big wheel at 2am
• The general friendliness of everyone (some exceptions)
• Aston Martin winning GT1 and all the AM's finishing
• Being at the front of the crowd underneath the podium at the end and getting drenched in champagne! All the Brits "trying" to sing the national anthem and the AM boys pissing themselves on the podium! AWESOME!

Loved it! The weather can only get better for next year!

Edited by coog on Tuesday 19th June 16:03

Edited by coog on Tuesday 19th June 17:19

Edited by coog on Tuesday 19th June 17:47

[Mustang Baz]

More here -

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[randlemarcus]

wobbit said:

Dear Piston Headers. I'm sorry I had to resort to this on your (excellent) forum, but I felt it needed to be said. I hope you can understand.

Thanks

Ouch

Next time, just shift the tents along a bit to an empty space, and carry on having a good time - it is intensely possible

Sorry you didnt have a good one - next year?

[wobbit]

I would consider it. But I had such an bad time this year I shudder when thinking about it. I'm probably going to try Nurburgring 24hr next time.

[Smirnoff]

Mustang Baz said:

More here -

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Yes but this one is turning out more interesting!!!!

[Cotty]

wobbit said:

lots of stuff

I cant find the thread but someone who organises a Le Mans trip for a group of freinds has a no wives/girlfreind rule. That way the guys can get on with the job in hand ie,driving fast, drinking, smelling, not shaving, enjoying the race at all hours etc etc. Perhaps a rule you could enforce next year.

Edited by Cotty on Tuesday 19th June 17:20

Edited by Cotty on Tuesday 19th June 17:20

[wobbit]

I have deleted my post

This is more of a private conversation.

Sorry

[BCA]

Glad I caught that bit: Miaoooow!

Good Stuff:

• the drive down, though a little quiet (we went friday night/Sat morning)
• interesting traffic jams
• changeable weather for the race
• start of the race
• middle of the race
• driving around during the race without incident
• being able to exit LM without a traffic jam (leaving from Arnage corner, we had no problems what so ever!)
• the drive back (little Genderm presence, lots of nice cars, good driving etiquette, no nutters)
• various other places we visited on the way back

Bad Stuff:

• Cracked manifold meant fuel economy was down big time (averaged mid to high 30's, the Cerb wouldnt have been far off)
• Should have bought stickers/ spent more time prepping the car
• traffic jams lasting hours to get into le mans
• slower moving traffic around the circuit
• idiots saying "its not a TVR mate" constantly (no shit, we put it on the front every year we take my car so alot of the TVR owners who know us can spot us when we arent in the Cerb! - thanks to all who waved/gave us the thumbs up/TVRs that flashed us etc etc)
• Safety cars - especially at the end, irritating
• weather just at the end of the race when we were packing up the car, cant really complain though, we were praying for rain throughout the race.

Overall, the good massively outweighed the bad, we really enjoyed it.

[kennyboy]

We had a fantastic time - in fact the whole thing has had a profound affect on us, it's emotional as they say.

3 of us went down in 2 cars - it was also my stag do.

The weekend was greater than the sum of it's parts but I'll try to break some points out:

The atmosphere - always amazing, especially at the start.

Seeing the cars come round dunlop curves for the first time - I didn't expect them to look so fast, it was incredible.

The Aston Martins - the sound, the drama every time we saw one - like at 2am Sunday morning seeing one of them flashing an LMP2 car to get out of the way, incredible.

Arnage saturday night - great food, great atmosphere, great cars.

The Audis and Peugots - we nicknamed them the LMP0 cars....different league all weekend.

Night racing - the cars seemed faster, the racing more intense - I'll never forget the adrenalin a felt when we came back to the circuit saturday night, fantastic.

The rain - yes I'm sorry I'm such a wuss I even loved the rain at the end, it's all part of the Le Mans romance isn't it - everyone trying to get hold of a brolly or mac so they could see the finish. The way teh rain made no difference at all to the atmosphere as the cars passed the finish line. I once saw a documentary about Le Mans as a kid and it was raining then - I actually smiled as the rain started and remembered that programme.

The run down - the camaraderie was the best I've experience, it doesn't matter if you're in a Fiesta or an Enzo, Le Mans is the great leveller. Spot on.

I could go on and on but I'm welling up....suppose I'm suffering from post Le Mans blues.

Thanks Piston Headers for helping us organise this at such short notice - it's no coincidence I think the Le Mans thread is the most positive I'm seen on the forums. I had one of the best times I've ever had - we'll be there every year from now!

[//j17]

Probably the best part this year was sitting in Houx trying to get through the remaining beer on Sunday evening while it took the people camped next to us a couple of hours to get to out the camp site (took them over an hour to move 2 car lengths)

Sunday night was by far the best atmosphear and the Classic British Welcome a real hidden gem.

Getting to check-in at Le Harve at 4:57 for a 5PM sailing and still getting on the ferry has to go quite high up the list - only one sailing a day to Portsmouth...

Edited by //j17 on Tuesday 19th June 17:47

[burriana]

kennyboy said:

some good stuff

I forgot you were going Kenny or I'd have text'd you on saturday. We were at Arnage corner until about 10pm, then went into the village for a bite to eat, then back to the main circuit area and to the big wheel, then down to Dunlop S'es and Tetre Rouge, then back to Dunlop to take pics at dawn.

We must have been within shouting distance of you!

[E36GUY]

Good Stuff:

- Getting the first ever White Rabbit Racing private campsite organised and filling the spaces!
- Overnight Tuesday drive. Dawn on the N138 was awesome.
- The fencing arriving as directed!
- Watching the cars rolling in over 3 days all stickered up with the WRR logos
- Being in the village in the sun all day Saturday. getting royally pissed all day on Saturday then the Levellers concert
- Playing cat and mouse in the woods with the marshalls. More of them this year just made things more fun in my opinion!
- Aston Martin winning their class
- Rollcentre Racing coming 4th!
- My huge double bed in my tent complete with sheets/pillows.
- Being cooler than usual!
- Burning up the Houx roundabout and approach road in my M3
- Witnessing the fact that the LeManbulance made it down!
- Convoy home in the sun was great, raced a Tuscan to high figures and wasn't at all embarrassed! Who were you sir?!
- And all the company in general and watching most of the WRR crew dealing with the rain determined to enjoy Le Mans regardless as well as meeting randoms all weekend.
- Not getting done speeding this year.

Bad bits

- Rain - although it was just a challenge and didn't dampen spirits in general
- Our field becoming a bog
- The dreadful access to BSJ. What they have obviously tried to improve has completely worked against them.
- Frenchies not doing anything to help our cars out as a result of the mud.
- Missing the ferry on the way back by 2 minutes.

[Cotty]

E36GUY said:

- Missing the ferry on the way back by 2 minutes.

Snap with the 4pm ferry dispite a "spirited drive" to catch it, was expecting you on the 6pm though.

[chris_speed]

One Very Good Thing that must be mentioned is Radio Le Mans. Such a fantastic service, and added so much to the experience of watching the race. I really felt in touch with the heartache and sheer emotion of the race. The phone in at the end with 'enri Pescarolo and David Piper had me and the girlfriend in stitches, and believe me the missus is not one to find motorsport geeks funny, except in the worst possible way!

Radio Le Mans - thank you, really was one of the best things about the whole weekend.

[rralston]

E36GUY said:

- Convoy home in the sun was great, raced a Tuscan to high figures and wasn't at all embarrassed! Who were you sir?!

That was quite a giggle Didn't realise M3's were that quick!

Good bits for me:
- Arnage on Wednesday(yes we went down early this year) sat and watched the world go by with a few beers
- Wandering around the paddock on Thursday morning, then diving into a resteraunt for a very long lunch as the rain came down
- Dryness of Speed Chills
- Thursday night until 4am in the bar....I couldn't see straight when I left!
- Staying up until 4.45am on Sunday morning - the racing was great
- Aston, Corvette and Panoz shooting flames out of the exhausts on overrun!

Bad bits: most said before about chav behaviour an the Paddock looks like F1 has come to town - oh and the phycopath who jumped on my car and scratched the bonnet on Sunday eve. Nice one d1ckhead!

Anyway - another year survived another story to tell

[BigMansZetec]

I too really enjoyed the whole weekend.

It was my first time and I will definatley be going again.

Hightlights for me included:

The drive down - first time driving abroad, and I really enjoyed it.
Pit Walk - great to get up close to the gargages without needing a special pass.
Mulsanne on friday - enjoyed the drive down the track and seeing all the exotica that was parked up.
Victory for Aston - really pleased they finally beat the corvettes.
Night racing - first time witnessing racing in the dark, was interesting to watch.

Shame about the weather, but nothing anyone could have done about it, so I think we made the best of what we could.

[Rooster]

Cotty said:

wobbit said:

lots of stuff

I cant find the thread but someone who organises a Le Mans trip for a group of freinds has a no wives/girlfreind rule. That way the guys can get on with the job in hand ie,driving fast, drinking, smelling, not shaving, enjoying the race at all hours etc etc. Perhaps a rule you could enforce next year.

Edited by Cotty on Tuesday 19th June 17:20

Edited by Cotty on Tuesday 19th June 17:20

I would hate that ruling in our group, I drive fast, drink with the best of them, didnt have a shower for 4 days, didnt shave, watched the race from start til 5am and then again after 4 hours sleep etc etc AND I'm a girlfriend! Girlies love LM too you know!