Le Mans film evening..

[ginettag27]

Has anyone else noticed this (from DSC)? or been to it in the past? Seems like a good day out, it's
on March the 7th (Saturday).

http://www.legendsfilmfestivals.com/home.htm

From the site :

The Legends of Le Mans Film Festival 2009 is organised by Legends Film Festivals, the same team that organised the Jim Clark Film Festival in 2008.

It is intended that the event becomes an annual fixture, with a different theme each year but always the same focus on an informal, friendly, relaxed atmosphere which enables enthusiasts to get close to their heroes and talk to them.
What happens at the Festival?

The event runs from 10.30am to 5.30pm. There are two main elements to the festival - the film sessions and the guest speaker panel session .

To view the event timetable, please click here.
The film programme

The film programme is split into two sessions, each of one-and-a-half hours' duration. Each session will contain a number of different film extracts, of varying lengths, relating to the Le Mans 24 hours. In the main this will be rare (in some cases never seen before) footage. This will be supplemented by a small amount of footage from DVDs and videos that are currently commercially available.

In summary, we feel certain that nobody will have seen all of it, concede that some of you may have seen a bit of it but believe that a good number of you will not have seen any of it!
The guest speaker panel session

Each year we invite a number of special guests with a deep and detailed knowledge of the subject of the Festival to share their recollections and anecdotes with the audience. This session is scheduled to last for one and a half hours - although it often runs over...

The panel usually includes a mix of drivers, designers and mechanics. Some of the panel will stand up and speak on their own, while others are happier fielding questions from the MC or the audience.

At the end of the session, the members of the guest speaker panel will be available to sign autographs, books, photographs and other memorabilia.

Guest speakers provisionally booked* to attend the event include:

· Jackie Oliver, winner of the 1969 Le Mans 24 hours

· Richard Attwood, winner of the 1970 Le Mans 24 hours

· David Piper, renowned sports car privateer

· Richard Bray, former mechanic for the JW-Gulf team

· John Wagstaff, class-winner in 1963 and 64, driving a Lotus Elite.

· Peter Riley, class winner in 1959, driving a Lotus Elite


ETA : I am in no way connected to any of the people organising this event.

Currently I am not going, just waiting for a mate to get a pass for the day...

Edited by ginettag27 on Monday 16th February 13:45

[ginettag27]

Booked this now.

[Trackside]

I went along to this with a mate in his very dirty Elise 135Sport (we hid it away in the furthest car park!). Very entertaining day with some fascinating old film footage from the late twenties up to the Jaguar win in '88. The guest speakers were great value, especially David Piper and Richard Attwood with their very frank, honest and amusing anecdotes (Attwood said he couldn't have cared less when he won LM in 1970, he just wanted to get out of the 917 asap as he was deaf and suffering from blinding headaches from the noise).

There were a couple of very faithful Gulf-liveried GT40 replicas outside Eynsham Hall along with ex-Le Mans entrants from Team Elite and the MGCC NW. All in all we had an excellent day; congrats to Michael Oliver and Gary Critcher for organising it. Next year's event will apparently be Lotus-based.

I took some photos of the day which you can see here.
http://www.pbase.com/trackside/lemanslegendsfilms_...

[fatboy18]

Looks like a great day Thanks for shareing the pics

Ps: I know this might sound sad but the Drivers in your last pic,

Would it be possable to name them Left to right, I reconise one or two of them but it would be nice to put a name to the ones im not sure of.
Thanks.

[ginettag27]

This was amazing, it's hard to convey the stories and brevity that the stories were regaled with! the footage was also very insightful, from official team footage, to footage that was shot by individuals helping privateers. there was footage from about 1929 all the way up to the 60s , on to the 70s and up to 88. A glorious mini history of Le Mans, given a personal touch when the drivers and mechanic talked through some photos. Referring to Ferrari as "the old man" and Chapman as simply Colin! A stunning day that was just too short. Some very good exhibitors, great cars and good food, in a great setting.

drivers are L to R

Jackie Oliver

David Piper

John Wagstaff

Peter Riley

Richard Bray

Richard Attwood

Some of the footage showed the idiocy of the classic Le Mans starts and the contemporary commentaries were peppered with off the cuff comments that were hilarious!

A great day, well organised. I was sat feet away from David and Richard and they were more than happy to answer questions.

[Trackside]

Thanks for answering the driver question on my behalf; after I'd posted the pics and turned off the laptop last night I thought, 'doh, might have been useful to name them!'

For the record, Richard Bray wasn't actually a driver but worked as a mechanic for JW-Gulf on the '69-winning GT40 of Ickx/Oliver and in '70 on the 917s. Interesting fellow, as were they all to be fair. I too loved the personal references to the 'Old Man' and 'Colin' as well as 'The Colonel' (Ronnie Hoare of Maranello Concessionaires).

Great day out.

[fatboy18]

Great stuff, thanks guys.