How Le Mans looked from a PH perspective, including a Friday Service, pit stops and a pub quiz!
Somehow a week has already passed since we were at Le Mans, and it certainly feels like we brought the weather home with us as we reminisce on what was one of the most dramatic races we've seen at Circuit de la Sarthe.
After a quiet dinner on Thursday night at the Le Mans Legend Cafe in town and an evening of techno-pop on Bleu Nord, we kicked off our weekend with
our Friday Service, returning to the Classic British Welcome for the third year running. This year, the show celebrated Marcos and its entry into the 24-hour race, with 70 Marcoses on show in the quiet village of Saint-Saturnin. 120 PHers passed under the British and French flag bunting criss-crossing the roads, to help make up 1,000 cars on display at the event. Hats off to Paulmk2 for driving his freshly rebuilt Mk2 Escort rally car to Le Mans too - that was stunning!
Once again it was packed out with some incredible cars that we just don't get to see often over here in the UK; the French seem to have a real taste for American muscle with a strong selection of Mustangs and Corvettes on show. Meanwhile back on our private Bleu Nord campsite, run by 1st Tickets, the Aston Martin drivers were giving our members a Q&A session ahead of the big race. Little did they know what lay ahead!
Friday evening saw the inaugural PistonHeads Pub Quiz take place with a packed out bar and 22 teams battling to win pit tours with Aston Martin during the race on Saturday night. After identifying the amount of French cheese categories, who beat Audi during their LMP1 domination and making sense of a picture round, five teams were triumphant and bagged a spot with us for an exclusive insight into how a race team operates for 24 intense hours.
With the focus on LMP1 at the start of the race, all eyes were on Toyota in the hope that they'd be more fortunate than last year. Sadly less than half way through the race, both lead Toyotas were out of the race within 10 minutes of each, and the shutters on their garages came down to signify their premature finish to the race. It was disappointing to witness as we were heading to the paddock for the start of our pit tours at 2am, but hopefully it'll be the mark of Toyota's return next year to put an end to Porsche's winning streak.
Our lucky quiz winners were led through the stacks of spare parts and the heat of the tyre warmers into the pit area, where they were able to see pit stops and driver changes first hand. What you're not prepared for is how deafening the sound of the cars is as they tear away, the screaming exhaust notes reverberating off the walls. You even feel the rumble in your chest; it's an incredible experience to witness. After a beer top up, we were led down to the Dunlop workshop, where tyre fitters worked non-stop to change their way through a mountain of tyres for the teams they support at the race, including Aston Martin. The team worked in the heat in six-hour shifts and, at the pace they were working, it was tiring just watching them!
As the sun rose over the circuit with Porsche firmly in front in LMP1, the best was yet to come in GTE Pro with the ongoing battle between Aston Martin and Corvette for first place. The battle came down to the penultimate lap, when Jonny Adam made a pass on the pit straight with the crowds and team erupting with joy at the manoeuvre. It was clear that (almost) everyone was rooting for Aston Martin to take the win. And what a finish!
And before we knew it, the weekend was over. The tents were packed up, the
beer mountains were broken down, the techno-pop stopped and we were on our way home to nurse our sunburn. What sets a weekend at Le Mans apart from many other motorsport events is actually how little time you'll spend watching the racing. The atmosphere at the circuit is incredible and there's so much to see, whether it's the drivers parade in town on Friday, the eclectic mix of cars in the campsites and car parks, experiencing the food, drink and music, or seeing everything else that goes on behind the scenes in an endurance race.
We're sad it's all over, but excited that we'll have the Classic again next year as well as the 24 hours. Registration to stay on one of our private campsites with 1st Tickets will be opening this autumn, but if you can't wait then drop them a line now so you're one of the first to hear when booking is open. Thank you to everyone who joined us this year, as we simply couldn't do it without you. We look forward to joining you all again for PHLM18!
[Lead image: LAT photo]
