Hands up...

[spanishchocolate]

...who's mighty depressed, and wonders how soon is too soon to book for Le Mans Classic 2012

[hand shoots up]

Thanks to the organisers of the BBQ - had a lovely time. And a big shout out to the Rolls Rover boys

All in all - LMC was unbelievably fantastic, and produced some of the best moments of my life! Awesome - especially the 1949 - 1956 grid roaring past en masse; it really was spine tingling. Hope everyone had a wonderful, incident-free time

If you're on here - hope man with broken-down Triumph yesterday, who I stopped for, got home ok

[Nick M]

Yep, count me in that category !

But, just for the record, if you weren't there then you didn't miss anything. Weather was awful, crowd was just a drunken, unruly mess, the cars were only on track for 5, maybe 10, minutes during the entire weekend, beer was €20 a pint....

Seriously, don't bother. It's rubbish...

[spanishchocolate]

You're right actually Nick - I was trying to make myself feel better, after having thrown all that money down the drain for nothing

Don't forget the fact that no-one spoke to anyone, there was hardly anything going on, Arnage was closed en masse, the Gendarme were military-like in their oppressive approach, and there was no car porn at all generally driving around to look at. I think we've summed it all up nicely

[blackcossiestu]

I cant beleive they are now limiting the amount of beer you can take into the campsites at the classic....suppose they are just trying to keep the really fun stuff with the regular 24hr and leave the classic very formal?

[Nick M]

I got turned away at the gate when I tried to enter on the Saturday evening - apparently my Tuxedo was the wrong shade of black and my shoes weren't sufficiently polished

[Mark B]

Have booked 20 rooms at the hotel

[Stitch]

Funny that at the time the weather was a bit of a killer but now back in Blighty and 20degs cooler and raining and I would love to be back in the oven.

Two years is a long time to wait for another fix - the Classic was plenty busy enough for me, so I won't be trying the 24 hours for real.

[spanishchocolate]

Totally agree about the weather - view from the window is grey miserableness

Two years is a looong time to wait Have been investigating other classic races - seems there are some other attractive ones in France and elsewhere. There seems to be an interesting classic car road race in France, which I'm just now researching...It may be that none of them are Le Mans, but still - they might be good punctuation marks in the two year void!

Edited by spanishchocolate on Tuesday 13th July 17:14

[richw_82]

I'm back to crossing the days off on my wall chart. Big red pen says 725 days to go..

[Nick M]

spanishchocolate said:

Have been investigating other classic races - seems there are some other attractive ones in France and elsewhere. There seems to be an interesting classic car road race in France, which I'm just now researching...It may be that none of them are Le Mans, but still - they might be good punctuation marks in the two year void!

I know the one you mean but the name escapes me - apparently it's a cracking weekend on a really tight and twisty street circuit.

The other thing I'm going to try and get to this year is the Reims Classic event held some time in early September. Bit like a French version of the Goodwood Festival of Speed apparently.

[TonySim]

That'l be Angouleme:

http://www.circuit-des-remparts.com/

[spanishchocolate]

^ Indeed that's it. Also found this to use as a useful calendar of events: http://www.grandstandmotorsports.co.uk/historic-ca... Doesn't include Reims though - that sounds good [opens another session of Google...]

[Nick M]

TonySim said:

That'l be Angouleme:

http://www.circuit-des-remparts.com/

That's the puppy !

[Nick M]

spanishchocolate] Doesn't include Reims though - that sounds good [opens another session of Google... said:

For the hard of googling:

http://www.weea-organisation.com/

[spanishchocolate]

There's this too: http://www.tourdenormandie.com/#/en/accueil/

[Irish]

Nick M said:

TonySim said:

That'l be Angouleme:

http://www.circuit-des-remparts.com/

That's the puppy !

So up for this - on to Bordeaux for the wine tasting when finished.

[spanishchocolate]

Aside from arranging it oneself, this http://www.grandstandmotorsports.co.uk/circuit-des... sounds amazing with Grandstand Motorsports. However (a) it is relatively (we'll get on to that) expensive; and (b) single travellers have to pay circa £250 more than two people sharing a car and room. Er, no thanks (that's the polite version)

There's this company too: http://www.traveldestinations.co.uk/page.html?id=3... which is much cheaper, but with a much barer agenda

I'm just wondering whether going through tour operators will be the only way to get accommodation in the centre, in the imminent future

Have a lot more investigating to do, but this is definitely in the calendar for 2010 or latest 2011

[spanishchocolate]

Irish said:

So up for this - on to Bordeaux for the wine tasting when finished.

And don't forget Cognac!

[NormanD]

spanishchocolate said:

Irish said:

So up for this - on to Bordeaux for the wine tasting when finished.

And don't forget Cognac!

Then through Normandy to sample the Calvados before the Caen or LeHavre ferry.

[nutsytvr]

Nick M said:

spanishchocolate said:

Have been investigating other classic races - seems there are some other attractive ones in France and elsewhere. There seems to be an interesting classic car road race in France, which I'm just now researching...It may be that none of them are Le Mans, but still - they might be good punctuation marks in the two year void!

I know the one you mean but the name escapes me - apparently it's a cracking weekend on a really tight and twisty street circuit.

The other thing I'm going to try and get to this year is the Reims Classic event held some time in early September. Bit like a French version of the Goodwood Festival of Speed apparently.

Angouleme? Pau?

Reims weekend http://www.weea-organisation.com/

Nutsy