It's alive  :D

I have an Arnage Camping pass for sale @ face value: 35 EUR. Best mailed, but can also be handed over Tursday in the race week.
PM me if interested, or post a reply.

Regards,
Anders

I have a ticket now. Wishing everyone a great Le Mans 2013 :)

I'm looking for a Mulsanne camping pass.

PM me if you have a spare (I had one last year, but it never sold. I wonder what has happened?)

Thanks,
Anders

Quote from: termietermite on April 10, 2012, 08:50:50 AM
I agree - Ricard is photogenic.  So why does it look so (relatively) cr*p on (moving) film?

Long straights, fast corners, open areas, too safe, no hills, which is ironic, since it's situated in a mountain area. It all boils down to too little action. Plus the stripes look great on photos, but disturbing on film.

Saleen at Richard, wonderful! :)

Quote from: Fran on April 09, 2012, 06:45:09 PM
Lovely pictures there Anders.

Thanks :)

Gentlemen,
Back home again after a nice holiday with family. The race last sunday was nice. It lacked a bit of intensity, but judging from your comments, it was far better in real than on TV ;)
Richard must be one of the worlds best located race tracks, even the drive there through the mountain roads is fun ;D
Facilities are nice and new - nothing like what I'd expect from a french site: Even the toilet buildings are perfect and clean. On the other hand, it does lack some atmosphere.

The race was rather eventless, but the Provence way is very relaxed, so... We had a great time :)

Photographers love the place. I think the density of large DSLRs and lenses was even higher than at Le Mans! Even I got a few good photos - Flickr album here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62832941@N05/sets/72157629723576845/









Cheers,
Anders

Quote from: Lazy B'stard on March 27, 2012, 02:44:25 PM
You do know that their is a strong rumour going around that there will be only 17 starters for that race. Not looking good for the ELMS at the moment :'(

Latest update says 23 starters, and they all have drivers. Not bad :)

http://www.europeanlemansseries.com/en/s52_circuits/s52p06_engages.php?circuit=19&annee=2012

If there's anyone like me always looking to save a few euros on entrance tickes, local news paper Var Matin has a code on a banner ad on their web page:

http://www.varmatin.com

I'll be there on Sunday with the boys and their grandfather. First time the race coincides with family's traditional Easter holiday in Frejus  ;D

Only bad is we'll be missing DJets bday party  :'(

Thanks for the comments - and for not flaming me :)

So amateurs on Le Mans is part of the tradition. I appreciate that. The last thing I want to see is a spiritless Le Mans.

And the dream of being able to do the race yourself - I can relate to that! This year was the first time I had a chance to drive my Espace on the track... Would I like to drive a race car there? Yes, of course!

But how many of the 249,500 spectators will ever be able to raise the funds for running Le Mans? Not to mention the millions who watch it on tv? And why should money make the difference - I'd much rather see talent be rewarded.

I don't want to see private teams exit from Le Mans - why should they? But I'd like to see more talented drivers on Le Mans - and yes, that includes the Peugeot drivers, and frankly I find it pathetic when a team owner puts himself in the car instead of picking the best man for the job. It's just bad management.

Not allowing the GET Am class at Le Mans (not in the ALMS or LMS though) next year will be a step in the right direction IMO.

About the McNish accident - Audi went for a closed top car with wider fronts and drivers seated lower. Driving that car must feel like having blinkers on. There is obviously also a problem with the way the gravel trap works for prototypes - the car was just never 'trapped'.

/Anders

I may make some angry by posting this, but I hope 2011 will be the last year with amateur drivers at Le Mans. I really don't understand why they are there - heritage? If so, why is it important to keep?

I made myself unpopular with Radio Le Mans by twitting to them that I agreed with Romain Dumas when he ranted over the amateur drivers Saturday evening - for some reason the guys there think amateurs are the greatest and that the pros just need to adjust. One hour later, Romains car was demolished when Rocky tried passing an amateur.

Antony Beltoise (who took McNish off) is technically a PRO, but take another look at the team. Before and during the start of the race, I chatted with an elderly french gentleman (it was his 62'nd Le Mans). He knew both Beltoise and the team owner (the one with the polish name, I don't remember). They are not experienced race drivers - not at all! The owner is a former table tennis champion - and just another a rich guy with a "Luxury Racing" team. The name of the team says it all. How they have made it into the GTE Pro class, I don't know.

And I'm not saying anything about the Ford GT team...

I'm from Denmark, and I was obviously put down by TK not making a single lap of the race. But that's not why I'm writing this - for me, Le Mans is so much more than Tom K! The way I see it is that I'm travelling 3000 km to enjoy the place and watch the race. Le Mans is the greatest motor race on the planet! But there's no greatness watching rich people have fun so they can brag about it at the golf course or in the pub.

I read in my morning paper that TK has been asked to write a report to FIA. He is not pointing fingers at anyone, but he does say that the crashes occurred (and that actually included Jan Magnussens Corvette crash) while experienced drivers were trying to overtake inexperienced drivers - and that the crashes would not have happened between pro's. TK knows what he's talking about.

I think Le Mans should be a purely professional race from now.

Quote from: Lord Steve on January 12, 2011, 01:03:10 PM
Thank you all for your assistance and advice.
We are now sorted with pitches on Maison Blanche through the good offices of Messrs Speedchills.

Thanks again guys

Great. He'll love it!

I've been to Le Mans twice with two of my boys, in 2008 aged 8 and 10 and last year 10 and 12. We camped at BSJ both years. They had a great time! There are many drunk people at BSJ, even a few without pants on (or clothing at all), but nothing to worry about. I know parents are different and I'm probably more liberal than most, but everyone's extremely kind and helpful to the kids so I've never felt we were unsafe at all.

That said, however, they were quite annoyed by the mopeds running during the night close to the tent. A Corvette is *music* in comparison! So this year we're staying at Mulsanne and have booked a park ticket in Green area. With careful planning we expect to have a great time. Of course my intake of beer will have to be confined to times when I'm not driving the car, but I'm sure 2011 will be the best Le Mans so far for us.

/Anders

Splendid, thrilling, great! Thanks for sharing this historic piece :)

Quote from: Grand_Fromage on July 02, 2010, 04:19:40 PM
An English car with an English driver (Tim Greaves) and Scottish sponsor, so the cross of St George is not that severely out of place.

Good point!
Thanks.
I'm Danish - and prefer French wine (over Danish :o at least), Belgian beer and Scottish malt.

/Anders