I wouldn't have thought that even Jaguar could design something prettier than the famed E Type, but I think they might have managed it with this, the rather gorgeous you have to admit, one-of-a-kind XJ13 racing prototype (which never actually raced).

The original can be yours for the tiny amount of 27 million dollars, so obviously I'll be looking down the back of the sofa ASAP.

The Nordschleife and rank amateurs doesn't sound the safest of combinations, I have to say. And the thought of driving the Nordschleife in the dark is a pretty scary one as well, thinking about it.

Still, it is my all-time favourite racing circuit and I'm certainly considering visiting the 'Ring next year and then possibly heading for Le Mans as well. As 'safer' as the 'Ring has been made, I don't doubt that it still provides an awesome challenge for both drivers and cars alike, and it's one of the very few of the circuits from the glory days of racing that hasn't been either abandoned or so watered down that it's a shadow of its former self like Spa, Reims and others.

In the interest of mot making the campsites more messy than they need to be, might I suggest the M460 Stingmore? Non-lethal and it's used on the outside of embassies for riot control:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/406003/jackass2_riot_control_test/

Well, Rossi did pretty respectably for his first sportscar race. 11th overall and 3rd in his class, in spite of numerous mechanical gremlins and unscheduled pit stops.

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/154888/1/rossi_third_in_class_on_sportscar_debut.html

Sorry about that, I didn't realise until I read it again just now.

But campsite security is, for me, an issue that the ACO need to come to grips with in some way, rather than take what's currently a relatively small problem and ignore it until it gets worse enough to start putting people off going. I can do without extra comforts if I need to (it is a camping trip after all) but I'm reluctant to do without proper security if I don't have to.

And if I went to my previous ticket agent again, I'd end up paying just as much (if not more) for an extra GA ticket I don't need. As I'm travelling on a reasonably tight budget, I don't want to be spending more money than I have to and if I can get improved facilities for the same amount then I don't mind doing that.

This would be n excellent idea, in my opinion.

Another reason I went with SpeedChills for the 2010 race is that I can buy a single race ticket, which is important as I travel to Le Mans alone. The ticket agency I used before (I won't name them) wouldn't sell a camping permit to me unless I also bought at least two General Admission tickets and both the GA tickets and the camping permit had something like a 10% markup, in addition to the agency charging extra for a (compulsory) Royal Mail Special Delivery.

This time, I've got a single GA ticket and private, secure camping, washing and toilet facilities, entertainment, food and a decent bar, for the same price as I would have paid for two GA tickets (when I only need one) and a place on the public campsites where the amenities and security will (more than likely) be nowhere near as good.

Well, the ACO have long had  less than superb reputation for giving punters the camping allocation they actually ask for, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if, in a few years time, much of the campsite space is in the hands of private operators. So yes, I'd say there's a distinct possibility that, as time goes on, people will increasingly be turning to privately run camping spaces, either because they get fed up with the ACO ticket lottery or because that may be all they can get.

I wouldn't say it's a really major problem. Yet. But I'd rather see it clamped down on before it develops any further, I must admit. As far as the British GP goes I don't know, as I've never been. But Glastonbury has a serious theft problem, and I've been there a couple of times. It's not just that people steal from tents at Glastonbury, I've heard reports of people coming back from bimbling around the site to find that there was only a patch of bare grass (or mud) where their tent used to be and that everything inside the tent had gone with it to Parts Unknown. That and I've also heard about people having tent thieves rob them while they were actually in their tents, occasionally using pepper spray as form of persuasion.

I must confess, as cynical as this sounds, whether or not in, say, five years time, groups like SpeedChills or similar won't end up running more and more of the campsite space, especially as the allocations of tickets and camping permits seem to be increasingly in the hands of ticket agents before the general public can order them via the ACO. After all, give it a few years and perhaps, if much of the campsites are privately run, it would be handy for the ACO to avoid cracking down on the thief and jerk element by saying to the campsite companies 'Your campsites, your problem.'

Apologies for bumping an old thread, but I've just booked the secure camping option with SpeedChills for precisely this reason. Seeing as some thieves are now brazen enough not only to rob tents but do so while people are inside them, I'd really rather not wake up to discover an uninvited (and most definitely unwanted) visitor stripping out anything that's not nailed down.

I never take anything I can't afford to lose anyway, but money and travel documents are obviously very important and so I carry them on my person (even when asleep) and never leave anything in my tent that I don't want to find missing when I get back.

Sneak thieves are, as a rule, arch opportunists. Having to get over two metres of anti-climb fencing and evade SpeedChills security force will, I hope, prove a sufficient deterrent that they'll stick to the public campsites instead (not that I want anyone to be robbed, obviously, regardless of where they're camping).

The ACO need to get a handle on the obnoxious jerk element before it gets out of control, granted, but while the jerks are merely annoying (as a rule) the thieves are beginning to become more and more of a problem and the ACO, as organisers of the race and campsites, need to drop the hammer on them now before things get any worse.

Apologies is this has already been posted, but if it hasn't I thought folk might be interested:

ROME, Nov 20 (Reuters) - MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi was relishing the prospect of competing in his first endurance car race after Friday's practice with the Kessel team in a Ferrari 430 GT3.

"In the first session I focused on getting to grips with the commands of the car, which is really quick," Rossi told the website of the Vallelunga track near Rome (www.vallelunga.it), where he will take part in a six-hour race on Sunday.

"In the second I started to step on it and I really enjoyed myself trying to get the set-up right.

"We haven't studied the right strategies for the race yet, but I'm really excited about the tussle in store."

The 30-year-old Italian, who has won nine motorcycling world titles, is no stranger to competition on four wheels.

He has taken part in many rallies and has not completely ruled out one day racing for Ferrari in Formula One after turning down the chance three years ago following promising tests.

(Reporting by Paul Virgo; Editing by Alison Wildey

I was on the phone last night to one of my oldest and dearest friends (who, under the circumstances, must remain nameless) and we were chatting about old times, as you do. And I gleefully took the opportunity to remind of him of a small, shall we say, 'incident' in which nobody was hurt, but left him in urgent need of alternative employment.

He's a club racer and, nowadays, has his own panel beating and car valeting business, but a few years ago he was delivering cars to customers for his (very, very much) ex-employers. Until the day he demolished the rear end of a brand new Ford Mondeo.

Unfortunately, he wasn't actually delivering the brand new Ford Mondeo, which was parked up, peacefully minding its own business by the pavement near where my mate used to work. He instead chose to demolish the rear of the Mondeo by employing, wait for it...

The front end of the equally brand new Ferrari F335 he was supposed to be delivering. Which required a total front end rebuild.

He doesn't deliver high performance sports cars any more.

Has anyone on these boards ever committed so ghastly a blunder?

Ah, the D Type, one of the finest creations Malcolm Sayer came up with, genius that he was.

Request permission to drool, Sir...

Schlurp.

I'll be leaving from Plymouth on the noon sailing on Tuesday, then the first train to Le Mans from Morlaix on Wednesday morning. I should be on Beausejour from late morning Wednesday until the Sunday afternoon when I head back for the sailing on Monday afternoon.

Hope to see some of you there.

Hi there, Clematolia.

I'm headed for Le Mans on foot as well, so here's a few pointers.

You've got offers for a camping spot so that's no bother.

1. Weight. When you're packing your kit, pack absolute essentials first and then check you pack to see how much it weighs. If you're going to be self-sufficient for a few day (Pack, clothes, tent, food, stove, folding chair etc) then the last thing you want is unnecessary baggage as you'll be weighed down with kit as it is.

2. As you'll be carrying your kit on foot, I don't suggest walking from the train station to the track weighed down with it all. If it's raining you'll be soaked to the skin before you've even got your tent up and if it's dry then the sun will bake you alive and you'll end up soaked in sweat instead of rain. Either way, not nice. So get a cab or a bus from the railway station.

3. Be sociable. Race fans are a pretty sociable lot as a rule and you'll enjoy it a lot more if you can tag along as part of a group instead of keeping to yourself.

4. Learn some French. Not just on practical grounds, but also because I've noticed that, if you do have problems and make the effort to speak the language, then locals will probably be a lot more sociable and helpful in return. I wouldn't find it easy to speak French here in the UK, so don't expect the French to speak English in their own country. A little time and a decent phrasebook will help out a lot when you're actually there.