Just checking in...

[ricardo]

Vast improvement on the old CA forum. Well impressed! (Matt - a very funny account of the 'shrimpfest' by the way!)

[Matt Harper]

Hi Ricardo
Hope you are well. The shrimpfest did scar me for life and I find it theraputic to get it out of my system, once in a while. I understand that we'll be meeting you at the track on Thursday, which does sound a little dangerous to me - the plan is to take the TGV to Angers, pick up a motorhome and meet you in Houx. We may go back to Jumelles on Friday to pick up more ice and empty the shitter.
Are you taking the Blackpool Bomber, or have you offed it?
See you next month
Matt

[BigH]

Dave, we had a similar experience that same year, but without the vomiting.
As the heavens opened we decided to move the barbeques into our marquee, luckily we were burning charcoal rather than propane, so respiratory problems were kept to a minimum. Before long we'd created a microclimate in there, a sort of fetid, humid rainforest atmosphere, crossed with the Gents bog on Putney Bridge (where I was quite wrongly arrested one Friday night). You could see the mangrove tendrils creeping up the canvas.
After an hour or so we just couldn't take any more, and emerged blinking like miners exiting a pithead after a double shift of tubloading, blasting and whiskey drinking.
In hindsight, it's a good job no propane was involved, for a couple of our bunch, frothing and fitting is all part of a normal day.
Now, tell me, what the hell is R2D2?
H

[ricardo]

Hi Matt - We've got duellin' Disco's heading to Houx this year (me and Nick) so we've got shed loads of space to ship all the kit down (fridge, gazeebo, Coolio, generator etc...). The Blackpool Bomber is currently taking root in a franchised dealer in Sussex with a high price tag and a very low rate of return for yours truly! At least it's had a blast down the N138, and thank god it wasn't the wet bastard in 2001! We need to get our heads around the champagne shipment for the weekend's glug-fest. Who's starting the bidding?

[Matt Harper]

Firstly - Big H - you are confusing me with my somewhat uglier younger brother Dave. Your poisoning sounds even more impressive than ours! Your description of the atmosphere in your marquee, brought back a blinding epiphany from 2001. The tent we were standing in actually acted as a rain amplifier and was christened so by one of our oppo's. The rain was blasting into the sides of this tent and emerging as a fine, all-soaking mist on the inside - quite surreal. What put the tin lid on it for me, was when I staggered, choking for breath, outside, just in time to see my tent floating away. What a miserable f**k*ng night that was, and no error.
R2D2 is a highly mobile, all terrain coolbox of stupendous capacity. We use it to lug our supplies of beer/champagne/ice around, because we are too cheap to pay stupid money for shite, warm beer. It has become quite famous at La Sarthe. R2 is very well travelled. It's actually owned by a guy in Cincinnati OH, who's a bit of a NASCAR fan and good friend of CA's very own Fax'n'Figures. Fax brings R2 down here, to all of the southern races (Rolex, Sebring, Petit Le Mans) as well as the northern circuits - and lugs it over to Le Mans each year also. R2D2 benefits from excellent all-wheel steering and has room for about 80 cans of neck-oil and 10 bottles of knicker loosener. It is the vessel of THE GRIMBERGEN LUCKY DIP and various 'christenings' whereby the birds who accompany us invite friends new and old, to submerge their swedes in it's icy depths (very refreshing when it's warm out, as Canada Phil will testify)
Ricardo
Disco's it is then - I forgot you told me you'd bought one when you were here for Daytona. I'll very much miss the blast down from your home 20 - was always a laugh. We should contact Norbert and send him out for the bubbly - how many was it last year? I was thinking the other day - I wonder when the management of the Champagne Bar are going to cotton on to the fact that we bring our own - and have done for the last 5 years - it's like taking your own burgers to McDonalds. If I was them, I'd kick my arse off my plastic chairs in a breath. I don't know how we have the brass neck to ask them for glasses only - the fact that they happily hand 'em over beggars belief!!
Matt  

[Dave H]

Greetings from the "Mistake By The Lake" - Cleveland Ohio.  What a shite hole.

All this talk of butane asphyxiation is getting me short of breath.

H - hopefully Matt's description of R2 is satisfactory.  We actually have 2 currently in circulation - one is still here in the States and I manufactured and imported R2 MkII to Europe last year - it should be languishing in Harrogate as we speak.  Look for it this year with mounted police light.  The independent steering and suspension makes a world of difference on the le Mans terrain.  Took a stock coolbox one year and melted the f**k*ng wheels off it until we were dragging a box around like a bunch of pikeys.  Bad news.  Coolios are the only way to go now.

Last year we did a throughie in the Tribunes until about 6:30 a.m. completely supported by two of the bastards full of Champers.  I nearly f**k*ng died later that morning.  I've got a bad feeling we're in for a repeat performance this year.

Cheers!

[Matt Harper]

Ricardo
Change your log in name - you sound like a biscuit.

[ricardo]

Any better Matt?

Rich

[Alfa Dave]

What does a biscuit sound like?