Le Mans 2012 Classic Thread

[Martini...LB]

Great company as ever. Big man huggs to Uncle Martin, who can provide sensible conversation given a little effort. Shame we only get to meet once a year, and already looking forward to next time.

Hugg you long time... 

Big thanks to Newcastle Dave and his group. Lots of new friends there and a certain civility this year with proper food, our own Vicar and daily Yoga classes to sit and watch / laugh at over a cold breakfast beer.

What a lovely bunch... and 80% newbie with a lot of enthusiasm, despite the weather which by the way was no where near as bad as expected...

Thanks to Stuart for his company

He's a Thespian.... Nice guy and he can talk sense I know, I taught him 

Huge, huge thanks to CA's own Goddess, the wonderful Fran for being the responsible adult and translator.... She even did the washing up without protest this year!

Never protested before, always very willing..., Fran you are a darling...

Hope you and your husband got home OK.

You mean Buzzzzzzz light year...

Also last but not least my new friend Eric, a seriously funny guy who I hope will be there next year. Proof that language is never a barrier and a little pigeon French and English will get you through- comedy being a universal language that works anywhere. 'Cuckoo'.

A darling of a bonkers frenchie, would fit in anywhere with his dodgy accent and enthusiasm...

Weather total pants. Got soaked a few times.

Shouldn't have left the campsite then...

Driving standards in general were appalling at times.

Especially on the way back from Rennes on saturday...

Lewd behaviour, bare chests and drunkenness isn't what I go to the Classic for (although having been there with Martini twice prior I should be used to it by now).

I kept my chest covered... 

Ferarri 250 GTO paddock and parade. Such stunning cars but slightly strange seeing so many in one place. Kind of underwhelming in a sense. Almost like spending a lifetime looking for a unicorn, then finding 26 of them in a pub having lunch.

I have a unique horn...

The Friday evening meal in Arnage was great. Plenty of entertainment from the passing cars and the crazy young lad on the Scooter who pulled every trick in the book to raucous cheers. Several loud choruses of Happy Birthday in which all the other guests and passer-by's joined in with was rather cool, and topped off a good day in which to say goodbye to your thirtys and hello to a decade of buggered knees, bad backs and digestive problems.

I can wait...

Finally the good craic and banter. The weather was rubbish but it failed to dampen the spirits. I raise a glass to you all.

We had a laaaaarff...

Cheers all.
Lazy Bastard.

>Martini...LB

[Lawnmower Man]

What great weekend.

Thanks to Jo for seeding the thought in Anita's mind that Camping at the Circuit is tolerable.
Thanks to the Guy and this wife in the Mini Marcus who spotted I had left my camera at the side of the car in pompey on the way out.

I thought that the weekend might be a bit of a disaster as Barry point ed the rather chequered history of the Tickets I had.  Having originally been Paul's then sold to Kristof the to Werner all of whom had not been able to make it for one reason or another.  So when we were about half way to the ferry and Anita remembered that we have forgotten to get the GPS from her car.  I though well thats us off to a bad start.   We were going to be staying at a friends place on the way down and on the way back but it is in the middle of nowhere and so a GPS was quite an important item.  No the less Google maps and the iPhone did the trick and we made it to the house without a hitch.  From there on everything went really well.


It made a big difference stopping of at our friends place the trip not nearly as rushed as I normally am.  Mind you the car seemed to be just as full this weekend as the main event and there were only two of us in the car.

Thanks to everyone we met up there.

I guess the oddest thing of the weekend was on on Monday evening we went in to Bagnoles-de-l'Orne and by pure chance we decided to go for a walk around the Lake in centre and who should we bump in to? The Liverpool boys!   

Well have to do it all again in two years time.  :-)

[termietermite]

Fantastic weekend (12k or so up on last year - attendance wise) only marred by the fact that I had food poisoning plus a total old-fart disaster whereby both Mr T and I thought we'd packed Robbo's spare batteries for my scooter when neither of us had.  He then had to shove me up the hill in the village single handed when the first set went flat having got me out to TR on Friday night/Saturday morning.  We were thus pretty much stuck in the grandstand for the rest of the weekend so missed seeing so many of you.  It really is over far too quickly to allow us to see the vast amount of stuff that's about.

Great though to catch up with the Liverpool Boys and (briefly) Tom, Steve and co.  Huge thanks also to my mate Herard at the local bar in the village (known to some of you as the destination of my mad Friday drive-outs), who this morning presented me with a genuine Porsche badge for the scooter which he'd procured over the weekend.

I'm already on the hog trail and the baked beans are in the queue awaiting the tasting trial.

Sad so see a couple of very valuable casualties but better that than all these wonderful machines kept in cotton wool in museums.  I do think it's great to see cars that are in the permanent exhibit in the adjacent museum are run and actually raced on the track during these weekends.

Rumours abounding down here that Peter is trying to persuade the powers that be to buy large parts of Hunaudieres so that the long circuit can be a permanent feature at LM (know anything about this, Mr Cheese?).  This might even mean a Classic every year if it ever comes off but would, imo, remove some of the magic if it were not longer a public roads race.  We shall see.  Interesting times ahead.

[Lazy B'stard]

I have the 1972 programe at home that announces a new dual carriageway that will run beside the Hunaudieres, that will allow the existing road to be made available to the ACO. Forty years later and all that.....

Can't see it happening in the current climate. If it did happen then great- I'd love to see the 24hr Camions thunder down there!

[Fran]

I have been checking out the camions on youtube.... looks a hoot!

F

[termietermite]

A bit of night-time stuff.  More atmosphere than quality as I seem to have been on about ten thousand ASA at the time!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97986095@N00/sets/72157630526214996/

[Mr. Rick]

A few more....

[Fran]

I like the raindrops one - sadly it didnt sit in bubbles like that on my tent!

[termietermite]

And some daytime stuff.  Sorry the videos are crude, handheld and unedited but at least they have a little more action than the Motors coverage!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97986095@N00/sets/72157630526564888/

[Brian(Liverpool boys)]

Great to see old friends, Termie, Ian, Tom, Anita, Leigh, Anita, Barry, Joe, Graham, Rob,Terry, Mike,Kevin,Ian, Peter, Stu, Dave, Pam. Shirley, Alan, John, Ken, Tony and all the others that enjoyed the company, hope to see you all next year, thanks guys for making our first classic one to remember.

[Stu]

I guess the oddest thing of the weekend was on on Monday evening we went in to Bagnoles-de-l'Orne and by pure chance we decided to go for a walk around the Lake in centre and who should we bump in to? The Liverpool boys!   

Well have to do it all again in two years time.  :-)

I didn't think it was odd, I thought it was quite a pleasant night. 

[Steve Pyro]

Yes there was a bit of occasional drizzle (and a good downpour early Saturday evening - was in the Tribunes) but what a cracking weekend.

Good to see the usual faces - Fran came to check that we were safeguarding her gazebo.

We had a good 6 up tour of the circuit in the Caddy on Thursday evening after a very substantial trough session in Arnage.  Here's the video http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150902038027551

My weekend highlight was watching the final Group 3 race session from the Ford Chicane tribune and seeing a good few cars pirouetting through a greasy corner before the marshals threw some cat litter on it.  Great bit of 4 wheel drifting from the DBR1.

[Steve Pyro]

A bit late in the day but here's a handful of my photies (including some Paddock 5 totty)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13111644@N00/sets/72157630610011580/

[Stu]

A bit late in the day but here's a handful of my photies.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13111644@N00/sets/72157630610011580/

Bollox the rest of the cars Steve, the first ones a classic,  especially her on the right

[Stu]

Oh and the second one.