Z356

A few more shots from Friday and pit row! z356

Ritesh

Great pics guys! Keep them coming. I missed the whole race(on T.V.) so this is all I have to go by.

drdrank

I hoofed it (didnt see anyone else do this, but I also booked this trip about 3 days before the race). Packed tent and gear. Flew into Paris. Took TGV train down to Le mans (great, seamless). Tram to track (seamless, except got off at the wrong entrance and walked about 6 miles to the other entrance, with 50lbs of gear, ugh). Bought grand stand seats--recommend buying them early so you have first pick of locations; covered roof so handy if it rains). Was also great to walk the track, stop in different locations, and get real close to the track....I camped in the wrong location--way too far, but that's all they had left. Interesting, seems the campground ticket is really only for if you have a car. I could have and should have set up shop anywhere close to my seats, rather than walking 7 miles from grandstand to camp site and back. Walked about 32 miles over the weekend (my knees don't particularly recommend going that route for next year). The "pros" had bikes and scooters, etc to help.

There are tour groups that provide "arrive and watch." You just show up and your tent, sleeping bags, etc are all set up and ready to go. They seemed a little expensive relative to stuffing a small lightweight tent into my backpack. But that's me.

So biggest suggestions: 1) order early to get your choice, 2) get tickets mailed to you, preventing accidental arrive at the wrong entrance and subsequent long walk, 3) get camp ground close to you unless you desire to walk a marathon.

Other things: 1) bring a radio. and charge it! I bought new Apple iPod Nano w/ FM tuner. Worked awesome to listen to Radio Le Mans in English...for the 45 minutes the battery lasted. oops. forgot to charge. spent next 23 hours practicing my French. 2) bring warm clothes or sleeping bag. I went without the sleeping bag and packed for summer...got what felt like 35 at night, frost was on the fly of my tent. froze. slept 2 hours. got up to go watch race instead.

Finally, figure out a way to get into the hospitality tents. Would be nice to see some of the action on TV to keep track of what's going on. And take the load off my knees.

I had a blast.

aussie jimmy

who wants to sleep? pack a slab of redbull and mark's your uncle!

drdrank

ha. good point.

i must say, seeing the cars zip around at 3am was one of the cooler things.

TRD0524

I got about 3 hours of sleep watching the whole 24 hours of Le-Mans live/streaming.

Z356

This is my vantage point for most of the race. It was at the Sarthe grandstand, just in front of the last curves before the Start/Finish line and the majestic Grandstands there! I am the guy with the Gulf colors lanyard!

We also had a Jumbotron screen in front of our stand, so that helped us keep up with the race across the entire 8 mile + course! See second photo. I did take a bus to Arnage and Mulsanne, but ran quickly out of time as we had to get back quickly to see the last hours of the race!

My second vantage point was the ACO (Automobile Club de lOuest) hospitality tents near Dunlop Bridge. Here I watched the first race - the historic Legends race with vintage cars driven at Le Mans in the fifties and sixties! Sterling Moss was supposed to race his 550 Spyder but changed his mind on Friday's practice. He said he is getting too old for this type of thing. Instead, a friend raced his 550 on Saturday. The next two photos are of this race. The winning car in this race was the yellow Ferrari going through the top of the curves in the fourth photo!

They also had a Pirelli Challenge 'Trofeo' race for 458 Italias. Both of these races were for about 45 minutes and happened on Saturday morning, way before the start of 24 hour race at 3 PM. The last photo is of this Pirelli Ferrari Challenge race!

Saludos, Eduardo (On my way today to our second home in Vail Valley, CO to spend the summer. Will be back in Carmel for the Historics of course!)

brake dust

Radiolemans.com has a travel partner called Travel Destinantions. Give them a call, they will set up a package specific to what you want from camping to hotels. There's a podcast on there travel services on the RL site. Probably by far the most experienced travel planner when it comes to Le Mans.

Z356

My particular tour was organized by Steve Austin. But it was the first time he has brought a group to Le Mans, since this isn't part of one of his normal European tours. We were on a 'Guys Only Car Tour', something Austin does every two years. We started in England and visited Jaguar, Bentley, Morgan and the Aston Martin Work Shop (Restoration). We also spend a Sunday at the famous Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb and toured the old Brooklands. We also visited the Fleet Air Arm (Royal Navy) museum and the Tank museum at Bovington.

Before Le Mans, we spent some time at the Normandy D-Day Beaches, which was the emotional high point of the trip for me. I also attended Austin's 2007 'Guys Only Car Tour'. On that trip, we visited the Bugatti Schlumpf Collection at Mulhouse, the Porsche Factory in Zuffenhausen, the Mercedes Museum, Restoration Center & Engine Factory in Stuttgart, the Lamborghini Factory in Modena, Ferrari at Maranello and a few other sites along the way in Switzerland. Steve's car tours are limited to around 25 participants and he contracts with a bus service to take us around.

Steve is know for the trip he does each year to the Goodwood Revival in September. Someone like Alain de Cadenet is always brought along for introducing the participants to the various drivers and hospitality tents at Lord March's event. Steve also puts together every two years a trip to the Monaco Historics & Mille Miglia in May. Next year, for example, he is bringing along Brian Redman to help the participants learn more about the cars & drivers at those two events!

You can find more information on Steve's tours at: http://www.steveaustinsgreatvacations.com/

z356 (currently in a wet & cold Vail Valley)

Photos: Bentley at Crewe
Morgan - New Three Wheeler which will come to US next year!
Morgan - Hand Built of Wood and Aluminium
Aston - Restorartion Shop at old factory in Newport Pagnell
Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb - Oldest English Countryside hillclimb!
Pointe du Hoc - Omaha Beach. Just an incredible experience!