2010 Dates

The dates for next year's LM are provisionally 12th-13th June (no surprises there then !!)

I understand that Joey is expressing an interest in re-joining the posse to ensure we keep the magic 5 places. Pikey, can you provide any additional information on this ?

This year's LM was the most costly ever - in terms of travel, grandstand seats and food.

Personally I think the grandstand seats were excellent and would happily pay the extra for similar seating in 2010.

I think Lucy (or a Lucy derivative) is the way forward and I have no plans or even the slightest inclination to re-consider a camping-style option ever again.

In terms of the food - it ended up costing me a small fortune this year and I think we need full transparency with regard to future costs to ensure that it is fair for us all.

Pikey - could you also provide an update on what has been provisionally booked (if anything) for next year's trip ? We should fully explore the guaranteed electric hookup options too so that Lucy can get all her juices flowing 24/7.

Lastly, here's a Joey photo - in case you forgot what he looked like !

Le Mans 2009

... has been and gone. A year of great innovations, with a huge leap forward in facilities and entertainment - thanks to Lucy and Mr Sniffer, Sir (especially for his splendid catering – roast beef no less - superb!).

But here’s our first casualty for the 2010 campaign, Mr JT, Sir wants to take a sabbatical – who can blame him – 12 and out is a good innings. So what about the rest of us? I’ll be there, but I’m not driving down to LM on my own, while you three eat pie and peas in a lay-by, so will there be space in Lucy? Or a bigger version of the good lady-winnie?

I guess I could do with some guidance from the committee, as tickets need to be booked fairly quickly to ensure we get what we want…

This shouldn't be allowed !

Women at LM ?  Surely not......

Monkey See, Monkey Poo

After an evening of copious amounts of beer, Beef Rendang, England v Andorra on our satellite TV (What a system!), and Guitar Hero/Rock Band on the Xbox360 (is there anything we haven't brought?) we settled in for a cosy, comfortable night under our duvets with Lucy.

Morning brought us some sunshine and a scrumptious cooked breakfast cooked by yours truly with some help from the gang.

However, KL decided he needed to undertake his ablutions within Lucy.  In retrospect I suspect he may have made a schoolboy error !!

Not only did he forget to check whether Lucy's toilet capacity had been reached but he didn't manage the flow of his outporings.

Suffice to say, it wasn't pleasant and he spent the best part of an hour manually evacuating what he'd done and cleaning the toilet area, the toilet cassette, and the underside of Lucy.

Bad monkey.........

It's a tough life

After a hard afternoon putting up the tent - JT decided to take the weight off his feet........(and obviously we took the opportunity to tie his shoelaces together while he slept!)

Camping - thing of the past

It gave us an extraordinary amount of satisfaction to get to LM, have a cold beer and watch the riff-raff put up tents.  Made even more amusing by that fact the JT cut his 'ickle finger.

1, 2, 3, ahh.........

Lucy - the way forward - it's official !!

Is it a bird, is it a plane......?

..........no it's Monkey boy !!

Why, oh why you'd bring a mask to LM I really don't know - but trust KL!!

Our night on the ferry was uneventful - a few beers and then about 3 hours kip - woken up by the dulcet tones of classical music an hour away from shore.

Lucy slept well in the hold and was up early raring to go with the Cavaliers.

I drove the journey from Caen to LM and after we'd sorted out KL's technical ineptitude with the Sat Nav we arrived at LM to find remarkably well laid out and marked camping pitches.

All good so far!

Happy Birthday KL

He's 33 today and Lucy provided a cake.........with cream !

Our First Meal !

Pie, mushy peas and gravy never tasted so good.....

This is the life - why has it taken us so many years to do this ?

A brief stop 20 miles from Portsmouth to feed and water ourselves did the trick - and KL and Chadders even washed up before we set back off !!

Roll on the ferry port......

Lucy - enroute !

Well - we've set off in Lucy for this year's LM.

She's packed to the gills with food, drink and goodies and she's doing a fine job so far.

Chadders is in for the first stint but there will be no 'Hedley-like' driving on this journey - slowly, slowly catchy monkey - although we don't need to catch one with KL on board !

I'm deep inside Lucy with a beer and a laptop - nothing new there then !!

More updates as we travel - we've got pie, mushy peas and gravy for tea !!

Toilet Habits

.....'twas the night before setting off for LM and all through the house.....not a creature was stirring not even Lucy !!

Anyway - enough of my excitement - I thought I'd blatantly steal one of Chadders' pics to highlight the frivolities of last year - especially now that they're a thing of the past for the Cavaliers due to real toilets !!

At least JT might win this year and beat his pitiful attempt from last year !!

Traditional Long Range Le Mans Weather Forecast

Long range weather... not so clever

Le Mans forecast

Perfect for the Cavaliers, not too clever for the Roundheads.

Wet throughout with Friday and Sunday merely "cloudy".

Houx Annexe

I presume we're camping at Houx Annexe again this year (assuming no flat spins when we get there).

However, I understand that this year Houx Annexe, and a few others, will have numbered pitches AND that the pitches are only generally available Thursday to Monday - "If you stay longer a local charge applies".  

Lastly, not that I'm panicking, I presume it's been squared with the campsite booking that we can take Lucy on there - I know they rarely give a toss but I suspect they're supposed to ?

So, Pikey - what's the score ?

Le Mans (Not Just) for Dummies

The Club Arnage Guide to the 24H of Le Mans 2009 is now available here

It's a fantastic read as are the other years which are also still available.

2008

2007

2006

I'll be bringing it along with me (in electronic form of course - saving the planet !!) if anyone's interested.

I've also found out that a free wireless internet access point is available at the McDonalds on the Mulsanne straight at the 1st chicane apparently.  Clearly I remember that the golden arches in town have free wi-fi too after the bitching from last year - sorry guys - won't happen again this year.........apart from if I'm updating the blog!! :o)

Pikey, do you know whether we can get to this on our existing tickets ?