Here she is - the Sundance Kid !

Put your hands together for our newest LM2010 recruit - the Sundance Kid !!

She's a little larger than Lucy but who wants a size zero girl anyway ?

The Swift Sundance 630L is a truly luxurious, 6 berth motorhome with everyone enjoying space and privacy. Fully equipped with all the comforts of home from home for all the family. Equipped with cutlery, crockery, TV & DVD, CD player, fully integrated kitchen, oven & grill, luxury washroom, hotel quality interiors and comfy beds. The 630L motorhome incorporates flexible sleeping arrangements which consists of a rear lounge that converts to a double bed or twin beds, and a dinette that converts to a double bed and another double bed over the cab. Power assisted steering and powerful 2.3ltr Multijet Turbo diesel engines with a 6 speed gearbox, makes the 630L very easy to drive and park. This motorhome requires the driver to hold a C1 Category on their driving licence.

The layout is a little different but gives us what appears to be far more space inside.

Facilities are similar for keeping food and, more importantly, beer cool inside her.

Here's where we'll relax and watch the World Cup (and play Guitar Hero on Chadders' Xbox 360!)

Anyone for Scrabble ?

Sniffer's bed - well of course !!

The beautifying parlour - hopefully with no monkey poo flung everywhere this year !

Does my bum look big in this ?

So, all we need now is to finalise the alcohol arrangements for hand-pumped beer (Chadders - I believe that's your challenge) and sort out the menu.

Incidentally, 'the Kid' does have a bike rack on the back so I propose that we take push-irons this year for a novel way to travel around the surrounding area.

Bring it on..............

2010...........and we're off !!

It's been some time since the last post and it is, with a somewhat heavy heart, an update on the annual pilgrimage that is Le Mans 2010....

Since last year we appear to have lost 60% of the core team for one reason or another.

JT is no more......KL is taking at least a year's sabbatical and, shock, horror, the Chairman appears to have lost interest and has pulled out of this year.

So, I ask the remaining team to vote for a new chair - clearly I'll be putting myself up for the new role and hoping for someone to second me........

Anyway, on to happier news........LM 2010 is still a goer for the remaining team which is, Mr Chadders, Sir...........my good self.......and a blast from the past (drum, roll) Joey, aka Birthday Boy, aka..........the Canadian !!

The pitches are booked, the tickets (including the sexy grandstand seats from last year) are booked, the ferry (and overnight cabin) is booked AND Lucy (or a newer Lucy derivative) is also provisionally booked too......

I am in the early stages of sorting out the menu for LM2010 which, as I'm cooking for a reduced clientele, I have high hopes for and I am also looking for the coveted 'LM star' so the pressure is on !!

So, as the first update for 2010, I would like to wish Pikey a happy birthday for the coming week and also request that, as an LM parting gesture, he provides an LM09 'Yearly Summary' as is the tradition............what say you ex-Chairman ??

Until the next update........

New Car Assistance

I know this is usually Pikey asking the question but I thought I'd canvass you for your opinions and thoughts - it's that age old dilemma of what car should I get !!

Having ummed and ahhed for well over a year I think I'm heading towards selling the Scooby and stepping into the company car scheme.

So, with much research and test driving I believe I've narrowed it down to two options (although I'm still clearly open to sensible suggestions). There are some small limitations on the cars I can get - it can't be a soft-top (although it can be a folding tin-top) and it must have four proper seats (so out goes any two seater Porsche or any other mid-life crisis car).

Anyway, on to the options......(drum roll........).......

Audi A5 - 2.7Tdi (S-Line spec)

Jaguar XF - 3.0 V6 Diesel

Controversial possibly but whadya think ? Most of the other cars in the same bracket I've discounted......the new 5 series is a possibility but when you've made your mind to do something you don't want to hang around and wait for new models to be released....

The XF is probably better value for money as it comes with almost everything as standard whereas if you start adding more options to the A5 you quickly get into silly money territory.

The XF is slightly quicker, but not by much, and they're pretty similar in fuel consumption.

Lastly, they're both not common (yet) although I do believe I've seen more A5s than XFs.

So, let the feedback commence !!

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.........