Dates for the diary 2013

The dates for the 90th Anniversary of Le Mans have been confirmed to be 15th and 16th June 2013.

So, that would mean that our journey would begin on Tuesday 11th June with our usual overnight ferry.

I won't insult Chadders by asking if he is attending but the question does go out to other previous attendees.....

HRH - are you in?

American Dave - can you prise yourself away from the new missus and child to join the throng once more?

2013 will take the level of luxury and decadence up another notch as Sniffer has many enhancements planned and organised - well it is my 21st outing after all!!

The campsite and grandstand tickets are provisionally booked (and deposit paid) so we are confirmed but I can always tweak the numbers.

Look forward to your comments....

20 Not Out!

I decided to take a slightly different tack this year in terms of blogging LM2012 and make it more of a photo blog rather than text.  The plan was to update things whilst we were there but, as always, alcohol and the craic (as the Irish say) got in the way…..

In terms of attendance, this year was a very special year for Sniffer as it was his 20th trip to Le Sarthe – who would have thought it all these years ago in 1993 when taking the Page & Moy coach across the channel?

The Roll of Honour 2012 has been updated and now reads:

Sniffer - 20
Pikey - 18
Chadders - 17
TechSupport/Sydney 1K/King Louis - 13
JT/Bright Eyes - 12
Dr Dick - 4
DT - 4
J. Holmes - 4
Lofty - 3
Sooty - 3
Neil - 2
Joey - 2.8
D'Arcy - 1
Dobby - 1
JimmyG - 1
Pie Boy - 1
Watkins Eddie - 1
BigMac - A big FAT Zero (although his camping gear scores 1)

No changes in position from last year although Chadders is breathing on joint second place for next year.

 

Firsts!

This year also had a number of firsts:

• Only two attendees – KL has taken a sabbatical to go on holiday with the family – hopefully he’ll be back for 2013?
• Internet access on the Houx campsite – no, the ACO haven’t gone mad and given us ubiquitous Wi-Fi across the circuit but Sniffer procured an unlimited French 3G Data Service for the trip.  Irony is that we did not update the blog whilst we were actually there !!
• A real live sound system – OK, not quite…. but Sniffer brought a rather amusing 80s-style ghetto blaster which we plugged in an iPod and had some fantastic tunes blasting out across out pitch
• No Jenny! – we decided to bite the bullet and take no form of power backup – so no huge, noisy device and no smell of petrol everywhere.  Sniffer brought a whole host of power connections, splitters, extensions etc which worked marvellously!

 

The Journey

Chadders turned up at Sniffer Towers at the traditional mid-day rendezvous travelling exceptionally light this year.  As Sniffer had meticulously loaded up the little lady the night before it took us a matter of minutes for Chadders to pack her up with his own gear.

Other than a blown fuse when plugging our fridges in we were off by 14.00.

The boys – ready to go!

The run to the port was smooth and event free with almost no problems with traffic – Sniffer tried to break the habit and not have a drink all the way down (as Chadders was driving and that is just rubbing his nose in it) but the temptation was too much and with 90 minutes to go he broke the seal and had a cheeky cold beer from the fridge.

You can almost taste how cold it is!

We didn’t stop at all on the way down, deciding to get to the passport queues at Portsmouth before having our traditional pie and peas dinner.

Yum!

The usual boys and their vehicles were in the queue – some looking like they had not actually been back home since the previous year.

The Gloucester Boys – another trip !

We squeezed the little lady onto the ferry (missing the roof by 5cms according to the guy who let us on !), traipsed into our suite, had a nice bottle of ice cold cider and got some shut eye.

 

Wednesday

Another record time from port to LM followed with us being in our usual supermarket by 10.00. 

The before shot……

We had to make two trips with a trolley each - firstly, loading up with beer (and cheese), and then wine to take home – before being at Houx by mid-day.  We rapidly setup camp and sat down for our first beer of the day.

The first of many

As is the norm we drank far too much on our first day (have we ever not done ?) after first preparing our fizzy drinks cabinet.

Shampoo anyone ?

Our evening meal of Prawn and Pea Risotto was delicious, washed down with a nice cold bottle of white wine !

Enough to feed an army !

 

How civilised!

We retired into the East Wing to finish off the bottle and drink more Desperados……

Cheers!

………before raising a glass for absent friends :o(

Sniffer had a fight with his bedding (which resulted in a traditional LM drinking injury which wasn’t noticed until the follow afternoon) before the boys retired to bed.

Ouch!

 

Thursday

A typical start to the day of a strong coffee with a winky………

Breakfast of champions

…..with Chadders wearing a very apt t-shirt showing exactly how to operate once you’ve had a coffee with alcohol…..

… a refresher course !

Breakfast with champagne followed (it’s the future !)…..

 

Drinking in the East Wing

….before settling down to an afternoon of music and aperitifs at on ‘our land’

All ours !

An old favourite of Jungle curry followed for our evening meal with Chadders eating like he’d missed a meal !

Please sir, can I have some more ?

 

Friday

After a short breakfast we actually wandered off into the circuit and trotted round the village to see the gorgeous Delta Wing in glorious technicolour.

Is it a bird, is it a plane……

The heavens opened late afternoon and after having a bloody expensive pint in one of the bars in the village (We are still smarting about it now !) we swiftly trekked back to our camp to settle in for the evening – Chicken Chimichirri, Noodles, and England V Sweden on our satellite TV setup.

As always, watching England made us angry and drink even more than we had planned……at least we scraped through !

 

The Race Weekend

On the morning of the race it was still chucking it down so we dressed for the occasion, some of us more prepared than others, and headed to our grandstand seats to see both the Group C  race and the Aston Martin race (with Rowan Atkinson – who actually drove pretty well !) before the big event started.

Monsoon season !

It was a great start to the race and after spending a couple of hours in our pre-booked seats we wandered into the bar in the grandstand for a (much cheaper than the previous day) beer.

There was a moment of excitement when, due to the wind, a menu board flew of the wall and almost broadsided Sniffer (much to Chadders’ amusement) and knocked his drink on the floor – Pah !

Some photos of our grandstand view….

Sunday was the grand unveiling of Sniffer’s Anniversary T-shirt (Chadders – you are a legend !) – only two in existence……..now a collector’s item !

The race was as exciting as ever with Audi’s eventually  ruling the roost  and after our Corned Beef Hash evening meal we packed up, headed back to the port and home – the end of another great year !

See you in 2013!

20 Not Out !

Maybe if you can find him....

you can stay with Martin Brundle in Le Mans:

Staying in a lovely house 10 minutes from the Le Mans circuit. Serene countryside, feels like Norfolk.Perfect LM24 base pic.twitter.com/wuWKZGkL

Even more 2012 Guides

Here is an independently written guide for the 2012 race which is pretty good.

You just can’t get enough guides for the race !

Club Arnage Guide 2012

Lots of updated guides available as we get very close to the race week.

The superb Club Arnage guide for 2012 is now available and can be downloaded here.

If you haven’t got the previous year’s guides they are all still available:

Club Arnage Guide 2011
Club Arnage Guide 2010
Club Arnage Guide 2009
Club Arnage Guide 2008
Club Arnage Guide 2007
Club Arnage Guide 2006

Happy Reading !

Spotters R Us

 

The excellent Spotter’s Guide for this year’s Le Mans has been released and is now available here.

Andy Blackmore is the man, as always, that has produced the excellent guides along with Simraceway.

So far only the HiRes version is available (which obviously I have already printed out and laminated !!) with the iPad and mobile versions available very soon.

Le Mans Guide – first of many….

You can tell I’m getting my usual pre-LM hysteria as my posts have increased to a silly amount again !

So, here’s the first Le Mans 2012 guide I will be posting – the Racecar Engineering Guide (not as tedious as it sounds).

Download it here

…..and just because  I am excited about seeing the Delta Wing this year here is a photo  of next year’s car zero – The hydrogen fuel cell Green GT Le Mans Prototype that will run as the 56th entry to the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours.