rossybee Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Highlights/points to note of my first (but definitely not last) trip to Le Mans are as follows:Ā Arrived at Rosyth Ferry Terminal around 3.15pm Wed, the excitement was enhanced by some of the juicy wheels waiting to board. š¬ A Caterham, TVRs, Ferraris, Porsches, and various other tasty motors, including a Vauxhall/Holden Monaro which turned out to be driven by the brother of Porsche # 81, Gregor Fisken, whose father is an old schoolmate of my fathers!Ā Settled onto the ferry by 4pm, the holiday spirit took over, and the Pints of Stella were flowing too readilyā¦ Next morning, one of my mates Sam reckoned we had achieved double figures š³Ā We had estimated to be arriving around 7pm at Beausejour Campsite, but were delayed by 3 things; cr4ppy weather for the 1st half of the journey resulting in dire visibility & slow traffic, getting lost in St. Omer, and, worst of all, whilst stopped at traffic lights in a nice town on the N138 called GacĆ© and the weather had brightened up, Sam decided to flick the button on his TT convertible do drop the electric roof. But he forgot about the 2 camping roll mats which heād put in the recess on the ferry the night beforeā¦Ā Stopped just in front, Dave & I, in his Elise, both shouted āROLLMATS!!!ā but then we heard the pop of the rear screen smashing Ā Eventually arrived by 9.30pm, built the tents, had some beer, then went to view the Thursday night time testing until midnight at the Porsche Curves, close to our campsite, which was kind surreal...Ā Friday saw us go round as much as the track as poss, then to Arnage & Indianapolis bends for about 3hrs to admire some pretty amazing cars (saw K2RUM for the 1st time ā whoop-dee-doo ā ) Went to Le Mans town later for the drivers parade, & stayed out and got very drunk in the boozers, back to Team Prawn Marquee to watch Steve McQueen āLe Mansā on DVD on a projector screen with Andy McSwan until 4amā¦Ā Saturday was chill out at the campsite so beer consumption was high, went to see the race start, drank more beer, etc Got a txt message from Miss Mav ā shame you & Mart didnāt manage over Met up with KevSull back at camp, & went for a beer & a blether at the beer tent ā good to meet you mate š¬, shame you had to head off early Ā De-kilted & got more suitably attired for midnight woodland-stomping, got chased by a Staffordshire bull terrier (not much fun) close to the Mulsanne straight , then headed up to our grandstand and began to doze off after about an hourā¦ Decided keeping moving about & eating (& stopping the beer! š³) was the best means of staying awake, took advantage of various vantage points around the pit area & grandstands, finished our waking hours at 5am with a whirly on the big wheel ā what a view from the top! *thumbup* Ā Spent Sunday trying to fathom out why Samās Audi wouldnāt start ā turned out to be a flat battery after much pushing & trying to bump start, using jump leads, all without success. Thanks again to the Team prawn lads for letting us use the genny & battery charger which did the trick, although we ended up āseeing the raceā from the eyes of Radio le Mans!!! Party time then started with the announcement the āDrinking for Hollandā boys who brought their draught beer trailer over so they could see the watch the GP & then the France vs. England game. (ahem) That free draught beer was goodā¦..Ā Monday ā hometime ā packed up, McDonalds for brekkie @ 10am, then travelled the first 40 miles in 2hrs! We had a ferry to catch!!! Luckily, Rouen wasnāt too bad, and when we stopped for fuel around Abbeville, I took to the Eliseās wheel because Dave was getting hot & tired. We realised that we were gonna have to āmake progressā to catch the 6pm ferry (4pm check-in) from Zeebrugge!, even started to consider alternative ferriesā¦ The Lotus & Audi did the biz, & we pulled up at check-in at 5.29pm: āGood Afternoon, you have just made it by 1 minuteā š³ š³ š³Ā We were still whooping whist enjoying the first pint of Stella in the bar! When calmed down, we all agreed that it was too close for comfortā¦Ā Next day was a gentle drive back home, gave Mrs B a bouquet of flowers, & off to work in the afternoon.Ā All in all, an absolutely fantastic trip, and Iāve still not fully recovered!Ā *thumbup* *thumbup* *cool* *cool* š¬ š¬ š¬ š¬ š¬ *wink* *wink* Ā Ross here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevSull Too Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 I had fun!Ā š¬You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same. š¬Ā Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossybee Posted June 17, 2004 Author Share Posted June 17, 2004 Was it a bit long-winded š¤ Ā Ross here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boonie Hound Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Excellent description Ross... š¬ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mav Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Ā Fantastic write up Ross Ā Viv for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Glad everyone had a good time Ā This was probably the best year yet - great race, far too much beer š³ and even a cool glam rock band on the Friday night Ā Highlight for me was the club photo on the start finish straight - it was quite something to drive through maison blanche š¬ š¬Ā We had said that after this year we would have a break from Le Mans but on second thoughts........... š¬Ā Tam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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