Going to Le Mans.....

It scares me to say that I went to Le Mans in 1980/81/82 & 83 - the years of Porsche 956s, Jacky Ickx/Derek Bell and no chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight...

I'm going again for the first time since - tickets arrived this morning. I can smell the coffee and taste the crepes already.....

 

Martin that's less than two hours from my place and the Freteval forest is in between, so if you need coffee and crepes you are welcome to step by.

 

Martin,

You've probably already been, but go to the Tank Museum at Saumur, about 1 1/2 hours away. A great collection. The German collection is enviously looked at by all tank museums worldwide and especially by the Germans, as it is practically complete : Panzer II, III an IV, Panther, Jagdt Panther. Tiger I, King Tiger ( the only one known in working order ), and the various Flak Panzer, recovery Panzer, Armoured cars, tracked troop carriers are on display.

http://www.musee-des-blindes.asso.fr/

Ian

 

Saumur is excellent, I confirm . I have a video tape with the Tiger with its engine on

 

Out of idle curiosity, what kinds of cars do you own Martin ? I can see you wanting high performance German cars but owning British.

I would go to the tank museum and have some wine and crepes with Skipper if you can work it all in. (if you can work it in, take lots of pictures ! )

 

What do you think I am - rich !? I'm afraid that these days it's a boring 'company car' - in the old days it was various BMWs and my old 2002tii still sits at my parents' home - alas in non-roadworthy condition. SE England's horribly congested roads are really not friendly to classic cars these days.....

Thanks for the offers, everyone ( the Tiger tank at Vimoutiers isn't that far away, either...) - but I'm only going for the weekend....

 

The cars I owe are not a matter of nationality but age....

 

I see things can still get a little hot at Le Mans....fortunately, no harm done at last weekend's testing session....

http://www.endurance-info.com/2007_Le_Mans/JourneeTest/IMG_8363.JPG

 

What a photo shot!

 

Nice pic! If you have other ones of the same type don't hesitate to show them.

 

There's some great stuff on the 'net....

If you want to know what 200+mph feels like - look no further. Incredible to think that this was 30 years ago.....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zWeLuglJr9I&mode=related&search=

Turn up the volume - and hang on to your seat....

 

Thank you Martin , I love these vintage cars, probably the only things I love from those years.

 

Nice video. Those are some long straight aways,too. So, can you set up your chairs anywhere at a LeMans track or is it assigned seating?

 

I don't know, to be honest I've never been there.

 

I'll let you know when I get back ! There's pre-booked seating in the grandstands but otherwise, as with most traditional European circuits ( ie before the advent of pre-packaged 'slot-car' circuits ) it's a nice walk in the country - Le Mans is 8.5 miles 'round.

For sure, the spectators are much - much - further from the action than they were in the late 70s/early 80s - and those 'vintage' () cars were considerably faster than those of today ( and the Porsche 917s you can see in Steve McQueen's 1970 movie were almost the fastest of all....)

 

Just to round off this thread.....

Here's a shot I took of the start/finish straight at Le Mans, which may give a flavour of how spectating at motor sport has lost some of its charm for me since 25 years ago.....




And another activity which I managed to squeeze into the weekend......




I'll leave you to guess which I enjoyed the best..........

 

All those security fences are such a shame. At least 25 years ago you could see something, even if you put your life at stake . At least the Tiger is unprotected, maybe they should fence it too to avoid it from being vadalized .

 

Nice tank picture Martin ! Post some more if you have them !

 

Martin posted several pictures of this Tiger at Vimoutier in the weapon section :

http://ww2f.com/showthread.php?p=228244#post228244

 

It looks better if you drop the 't' from 'this'......