OK, so after consecutive visits from '82 to '88 (is my username becoming clearer?
) followed by a ridiculously long time away due to domestic commitments, 2003 was going to be the year to return! Not only that, but I was going to be taking my 12 year old son for his LM debut and we were going down in my newly bought and freshly restored (more of this later...) 1963 MGB roadster!
After a fantastic run there, hood down all the way, we pitched in Blue Nord, watched Thursday practice and all was Tres Bon! Mad Friday was just as brilliant, right up until we ran out of petrol....at the far end of Mulsanne....at midnight.
Now this was a big problem, not only had it run out but, (as we later discovered) it had sucked a load of crud out of the bottom of the (unrestored!) fuel tank, so even with the contents of the spare can I had in the old girl....we were going nowhere!
So in these situations, there's always a guardian angel, you hope! Lo and behold, a battered French registered Renault 21 pulls up, four burly lads get out, one of whom just happens to be an ex-pat Brit! "Any chance of a tow?" "No probs, is it far?" "Nah...just up the road!" (More like five miles!
) The tow back was surprisingly uneventful (apart from picking up a Police escort on the way...), we chucked them a crate or two of beer for their sterling work and got some shut eye.
Tomorrow morning we've still got a dead car, no tools and even less know-how......
However, we were also surrounded by a field-full of fellow classic car owners, within an hour or two more beer had changed hands and we had a fixed car!
Certainly was entertaining!
Epilogue: Just to show she had a sense of decorum too, the MGB left it a full week after our return before she blew her head gasket, very considerate I felt.
