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Old 9 Jan 2020, 02:53 (Ref:3950537)   #3
ATLFalconsFAN
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If you'll forgive me I'll do my rating just a bit different. As I only started going to Le Mans in the past decade and by going to four of those races I almost saw half in person, I'll provide my rating based on the races that I attended in person. The years I went were 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2017 (returning again this year!).

I've gotta put 2014 down as my favorite of the races that I've attended. When I first started getting into endurance racing and Le Mans it was back in the day where the machines were still a bit fragile, and it wasn't a 24 hour sprint race. I was intrigued by the notion that time spent in the pits could have a major outcome on your race, there was a time back then when you could spend a good deal of time in the pits and still have a reasonable expectation for a podium or even a win just based on attrition and the knowledge that your competitor could also face a problem. DRAMA, it's what got me interested. 2014 in my mind was the race that brought back the drama. Yes, I do try to get a little bit of sleep (4-5 hours) so that I'm not completely miserable and I can still follow things at the end. So when I went to bed (or sleeping bag) that night the Toyota had a healthy lead on the field and being a fan I went to sleep feeling pretty good. I set my alarm for about thirty minutes before sunrise so I could witness that, and I recall waking up an immediately turning my radio on to Radio Le Mans and literally the first thing I hear is, "Audi leads Le Mans". I just shook my head knowing that was what I kinda expected anyway. Fast forward a bit to watching from the Dunlop Grandstand as the sun was just under the bridge, the lead Audi going to the pits for a change of the turbo, figuring their race was over, and then they come back to win. DRAMA at its finest. IMHO a classic edition.

I guess I'd put 2017 down as the next favorite even though the field was lacking, again, DRAMA. I remember talking to Sam Collins at our very own ten tenths meet-up. "Hey Sam, who you think's gonna win the race?". Sam replies with a bit of nonsense, "Oh, I really think a P2 car is going to win it this year, the P1s just seem to fragile". Ha ha Sam with that crazy talk. Many, many hours in his words were prophetic. Yet again Toyota royally screwed the pooch, had bad luck, and must have upset some godly figure. Of course even when the Jackie Chan car was leading for many hours we all knew that the Porsche was going to come back, but hey, we got to dream for a bit didn't we? Plus I was in good company that year with many, many friends who joined me from the states.

2012 would come next. I remember booking my tickets and thinking how great it was going to be to see the next round of the Audi and Peugeot battle. I'd enjoyed seeing it on the TV at Le Mans and had enjoyed it even more in person at the ILMC race at Road Atlanta. And it was going to be my first Le Mans!!! Sadly we all know what happened next, Peugeot pulled the plug and we were stuck with four Audis and two Toyotas that were seemingly in way over their heads! But yet all of a sudden Toyota was leading! And the oh boy massive crash at Mulsanne corner! And then the DRAMA of the Deltawing. After that it was a bit of a procession, but it did end up being a better race than I had expected.

2015, great field on paper, but we all know the disappointment that was the Nissan program. My biggest memory from that edition was sitting in my seat at the Ford Chicane and watching poor Paul Dalla Lana crash his Aston Martin while leading the race with just over an hour to go. The sadness of that moment was shared by all of us sitting there, tears were shed.

And there you go, my ranking of my personal races from the past decade.

Last edited by ATLFalconsFAN; 9 Jan 2020 at 03:16.
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