[LM24] OK, So What Do We Talk About Between Last Year's Le Mans and Next Year's.....?

[Aysedasi]

Exactly so - getting 'lost' in the race, particularly as strategies begin to unfold after the first hour or so is fascinating. I often don't bother to listen to RLM for the first half an hour to an hour and I know James is much the same. Whilst I immensely enjoy Trussers strategic insights, there are others whom, whilst entertaining, are not always on the money.....

Horses for courses. That's the delight of endurance racing. You can sit tight and soak it up or you can wander around taking in the sights, sounds and smells. Some people just don't get it, but the faithful know when they're truly well off. Somehow beats a Red Bull peeing all over everyone else for an hour and a half every other Sunday

[bella]

i guess i'm used to not having commentary at all at the circuit, it's always in a foreign language and from people who only watch the guys racing once a year so it's pretty redundant with wsr!

i remember being very pleased everyone had cleared out at horrible o'clock in 2012 because it meant the 3g started to work and we could get live timing to load up to find out where "our" cars were

i found i got lost in the talking and conversation with rlm, but not so much in the race. going to have to practice focussing

[CTD]

My camera helps me to keep my focus on RLM and the race itself.
It gives my hands something to do, while my mind is else where!
Also, a good Lens is a good tool to zoom in on the ranking in the bottom of the Big Screens

[Simmi]

I throw a bit of Twitter checking into the mix but it's tough as I don't want to brutalise my data allowance - which could very easily happen during the week. I've got a list made on Twitter so all I'm seeing is info relevant to the race.

RLM is essential. The best thing about it is that they aren't just there commentating, they are living the race too like us fans.

[bella]

data allowance? on a contract, orange do an eu data bundle that's now £3 for 100mb in 24 hours (used to be 30mb till july), and it refreshes rather than runs out if you go over that in a single day. it's AWESOME

i guess i need to listen to rlm and see how *they* live the race. maybe it helps to be watching it with someone emotionally invested in it too...

[Aysedasi]

I think it does Bella - most definitely. Whilst I wouldn't necessarily suggest you go to the lengths that I do, nip over to RLM.com and download a couple of the hour long mp3 podcasts of the race - the whole race is available in 24 chunks (how logical..... ). I'm about half way through my second listen to the whole thing in the car. You can burn the whole lot to a couple of disks for the car.... It's better entertainment than most of the tosh on the radio these days while driving to and from work.....

[Muppetdave901]

I really enjoy midweek motorsport throughout the year too (so long as iTunes is playing nicely, that's my avoidance of Steve Wright sorted for a Thursday afternoon!). Whilst it's not two hours of Le Mans talk, I think MWM does a great 'community building' job throughout the course of the year.

Twitter's great too in that respect. I didn't look at it a lot during the race to be fair, but I think it'd be great fun alongside RLM and your actual viewing of the race.

[bella]

my commute is a mighty 3 minutes, so it'd probably take me till 2021 to digest the 2013 race

was there ever a thread on here for signs you're addicted to le mans and endurance racing?

[vincegail]

Yes. "Addicted, How many of you?"

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135670

[bella]

naughty lazy moderator, sorry!

i'm glad spa is on the calendar still, it's been a few years since i last went there for the le mans stuff. as i recall i slept in the grandstand like a baby during friday practice last time is anyone else planning to go?

[isynge]

Originally Posted by bella

naughty lazy moderator, sorry!

i'm glad spa is on the calendar still, it's been a few years since i last went there for the le mans stuff. as i recall i slept in the grandstand like a baby during friday practice last time is anyone else planning to go?

We're certainly going. Accommodation booked, time off sorted, and very much looking forward to it.

Generally speaking we just do the race, figuring there's so many other fun things to do in that part of Belgium we can probably make do with the six hours on the Saturday.

Always a challenge to pack, silly not to bring goretex etc, but equally like this year it can be solidly hot and sunny throughout.

[vincegail]

Yes! Couldn't make it last year, so I definitely want to go. Friend of mine from the UK, who I met at Houx Campsite in 2011, will be taking the ferry on thursday and will be coming too. Then on thursday evening I'll introduce him to some quality pubs in Antwerp. Quality of the beers will be our preference, not the quantity, as we will be heading to Spa early friday morning.

[lemansfan]

Hope for next Year , that we can make it like this Year : Silverstone , Spa Francorchamps and Le Mans

[GT6]

Originally Posted by vincegail

Yes! Couldn't make it last year, so I definitely want to go. Friend of mine from the UK, who I met at Houx Campsite in 2011, will be taking the ferry on thursday and will be coming too. Then on thursday evening I'll introduce him to some quality pubs in Antwerp. Quality of the beers will be our preference, not the quantity, as we will be heading to Spa early friday morning.

When you are there make sure you pay a visit to the racing hotel the beer menu is bigger than the food one, at the six hour classic we got there at 10pm on friday night and left at 3.am tried a good few but loads we did not get to try and the place was full of drivers and teams as usual, so conversations were interesting and enjoyable

[Aysedasi]

.... although completely unintelligible by 2.45 am........

[vincegail]

Thanks for the tip, Simon! As we'll be heading home back to Antwerp on sunday morning, that's a nice thing to do on saturday evening

[vincegail]

Have had a little google to know the place, seems like I knew it all along, just didn't remember the name! I thought it was in Spa, where I've never been, but it is in Francorchamps! I've been there several times, and it is indeed a nice place to spend your time.

One caveat though. The beerlist was good, but not extremely long. About 20-25 different kinds IIRC. Or maybe I am a little spoilt in that area?

[Aysedasi]

Just 20-25 eh? That'll never keep you going until 3 am........

[vincegail]

Nothing too exceptional in Belgium. You can't like them all, so I like to have a bit of a choice.

[isynge]

Do head into the town of Spa, it's well worth it.

Typically Belgian in where even some of the flaky bars (including one which used to to be the Grand Hotel Britannique, whence from Ludendorff ran the last days of World War 1) have a good comprehensive beer menu, all proudly served in the correct glass. You can also eat very well indeed, either at the very high end, or at the equally satisfying, and perhaps more authentic for the visitor moules frites level, to say nothing of a couple of very good pizza restaurants.

We used to do essentially a day trip to Spa and overnight in Liege, that works, but it misses out on some of the best aspects of what Belgium has to offer.

[GT6]

Originally Posted by vincegail

Thanks for the tip, Simon! As we'll be heading home back to Antwerp on sunday morning, that's a nice thing to do on saturday evening

i think saturday evening is not as good as friday night, we did pop in after the 6 hour classic on the saturday evening and it was not the same, I suspect that those involved in the main race were busy and those racing on Sunday on keen so friday evening is better if you are in francochamp.
OK for us brits a beer menu is a novelty, as is drinking from small fancy glasses rather than a pint glass, and as for the draft beer where you pay for 50cl of beer but get 20cl of foam and 30cl of actual beer,
As for staying away from the circuit, be careful the queues of cars trying to either get into the car parks or just through francochamps were stupid, stretched back to the airport according to some people we spoke to

[isynge]

Originally Posted by GT6

i think saturday evening is not as good as friday night, we did pop in after the 6 hour classic on the saturday evening and it was not the same, I suspect that those involved in the main race were busy and those racing on Sunday on keen so friday evening is better if you are in francochamp.
OK for us brits a beer menu is a novelty, as is drinking from small fancy glasses rather than a pint glass, and as for the draft beer where you pay for 50cl of beer but get 20cl of foam and 30cl of actual beer,
As for staying away from the circuit, be careful the queues of cars trying to either get into the car parks or just through francochamps were stupid, stretched back to the airport according to some people we spoke to

Interesting about the queues of traffic getting into Spa. I've never had any bother really getting in for ELMS/WEC rounds, are the crowds for the Classic notably bigger? Depending on where you find to stay it's also possible to walk to the track from actually quite near Spa itself - not trivial, but not the Inca Trail either.

In May I was particularly struck that there was much more of a buzz around the restaurants etc on the Friday night, Saturday was a lot quieter, and I guess we were that bit more tired, and figured sitting out with a takeaway pizza and a good bottle of wine was somehow more in line with what we wanted to do.

[vincegail]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Blu-Ray arrived today.

Originally Posted by vincegail

I am not at all impressed with the delivery time from the UK to Belgium, so I don't expect to receive mine before tuesday.

I'm getting less and less impressed with the delivery time from the UK to Belgium! It's been over a week and still nothing yet!

Originally Posted by CTD

Haven't recieved mine either, but crossing my fingers that it will be in the mail box Saturday.

Any luck in Danmark, Mathias?

[CTD]

No luck here Vincent
Eagerly checking the mailbox everyday, only to get disappointed.

[Aysedasi]

This isn't a post to talk about anything at all, just to achieve a milestone.