[LM24] Apart from the race what are you most looking forward to?

[GT6]

Things getting a little serious on here recently so thought i would start something a little more light hearted.
We all love the actual race but there are the top 5 things we all like so tell us what are your best things, apart from the race itself
I look forward to the week for the following reasons
!) A chance to see old friends and meet new ones
2)The drive down, absolutely love the drive down with excitement building as you get closer as the sights become more familiar
3)The chance to meet the teams and others actually involved in the race
4) The sounds of the cars especially in that moment you hear your first engine
5) The CBW and chance to see and discuss all the interesting cars around the campsites, town and car parks people are always happy to talk and you have to say Le mans itself is still the best free car show in the world.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by GT6

Things getting a little serious on here recently so thought i would start something a little more light hearted.
We all love the actual race but there are the top 5 things we all like so tell us what are your best things, apart from the race itself
I look forward to the week for the following reasons
!) A chance to see old friends and meet new ones
2)The drive down, absolutely love the drive down with excitement building as you get closer as the sights become more familiar
3)The chance to meet the teams and others actually involved in the race
4) The sounds of the cars especially in that moment you hear your first engine
5) The CBW and chance to see and discuss all the interesting cars around the campsites, town and car parks people are always happy to talk and you have to say Le mans itself is still the best free car show in the world.

Hard to argue with that set of attractions Simon.

Drive down is great - steadily getting your head around the notion of not doing something run of the mill, the landscape becoming more and more identifiably French, and also a degree of spotting others who are probably headed in a similar direction.

First glimpse of a car on the track. It's viewed from the entrance to Tertre Rouge campsite, seeing them come through Dunlop and down through the Esses - even although in recent years I've seen these cars at Spa and Silverstone before, this just shrieks that Le Mans is different.

You can eat well at Le Mans. I'll readily confess to being a trencherman, and being able to happily explore the sort of food readily available in France that's maybe a little harder to find or just plain different in the UK is much appreciated. Add in the first whiff of charcoal smoke in the evening, the noise of the first cork being pulled, and it reinforces the notion you're on holiday.

Finally, and I appreciate the may lead Andrew to become apoplectic, but a little soft rain, maybe on Thursday morning, doesn't do any harm. It dampens down the dust, clears the air, and I've found generally means everyone starts to share a wry smile and trot out the "it always rains at Le Mans" line. Do I most look forward to it? No, of course not, it scores well below the meeting new people and old friends for example, but nonetheless it there.

[Mike E]

The sound of the first car on track. Gets me every time.

Also, the drive down. It feels like a proper road trip with a week of barbequeing and beer at the other end. What's not to like?

[wewantourdarbyback]

Always love the drive down, getting up early to set off like a kid at Christmas, it's great.

Arriving and setting up, then going for a wander to check out the hospitality sections near Houx is always the start to the week.

Oddly, the trip to Carrefour is something I love, seeing all the foods I haven't had for an entire year is great for building the anticipation.

[Victor_RO]

The TGV ride from Paris, T34 at the start of the first on-track session...

[Simmi]

1. M
2. E
3. R
4. G
5. U
6. E
7. Z

[Muppetdave901]

Hmmmmm for me (and in no particular order):

1) The drive down - if you're going down Weds/Thurs/Fri the fun of it is hard to beat. Nice sights along the way, and I find a lot of the countryside en-route very pretty.
2) A meal in Arnage (usually Thursday/Friday before the race), just enjoying the banter and likeminded people
3) Merguez, frites and biere on Saturday evening, usually from the place on the right walking out to Tertre Rouge
4) Our post-race meal on Sunday night, normally somewhere like La Fleche

[valedave]

First class on the ICE to Paris

Apart from that, the city itself, the vibrancy, friends I haven't seen for a while, five days of constant barbecues, boxes of wine.

[ATLFalconsFAN]

How long a drive is it for most of you guys?

[isynge]

Originally Posted by ATLFalconsFAN

How long a drive is it for most of you guys?

How long is a piece of string!

Depends how we do it - a typical drive down involves getting a Eurotunnel crossing (just over an hour from home) at about 0900 or, driving about an hour on the other side to get a leisurely lunch, then heading down to a hotel nearish Le Mans in the main avoiding motorways, and getting there in time to freshen up before dinner.

At a guess it's about 6 hours driving time total. Obviously you can cut that down, but that makes for an overall less pleasant experience - and as I think a lot of us are hinting - why would we cut down on the time we take doing something fun?

[Gingers4Justice]

1.) Making my Panda look ridiculous again

2.) Introducing two of my best mates from uni, neither of which even like cars, to the best week of their lives and a new sport

3.) A week with my family...my mum's first Le Mans in over a decade. She might nag a bit, but it will be great to have her there

4.) The drive down, and the ferry. Driving abroad is still a novelty to me, and we're doing a "proper" Ferry for the first time in years. Pompey-San Malo. Can't wait for breakfast in San Malo.

5.) Making more of the Ten-Tenths meet. It was a bit of a short stop last year as we had stuff to sort out with the ACO enclosure, but this year I'll make sure there'll be more time.

6.) Seeing the Tribunes for the first time on the journey down.

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by ATLFalconsFAN

How long a drive is it for most of you guys?

About 560 miles / 900 km for me. It's not usually very leisurely due to time constraints but I am hoping some of my drive back this year will be a little more gentle.

Something I am going to miss in future and therefore won't be able to look forward to is open top prototypes. I know there are good safety reasons for having closed cars but it's good to be able to see the drivers at work, and ID them by their helmets. Oh well.

[GT6]

Originally Posted by ATLFalconsFAN

How long a drive is it for most of you guys?

C£0 miles to the tunnel and then 300ish the other side, never hurry on the way down, always tend to stop for a coffee/bun late morning before rouen and the at Bernay for lunch/shopping then straight to the campsite to set up and meet everyone. doing tuesday for the first time this year

[ATLFalconsFAN]

I'm super jealous that you guys get to drive to places like Le Mans and Spa.

I'm a 90 minute drive to Road Atlanta and a 9.5 hour drive to Sebring. The drive down to Sebring is always a lot of fun as it happens right around the time that Spring starts and the weather gets warmer.

Like another guy said, on my only other trip to Le Mans I drove down from Paris and got goosebumps when I first saw the grandstands. I'm looking forward to that feeling again.

Other thing I'm really looking forward to is going to the Super U in Arange. I remember the last time it was exciting to be around a bunch of other racing fans who were all doing the same things, stocking up on beer, ice and snacks. For an American a French supermarket is a wonderful place! Seeing as how I'm bringing my wife who has never before been to France I'm looking forward to showing her the Super U as I know she'll love all the tasty things on offer!

[Mal]

After the eternal 358 day wait we all meet at the gathering place on the Wednesday morning and after one minute the year disappears and it feels like you have never been away.

[Simmi]

Getting excited now reading this thread. Some more serious answers from me:

1. I really like the feeling when we've got the tent set up. Got the chairs out - cracked open a beer. "We're here".

2. Looking forward to hopefully giving the driver's parade another crack. Weather-pending. Hopefully CTD is still up for it. Just need to find a better place.

3. Also keen to make more of the Friday meet. Catch up with some of the people I didn't last year. Didn't see as many as I thought at Silverstone either.

4. Spending a couple of hour's worth of time trawling around the diecast stalls.

5. Did I mention merguez? Hopefully they have new drinks tumblers this year too.

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by ATLFalconsFAN

How long a drive is it for most of you guys?

My schedule will be something like this

1) At first I commute 50 kilometres (30 mi) to work by bus. Previously I've already left my luggage into a safety locker.

2) Spending only a half day at work since my flight from Helsinki to Paris Orly departs at 5 PM, I either take a cab or walk 2 kilometres and take the bus to the airport. That's about 20 k (12 mi).

3) Then the check-in procedure and security check

4) There's a nice Irish style pub called Oak Barrel at the Helsinki airport. It's about 500 metres from security check. I order a Guinness and double scotch.

5) End of a film reel Mazda's rotary engine wakes me up.

6) No. 4 and 5 did not happen. The person responsible of writing those has been sacked.

7) So, after the security check I notice that Oak Barrel is overcrowded. So I head to the wine bar and ask if they have any French wines since I'm flying to France. They answer yes and I order 24 centilitres. Then I wake up underneath the London Eye. Yes, London Eye, not the Eiffel Tower. "B-b-b-ut how? I can't even..."

8) No. 4, 5 and 7 did not happen. The person responsible of sacking the person who originally wrote 4 and 5 has been sacked

9) I order an overpriced sandwich and an overpriced 0,33 litre glass of lager and whine about how expensive they are at the airport.

10) My flight lands at Paris Orly Airport. I have no idea how long I have to walk from the tunnel to Hertz

11) Then Hertz tries to make me upgrade the vehicle. "Monsieur, a gentleman like you don't drive a 308. I'm rely sure you like ze R-C-Z."

12) Then after the exhausting negotiation I'm ready to drive to Massy with the Mercedes E220 I just rented. A Merc? But in chapter 11 I said I'm gonna drive a 308.

13) He called me a chicken.

14) So, just recently I checked the distance between Paris Orly airport and my accommodation in Massy. It's 15 k (9 mi)

15) Then after the breakfast I fire up the Aston.

16) Nope. I lied (with Arnold's voice). I can't afford an Aston Martin. I fire up the Merc I rented because the clerk called me a chicken when I told him that I'm happy with 308.

17) Then I start my journey from Massy to Le Mans to pick up the tickets and later on to check in to my accommodation. Location of the accommodation will be reveald later From Massy to Le Mans it's 190 k (118 mi)

18) Because I want to see how much rpm the tachometer shows on the motorway, I choose the motorway even though it has tolls. But it's easy, just stay left and follow the 'Sun Pass Only' -lane

19) There's no such a thing as Sun Pass in France.

20) D'oh. Yes. I need to pay for the toll when I exit from the motorway

21) Since I didn't choose UPS rather than will-call pickup, I have to find the place where I can collect my tickets. Feelings about the ticket collection will be expressed about a week after the race.

22) If I have forgotten to tell what day it is, it's Thursday. So, unfortunately I skip the qualifying be because I want to check in to my accommodation in....Vitré. Yes, that's far away from Le Mans, but that's part of my travelling philosophy. I always do some research with Google Maps. I've found lots of places that I like with the combination of Google Maps and pure intuition.

23) No. 22 was becoming a bit too long chapter so...with Google Maps research I've found places like Littlehampton in UK (Goodwood FOS) or Ajax in Canada (ALMS Mosport, yes Mosport not Canadian Tire blah blah blah). And Vitré did the same 'that's my place' effect. And anyway, I'm going to stay overnight in Le Mans between Saturday and Sunday so the distance won't be an issue.

24) Distance between Le Mans and Vitré was 120 k (75 mi). This far I'm not sure do I spend Friday in Vitré or in Le Mans. I could have gotten my accommodation closer to Le Mans but according to my Google Maps research those places looked a bit dull. Kind of Belgian kind of dull. No, no I have nothing against Belgium, actually during my college studies I spent one academic year in Kortrijk. Actually locals called their home a dull place more often than me. Maybe it's because it rains so often in Belgium. But I'm not very patriotic, so Finland is dull as well and many things are better in Belgium than in Finland.

25) So, because my story has already been exhaustingly long, let's skip what happens in Le Mans. What happens in TenTenths Meeting, stays in TenTenths meeting alright?

26) After the 24 the Sun shines in Vitré and I'm happy and melancholic at the same time. Basically the same feeling I had in Ajax after the ALMS Mosport weekend. Though there's no such a thing as Lake Ontario in France. If there's a lake in Vitré, I can see the horizon. Unlike by the Lake Ontario where you can't see it.

27) But then, back in Helsinki. It's cold outside. 55 k (35 mi) back home. One day to recover. Then, back to work like the LM2014 never happened.

[Deleted]

That was rather brilliant, Bud



I wish I had some cool story or plan to share but following the event from home doesn't really grant many possibilities for such action (even if I have my annual traditions here for the greatest sporting week of the year)

[nobster]

To meet many friends made over here on the forum is what I'm also looking forward to.

[AndyN]

Hearing some proper petrol powered racing cars that sound like they should do.

And some other stuff, just for variety.

[GTfour]

-Being there back together with my lady after three years(reason: pregnancy, taking care of our little son)
-Driving there with our new Alfa Romeo 156 SW 2.5 V6 24V
-Meeting up with so many good friends
-Being proud of a crackin' camp with great double point gazebo, three genny's, satelite TV, soundsystem, triple lasers in our high flagpole, 275cc quad to fool around with and much more...
-Meeting up with all you guys at the meeting Saturday.
-Taking an interview with the drivers and team members of Toyota TMG(still not confirmed but with high chances)

This in no particular order.

The five days are too short. Again.

[wewantourdarbyback]

Originally Posted by Simmi

4. Spending a couple of hour's worth of time trawling around the diecast stalls.

Which reminds me:

- The visit to saunter around the Chaters stall in the back of the tribunes.

- Taking far too long deciding which T-shirt will join the ranks from the stalls this year.

[CTD]

I think I have mentioned this before, but what I look forward to the most is just being in the Le Mans "Zone", a week with only Le Mans on my mind, and everything packed away back in the mind!

[Aysedasi]

I haven't posted as I agree with most of what others have said. For me, it really is everything. From heading off to the ferry port to meeting James there and moving out on the ferry. Then there's arriving in France, driving to Le Mans itself, getting settled in the hotel and the whole process of bumping into old friends, normally from Sunday afternoon onwards at scrutineering... etc. etc. etc. I wait all year for this and I just want to drink the whole experience in (and that isn't necessarily in alcoholic terms ).

[AllonFS]

Lots of things like everyone else, but for me, the first sight of the grandstands will bring a lump to the throat; it'll mean I have made it back (on several different levels).