Every car nut has at least one event in common… The Le Mans 24 hours. This is one of the biggest events on the calendar of all Motorsport – and car – fans. It’s a race I have dreamt of attending for most of my life, and this year, I finally gave in to the temptation. The only problem? I decided to go on the Wednesday night of race week.
As one can expect, it’s a very busy event that everyone wants to go to. So, by the time I had arrived at the circuit, all camp sites and parking spots had been booked up leaving me with a car but no-where to stop for a sleep. Thankfully, I found a lorry car park not too far from the track. Being so unplanned and the first time I was attending, I was missing a lot of extremely necessary equipment. For example, if you are sleeping in your car for a weekend, how do you keep your phone and camera charged up? The answer in my case, running the car for two hours each night to charge each device just enough to last a day. Following on from that, how do you keep clean? Well, you can’t. If you aren’t in the camp sites or a member of the ACO, you’re going to find it quite hard to find a shower.
This however, is not me making Le Mans seem bad. Just thinking about my approach to the track, hearing the cars for the first time and tuning into Radio Le Mans still gives me goose-bumps. This is an amazing race steeped with so much history that it will always be special to go there. It was my first time at a major international motorsport event where I got to see the unveiling of numerous cars like the “BMW M8” and the “Ferrari 488 Pista Piloti”. The drivers parade meant the public could get up close and personal with the most demanded drivers in the world and some of the rarest supercars from around the globe. Obviously, the best part of the weekend is the race. Most importantly for me, the last few hours. The sense of nervousness everyone in the crowd was feeling as we all wanted to see the supposedly best driver in the world – Fernando Alonso – claim the second leg of the triple crown followed by the relief at the finish when the number 8 Toyota finished along side its number 7 sister - which was a few laps down - in a beautiful formation was overwhelming. The end of a race means podium time and this one was great. As the gates from the grand stands to the track opened and a sea of fans flooded the start/finish straight. The top three teams in LMP1 celebrated the significance of what they had just accomplished, and the rest of the paddock started packing up and moving on to the next round of the WEC at Silverstone in August.
If I can leave any sort of advice. It would be to plan your Le Mans trip before-hand. And make sure you sort out sleeping and charging arrangements.
As one can expect, it’s a very busy event that everyone wants to go to. So, by the time I had arrived at the circuit, all camp sites and parking spots had been booked up leaving me with a car but no-where to stop for a sleep. Thankfully, I found a lorry car park not too far from the track. Being so unplanned and the first time I was attending, I was missing a lot of extremely necessary equipment. For example, if you are sleeping in your car for a weekend, how do you keep your phone and camera charged up? The answer in my case, running the car for two hours each night to charge each device just enough to last a day. Following on from that, how do you keep clean? Well, you can’t. If you aren’t in the camp sites or a member of the ACO, you’re going to find it quite hard to find a shower.
This however, is not me making Le Mans seem bad. Just thinking about my approach to the track, hearing the cars for the first time and tuning into Radio Le Mans still gives me goose-bumps. This is an amazing race steeped with so much history that it will always be special to go there. It was my first time at a major international motorsport event where I got to see the unveiling of numerous cars like the “BMW M8” and the “Ferrari 488 Pista Piloti”. The drivers parade meant the public could get up close and personal with the most demanded drivers in the world and some of the rarest supercars from around the globe. Obviously, the best part of the weekend is the race. Most importantly for me, the last few hours. The sense of nervousness everyone in the crowd was feeling as we all wanted to see the supposedly best driver in the world – Fernando Alonso – claim the second leg of the triple crown followed by the relief at the finish when the number 8 Toyota finished along side its number 7 sister - which was a few laps down - in a beautiful formation was overwhelming. The end of a race means podium time and this one was great. As the gates from the grand stands to the track opened and a sea of fans flooded the start/finish straight. The top three teams in LMP1 celebrated the significance of what they had just accomplished, and the rest of the paddock started packing up and moving on to the next round of the WEC at Silverstone in August.
If I can leave any sort of advice. It would be to plan your Le Mans trip before-hand. And make sure you sort out sleeping and charging arrangements.
