Club Arnage

Got back at 7 o'clock last night and sat on the terrace drinking fizz in the sunshine.  

Great week, as ever.  Yes, a boring result (being discussed elsewhere) but not in LMP2 or GTAm where in the latter case they kept us guessing until the very end.  Well done Messrs Lecomte and Narac - what's all this hoo-hah about Pesca when those two guys can do the French thing so well?  Plus, for me at least, a special driver of the weekend reward to Nicolas Lapierre who drove the ffin' wheels off the Toyota.  I so felt for him when it failed, a long time since I've seen anybody look so p*ssed off.  Glad Anthony D seems to be doing well too after that horror crash.
 
Great to see everybody, as ever.  Very special thanks to Delboy for the special deliveries and dinner on Tuesday (god I was p*ssed - probably a bit of a mistake driving the car back to MB, on reflections;  Robbo for the batteries and his gang for the beer (hope your mate got the tram back OK this morning); the lovely Liverpool Boys for the tea - blimey do they know how to camp; the Brethren for the grub and the party, and DFH for resurrecting my collapsed tent and the hysterical game of shot glass battleships.   Pity the Saturday night booze up was pretty much a damp squib but at least Mr T hadn't needed to push me all the way this year thanks to the scooter or I'd never have heard the last of it.  Great also to see Werner and HGB, Barry, Gary, Bill, Phil, Neil, Andy, AJW and the many I've forgotten.

See you all again in 3 weeks time. :-*

Back home by 10:15 after dropping Canada Phil in Lymington.

Had a very easy trip back to Ouistreham. 

Left BN at 16:00 and arrived in Ouistreham around 19:30 after a detour to Pegasus Bridge.  The traffic was IHO very light compared to other years. 

Thanks to every one for your company it was so good to see so many old friends. 

Regards,
T.

Got home at 9.15 this morning, after dropping off Andy.

Good to see many old friends and quiet a few new faces as well. :)

Special thanks to Rusty and The Brethren for their excellent hospitality.

See some of you in 17 days, hopefully somebody will have turned off the rain by then.

To everyone not going to the Classic, see you next year.

Not back to the UK yet as we are taking a few extra days to explore the Loire Valley and the (mainly alcoholic) pleasures it has to offer.

Good race, shame about the Toyotas as there was a palpable sense of excitement when they started to push Audi after a few hours and took the lead briefly. Certainly gives me hope for the future that someone will be able to take the fight to Audi. All credit to Rebellion too for preventing a 1,2,3,4 whitewash in P1. Still undecided about the Nissan 'cock' but suppose I'll have to keep an open mind.

Was apprehensive about having a very small child with us for the duration of the race weekend but no real problems (so much as you can tell from the reactions of a 6 month old). No real difficulties apart from the logistics that come with the territory. Maybe there will be something premanently imprinted in his subconscious and he will naturally be a hardened endurance racing fan by the time he is 3  ;) Our antipodean son-in-law is now also a definite enthusiast after his very first attendance at a motor race ever. Kept saying 'awesome' a lot and is already talking about checking out flights to Europe in time for next year.

Good to see a few friends and acquaintances again, although not as many as we would have liked due to the aforementioed 6 month old.

Looking forward to next year already.

Back at High Wycombe this evening via an overnight stop last night near Abbeville and bouncing via home before getting here this evening, tired but chilled after a relaxing week.  A great time was had as always and great to see (nearly) everyone I had intended to catch up with, whether it was at a time with clarity or befuddled by the fuzzy logic of beer....

Enjoyed the race - it was still a good race, just a different character to last yearm, still with plenty of ionterest even to the dying moments of a puncture and driver change on the penultimate lap.

All only slightly marred by having my wallet nicked while in the Gulf shop - still, it's only cards (easily cancelled) and there wasn't a huge amount of cash in it.  All the best to all,


MG Mark

Back Monday morning. Hugely enjoyable time had by all our lot.
Tickets re booked for next year.

My first LM Camping !!!! (Note to self....get bigger tent !!)

Thanks to:
:D Tom (Lawnmower Man) for the hospitality, and giving me a lift home.
:laugh: CanadaPhil - for making sure the coffee was always being brewed (in LARGE cups !!!) - have a good trip back to Canada.
:D Darren for the lift down as my alter ego, Austin Powers in the Vantage
:o The rest of our party putting up with me at the Le Tetre Rouge Bar on Sat Night, and pouring TWO pints over them (.....allegedly) . Great place, great band (or I might just have been blind drunk !)
:P Tom and Darren for pointing out the tent guy ropes as I returned at 5.00am (Next time can you point them out BEFORE I fall over them !!!)
:D PAula, Andy Zarse, Brethren, Liverpool Boys, Werners Boys ! - Cheers for the hospitality.
:D Neil and Sam H - Great to meet you guys
:P Carrefour and Super U - Much beer/wine/champers was drunk
;) Everyone in Blue Sud putting up with my snoring.

;D ;D ;D Epic trip !, Great Racing , Good Company ......roll on 2013 !
:-XBack at work now trying regenerate all the braincells I nuked last week (.....and it's not going well !)

RobW

Got back at 2:30am this morning after a very long day and a changed ferry timetable for which I knew nothing about. About to unpack the car once rain stops. Great week and as ever, fantastic to meet friends both old and new. Roll on the Classic.

Got back at a reasonable 7.30pm after a nice and uneventful drive from our overnight stay in Bagnol.
My thanks to my fellow campers Purdu (Bill), Bill2, Andy, Bob T (and wife Christine) plus Ant and Soraya.
Thanks also to The Brethren for their continued Friday night hospitality. Biggest thanks to my little Frogeye which despite zero maintanance from me, other than a top up of fluids, continues to get me too and from Le Mans year after year without so much as the slightest grumble.
It was wonderful to see everyone again and apologies for those I didn't get to say hello to or spoke to on very briefly.
Is it my imagination or was it slightly more subdued (perhaps I wasn't trying hard enough) and more expensive than previous years. I seem to have spent far more money than previous years. Petrol up, tickets more expensive, food and drink on and off the circuit more expensive and the Carrefour bills seemed higher too.

Back in Germany - fortunately we had a rather uneventful 10-hour drive back yesterday. Great to see so many CAers back - always a pleasure. Special credits go to:

- The Brethren for a first class friday party
- DfH for their hospitality whenever we turned up at MB
- and the unknown person who delivered a completely knackered hgb on the back of a pick-up truck around 4 am Saturday morning and dropped him at our camp.

Roll on 2013!

 

Despite sitting on the quayside at Ouistreham for what seemed like hours on Sunday night we were amongst the 1st off at Portsmoose yesterday morning.

Docked at 06.30, home at 07.00 - beat that!

A big hi to all all on board Normandie Sunday night - Barry, Andy, Tom, Paula, Neil [and son] & Gimp V2

Sincere apologies for my absence from Bleu Nord this year - it all sounded like a good idea to try out White Wabbit Wacing, but it's back to BN for me next year.  Having a short queue for a hot shower is one thing, but having absolutely no atmosphere at all and being miles from everywhere is another.

1st day back at work today & Christ is it hard work!

Still very jealous of everyone heading out to the Classic in July.  So wanted to go but new job & promotion means that I can't get the time off.  Gutted.

Still, weekend after next is Goodwood Festival of Speed.  Anyone going on Sunday?  Pint & a chat somehwere?

Landman aka Paul.

I can - I was still on the bl@@dy ferry at 7.00!!!



oh well, all home now

Left Portsmouth, dropped Gimp 2 off.

Drove up the road to Service on A34 and was going to have a break, but the local VOSA van was there, doing vehicle checks and they looked slow and bored, so moved on. Kipped in a lay-by up the road.

Stopped in Cirencester for lunch and got home to Wirral at 5pm.

Good trip - great seeing everyone and having a few drinks as well  ::)

Need to make a battleshots spirit/water proof board next year.

Cheers to all and how long till next year  ;D

Sounds like my sort of game, must try and have a go next year.  ;D

All Zarses safely home last night, no casualties to report Sir!

wow and gosh

I went B A C K !

And I enjoyed every (OK most) minute (well it did rain...)

and had  the pleasure of being in France with the finest specimens of humanity there is

Thanks to Rusty for the welcome essential beer starters on Wednesday, (why can't Carrefour be as open as Tesco )

I had a great time in camp messy Houxannexersremoved-to-BN

it was bloomin' wonderful to be at the greatest event with the greatest of people


see y'all


bill

Whole team of DfH safe back home as well! most are back to work already again :)

thanks for all the hospitality, cool beers and warm welcomes we have experienced once again at both BN and MB
too many names to list have been great again but a special thanks to team LeManszone for their hospitality on wednesday night!

next year 10th anniversary of DfH at Le Mans, be there, it is going to be big :D

It's also the 10th Anniversary of the Flying Baguettes band, and I think there are discussions taking place for a joint celebration.

If you saw them play at the 2008 DFH Party, then it has the potential to be a great event.

Arrived back home in Lancashire at 17.30 on Monday after an overnight stop in Rouen on Sunday night. Had a great time at Le Mans as per usual.

Have to say a big thank you to the Brethren who we were camped right next you. They noticed while we were all away from the campsite on Friday, that the wind was playing havoc with our gazebo and they kindly took it down before the wind buggerd it up and put all the parts in my tent. So at least we had shelter from the rain on Friday night. Son thanks lads. Also thanks for charginging our camera batteries as well. Was a pleasure having you as our neighbours.

Also great to see some friends over the weekend even if only briefly. Including Canada Phil, Debs, Barry, Tom, Team Zarse, Bob U, DFH, Neil (No Panic), Werner, Delboy etc and anyone else I have missed off the list.

Now to sort through the 1000's of photos that I took over the 4 days.

Sad to miss Kristoff and can only imagine how gutted he is feeling right now. Look forward to seeing him back on his feet at Sebring in 2013.

the plan is to have 24 MB tickets (12 for DfH and 12 for the Flying Baguettes) :)

I got back up here last night, following a borderline allnighter from Arnage to Cumbria, with a trailer on all the way from Ashford on Monday. Pretty tired still, at least the old digestive tract is acting as a rudimenrary 'brake' on the food now, as opposed to a bloody accelerator. Came perilously close to 'doing a Bob' at several points over the weekend, but I'm thankful for roadside foliage.

I'm pleased to report that the grand old lady did the full round trip under her own steam (albeit consuming vast quantities of 98 octane).

As we were tucked away under the trees in Houx, and self contained with catering quantities of Adnams, we didn't venture far - only managing a drunken crawl around the pits and the ACO tribune.

Here's a few moments from the weekend - see you at the Classic.

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Arrived home Thursday afternoon after 2 car journeys, 4 different trains & a Metro journey.

What a cracking weekend.

Thanks to; The Liverpool Boys; The Brethren; Corvette; Aston Martin; All LMP2; JRM; Group C.

A special thanks to the gentlemen (3 Germans & 1 Greek) who escorted me back towards my caravan on Friday night / Saturday morning.

Ade.

Ade, you have not answered my question, ref, your location on face book.

Sorry Brian.

My location was at a Rose oil products shop near Doue La Fontaine just west of Saumur.

Ade

Finally Home in Canada, After a few days in the New Forest. Snoring Rhino and I had a grand day out at Brooklands. followed by an impromptu de-brief at the Three Frogs with Tom and Smokie
Good to see so many of you sorry i missed a few this year.
Phil

Nice to see you over the weekend Phil - sorry I couldn't come to Brooklands, looked like you and the old man had a good trip though.  See you next time (maybe Sebring, maybe LM - who knows what I'll be allowed to do!)

No you may not ask.

I was escorted to the top of the lane where my caravan was pitched & then it took me 2 hours to reach the 'van.

Glad to see you back home safe Phil, It was a great day at Brooklands, still such an evocative place with so much history. Good to see that respect it shown to the Canadian contribution in WW1 and 2, It will be interesting to see how the restoration of the Lancaster Fuselage KB976 comes out.