Club Arnage

Hello everyone - here's hoping that you all had a blast and are on your way home - safe, drying out (in more ways than one) and happy.
I haven't posted for a while, but being unable to attend (again) this year and watching the whole deal unfold courtesy of Speed TV, I wanted to add a few thoughts.
Befeore doing so, I have to say that I've worried a little about the potential direction this forum has been going lately. Whilst I totally understand the need for money to fund servers, graphics and other logistical consumptions, I'm concerned about self-appointed commitees of people who might (or might not) drive the platform away from it's most attractive facet - it's free-form, fluid and accessible voice. Someone, please tell me what is so evil about banner advertising, as a means to keep this thing going in it's current, intellegent, arguementative, questioning, gentle piss-taking, creative and eloquent guise.
OK - back to the race. First off, aside from the gnarly weather, I'm consumed with envy towards all of my friends, both near and far who made it to the race.
Secondly, as a dyed-in-the-wool Corvette fan, I take my hat off to the Factory Aston Martin team for the victory they enjoyed and deserved in GT1 (bastards). They ran a great race and got to the flag first - even though their driver spent the last 50 minutes of the race snivelling about how dangerous it all was - and how the safety car should be brought out - as the 63 'vette reeled him in at a rate of 30 seconds per lap (pussy).
Seriously, it was a great win - well done Prodrive.
It's amazing how much more of the race I get to see by not going (about 100% more, in reality). The trials and tribulations that transpired as I knocked down a couple of cases of Nigerian and a family-size bag of Cheetoz (crunchy) last night - whilst (I suspect) the majority of you snored/farted off your Champagne Bar excesses, were many and varied. Hopefully you Teevoed it all - it's worth reviewing.
To summarise - and these are my own personal perspectives only:
1. The funny 'beak' on the front of the Pug looked shite.
2. I figured Mike Rockenfeller would make a big impression - I didn't think it would be in the Tetre Rouge guardrail.
3. When did it become illegal (for a non-French competitor) to drive your car back to the pits on the starter-motor?
4. When did it become legal for any car (French or otherwise) to park on the circuit and wait for the leaders to pass, rather than comlete the final lap, like eveyone else did? - Bordais, you a-hole.
5. Tom Christensen rocks. So does McNish - tough luck guys.
6. Richards was gracious in victory - "There will be plenty more battles between us".
7. Fehan was gracious in defeat - "They beat us - we've come second here before - and it didn't kill us" What he did next was real class. He sent his entire team to the Prodrive pit to congratulate the Aston guys.
8. Henri Pescarolo is a miserable twat. Stop bitching about bending the rules to suit your own requirements and find a way to get competitive. Rather than piss and moan about making diesel air -restrictors smaller, find a way to make that engine work or buy Judd's diesel - or better still, Audi's - or just quit and go back to being an impovorished millionaire - Jeeezus, what an old windbag!
9. Welcome home.
10. Who's planning on coming over for the Pitit?????
Regards to all
Matt
     

I got home yesterday at 20:00... pretty battered to be honest.  ;D


What a great weekend that was despite no cork fight on sat night. It was again fantastic to meet the "CA and friends" lot at the poo bar.

I was told by a friend that the wall was offset by 1,5 meters when Rocky hit into Tertre Rouge.  :o Despite that I must say that the ACO was quite generous regarding the pace car, at least during the first few hours.


And some pictures...

1st: Audi no 1:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/hgb/sIMG_4295.jpg)

2nd: Pug no 8:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/hgb/sIMG_4231.jpg)

3rd: Pesca no 16:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/hgb/sIMG_4188.jpg)

And 4th: Just in case you don't know yet... it's Rollcentre
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/hgb/sIMG_4223.jpg)

Matt,

Aside from the race, you don't need to worry about the forum direction - those who have been  engaged (by a forum vote) in raising funds for the server bills now and ensuring the continuity of that in the future, love just the same facets of the forum that you too love so much.  More will appear soon about how they will go about it and what constraints they will be required to operate under, to ensure that what is done is transparent to the forum members.  People are being asked for money and that should be done in a structured way.

Now, once we've got cars unpacked and caught up with work....

MG Mark   

MG Mark

Dispite the rain ,i thought this year was good,nothing was in the bag for any team,
see below!!!

Is he looking for the T cut? ;D ;D ;D

didnt seem to have much staima,started raining ,he stopped tryin ;D

(http://)

Insert tab "b" into slot "C"...  Which is slot "C"?

-Lee  ;D

You can't park it there, youv'e ad your 10 mins, and you seemed to be driving untaxed sir

Hey Matt, long time no hear from.  Like you had to catch bits of it on TV.  Watched Saturday night at Hap's after getting back from Indy (before heading back to Indy early the following morning).  Looks like the weather was better for the GP, but Jesus it was hot!  Hope everyone had a good time at the Sarthe.
I'm definitely on for Road Atlanta.
Fax

Just got back after a horendous trip through the UK. Le Mans to Calais 4 hours driving time approx( 280 ish miles) . Back in the UK, 4 1/2 hours to go from Dover to Luton which is approx 100 miles ! The had a further 180 miles from there to home in Preston, so 7 1/2 hours from Dover to Preston, got in at 21.30 hrs.

Not had chance to read much on here, but HGB, there was a cork fight at the poo bar , early on, but it got silly with people charging each other with tables and chairs. Even a car was pushed towards the other group by the TWATS. Ended up with a couple of broken chairs and a French bloke taken off in an ambulance with blood running down his face, from a head wound. So that dampened spirits a little to start off. Still I was still there until 1.30am.

Another observation on your pictures. You need to swab clean your sensor on your camera as you have the tell tail spots on each photo. This is dust on your sensor, so get yourself a good cleaning kit and remove them. If you need advice on this then please ask me as i have recently cleaned mine. But under no circumstances, use a can on clean air, they do blow out propellant from time to time and that makes the situation even worse.

Thanks Mark, well put.  Just to re-emphasise your point and in case anybody believes otherwise - the committee is there purely to make sure that your money is spent wisely and in a way in which forum members would wish.  We are certainly not here to influence the direction of the forum in any way, shape or form. 
Sorry to have missed you Matt.

I know, I know... it wasn't the sensor but the lens. It was still dirty from the N24s but I forgot about it. The 6 Ps spring to mind... proper preparation prevents piss poor performance.

Thanks Mark, well put.  Just to re-emphasise your point and in case anybody believes otherwise - the committee is there purely to make sure that your money is spent wisely and in a way in which forum members would wish.  We are certainly not here to influence the direction of the forum in any way, shape or form. 
Sorry to have missed you Matt.

[/quote]

Thank you both for the explanation - it was good of you to take the trouble. I suppose I've always been a bit of a miserable git when it comes to 'officialdom'. I do understand that as things grow, so do the problems - and those issues need to be managed - it's just when I first read about the formation of this body, I thought, "Ah, f*ck, there goes the neighborhood". I'm relieved that this will not be the case. This forum is pretty unique in the way that it has evovled to date - and I love the fact that it has remained ar*ehole-free, more or less since it's inception - which, by the sound of things, is more than can be said for the main event. I'm sorry to hear that so many of you had your race weekend tarnished by inconsiderate/criminal bastards.
What's the world coming to, eh?   

Hi John
Yup - I kept a low profile too. Hopefully see you before the Petit - let's see if we can get Dave on-board for the Mid-Ohio round.....

Caption Contest?

"What the.... why do all these parts have "Perkins" stamped on them?"