Club Arnage

Back safe and sound at 0100 today after a pretty good, if wet, run back.  Plenty of gendarmes lurking for much of the way to Calais, and the M25 roadwroks were unhelpful to say the least, but the MGA performed valiantly throughout the week as usual.  Hope that everyone else got back safe and sound.

Not exactly a vintage year for us, involving visiting the Commisariat de Police on Sunday(explanantion on another thread), but looking forward to another great year of banter on the forum and to the 2008 race!

MG Mark

Back home since yesterday evening, still very tired of the week, but it was worth it again! Great meeting everybody, many familiar faces and some new ones. Despite the weather, a great and memorable week, thanks to everyone involved!

Fell asleep in front of the GP yesterday evening and just woken up.  In spite of the sogginess, we still know how to have a stonking time.  Thanks for your company, guys and gals. :)

Back around 11:15 last night with no more flashes from speeding cameras  :angel:. Just waiting now to see if the other 3 materialise (esp one where I was at 150 Kph in a 70kph zone...). A TVR overtook me at a crazy spot on the country roads but he was pulled about 10 miles later.

A great week despite the weather. And yes, I left about 90 mins before the end but it took well over an hour to get to Le Mans outskirts so I parked up and listened to the end on 91.2. What a race. And I thought Radio Le Mans were very good this year...

Just about to go an unpack the car

Anyone know when the race or highlights are on the box? EDIT: Just found 5 hour Le Mans program on Thursday 13:00 on Motors. It's repeated a few times...

 :D just back home too,dispite george & mildeds (coach driver & assistant,wife)attemps to get lost AGAIN
 on way back to ferry (we were so far lost they suggested we head back to Le Mans to find where the other coaches were going) didnt fink to ask um as we queued up wainting to get out of coach park!!!
nevermind, we had a chuckle (on the CORRECT ferry)  
will raise a duty free glass to all those me met on saturday night
cheers

Hi all, got back ok after a very wet trip back, it would seem the rain clouds followed me down and back, unfortunately got captured just outside Caen, my excuse that I was too busy concentrating on trying to see through the spray did not cut it with the boys in blue.....90 euros later I was back on my way at a reduced pace  :'(

I was nice to meet a few CA guys, sconefinger and his bunch of monkeys and the guys on HA, Steve B, Perdu, Bob U (did not get a chance to buy you a cold one Bob....will rectify that next year!) and Fran.

As for the race it was a shame that the 63 Vette packed up I'm sure that the Astons would have had a harder fight on their hands.
Pity about the weather too ....all that mud at Arnage virage I nearly lost my merguez frits as I was sliding down the bank at 3 30am lol, and another thing was it me or were there more of the football shirt brigade this year?

               hope all you guys get home ok , see you next year (only another 364 days) :'(

Got home at 7.30pm last night.

Left circuit at 2pm to "miss the traffic". Got about 5km away from Le Mans heading for Rennes before I realised that I don't know the way to Rennes (was currently heading towards Angers) so turned round straight into a lovely traffic jam on the N23. Stuck in very slow moving traffic until 3.30pm when I finally hit the A11 and now faced with a 100 mile drive to make the airport check-in time of 5.15pm

Road was clear from then on and made really good time, coming up to Rennes just before 5pm before realising again that I now don't know where the airport is. Driving through Rennes in a mad panic, generally ignoring traffic lights, minor collision with mercedes until suddenly a sign for the airport appeared - in the middle of the town. Why is it not possible to have signs further out?

Finally made it at 5.30 and check-in was still open, didn't have time to find a garage though so no doubt I'll get stung for the diesel.

Note to self - Get a map!!!!!!!!

Got back home last night after a wet and half sleepy drive, just to realize, I did not have any keys on me. Stayed with a friend untill girlfriend picked me up. Left at about 1 pm, home at about 7.30 pm. Missed the downpoor completely, thank god, hope the rest of the guys were not to soaked.

6am this morning got back to Chester, should have been about 4am but had to stop for a kip!!
Big thanks to all, especially Dfh and Paddy for a great Friday night. Also a massive well done to Big H, he looked a bit knacked when he got off at the finish but raised a lot of cash! Any idea of the final total?
Time to start thinking about next year I guess!!

Just got back to Rotterdam half an hour ago. Must say this was again one of the best holidays ever. Did manage to be there all days although it took me quite the detour on the way back to be there on sunday. But it was all worth it. I hope to see you all soon at Spa, Nurburgring or Silverstone. Thanks to everyone for a great week and don't forget to Keep Drinking.

Glad you made it back OK after the hassle with the thefts.

We left the campsite yesterday about 17:00, well, I guess a more accurate description would be that we 'floated out' of the campsite ....  ::) Couldn't stand any more bad weather, Sunday's flooding being the last straw. Took the last minute decision to 'turn right' out of KN and head down the Mulsanne towards J24 of the A28 and kept going south, seemed less rain that way. Ended up half way between Bordeaux and Cognac (so good for keeping the alcohol levels up) and enjoying the sun until heading back to Blighty next Sunday (http://www.dervhead.com/xmb/images/smilies/posts/thumbup.gif)
(http://www.johndstevens.co.uk/pix/LM07/PostingInSun.jpg)

All arrived home yesterday evening after a fine evening in Honfleur with Team Zarse on Sunday and lunch in Le Touquet yesterday.

Poor old Bill, Perry, Mark, Chris and Chelsea had a torrid ride back on Sunday in all that rain. I was impressed with the lady cafe owner who wasn't bothered by Bill stripping off in one cafe to wring out his clothing.

A huge thanks as usual goes to the incredible hospitality shown by Paddy and the DfH gang on Friday night. The bar was particularly impressive this year. Well done to all those who joined in the fun with the Chili Challenge and particularly Doug who got himself into all sorts of bother, you aren't supposed to rub it all over you face you twat.

Shame about all the rain, but it didn't seem to spoil anyones fun. Getting the van out of the boggy campsite also proved to be a relative breeze as we were expecting to have to tow that muther out.

Great to meet up with so many familiar faces again right through the weekend, far far too many to mention.

Roll on next year. But I'm sure there will be occassion to hook up again well before that.

Off to Donnington this weekend for the Moto GP. If anyone is up there and wants to grab a beer, PM me and we'll see if we can meet up.

Rusty and the Brethren

All of Team KGB returned safey by 21:30 yesterday.   

Thank You to DfH for the hospilatality shown to all.  Also thank you Piglet & KeithK for the invitation to your Wedding.

t.

Well leaving was fun... took 5 hours to do a 1hour 50min trip, static traffic and road diversions seem to exhaust my Navman, and then a crap meal in Nantes. Arrived back in Guernsey 10pm Monday.

See you in Spa.

>Martini...

Well...we're back too & what a year!   

The first place to start is with a huge thank you to DfH and everyone for The Wedding (part II) on Thursday night, it was immense!  I'm not know for displays of emotion but you nearly had me in tears as you drove us into your pitch.  Thank you, thank you and thank you again, you are all fantastic and I'm proud to count you all as friends. The memories will last for ever - hopefully along with the video footage that James took - haven't had chance to look at it but more to follow no doubt!  Special thanks of course go to the Gimp  ;D

We didn't see much of the DfH party on Friday night, the combination of the weather, having to work (instead of sit in a tent drinking beer) and the over indulgence of Thursday night led to an early night for us.  Vinny's Vice were great, hopefully I've got a bit of footage of them - I gather I missed our own band though. 

Trevor and Sean from Canada were very welcome newbies, they were fab company and helped out with food etc when Keith and I both had to work, thanks for pitching in guys - sorry about the weather, you really will have to come again to see it all in a better light  ;D  Hope you get back to Calgary OK in another week or so. 

James and Jordan were also fab, they helped out with pitching and depitching the campsite and were great company - it's been a tough year for the lads but they really added something to our trip, guys your Dad would have been proud of you and I'm really sorry I didn't get to meet him.  I think with James, Jordan and Mark's lads we do know that the future of Club Arnage and the LM we all know and love is in safe hands despite the increasing number of "football hooligan" Brits that increasingly populate the place! 

Other highspots - the DfH auction, well done to all who put their hands in their pockets and to Marius for losing his pony tail and whichever one of the Liverpool boys gave up his tash! (sorry - too much beer by then!).   

The other big positive was the feeling of "coming home" that I get from LM and all of you. We should all be really proud of this place and the camaraderie and spirit that comes out of it, the wish to give something back by giving to charity and looking after those who come as strangers and go home as friends.   [smokie mode] I looooveee yoouuuu alllllll [/smokie mode]  ;D

Negatives?  The big negative that came really close to spoiling the trip for me were the dickheads on MB with the truck.  Shan't name them but if you are reading this you really are a bunch of w*nkers.  We don't all want to hear your music at full blast at 4am and 5am all week along with revving bike engines.  Apparently their power cables got cut a couple of times during the week - I don't normally advocate criminal damage but someone deserves a medal.  I went over to them at 3am on the Wednesday morning, they were refusing to turn the music off for security and told me "we're on holiday we can do what the f*** we want" ::).  Charming folks who were mainly more than old enough to have known better - I can only imagine how their children behave.  If you want to blow the LM experience for everyone, keep going the way you are and you'll succeed pretty quickly.

Other negatives - the amount of theft and the ballsiness of it - Mark's lads seem to have done all they could and still got done.  A number of the caravans along by us got done on Saturday night/Sunday morning, mainly whilst there was someone either in them or alongside them.  Sean seems to have saved us, he was dozing in the gazebo in the dark listening to the cars and the radio on Saturday night when someone wandered in, took one look at him and went off again. 

I can't think of much more and I'm trying to pretend that I am capable of working! 

Back last night about 1am, Completely worn out! Thanks to the DfH guys for one of the best trips ever, despite the rain!

Agree Piglet that the people with the truck were not the type of people I want to see at LM and neither were the two people with the RS Focus. The one with the number plate RF 04 RS or similar was being an absolute d**khead on Sunday doing wheel spins in the rain on MB. Aparrently he was also spotted firing fireworks at the track during qualifing!

One sad loss this year was our flying goose. Stolen on Friday night!

We're back, and survived!

I'd like to thank all of the DfH-group for being there. It's not just Paddy, Roy, me or someone else who pulls this off, it is the group together. I wouldn't wanna go to Le Mans with another bunch.

Also I'd like to thank all people who attended the auction, and helped raising a air amount of money for charitiy. Really means a lot to me. As for the pony tail, it will be back!

Back safe last night at 11.30pm. Absolutly LeManed.
Good to meet Perdu, bill and Rex of the Brethren on the Boat over to LeHarve.
Thank you to DFH and the Liverpool boys wet welcome, hot & sweaty after the hot ride down, drunk in an Hour.

Many thanks for everyones hospitality, Liverpools boys, JPC, The Brethren, Rick Cutler and a hugh one goes to DFH. Not forgetting all the friendship and glass bottle shared by all.

It was good to see the LM family again, and hope to hear of a few post LM bashes being organised.

Back at 3.30 yesterday afternoon too knackered to even log on!
9 of us this year and with all the gear that the lads brought we really went club class. Massive thanks to Dark Warrior and his team for the loan of two sides for our gazebo - without them we would have been even more drenched. Nice to hook up with Canada Phil (I've got you on video Phil - keep smilin') and thanks for the warm welcome from the Geordies on Tour Team - what a crew, see you at Donington.
We didn't have any problems with nicking but we did chase off a couple of young French lads on Sunday morning who were using their camera phones to take photos of our pitch. Sorry to hear about all those who had major grief in this respect. All in all our neighbours (MB zone C) were a restrained crowd of race fans who enjoyed a good booze up but who knew when to stop.
My view overall: very disappointing weather, intriguing race in the circumstances, got home too tired to speak.

I have to say that the long drive both to and from the race from North Lincolnshire was, 13 years ago a hoot but I think I'm getting a bit old for the hassle. We've been trying to think of a different way of doing it. Does anyone know if any of the residents of Arnage hire out homes?

Steve

Arrived home Monday afternoon, tired and wet but otherwise undamaged.

A big thanks to Martini for the duck tape and the nicknames! good to be next to you as usual, sorry to hear about the problems getting out the track, we did pretty well and were drinking a cold beer at our hotel by 5.30pm.

Pretty sure I will give next years race a miss, but intend to do the classic instead.

The four of us arrived back in Southampton at around 10.30pm last night...  Rowena got back to Leicester at about 3am after stopping for a nap in the services.  All over for another year  :'( although it was actually more of a relief than I'd anticipated to get home and into my own bed.  I think everyone did so well coping with the bad weather (and other sh*t that was thrown at them).  Fortunately we avoided being a victim of the theft that went on and I symathise with anyone who had anything stolen.  We've decided that if the four of us can cope with this years boggy conditions then we can cope with anything Le Mans can throw at us.    

I've only just snapped out of the daze I was in, so thought it was about time to log on and say a few thank yous!  

A big thanks as always to Team JPC, DfH, Team Zarse and especially our friendly neighbours The Brethran!  To everyone else that we met and whose names I've not mentioned, thank you to you too!!!  It was a shame that the camps were so spread out and I hope in future years not to have a similar hike to either our Le Mans friends or the toilets/showers.  You are all great people and without you our weekend would have been truely miserable!!!!  I hope that we can get together later in the year to talk about all the fun that was had.  

Does anyone got any pitcures to load up yet?  I've got trouble with getting on the web at home but will try again tonight and hopefully get them on here or another picture site.

Take care of yourselves and I look forward to having a few laughs over the next couple of weeks as the stories and pitcures roll in!!!  

Vicky - Kate, Hayley and Rowena!

Got back yesterday and this is first chance to post some important thanks.  Firstly to all who attended and made Le Mans what is has always been, bl**dy good fun.  The actions of a minority may well be a (growing?) problem  but the vast majority of people there seemed to have the same good natured and friendly approach that I have grown used to at Le Mans, like minded people having a good time.  More specifically thank you to Piglet and Keith for the invitation to the Wedding (PartII) on Thursday, a thoroughly enjoyable evening and an especial thanks to the DFH crew for both hosting this and for the awesome Friday night party absolute highlights of the week, Vinnies Vice were excellent and he can't half play that guitar a bit!  Finally to the crowd I usually go to Le Mans with MGMark, Nick, Rich etc good company all as ever, same time same place next year?!

  

My body got back early this morning at 1.00am,

My mind is still lost on the way back, expect to get some sense later in the week (if I ever had any).

Thanks to everyone I met, big Thanks to the Whole mad DFH group, when you guys party ............... well, to  JPC gang, To Barry & Andy (got some Duck as recomended by Barry), to Liverpool boys & Stuart - sorry about your stuff that got nicked (watch towers and flame throws next time -BBQ time!)) To Smokie, Gab & Canada Phil and their half way house back to our encampment. To Piglet & Keith hope you had a safe trip back to Bristol, And to all at Wishy campsite, good guys, good drinks, good food - (But Tony next time you cook a chille, you do not need to you use the whole jar of chillies :o, but at least it was a good excuse to drink)

And to anybody else who I have forgot to say thanks to. CHEERS.....

Hope everyone got back safe

thanks all for a great week got back 06.30 monday after nearly overheating in the traffic. stuck the heating on full to keep it cool enough. glad mark and lads got back ok just gutted i didnt hear anything. The whole thing was better than my expectation,dhf was amazing what an effort, i feel i was under equpped! once again thanks for showing us around and hospitality. ;)

All Zarses safely home with the usual mix of weariness, emotions, memories and diseases. We have to give a vote of thanks to so many people it's impossible to name here and now as I'm trying to catch up on work etc but they probably know who they are, so thanks to all. There'll be something a bit more substantial with our memories, comments and photos later in the week. Oh, and for those who are so minded, the 2008 Commer stats will be in the Modern Replacement thread in due course.

I've just had Bill and Clive over for a few beers and I understand there was a fair bit off fun on Sunday evening with a roll of gaffer tape with Rex, Clive and Jim. Good girl !!

Rusty

Yes it was very amusing!  I don't think Pigpen has any hair left on him bum...  They got their payback though by taping me in my tent so I couldn't get out!  So much for a quiet Sunday!?

Good work by all then ! Sad to have missed it.

rolled Back home at midnight yesterday (about an hour later than expected).

Another great weekend and it was only slightly dampened on Sunday afternoon.

However Monday made up for it and I'm now back to red (on the head at least).

thanks to the DFH crew and Team JPC.

After the race we went back to hospitality and had dinner and a few beers.  Then back to the hotel and off to a great bar in Le Mans called Mulligans with a good part of the team (Corvette Racing for those of you who don't know me).  Met members of Luc Alphand, very nice guys despite the problem communicating.  Members of Aston Martin, PSI and Risi were there (there were other but I don't remember at the moment).   
Up early yesteray for the train to Paris.  Finally got home after 9 hours on the plane and Monday evening traffic around 6PM EST, I guess around 11PM in England.  Unpacked, made dinner and forced ourselves to stay awake until 9. 
Felt a bit foggy off and on today but not as bad as going over.
Wow, my first Le Mans.  I'm still trying to process it all. 
I'm sorry it didn't make it to the DfH party, we went back to the hotel early in preparation for the race.  I made it to the Poo Bar and had a great time. 
I slept in the #64 garage for a few hours overnite.  It was loud and I froze my butt off.  What an experience! 
Wow, what a crazy 5 days.
Tired, going to sleep.  Leaving for a race tomorrow.

Vettefan,
Good to meet you at the poo bar. I'm assuming that it was you in the full Vette colours who we were speaking with.
If so, I apologise for my friend Purdu who nearly fell off his chair when you ripped open your jacket to show us your T shirt.

I was a great suprise to run into you Anna (that's Vettefan) in pitlane on Friday! Sorry you missed the party as well, but I hope you got infected by the LM virus to give it another shot. See you at Petit and good luck with the team!

Got back yesterday, the Golden Arrow is intact, one minor inceident involving a 30 year old golden coloured car, 80-85mph fast lane, back tyre falling apart, sideways, browned undergarments, hardshoulder, but other than that she didn't miss a beat, unlike the pilot who missed a couple of beats mid slide.

I flew home and made it back in record time for me, 5hrs! :laugh:
When the rest of my little group arrived home yesterday they had a little tale to tell regarding the Truck campers and the RS boys and I must say thank god for the RS boys because without them we would have nothing left.
We were camped between them and the RS boys were very good and even put up a gazebo that fell down over the weekend while the people were out but the truckers were not so good as others have already stated.
But back to the story...
Allan and Mike took me to the station Sunday straight after the race and while they were gone the Truckers decided it would be fun to burn down our tent and gazebo with everything in it i might add, you know camping stove, tables, chairs the lot not to mention their clothes in the tent. Anyway the RS boys stopped them and told them we were coming back and had just gone to the station.
Thank god they were there, a big thank you to the RS boys ;)

Blimey that's dreadful!  Fair play to the RS boys - the truckers really were half-wits.

Besides from the fact that the RS Boys annoyed some people with reving there cars one day, I don't see anything wrong with them. They are a nice bunch a guys. There's always something annoying about almost every group. People on the grandstand weren't pleased with the smoke bombs either. There were probably more people annoyed with that then with the RS Boys' cars. That's why we'll probably not do it on the grandstands next year.

we will definately not do the smoke on the grandstands next year: only on the campside hill...

those truck boys really are making a bad rep for themselves, let's see if they are around next year...

If it's true what I heared about the guys with the truck I don't hope they'll be there next year. I had a beer over there a couple of times and they seemed nice. But I don't think they know where to stop. And that's bad for the campsite atmosphere.

Allegedly they were talking about going back to BSJ where they came from (before last year) as they got less grief over there!

Perhaps we could have a whip round to buy them some tickets to make sure...

The Truckers are not CA members because when we arrived on Monday I got chatting to one of them while waiting for Allan to come in with the car.  They prefer MB now because it is a better location for them to watch from the top of their truck and I think the tarmac surface is better for the donuts on the bikes.They have booked MB for next year.
To be fair they were better to us this year than last as we have been pitched next them each time.

Given that they weren't pitched on pitches and they didn't have zone B passes this year hopefully the new system will make things more difficult for them - or perhaps those that don't give a damn will get to do what they want and the rest of us will have to abide by the rules and put up with the tossers.   

I added a first selection of my photos to the DFH website. More may follow during the weekend. Hope you all enjoy them.

http://gallery.drinkingforholland.com/main.php/v/LM2007/il+Cavallino/ (http://gallery.drinkingforholland.com/main.php/v/LM2007/il+Cavallino/)

The EAC (and TR6) all arrived safely back in Blightly late Monday.  Then I jetted off to Jersey for a couple of days, so I'm just catching up.

We had an uneventfull, dry and roofs down drive back to Boulogne during Monday, taking our usual easterly  'pretty' route, avoiding motorways and lunching in Neufachatel.  Then up the coast roads via Le Touquet in wall to wall blue sky and sunshine - the sun always shines on the righteous.

Huge thanks to Perdu / Gary / Toby / BobT etc for the gazebos and BobU / PST for putting them back upright when they became rigweltered a couple of times!

Also, the CA Cavalcade was a first class way to spend Friday afternoon, many thanks to Debs for organising and planning the route (impressive Sherman tank).

Got back after an uneventful journey, except I got lost at Heathrow dropping Canada Phil off. My only excuse is that I've done the LM trip 8 times since I was last at Thiefrow.

Excellent trip, with it's up's and downs as usual.

How many days to go before the festivities begin again?

Poor hairless Pig-Pen has been put away for another year. he got back ok but is very sad its all over.  roll onnext june!!! cheers to all we met and partied with for another marvelous LM.

Oh... and does anyone know if clives lady has found the nuns kit in his sleepingbag yet??? hehe