Club Arnage

My brother in law ferreted a suitcase from a skip that he took a liking to whilst on hols in France and when he got back said that if I wanted I could have the contents which "had something to do with Le Mans"

I nearly fell over when I saw the contents!!  A variety will be posted here over the quiet months including original plans for reworkings of the circuit, inc revised Mulsanne (circa 1970), and the plans for the Porsche Curves and survey photos.

Here are my first few scans (I have pics and their glass plates too), can anyone shed any light on when/what/where/anything about these?


(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/approaching_car.jpg)
No idea

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/car19.jpg)
Car 19?!  When? What?

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/control.jpg)
Old race control?

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/crowds.jpg)

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/dunlop_perhaps.jpg)
Dunlop?

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/dunlop_perhaps2.jpg)
Dunlop again?

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/esses_perhaps.jpg)
The Esses?  (what a view)

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/not_a_scoobies.jpg)
No idea

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/pit_rear.jpg)
Back of pits?

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/pitstop.jpg)
Pitstop?

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/race.jpg)
?!

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/VIPs.jpg)
VIPs

WOW WOW WOW!!!!!! :o

What a collection, Can you read the number-plate on the No 19 car, I would put forward a Ferrari or it might be spanish Pegaso but I can not rember if it raced at LM in a closed form - for that matter if actualy raced. Any idea on the year it looks like 1950's I think is it pre 55, as the spectator protection looks basic. I have to say that at first glance some pics look a litle like Riems GP, but the sweep up to the bridge looks as it do today.

Good luck in tracking down the stories, you have hell-of-a find there.

Post MORE

I am firly sure all these are Le Mans, the 'where' refered to which section of the circuit?  I could well be wrong though!!

The contents of the case appeared to have belonged to an administrator for the ACO, but looked to have been well positioned within the organistion.

Off to scan some more goodies!

ok, next batch:

Cover of a France Auto Mag in tip top condition:
(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/france_auto.jpg)

There are lots of maps of the circuit re-route, some are huuuuuge, here are the smaller ones to give you the idea:

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/layoutmap.jpg)

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/layoutmap1.jpg)

These are great!!!!!!    keep em coming.

 >:(  I want to protest against the steal of the Franch historic archives and their export towards Britain !!!!!!  :'(

Just kidding....

... I'm just jealous, even if own lookalike your pictures. I'm at your disposal if you need to identify some parts of the track, as I know the circuit and its surroundings by hearth !

OK, next batch - excuse the size, but at least it keeps the text readable....

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/journal1.jpg)

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/journal2.jpg)

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/timing1.jpg)

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/timing12.jpg)

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/timing24.jpg)

OK, WTF is the 4 Heures du Mans?!  Some sort of pre-qual?  I have some tech regs booklet and some unused tickets:

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/4heures_program.jpg)

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/4heures_ticket.jpg)

Also an unused ticket for a grandstand in the 24 heures proper:

(http://www.dreamracers.net/oddsnsods/lm/tribune_ticket.jpg)

What a treasure trove!

Keep them coming over the long winter months. It's a shame to see them all in one go, especially on a hot day like today. Or are there tons of items?


PS Gilles,
"I want to protest against the steal of the Franch historic archives and their export towards Britain !!!!!!  "

These were rescued from a skip (which is what we call the big waste bin that fits onto the back of a lorry). I guess they would have been buried forever if DRs bro in law had not been doing his pikey act.

Oh, there is a lot....!  I have a black sack full.  I MUST get a storage box for all this stuff.

I want to stop any misunderstanding and say that my last post was ironic !!!  :'(

I'm happy to know all these files are rescued from destructruction and kept by an enthusiast who probably won't try to make any profit and keep them for his pleasure and our's too.

The 4 hours are the former version of the PQ. Running the 4 hours was not an obligation to run the June race, it was simply a test trial...

... concerning map, it shows that building a private road parrallel to the mulsanne straight was planned or at least conceived. To solve the "problem" of the mulsanne hill, they planned to pass north to the golf course. These years the ACO just choose to destroy the hill.

It also show the former and the new part of the track at maison blanche, starting south besides beausejour and north join at the chicanes. just have a look at Le mans, he stops on the track at the beginning of the film and it was shot on the former Maison Blanche part, opposite to Aire d'Accueil Bleu Sud !!!!


 :o GOD !!!!!! Am I becoming an Anorak concerning the track ??????????  :o

Gilles I hand my bobblehat to you sir!!! :-*

Dreamracer, how much was a ticket in 73/74? But I bet you have to wait for your camping passes ;)

They are a fantastic collection. What a lucky bar steward. Tried rumaging in the skip thats accross the road and could only come up with an old door frame and some 1970's MFI wardrobes. Keep them coming (slowly though).


Stu

Stunning collection !!! Do you also have pictures from 1962. I'm interested in pics of the TVR that was entered in that year. Sadly, it didn't went far and soon stopped in a huge clowd of water steam.

Dreamracers, given that some of these prints are very old, do you think theres any copyright issues?
What I'm getting at is I'm sure some of us in CA would happily pay wedge of some size for photocopies of these treasure trove items.

BTW, the car no. 19 on one of the pictures looks suspiciously like the Aston Martin DB2 which finished in fifth overall in 1950. The car was driven by Abecassis and Macklin and was the winner in the up to 3 liter class. A bit of googling around sometimes does the job.  ;D

Edited because I cannot write properly.

I've been out of town for a few days - so apologies for resurrecting something that may have been hammered flat. Dreamracers pix really interested me and are really quite a find.
For what it's worth, I think:

pic #'s 1 and 8 are the pre- "technical section", between Maison Blanche and what is now Virage Ford
pic #'s 5 and 6 are not where the current Dunlop bridge stands (or, for that matter the 'other' Dunlop, between the Esses and Tetre Rouge). The curve in the track and the service road merging with the course rule out the current bridge location. Was there a 3rd bridge in the immediate post WW2 era? (I suspect that some of these pictures were taken in the late 40's, which would explain the reconstruction. A lot of the circuit was used by the Luftwaffe during the war and they left it in a right old mess).
pic #11 has perplexed me. I suspect it is the pit straight from what is now the pit entrance, with Tribume Wimille(?) in background. If that is the case and the car is heading towards camera, it is going in the wrong direction, per the race.

Absolutely fascinating pics - can't wait to see some more.  

Didn't the Luftwaffe use the straight as emergency runway?

hgb, yep you are right just looked up it up in Dominique Pascal's book British Cars at Le Mans and 19 is an Aston DB1 it did 2094.17 miles at an average of 87.26mph. What is the other car at a pit stop? Simca?  

Sorry back again, just spotted somthing in this book, the view to the bridge could be earler, maybe pre war as the photo I have here of 1950 shows the Dunlop bridge the same shap as today ie tyre shaped. The other thing is that the trake side has this garden fence look to it wich matches photos of the 1930's. The car in the pits I think must be from the 49/50 race as the pits has bigger advertising and the white fence in front of the pit it self is not a picket fence style so the car might be a 49 Aston DBR1. Dreamracer is the number 31 and can you make out the car in section through the trees?

Is very tricky to make out anything as the pictures are so small anyway - I will try a hig res scan and see what I can make out.

Fabulous stuff! Keep drip feeding it.

GeeBee

You Might try either scanning the negatives themselves with a negative scanner, or finding a local proffesional photographer and have him reprint the photos in bigger sizes, the technology has improved a lot making bigger print cheaper and easier so you can probably gain more physical detail by doing it that way than scanning the pictures itself at a higher res

No negatives as we know them - I have the glass plates  :o :)

Amongst other things, I collect old cameras - if you have the glass negatives and they are in reasonable to good condition, look after them - you will get superb large size prints from them, but don't try to get them printed over the counter at your local Boots or Tescos, and don't send them to prontoprint!   Speak to a few of your local professional photgraphers to find out if there is decent print house near you that could do the job.   All the best and keep them coming,

Mark

P.S. Don't try any cleaning of the negatives yourself - the image is really easy to irreversibly screw up - leave it to the printers.

Thanks for the advice chaps - I realised that glass was a differant matter to normal negs, and as they seemed in reasonable nick, I have kept them stored in the same way.

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum - I got here via ten-tenths and saw what a good forum this is! What a find all those photos are.

I believe that the number 19 car in question is the 1949 DB2 which was fitted with the 2.6 Lagonda engine (the other DB2s had 2 litre 'Aston' engines), chassis no. LMA 49/3. A DB2 #19 was also entered in 1950, as you have already identified, but looking at some of the pictures I've got, the 1950 is much more like the more 'common' (if such a word can be used for an Aston!) roadcar. There was also a DB1 entered in 1949, but its number was 29!

The car therefore pictured is, I believe, the Johnson/Brackenbury 1949 car which managed just 6 laps before it boiled its water away and, due to the regulations stipulating a minimum of 210 miles between water replenishments, had to be withdrawn. It did make up for that poor performance somewhat at the 1949 Spa 24hrs, however, when it came home 3rd overall and 2nd in class.

As for the other pics, I'm not so sure - I'm better with cars than tracks! I hope that has been helpful.

Right, I'm off to explore the rest of this forum!  :)  

Welcome aboard krt917.

You may find this Forum is not quite so earnest on the racing front as the excellent ten/tenths. Seemingly sensible posts here soon become side tracked into something resembling the bastard offspring of Monty Python and Murray Walker.

But we are all Le Mans nuts and motor racing enthusiasts to boot. Just a bit odd sometimes...

Enjoy!

Sounds good to me!!  :)

I suppose your nickname has something to do with a german car  ???

Might be!  ;)#

And has yours got anything to do with a certain Canadian F1 driver?!

Considering I'm not Canadian and I'm not (already) a F1 driver, sorry but not !!!

just my name, why be so complicated !!!  ;)

Spent an afternoon digging around and checking some of the higher resolution scans of some of the cars.

FACT: The pictures are from 1938

Alfa 6C 2500SS #19 Driven by Raymond Sommer! (retired)
(http://oddsnsods.dreamracers.net/lm/alfa_6c_2500SS_Sommer_19_1938.jpg)

HRG Le Mans Model #31 (finished 10th)
(http://oddsnsods.dreamracers.net/lm/hrg_31_1938.jpg)

Delahaye 135 CS #10 (finished 4th)
(http://oddsnsods.dreamracers.net/lm/delahaye_135CS_1938_10.jpg)

Intresting about the HRG, only that there were two parked up at in Adstock's VSCC day on New Years Day. Never new they went to LM. How many were made?