Club Arnage

This was my first LM Classic - wow- what a weekend! Together with a friend of mine we did the 500 mile ride from Cologne in a 1968 TR 250, nice engine sound. We had some cooling problems in the traffic jam in Paris, lost all electrictiy for the rear lights, one flat tyre - but everything else was fine, the car ran fine. Upon our arrival on Maison Blanche late Friday evening we found out that our pitch was right next to Rick Cutler, piglet and keithk - so less than 30 seconds after we switched off the engine we both had cold beers in our hands - what a welcome!

The races were wonderful too, nice to actually see (and hear) a 12-cyl. Porsche 917 driving - up to then I've seen this car only in museums. Met Deb and Mr. Termite, they were also camping on MB almost opposite to our pitch. Most impressive/remarkable sights:

- A field filled with approx. 1000 different Porsches of all models
- Jean Piere Jassaud - age 71 - driving his Renault-Alpine A442B through the paddock - he won together with the late Didier Pironi in that car in 1978

Unfortunately we had to leave on Sunday morning to get back to work - I will post some pics later

Cheers and after such a weekend it's bloody monday now!

Werner

Fab weekend, as the Classic is.  Great to see everybody - the highlights were too numerous to mention.  Have sorted one memory card, just another 3 more to go!  Some souvenirs from the first:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97986095@N00/collections/72157606161652365/

Apologies for the vast quantity - the kid got let loose in the sweet shop. ;D

As above, so many delights to see, here are a couple. the rest will be up Tuesday.

Fran, hurry up, put me out of my misery!
Steve

oh no, I'm now feeling tempted in to yet another trip to LM next year  ;D

Stop posting those pics!!!

LAndman

I'll save you the hassle. they are every two years......

Oh, ok, well 2010 then  :'(

What a great weekend. Full report and pics to follow when I have recovered. The old Alfa made it without missing a beat over 1204 miles there and back and did the 376 mile run from Pompy to home in under five hours.
 Great to finally put names to faces, had a great time thanks to you guys. Big thanks to Piglet, Nordic and Dave for tickets, The lovely Queen of North Didsbury Fran for the good company and last but not least, Gernsey's finest, Mr Martini LB for making the trip the best in ages.
 Just ace!
 

It really was a great weekend, didnt see any other CA'ers, saw someone who looked a bit like Sconefinger in the crowd at one point but he then vanished by the time I crossed the road.

No traffic problems whatso ever and both cars made it without any problems.

All my photos are now up on my site, not all in focus and all reduced in size to keep space used to a minimum.

Le Mans Classic 2008 (http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/c1545110.html)

Yep got go in 2010, great photos. Even the Commers big big brother was there!

Talking of Commers- Zarse will be rubbing his hands when he finds out that the owner of the Ecurie Ecosse Commer has recently turned down an incredible £8 million pounds for it!
 Commer prices are on the up it seems.

Apparently, we met you but I didn't realise this until later when Fran enlightened me!

Good for the Alfa, glad she got you there and back.

Yes,  you called by to say hello to Martin one morning but i'm not at my best first thing and was feeling a little worse for wear. Too much Leffe the night before it seems 8)

You ar too kind Dr Sconefinger LB, the credit must go to you guys for a lot of fun, help and friendship... and so many incredible stories... can't wait to see 'Frank' on TV again  ;D

And do not forget the secret for 2010 :-X ... you said it was a secret...

Oh and here is link for you... www.sebringfans.com/forums/

Thanks again, superb

>Martini...LB

Sorry very remiss of me...

Good to see Mr & Mrs Termie and Paul, Piglet, KeithK and friends, Steve B and the car builders, Doris, the queen of Pastis quaffers and last but not least, I think, Fran. Thanks for your time and company.

sshh! it's a secret secret ;) the other 2010 secret won't be a secret for long- anouncement real soon! ;D just don't tell the wifey :o

Ta daaa!    ;D

Well I got home safely after a bit of an extended trip, returning via the Armada Tall Ships festival at Rouen, so  I managed to get my firework quota after all.

I had a thoroughly fabulous time - completely different to the June extravaganza but none the worse for that.  The beautiful, intriguing and sometimes downright weird classic cars were a pleasure to stroll around and the miniatures in "Little Big Mans" were just too cute for words. 

It was fun meeting up with the various CA'ers and their associated buddies  - surprisingly enjoyable without so much as a drop of booze too (a rather complicated alcohol-free July bet which was mis-timed when I hadnt expected to go to LM!)  It was especially good to finally meet up with Dr Sconefinger and discuss the merits of a pre/post Sainsburys pint at The Friendship and see the infamous Alfa in the flesh - they both lived up to my expectations.  :)

I am only sorry that I didnt manage to protect Martini from the midnight booze pikies tho *cough*

Apart from a thorough soaking while I wrestled with my broken tent pole on Thursday evening the weather was better than I had expected too - I have even managed to come home quite sunburnt.

I can honestly say that I did try to do full justice to your ticket Lord Steve, I tramped for miles round the club displays and pedalled to various bits of the circuit to see the cars in daylight and after dark racing, ate crepes and poulet frites.  I am afraid that I had to toast you with Perrier, but its the though that counts!  So I am happy to say that your loss was certainly my gain this time. 

F

Edit:  Forgot to say - I  thought I saw Rusty Bretheren waiting in line in the Village Saturday afternoon and sort of did the double take and staring thing and got stared back at, but I wasnt quite certain enough to go n say hello!  If it was you Rusty, sorry I didnt come and say hello!  :-\

Another excellent Classic.  Our merry band of DIY cars made it there and back in the correct fashion (only Andy's DBR2 Aston suffered slighty - lost the radiator cap - we found a spare cap in a scrap yard in Boulogne).

Thanks to the One Armed Bandit for staying at home, your vacant camping space was very useful for pitching the 2 gazebos  ;D
Thanks to Fran for coupling your gazebo to ours.  We didn't burn it either - it came home as the passenger in the DBR2.

There seemed to be lots of interest in Andy's DBR2, the Aston V8 managed about 16 mpg.

As usual, the Stella Bar was happy to serve us Leffe  ;D (we did, however, get back to MB on the little 'Petit train' though)

Plus, I got serious wood seeing the 917s pounding past the MB fence  :o

Great to see everyone.

Everytime I walked past the car there were folk taking pictures of it, I've got pics of people taking pics of the car!   It was very popular!

We got back safe and sound, had a fantastic trip as we lucked in by being the first pitches after the Porsche Curves at the back of MB (not "Dutch Corner) so we could sit out drinking cold beer and watching cars through the Porsche Curves - it was fab  ;D

Saw lots of CA'ers, I can vouch that Fran really didn't drink, there was one dodgy moment where an open beer bottle was put into her hand but we managed to prise it out of her fingers in the end ;D

I gather Martini was raided by the Vodka Gnome who stole his vodka and assorted other booze....

Another great event, I really can't recommend it though, you'd all hate it, please don't go...

 ;D

Piglet, thanks for the loan of the Chilli Flakes, it perked up Friday's dinner no end.

Its not every day you can say you are jealous of a gazebo!!  ;D

No probs Steve, I nearly got over to see you but struggled to get out of my chair an away from the beer fridge  ;D

Frightened I was going to sneak in on a secret raid?

Straight out of the camera (and resized) here's Andy's DBR2, in MB and in the Speedferries queue on Monday evening.

I'll post more photos at the weekend.

Lol - he looked a damn sight grumpier arriving on MB on Thursday evening!!  :D

Yes, he was just a bit moist  ;D

Me too! 

Hmm - I see Finbar is alive and well and back from his hols .....  ::)

At speed on the MB circuit (where did all the tents go?)

Quite right!  :)  You wouldn't enjoy it at all  ;D

It was a good event but I thought the atmosphere was different to 2 years ago - I'm not sure exactly what element was missing/changed but there was certainly something.

I didn't feel that the paddock area was as well laid out.  2 years ago you couldn't drag me out of the paddocks and club areas but this time after I had battled through the crowds for long enough to get my Barrel Bentley fix and let Simonwhohasalife drool over some Lola T70s then I lost the will to live and had to have a couple of beers up in the village before returning to the campsite (for a few more beers).  If fact looking back at the event then our campsite being right by the track did lead to a lot of spectating whilst guarding the beer cooler (we had heard about the Vodka Gnome so were worried about Leffe Pixies and Stella Goblins).

Was one of the curbs in the back of MB still painted orange? ;D

Sounds like fun, I'll be there in 2010, I am giving the LM 24 in June a pass next year and the year after probably!

Well I was camped in Dutch Corner and I didn't see any orange on the curbs.  Mind you there is the pastis haze to consider.  Many thanks to Martini for sharing.  ;D

Piglet and Keith - the early morning coffee was much appreciated by my brother as is the press pack you gave him.  He was most impressed that it contained a history of LM the town and not just race info.

Wooly it was great bumping into you and Mrs Wooly down at Arnage.  We tried to find Rusty and co but failed in our attempt.  Having given up on finding them we headed out to Mulsanne and were never seen again. 

Great to meet Dr S and his famous Alfa.

All in all a great weekend. 

Dx

Just a couple of pics from this years Classic. I couldn't be arsed / fit in the car / find my proper camera gear so I was a little restricted to taking a little digital pocket thing. So no glorious action shots I'm affraid.

(http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb307/sconefinger/lmc091.jpg)
First up- on the run down through Wiltshire, cigar for the best caption!


(http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb307/sconefinger/lmc082.jpg)
A nice selection of Alpines

(http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb307/sconefinger/lmc083.jpg)
The next Mrs Sconefinger heading out for her first run in the HNC. Vanina drove in all 6 grids over the 24hrs- some bird!

(http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb307/sconefinger/lmc084.jpg)
A few bobs worth of Ferrari

(http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb307/sconefinger/lmc085.jpg)
'Our' man in the SAAB gets ready for first race. Little 2 stroke SAAB takes grid 3 victory on handicap!

(http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb307/sconefinger/lmc086.jpg)
Now thats a camper Zarse ;D

1.   A Wusey at Pusey!!!

2.  Typical Alfa, always at the side of the road!

3.  You can't go any faster without a driver!

Just a few "snaps" from LM Classic
http://www.gtphotosport.com/lmclassic08/index.html

helps if I'd put the link in.....

Hmm, I don't think Dick Skipworth is short of a bob or two and after all the money he spent at Lynx getting the transporter restored I reckon it'll stay with the Ecurie Ecosse cars!

Absolutely. He says it will be going nowhere not at twice the price!
 One cloud on the horizon though- she's to be repainted soon which is a real shame as it has a lovely patina now. What a cracking old girl she is.
 S

Worth the wait - love the sky shot - there were some fab sunsets.

Good to see the Little Big car too - watching them going up the hill to Dunlop bridge, they made me laugh so much I almost needed my wag bag!   ;D

Hmm how about - Officer getting out of unmarked police car:  "can I just check the spacing on your numberplate sir?"   :police:

Nowt wrong with that plate Fran- 100% legal!
 S