I feel lucky to have a Megane 1.6 at 17 for my first car!
Having had a moped for a year I understand the roads and im pretty careful! Tommorow will be the first test, driving to lincolnshire to give some instruction to a young lad whos just started karting! Hopefully will make it there and back.....the car that is!
Have a good weekend!
James

Glad to see you enjoyed it guys!
Was a pleasure to meet you! Hopefully see you next year!

James

Yeah im going to be 18, dont worry ive checked everything, ! am legal to drive in france for LM08!!!
At the minute, it looks like a 1.6 megane sport   , time to have words with Mr Aston Martin! Im sure something can be arranged!

As Piglet said, we were there this year, and next year should be easy......

Oh and just if anyone is interested, in this months karting magazine, there is a full report on Lewis Hamilton and how he progressed through karting to cars! Dont know if any of you guys are big fans but its pretty interesting!

Take care

There we go, im all set for LM08, well partly 
Now on the road though, which helps!

Just thought i'd update you on the drivin situation, I have just passed my mock test with 1 minor! 
L08 here I come, just gotts pass the real one now......
James

Haha, we managed to gain access to the paddock on several occasions, at one point we were stopped and asked who we were to which we replied "we are with Aston Martin....." No further questions were asked!

As or the crashed lambo pics, it ame into parc ferme n the back of the low loader and we managed to pull the cover up just a little bit and take a handful of sneaky shots! I have one or two but im guessing they are not quite as good as Jordans!

I'm looking forward to next year, should pass my test next wednesday and hopefuly will have a car set for the trip!

Thanks again, hope everyone had a good trip!

I just want to say a massive thank you to Anita and Kieth who put up with my brother and I for the journey to Le Mans and back and also for looking after us for 2 nights at each end of our stay. Id also like to say a massive thanks to Mark, Matt, Sam and Sam for looking after us and transporting us around Le Mans all week!
It was nice to put a few names to faces, and we would like to say thanks for all the help CA'ers gave us.

We set off to Le Mans on a sunny Sunday a week before the race and arrived at MB early Monday morning. We transfered from MB to Bleu Nord late tuesday afternoon and joined Mark and his gang! From there we spent the next few days, before the race, walking around the circuit, the village, and visiting DfH's parties! We then watched the start of the race and travelled to different parts of the circuit, Arnage, Indianapolis etc. We then transfered back to Camp de le Piglet earlier sunday morning than expected due to some little Scrot breaking into one of the lads tents and Knicking passports etc. (explained on another thread). We left Le Mans about 11 o clock Monday morning and arrived back to a sunny England about 7 o clock!
All in all a great trip and glad we went!
Thanks again! Hope everyone had a good trip!
James and Jordan

Any of you that have any links to karting will have heard this name before, Oliver Rowland. He is 14 years old and has just been picked up by Mclaren for their young driver programme. £100 says he'l be the next british F1 superstar.

Just want to say a massive thanks to "Piglet" and "MgMark" for all there help in getting us to Le Mans tis year. You may remeber my request for help and it looks like it paid off, thanks to eeryone who contibuted here and there, see you all at LM07 

The Tax System (by David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. - Professor of Economics, University of Georgia)

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.The fifth would pay £1.The sixth would pay £3.The seventh would pay £7.The eighth would pay £12.The ninth would pay £18.The tenth man (the richest) would pay £59. So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curveball. "Since you areall such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by £20."Drinks for the ten now cost just £80". The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so thefirst four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that £20 divided by six is £3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so: The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).The sixth now paid £2 instead of £3 (33%savings).The seventh now pay £5 instead of £7 (28%savings).The eighth now paid £9 instead of £12 (25% savings).The ninth now paid £14 instead of £18 (22% savings).The tenth now paid £49 instead of £59 (16% savings). Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a pound out of the £20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got £10!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a pound,too.

It's unfair that he got TEN times more than I! " "That's true!!" shouted the seventh man "Why should he get £10 back whenI got only two?

The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him.

But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill! And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.

In fact, they might even start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Hi Piglet,

     First of all i would lke to say thanks for your help so far, mum has now seen this page and just from reading a few postings seems happy to meet you all and/or discuss further plans.
I will take full responsibility for myself and my brother, having been to Le Mans for many years we know wht goes on and Dad taught us the rights and wrongs from day one. We had been going with a large group for the lst 3 years but unfortunately they are not going this year. Everything seems to be against us on this trip.
Myself and my brother are not shy and arnt just another couple of lads. We have been brought up in the best way posible, we have always been introduced to Dads friends, always polite and so on. This will show instantly and I hope its something that helps us in our search for a hero CA'er that can take us this year.

As I said before, we are pretty much free when it omes to timing, we can go from whenever until whenever within reason. If anyone can offer any part of this trip, we are more than grateful.
I can send my mobile number and e-mail through PM so just give me a quick call as i check this thread daily and i will get back to you asap.
If there are any questions that are bugging anyone then please ask as i am happy to explain anything to you.
Thanks again,
James

Hi guys,

   thanks for all the response so far.
I have just had a word with mum and she does fully understand the proposed idea. I will be showing her this page when she gets back later on today.
In answer to other questions, the dates we would go do not matter, neither my brother or i have any major exams and the school will allow up to 2 weeks off so it should be ok.
As ive explained, ive spoken to mum and prior to meeting the group we would go with, she is happy to see us go this year.
I have spoken to my uncle and he is saying he is unsure but i will speak to him about this idea and see what he says. I think after the events he felt like he had to take us but i think hed appreciate me taking that pressure off his shoulders.
As i have said before, we live in Norwich and we can almost get a train or plane anywhere in the country if it helps you guys out.
If anyone wants my phone number or e-mail address then PM me and il get back to you asap.
Thanks again,
James

Hi again guys,

  im overwhelmed by the response from this thread so far.
Sorry i didnt put alot of detail into the first thread, i was just seeing if there was a possibility of this happening before getting my hopes up.
I live in Norwich in Norfolk, we have good train links to almost anywhere, and also a good national flight network.
We normally went on the wednesday, and came back on sunday after the race but on a couple of occasions we stayed the sunday night and drove to the ferry monday morning.
Taking my brother out of schoool is no problem, they expect the absense form every year without fail 
Myself, im working at the minute, but working towards going to college and Uni and studying motorsport engineering  , thought id slip that in.
I have spoken to mum about it and we both agree that it would be great to be able to get down to Le Mans, and if there was a trustworthy group, then she is happy to see us go, prior to meeting you guys obviously.
We have our own tent(s) and we also have alot of camping gear.
Thanks for the replies so far, for any other questions, just post them and i will get back to you asap.
Thanks again,
James
 

Hi Lads and Ladies,

          this is a strange request but here goes.
My name is James im 17 years old and have been going to Le Mans for 6 years with my dad and younger brother, this year would be my 7th, my brother is 14 and he has been going for the same amount of time.
2 and a half years ago my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and unfortunately lost his battle early this year.
Now one thing he would have wanted us to do is go on our annual pilgrimage to Le Mans. I can only ask if someone will take us under there wing for those few days.
Its a strange and wierd request but i know all you Le Mans old timers understand how much Le Mans meens when youve been going for quite a time.
My uncle has offered to take me, but with my uncle nothing is deffinate so cant rely on it, it meens so much if we could go this year.
Thanks for reading,
James   

Yeah its getting stupid now. People who take their cars round and put on a show dont deserve to have water thrown at them. Its the idiots in the cars that constantly go round and round and round that just ruin it. Some of the cars going round were worth upwards of 20000-30000 and i dont think they appreciated been squirted with beer, wine or anything else the yobs decided to fill their pistols with. Anyone who jumps out the back of their car/van with super soakers, yeah fair game its all in good fun, but these people take it to far. I dont know who the idiots were who pulled the road signs down and toppled the sculpture but its not on. There were several pretty pathetic people driving round that roundabout, the guy in the clio rent a car, he came onto the curb and knocked a kid over, the guy in the MX5 couldnt drive any better than the guy in the Red Subaru, and the guy in the Subaru only looked about 18.
I decided that it would be a good idea to climb up the security lodge to keep out of the way and to get a good view. I really think its getting to the point were someone is going to be seriously hurt.
Its all good fun when there is a few water fights and a few cars showing off, like the two BMW's, good show, but when people vandalise and trash other peoples cars its just stupid and isnt needed.
If only we could rid of these young trouble causing yobs, it would be so much more fun.
I havnt managed to go and see outside MB or Bleu yet but it sounds all the same, its a shame but maybe one day itl change.