Hello to you all. Some of you may know me from my magazine features or Lotus books.

My interest in Le Mans is two-fold. Firstly, I am organising a Le Mans-themed film festival (see the calendar for info), which is a follow-up to a festival about Jim Clark which was held last year at the same venue, Eynsham Hall.

Secondly, I have been to Le Mans once and would very much like to go back. The first time was rather a long time ago - 1965 to be precise. Since I was only two years old at the time, I do not remember anything of it. Although I have wanted to return in recent years, unfortunately it always seems to clash with a Scout camp I help out with every year. However, this year it is not being held (the camp, that is) so you never know, I might finally make it down there...

I used to go to a heck of a lot of sports car races in the 1960s and 1970s at places like Brands Hatch, Spa, Nurburgring, even the Norisring once but kind of drifted away in the mid-80s and now tend to go to historic meetings like Goodwood, Silverstone Classic, Oldtimer GP etc. instead.

Although all of my writing and research is history-focused, I still follow the contemporary sports car scene, although a recent switch to a TV provider that does not feature Motors TV has dealt a bit of a blow to some of my viewing activities. Still have Eurosport though...

Anyway, that's enough of my rambling for now but looking forward to contributing to the 'So you think you know about Le Mans' section at some point...

Michael

Film Festival focusing on history of Le Mans 24 hours, featuring three hours of archive film plus guest speaker panel session. Featured years include 50th anniversary of Aston Martin 1-2 in 1959 (a colour film digitised specially for the event) and 40th anniversary of JW-Gulf Ford GT40 victory in 1969.

Special guest speakers announced so far include 1969 Le Mans winner Jackie Oliver, 1970 Le Mans winner Richard Attwood, venerable privateer David Piper, ex-JW-Gulf mechanic Richard Bray, 1963 and 64 class winner (in a Lotus Elite) John Wagstaff and 1959 class winner (also in a Lotus Elite) Peter Riley.

As well as the film show and panel session during the day on Saturday, there is a gala dinner in the evening, giving the opportunity to mingle over pre-dinner drinks with the guest speakers and dine with them. The film/panel session programme is repeated on Sunday for those who cannot attend on the Saturday.

For more information about the event and to book tickets, go to www.legendsfilmfestivals.com.