First off, I too would like to say sorry to hear about your Sister Robbo, I met her at the Poo Bar and she seems to be a charming young lady.
I also witnessed the Friday night HA roundabout exploits. I have to agree that the "yob" mentality seems to be growing. I am probably going to sound like a pompous upper-class twit here, but I thought that a fair chunk of the crowd were of the type who have never worked a day in their lives and wait for the weekly state handout
and I am talking about whole families here
Is it really required viewing for toddlers and babes in prams?
Add to that the appearance of "matched pairs" of cars like the civics and the Nissan's, and we are getting to the stage of holding UK style "street cruises" with all the grief and mayhem that they entail. If these Pratt's were as good at driving as they thought they were, they would be doing it on the track 100 meters away instead! In my youth I was a rally driver (with a fair bit of auto-testing thrown in) and I believe that I am quite capable of throwing a car around in circles, but there is absolutely no chance at all that you would catch me, or I hope any other competition driver, doing these stupid stunts in such close proximity to bystanders.
I thought that the way the crowd reacted when the French truck driver got out of his cab was appalling. The guy had just been caught square in the face by a huge super-soaker as he was driving a large artic round a packed roundabout, he had every right to be upset but I thought the crowd were going to lynch him
He was on his phone pretty fast, and I am really surprised that either the Gendarmes did not turn up, or a large bunch of beefy truckers
The van driver was insane, and how the hell it failed to roll I don't know. And as for the idiot in the Audi......... he must have nearly gone into either the crowd or another vehicle more than a dozen times.
However, hats off to the coach driver, who with a fully loaded double-decker coach got into the spirit of things and did a complete circle of the roundabout (with a fair bit of lean on) and got the biggest cheer of the night.
Personally I think that the Gendarmes are going to have to make an appearance in force next year, and I think that all water pistols are going to need to be banned. They should simply confiscate them on the spot.
It may be an idea for the ACO to consider making some sort of official event for people to enter and show off their abilities, or in the case of the civics some head to head drag style racing. I guess there is two sides to this possibility, one the kudos of winning an official Le Mans event may help attract the idiots, or two the fact that it is official will mean they are not interested and they will find somewhere else to try and kill somebody. If the ACO or local Gendarmes wish to stop this, then it would be quite simple with the addition of UK style speed bumps, even the temporary rubber rumble strips should bugger up circuits of the roundabout.
OK, rant over. Now I would like to congratulate the relevant authorities on the cleanup job they did on the roundabout
despite the amount of crap left the night before, I thought it was pretty clear when I next passed through.
