The start



    Radio le Mans has provided commentary on the England Denmark match so every so often the crowd erupts in a cheer as so far England have scored three times. Ascari have the score on their pit board The other entertainment has been the crowd in the Michelin stand who are alternately cheering Leader and Vaillante. With an hour to go all the flags have been removed from the cars.

    We almost did not see the number 11 Panoz on the grid. Towards the end of the Final practice session some debris had punched a hole through the floor and damaged the oil filter resulting in a fire. The car was not recovered to the pits until an hour after practice ended. Two hours later the car had been stripped and the extent of the damage was assessed; not only had the fire destroyed major electrical wiring and the bodywork but the carbon tub had been damaged. The team headed back to the hotel trying to come to terms with the fact that they had lost a car even before the start. Five of the crew; Scott Naish, Rob Taylor, John Baggot, Kent Moon and team manager Andy Waldrep went back to have another look. They stripped the car further and an hour later things still looked grim but two hours later the prospects began to grow a little brighten. By the time the rest of the team had retuned at 9AM on Friday the car "had risen from the ashes". They all night crew then left for a shower and a couple of hours sleep before returning to help complete the resurrection which was finally finished at 2AM Saturday. The test this morning showed the car was back and running well.

    Forty five minutes to go and the first drivers begin to don their helmets The pit lane is being cleared and we are about ready to go as the national British anthem plays just as England win their World Cup match, The drivers start their installation lap at 15.25 lead off by Johnny Herbert. The last to leave is Kondo's Dome just as the three Audis come back to the pits for a final check and top up fuel. We can expect the three Audis at the front to try to prevent the Lammers Dome or Oreca Dallara. On the grid the driver of the baddies gets out and he exchanges words with two of the goodies!

    This year we have three cars with only two drivers as the third entered drivers failed to set a qualifying time, Gene and Smithson share one of the ROC Reynards, Brun and Slater one of the Konrad Saleens and finally Fukada and Gomez share the Auto Palace Ferrari 360.

    The Auto Exe has been given dispensation to start by the ACO to start, as it did not achieve the class qualification time. The Spyker is back in its pit garage after a fire extinguisher went off and it has an electrical problem. The 52 Viper is also in the pits with a misfire. The 27 MG has had its nose changed on the grid, as one of the headlights was faulty.

    Ten minutes to go and the French Air Force fly past along the pit straight trailing red white and blue smoke as the engines start.
    Audi lead away the pack on the warm up lap and the Viper and Spyker line up at the exit to the pit lane. It appears that the 3 Audi may have a puncture and all the other cars are being held up behind it. Through the Porsche curves the rest of the field pass as it slows to a crawl.

    At the start the now Two Audi lead and Jan slots into third, at Arnage the Audi's and Jan have opened a gap from a group lead by two Dallaras an MG, a Cadillac, Panoz Cadillac and Bentley

    Club-Arnage pre-race images

    Club-Arnage race images

    For timing and scoring, go to the official ACO site

    Interested in Le Mans models? - visit Merrymeet Model Cars

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