Events : Le Mans 24 hrs race 2004 (1)

16/06/04

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After many years of wanting to go to Le Mans 24 I finally got things organised and went with SELOC. Things started off early with a 7am Channel tunnel crossing on Thursday 10th. To make this easier myself and other SELOC'ers booked into the Dover West hotel wednesday night. The Tunnel crossing wasnt not that eventful but we did meet some other group members. A few of us 'Newbies' decided to regroup at the fuel station just off the tunnel before setting off. The route we decided to take was the A16,A28 to Rouen followed by the N138 (with some detours) to Le Mans. To start with things were not that good with motorway driving in some heavy rain. The amount of other performance cars was also very thin. However I'm glad to say that once past Rouen things improved 10 fold. The sun was out, The roads were dry the routes off the 138 provided some good twisties (if a little small for the Esprit) with the 138 itself giving plently of open straights to weave past the odd block of traffic.

We had a couple of fuel and map stops on the way with one being at a road side cafe for lunch. To keep things simple we had 9 medium steak and chips with pepper source (French not being the groups strong point). Its worth nothing that a French meduim is about a British rare which was ok for myself but some found it a little under cooked. We eventually arrived around 3pm (CET) at witch point it again begain the rain. Well actually it was more of a shower and rather resfreshing but did make putting up the tent more interesting. After some introductions and a cold beer with other members that arrived and setup camp Wednesday we went off to catch the last qualifying laps. When we returned the rest of the group had already made good progess on the beer wall so it was only fitting that we helped provide some more empty bottles as the evening wore on.

No racing goes on Friday but the pit lane is open for you to see the guys getting the cars ready for the big race. Their is also a drivers parade in Town (you get a bus from the main entrance).

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