So I had an opportunity to go to the 24 hours of LeMans as a guest of the Claas Tractor Company, a German company that bought Renault Agricultural Division in 2003 and just finished a 3 year modernization of the tractor factory which happens to be track side to the race course. The factory is amazing, lots of robotics with a 3/4 mile long assembly line. I won’t bore you with the details of the tractor side of the trip but want to say that because of them (Claas) we were treated like royalty. Our group consisted of 21 tractor salesmen from the USA and Canada, ages 28 to my ancient, grandfatherly 70; I have children older than most of the group and I have to say I’d be proud to claim any as my own; a great group of diverse people, I’m second from right:
We were hosted by a group called SO24 which stands for Sarthe (the county in which LeMans is located) Objective 24. Best described as a group of local businesses with the objective of putting a young local pilot (drivers are called pilots) in an F1 car, preferably at LeMans. The group was started in 2011 and is all volunteer, competing against factory teams from Ferrari, Porsche and others. Never taken seriously until this year when they finished in 3rd place in the LMP2 class which is the cars that run below the Hypercars, I.e. conventional race cars vs. hybrid electric cars.
We arrived on Friday, the day before the race and got to see the parade in the old town with a variety of cars, old and new and dinner in a fancy restaurant where the Porsche factory team was also eating.
These kids can put the drinks away:
we had reserved seats in bleachers at the start/finish line. It was estimated that attendance was over 330,000. I don’t like crowds.
I have good video of the start but can’t upload for some reason, maybe someone more tech savvy can tell me how to do it.
After a few laps I headed back to our home base for the race, a 30,000 seat soccer stadium with a view of the exit of one of the famous corners, Tetre Rouge. It was a lot more comfortable than fighting the crowds and dinner was provided along with an open bar with snacks, beer, mixed drinks and Calvados, a local apple brandy at 80 proof.
French food is the best; some kind of white flesh fish with truffles and chorizo:
Chocolate and lemon pair nicely:
Beats the heck out of sitting in a crowd:
The youngsters stayed out until the wee hours while I went back to our B and B with our host. I was up and ate breakfast by 0800 when the youngsters were just rising, showing the aftermath of the previous night. Our host asked if I wanted to go to a “special corner” to which I readily agreed. Driving down a single track gravel road we came upon a small parking lot with security at this house that had coffee, drinks and pastries:
This picture was taken from the viewing platform which was elevated with a roof and spitting distance from the first chicane (Forza) on the Hunaudieres straight where the cars slow from 200+ mph to 90.
Again, not able to post video taken here or our tour of the pits during the race. Those who are better informed than I say this was the closest race in 20+ years, four or five teams were in contention in the end and the winning hypercar finished with 2% energy left. Ferrari followed closely by Toyota, 1, 2 followed by Ferrari, Porsche, Toyota and Cadillac was there as well. The LMP2 team sponsored by our host, SO24 finished 3rd in class and our hosts were more than thrilled.
We left for Paris that evening after the race with a stop in the old town of Chartres where we had another wonderful dinner at the foot of a beautiful cathedral under renovation:
I extended my stay a couple of days, as long as I was there how could I not see Paris and arranged to take a tour of the Normandy D-Day beaches.
To be continued…..
We were hosted by a group called SO24 which stands for Sarthe (the county in which LeMans is located) Objective 24. Best described as a group of local businesses with the objective of putting a young local pilot (drivers are called pilots) in an F1 car, preferably at LeMans. The group was started in 2011 and is all volunteer, competing against factory teams from Ferrari, Porsche and others. Never taken seriously until this year when they finished in 3rd place in the LMP2 class which is the cars that run below the Hypercars, I.e. conventional race cars vs. hybrid electric cars.
We arrived on Friday, the day before the race and got to see the parade in the old town with a variety of cars, old and new and dinner in a fancy restaurant where the Porsche factory team was also eating.
These kids can put the drinks away:
we had reserved seats in bleachers at the start/finish line. It was estimated that attendance was over 330,000. I don’t like crowds.
I have good video of the start but can’t upload for some reason, maybe someone more tech savvy can tell me how to do it.
After a few laps I headed back to our home base for the race, a 30,000 seat soccer stadium with a view of the exit of one of the famous corners, Tetre Rouge. It was a lot more comfortable than fighting the crowds and dinner was provided along with an open bar with snacks, beer, mixed drinks and Calvados, a local apple brandy at 80 proof.
French food is the best; some kind of white flesh fish with truffles and chorizo:
Chocolate and lemon pair nicely:
Beats the heck out of sitting in a crowd:
The youngsters stayed out until the wee hours while I went back to our B and B with our host. I was up and ate breakfast by 0800 when the youngsters were just rising, showing the aftermath of the previous night. Our host asked if I wanted to go to a “special corner” to which I readily agreed. Driving down a single track gravel road we came upon a small parking lot with security at this house that had coffee, drinks and pastries:
This picture was taken from the viewing platform which was elevated with a roof and spitting distance from the first chicane (Forza) on the Hunaudieres straight where the cars slow from 200+ mph to 90.
Again, not able to post video taken here or our tour of the pits during the race. Those who are better informed than I say this was the closest race in 20+ years, four or five teams were in contention in the end and the winning hypercar finished with 2% energy left. Ferrari followed closely by Toyota, 1, 2 followed by Ferrari, Porsche, Toyota and Cadillac was there as well. The LMP2 team sponsored by our host, SO24 finished 3rd in class and our hosts were more than thrilled.
We left for Paris that evening after the race with a stop in the old town of Chartres where we had another wonderful dinner at the foot of a beautiful cathedral under renovation:
I extended my stay a couple of days, as long as I was there how could I not see Paris and arranged to take a tour of the Normandy D-Day beaches.
To be continued…..
