[Motorsport] Le Mans 2012 Roundup

WARNING: This is going to be a long post, even by my standards! I've got a lot to say about my trip to Le Mans 2012, so be prepared. But spoiler alert: it was awesome. This post has been delayed by quite some time, partly owing to its mammoth length. But I wanted to fully document my trip, and there's a lot to talk about!

The famous podium and clock on the pit straight. (Credit: David Brown)

The grand trip started early on the morning of Saturday the 9th of June, a whole week before the race. Leaving at 7am, John and I drove most of the length of the country from St Andrews down to Canterbury. On the way we had to go past Clifton to collect our second tent from Ed, who'd be joining us later in the week. It was a long day, but not too strenuous for me as I wasn't driving! I'd never been to Canterbury before, and it turned out to be charming little town. Somewhat reminiscent of St Andrews actually, only bigger. and with more people around. We were staying at a hostel, and met a couple of friends from our days at Warwick in the pub for dinner and a catch-up.

Canterbury was a surprisingly picturesque city. (Credit: David Brown)

After a decent night's sleep we left early again on the Sunday to catch our ferry from Dover. The channel crossing was smooth, and on the other side we managed to make it down the autoroute to Rouen without incident. We even made it through Rouen without getting lost, which greatly surprised John. Apparently in previous years that particular task has always proved problematic!

Unfortunately, after Rouen our good run came to end. We were cruising along the autoroute when John suddenly noticed his oil and engine temperatures skyrocketing. He managed to bring them under control by slowing down, and putting the heating on full blast, but the rest of the journey to Le Mans was somewhat tense as we crawled along at 30kph below the speed limit in the rapidly increasing heat (it was raining, so we couldn't open the windows to vent the hot air). Then we made it to Le Mans, and all the problems were momentarily forgotten. Driving around the section of the track that consists of public roads was magical, and something that I won't ever forget.

Some views of the track - on the left the Porsche Curves, on the right the Ford Chicanes,

with the Ferris wheel in the background. It didn't stay this quiet for long! (Credit: David Brown)

After setting up camp we took a trip to Carrefour for some shopping, and finished off the day with the first of many barbecues underneath our gazebo to shelter from the wind and rain. On the Monday it was time for the build-up to the race to begin. Actually, it started on Sunday, but this was our first chance to get involved. But first we had to pay a visit to the local Volvo garage to get them to take a look at the temperature sensors. Or try at least. Our very limited French, coupled with the mechanic's limited English, meant that it took the best part of two hours for them to understand what the problem was, to try and find a part, and to find that what we needed is out of production. Oh well. Fortunately for us the problem seemed to have solved itself over night.

After that encounter with the locals we took the tram into the town centre to watch the afternoon's scrutineering session. This was a great chance to get close to the cars, and to get a really good look at the beautifully sculpted aerodynamic parts on the top cars. Sadly the weather wasn't playing ball, and there were several delays for rain. Understandably, the teams didn't want to stand for their team photos in the rain! Toyota were the last team on the list. As newcomers to the top class, with a petrol-hybrid car and as a full manufacturer effort, they were attracting a lot of attention as potential winners. They seemed to have brought a small army with them, and certainly looked the part. John and I decided to cut short our sojourn at the barriers for their team photo to head up the square to wait for the Toyotas to be wheeled back to the trailer, where we thought that we could get better pictures. It worked, but we also got more than we hoped for; waiting for the Toyotas to appear, we found, completely unattended, the only car in the race attracting more attention than the Toyotas. The Nissan Deltawing. Completely different to anything else in the field, running outside of the rules, and with a major marketing push behind it, it was a stunningly unique machine, and I was incredibly pleased to get such a close look at it.

The Toyota army have their team photo at scrutineering, and a rather lonely Deltawing. (Credit: David Brown)

Sadly, when we got back to camp the gazebo had blown down in the high winds, and several of the poles had bent. We patched it up as best we could, but in the morning we found that it was down again and irreparable. Which meant a trip to Carrefour and the local outdoor superstore to hunt down a new, more sturdy version. At least there was nothing happening on the Tuesday for us to worry about missing.

The action proper started on Wednesday, and boy was it worth the wait. Watching the Le Mans competitors screaming around the track was a sight, and sound to behold. We spend the first session travelling around the pit straight, Ford chicanes, and Porsche curves, then travelled to Mulsanne corner for the evening/night session. Much like my first look at the track, this first glimpse of the cars going around was magical.

Thursday saw the first sightings of the support race fields; group C endurance racers, and a plethora of Aston Martins. The Astons were pretty to look at, particularly the Zagato that raced at the 24hr of the Nurburgring, but not particularly exciting to watch, whilst the group C cars were great. I've always loved the more simplistic look of the prototypes from the 80s and early 90s, and they didn't disappoint. With amateur drivers at the wheel in many cases, there were plenty of spins to enjoy. But the real event came in the evening, with the first qualifying session for the Le Mans field. There were some spectacular moments from them too, and a few cars that looked right on the ragged edge, and beyond. The last moments of qualifying were truly exciting as well, as the Toyotas went on a charge to try to topple the mighty Audis from the front row of the grid. Sadly they didn't manage it, but they got much, much closer than anyone anticipated.

Group C cars during their practice session. Left to right - Lancia, Sauber-Mercedes, and Porsche. (Credit: David Brown)

Friday was a bit of damp squib for me. We again travelled into Le Mans centre, this time for the drivers' parade through the streets. It was packed, despite the absolutely atrocious weather, but for some reason I didn't really enjoy it that much. From the stories John had told me I was expecting much more interaction between the drivers and the crowds. With a few notable exceptions, most of them seemed to be content to shelter from the rain and hand out fliers and posters, although as I said there were some who seemed to really be enjoying themselves. I can't blame them for hiding from the rain really, and I expect that the weather had a fair amount to do with my lack of enjoyment of the event.

Assorted pictures from the drivers parade. The opera singer is Marino Franchitti, one of the Deltawing drivers. (Credit: David Brown)

Then race day rolled around, and the weather looked awful. It was pouring with rain and not particularly warm, but at least it wasn't windy. We suited up in our waterproofs, filled our bags with snacks and drinks to get us through, and wandered over to the Ford Chicane to watch the group C race. It rained for the first half of the 45 minute race, which turned into a bit of a precession after a big accident on the Mulsanne straight on the first lap that brought out the safety car. By the time the safety car had come in we were left with only about 5 laps of racing, which wasn't a lot but better than nothing. Those cars in the wet were even more spectacular than in the dry, and you could really see the drivers fighting with them under braking and acceleration.

By the time that race was over the rain had stopped, and the track was starting to dry out. We trooped over the Dunlop bridge to the outside of the first corner, and set up camp on the concrete viewing gallery to watch the Aston Martins. This was a better race in the classic endurance fashion, with the two leaders having their fast drivers in the car at different times, setting up a closer finish than you might have been expecting. It was great to see the four different classes all fighting on a relatively even footing as well, and the podium was filled by representatives from three of the four, and not in the order you might expect!

Photos from the Aston Martin festival. (Credit: David Brown)

We then stayed exactly where we were for the next 3 hours waiting for the main race. During that time it got warmer and warmer as the Sun came out and the clouds went away. The track was pretty much dry by this time as well, so off came the waterproofs. Fortunately we weren't left solely to our own devices; with Radio Le Mans playing in my ears, we saw the trophy paraded past, the marshalls all line up for photos, a parade of junior cars, and some demonstration laps by the trio of race winning Matras from the 1970s, at which the French fans cheered themselves hoarse! The time went relatively quickly, and the gallery was rapidly filling up with excited spectators.

After a couple of installation laps from the field, it was time for the race to begin, and time for another magic moment. Watching the field come past on the warm-up lap made it seem much larger than it had at any other point during the week, but seeing them all stream by at the start of the race was another unforgettable moment. After that we settled in for the afternoon, watching the cars go past and seeing plenty of passing into the Dunlop chicane, as well as a few mistakes that led to cars in the gravel. We were also keeping an eye on the big screen, and it's a good job we did. About 4 hours into the race we had the most exciting five minutes of the race. It was obvious from the outset that the majority of the people trackside were willing Toyota to take the fight to Audi, and after dropping back at the start they'd been gradually gaining on the German cars with each pit stop. Finally we ended up with some wheel to wheel racing between the lead cars from the two teams, with some aggressive but clean overtaking. The Toyota had just taken the lead, and looked as though it was going to keep it, when the big screen switched to a view of the other Toyota. In mid air. Flipping over. It was a horrific crash, on par with and possibly worse to see than Alan McNish's crash last year in the Audi. The visceral reaction from the crowd was remarkable; everyone went from cheering one second to groans and gasps the next.

Some pictures from the first few hours of the race, taken at the first corner and the Dunlop chicane. (Credit: David Brown)

After that the race went down hill a bit in terms of excitement. We had an hour long safety car, after which the other Toyota effectively took itself out of the race by side-swiping the Deltawing, ending their run and damaging its own rear end. As darkness fell we moved along the track slightly to the outside of the Forest Esses, just below the Dunlop Bridge. We stayed there for a few hours, then John and I went to the pit straight to while away the night hours. That was really enjoyable. The engine notes echoed around the empty grandstands in glorious, noisy surround sound so that we could barely hear the radio. We could watch teams working in the pits, which was fascinating to say the least. As the night wore on the spectators gradually drifted away, leaving only the hardcore fans by the end by the end of the night, including us. Those that made it through the night witnessed the final demise of the second Toyota, several drivers putting cars in the gravel at the Ford Chicane, and both Pescarolo run cars spending far too long in the pits.

Racing at night! Light trails going down into the Forest esses. (Credit: David Brown)

The brave few on the straight during the wee hours. (Credit: David Brown)

At that point John went to get some sleep, but I stayed up to watch the dawn. I wandered down to the Posche Curves briefly, but the land-train that I wanted to get never showed up, so I couldn't get down to the entrance to the Porsche Curves or to Arnage. Those will have to wait for my next visit. Instead, I took advantage of another safety car to trek all the way around to the outside of Tertre Rouge, where I stayed for the dawn and rising light level, including the 'happy hour', when the rack is at its fastest. I then started missing the big screen, so moved around to the inside of Tertre Rouge.

By this point I'd been up for 24 hours, nursing my camera battery, my drink supply, and my snacks. Something that in hindsight I should have done at some point was buy a proper meal; but I didn't, instead surviving on crisps, cereal bars and fruit, with water and Coke Zero for fluids and caffeine.

Some of the surviving cars on the run to Tertre Rouge on Sunday morning. (Credit: David Brown)

At about 10 or 11am I wandered around to the inside of the Forest Esses to rejoin the others. We stayed there for the rest of the race, and for the last couple of hours it really became a struggle to stay awake. It was really warm, we were sitting in direct sunshine (the clouds all having long since disappeared), and the race was really winding down. There weren't many cars left by that point, and the action had died down to a whisper as those remaining desperately tried to survive. Except for the lead Audis, who were still in race, which left some interest. But then one of them put it in the wall in the Porsche Curves trying to lap a GT car, and that was that.

Audis flying in formation at the end of the race. (Credit: David Brown)

The race ended with an Audi clean sweep of the podium, but not a clean sweep of the top four as the lead Privateer had a faultless run to 4th. Many of the cars that had been missing for many hours struggled out of the pits to finish the final lap and take the flag. This included the Dome, much to the delight of the French spectators and my ears. We didn't get the traditional parade lap, with all of the marshalls waving their flags, which was disappointing, but the last lap sort of snuck on us without warning. But the Audis crossed the line together, flanking the chequered flag in formation. With that, the 80th running of the Le Mans 24 hours was over. I'd (mostly) stayed awake for 32 hours straight, without a solid meal, seen some great racing, and witnessed much drama.

We hiked straight back to the campsite, packed up the tents, and drove to Rouen to stay in a hotel for the night, and have a decent meal. The next day we meandered our way back to Calais through the French countryside, including a trip through Nouvion ('Allo, 'Allo!) and chips on the beach. The ferry crossing was even less eventful than the one on the way out, and I made it to Heathrow for my flight back to Scotland with plenty of time.

I had a fantastic time during my week long pilgrimage to Le Mans. There are several things that I wanted to do that I didn't quite find the time for: exploring the old town, wandering around the museum, and spectating from Arnage are all on my list for the next visit. Which is not a case of 'if', but 'when'. I've got the bug now, and I will definitely be going back.

John enjoying a well earned cuppa at the campsite. (Credit: David Brown)