Le Mans

I've had a fascination with Le Mans for a long time, remember having a library book when I was 10 or 11 and thinking how good it was that they raced through the night. Also remember in 1968 watching it on television whilst at some family party.

Finally got to go for the first time in 1983 in my MG Midget. The whole experience was unforgettable and resulted in me going each year until 1992! Every year more or less the same - leave the UK on the Thursday, spend the night in a hotel, arrive at the circuit on Friday, set up camp, visit a supermarket to stock up for the weekend (had to unload camping gear to make room!). Sometimes stayed at the circuit on Sunday night or drove to a hotel before getting the ferry back on the Monday.

In 1983 I got a camping place in the Camping Des Tribunes which was the closest to the circuit, each subsequent year I was allocated the same place - this involved writing letters and sending bankers drafts (no internet then!). It was always a relief to receive the pack of tickets for car, camping and people a couple of weeks beforehand.

At the campsite we had the same neighbours for many years - a large party of French people from Granville who set up a huge tent and spent the whole weekend drinking and eating. A Dutch couple who arrived by 2CV and a party of Germans who promptly on arrival tapped into a nearby telephone pole (no mobile phones either).

The weekend followed the same pattern each year, barbeque on Friday evening, not much sleep because of the noisy campsite! Try to catch the bread delivery on Saturday morning then off to watch the practice session, back for a bit of lunch and then back to watch the build up to the start.

Once the race got underway watch for a bit then drive to various vantage points like Mulsanne corner, Indianopolis etc. One of the best places was to stand next to the cafe on the Mulsanne straight with cars going past at 250mph.

One year we managed to get into the grounds of the hotel that is next to the high speed 'kink' near the end of the straight - cars coming straight at you at 250mph - didn't stay long, it seemed too dangerous!

On Saturday night try to stay up but inevitably had to sleep at some point then get up fairly early on Sunday, try and find out what was happening in the race. Usually walk from Tertre Rouge corner to the Porsche curves and then gather near the finish.

For the first years it was very difficult to know what was happening! No live English radio, just a newspaper every few hours and a 2 minute English broadcast on the p.a. which was inevitably drowned out by cars! Later on Radio Le Mans made a huge difference.

The best moments was being there in 1988 to see Jaguar win, even managed to get out onto the track that evening in the MG! Saw them win again in 1990 when the 2nd place Porsche broke down with just a few minutes to go meaning Jaguar were 1st & 2nd.

In 1995 I returned again with pregnant wife in our Land Rover much to the amusement of our French neighbours having always been in the MG in previous years - petit voiture, petit monsieur, maintanent grand voiture, grand femme!

Then a long break until 2004 with a visit to the test day in April whilst in our motorhome and another long break until 2015 in the Berlingo until 2023 returning with Jake, 40 years since my first visit. We went back three weeks later for the 'classic' event too!