PAST EVENTS PAGE 74

CLUB TRIP TO LE MANS TUESDAY 11th - TUESDAY 19th JUNE 2002

We decided to make a holiday of this year’s annual pilgrimage to Lemans and go for a full week. Remembering last year, this year we decided to take plenty of wet weather gear including a new brolley, and how we needed the brolley, not to shelter from the French rain but to shade from the burning sun.

We were joined by Alan Jones for the trip from Calais to the chateau. This time we decided to tackle the ring road around Paris and go for a more direct route. All was going well until Joannes brake pads needed replacing 25 miles north of Paris. Her car had recently been serviced by Toyota and she was given advice that the pads would be fine for a trip to Paris and back, well done MR. T!! Luckily we had Alan our technical adviser with us to replace them.

Arrived at the chateau nice and early and pitched up the tents. With the rest of the group not arriving till Thursday it gave us the opportunity to relax and sample a bit of the Loire countryside and the chateau's fantastic facilities.

As Thursday evening approached we decided to put on a welcome BBQ for the rest of the group and sure enough it was a good plan as tummies were rumbling as they arrived after their long haul down from Calais.

What lay ahead was 4 days of fantastic motorsport, good food, good beer and great club camaraderie.

This year we were joined by a member of the Canadian MR2 Club of Toronto, Huang Dang who was in London on business at the time and was desperate to come along with us to the race. I would not thought it was possible to do Lemans in 2 days but he managed to swing it.

This really was a special trip, a fantastic experience even the second time round, I can’t understand why we don’t get more members on this trip, it gets better and better. Already planning for Le Mans 2003 – don’t miss it!

MICHAEL SHEAVILLS

After helping to plan last year's Le Mans trip but being unable to go I was very much looking forward to this year's visit. If I'm being honest probably more for a week in France in what looked like a beautiful Chateau than to watch the 24 hour race of which I knew nothing about.
The ferry tickets were booked months in advance and a reservation was made at the campsite for a one week stay at the Chateau de Chanteloup.

As well as an interest in cars, camping is a first for me since meeting Michael and as I am renowned for my home comforts and being unable to travel light I have taken some stick from my family and friends about how I would manage to fit a weeks worth of clothes in my little MR2 and survive for one whole week in a three man tent!
The preparations were made, these included a new exhaust only 2 days before our departure! Within no time June 11th was here and the start of our week in France upon us.
After being told repeatedly that "under no circumstances could you fit a suitcase into the MR2 along with all of our camping gear" and " all you need is a toothbrush and a bar of soap" I refused to be beaten, after all you don't need to look rough just because you're living rough! I thought that I had done extremely well to fit everything into the smallest suitcase that I have ever owned and reduced my toiletries by transferring everything into little bottles, result! The only thing now was to convince Michael!
I hovered with baited breath watching the tent, airbed, 2 sleeping bags, 2 pillows, 2 deckchairs, tools, spares and more being packed in every nook and cranny and when his back was turned I sneaked my suitcase into the boot leaving about 12 square inches for his clothes. Again RESULT! (I knew I'd get my way in the end!)
Excited and ready for the journey we set off on our trip travelling to
Dover where we stayed at my uncle's Guest House refreshed and ready for a full days trip to Chanteloup the next morning. On Tuesday we met up with Alan Jones and boarded the ferry, the next stage of our trip ahead.
We were welcomed in France with sunshine and set off towards Paris where I was to negotiate the busier traffic with Michael as navigator and Alan hot on our heels behind. We arranged a stopping point just before hitting the city and pulled into the service station. "Michael, what is that grinding noise?” I asked as we pulled in. "That's your brakes Joanne" came his reply. The car had also been into the garage for a service the week before and we had
been told that the brakes would need replacing but would be fine for our trip. Luckily we packed spare brake pads just in case and our technical advisor stepped in to change the pads ( which were down to the metal ) in the blistering heat. Thanks a lot Alan!
After an hour we were mobile again and I took over the driving (another first for me, driving abroad ). Soon we were in Paris, a little later than planned and stuck in traffic but all too soon we were on our way again. The navigator did a good job and after a total of  711 miles we reached the Chateau.
What a beautiful place! A four star campsite set in the grounds of a
magnificent chateau. Excellent facilities with a fantastic swimming pool, bar and restaurant all within stumbling distance from our tent. Maybe this camping lark wouldn't be so bad after all!
Upon our arrival at the chateau the weather was a little changeable for a couple of days but as Dominique (the campsite owner) reliably informed us the weather for the weekend was to improve and how it did, much to my approval! We organised our pitch in anticipation of the arrival of the rest of the party and set off for the supermarket. We packed as much cheap plonk into our two little cars as we could and bought a barbeque and provisions ready
for Thursday night.
What a great night! Good job that Stuart arrived with a state of the art cooking stove, as there is not a lot to be said for the reliability of French disposable barbeques. (NOTE: 2003 bring along our own!)
For me the best part of the trip was "Mad Friday". What a spectacle! People of all nationalities driving their pride and joy around the infamous Le Mans race circuit and speeding along the Mulsanne straight. A great chance to soak up the atmosphere and watch an enormous impromptu car show. FAB!
After purchasing our tickets we returned to the campsite and made
preparations for the weekend. The early hours of Saturday morning would see the arrival of our international guest Huan. What a guy, his first visit to Europe and he puts his faith in an e-mail and meets us at the campsite after an exhausting journey.
An early start on Saturday secures us the perfect vantage point at Virage Porsche and our base for the weekend. Excellent weather and a brilliant atmosphere made for a super time. Although we had planned to stay up and watch the race throughout the night a slight hitch with the courtesy buses meant a spritely walk from Arnage back to the car, which was to be our bed for the night. Amazing, who would have thought that two people could get a good nights sleep in an MR2 parked only yards from one of the biggest race
circuits in the world!
As we all made our way back to the campsite on Sunday, it was time to reflect on the weekend. We had dinner 'alfresco' at the campsite restaurant with Lauren joining us for a little luxury after her stay at one of the very busy circuit campsites.
Unfortunately on Monday we were only three again, Alan, Michael and myself as one by one everyone made their way home after a hectic weekend. The campsite was once again peaceful and this gave us an opportunity to relax in the sun, sample the pool, take out a "boat" on the lake (on which I nearly died! but that's another story) and sample a typical French restaurant in the village. A perfect end to a perfect week in France.
There were a lot of firsts on this trip for me but hopefully they will all be repeated in a similarly fantastic trip next year. The plans have already begun, so lets hope that Le Mans 2003 is even bigger and better (if that's possible) than 2002.

JOANNE THOM

It certainly doesn’t seem like 12 months since the four of us made the trip last year. The weather forecast at least intimated that there will be only a very small chance of rain but it did not stop me packing my big golf umbrella and wet suit.

A busy journey down from the East Midlands and early enough to stop for a bite to eat and drink at the M20 service station. Called Lauren who had or was given the wrong location and was somewhere on the M2. We agreed to meet up just inside the ferry terminal.

Mark Dalton and Hazel joined me at the service station and we then completed the remaining journey in convoy. At the ferry terminal we all managed to park together and waited for Lauren who eventually arrived letting others know of her presence by a quick 5000+rpm blip of her throttle! Produced passports and tickets and soon we were lining up at the dockside exchanging comments and drooling on the benefits of non-automatic gearboxes! (Laurens MR2 was indisposed, so Mark Nias kindly lent her his automatic supercharger for the trip)

The trip over the water seemed to go quickly and it was time to re-enter our cars muttering “drive on the right! drive on the right…….” The road out of Calais was easy and Lauren and I stopped at a roadside restaurant for steak and chips. Thus replenished we made a note of our proposed route and off we went again. The traffic round Rouen was busy and combined with large road works, we missed our proposed turning and when the traffic had thinned out we worked out an alternative. This turned out to be magic as the track queen was in her element and we were soon eating up the miles – being careful to keep a eye out for gendarmes of course! Yours truly then had a moments aberration and turned off into a side street on the wrong side. Quickly did a U-turn and came back on to the right side much to Lauren’s amusement. We then made excellent time and arrived at the chateaux before anyone else. Mike, Jo and Alan had arrived two days before and were preparing a massive BBQ. The remainder soon followed and we all tucked in to a superb alfresco meal – thanks again you three!

After severe testing of the French beer we settled down for the night and woke up to a fine Friday morning. Various types of breakfast were eaten and we the proceeded to the track car park to obtain our weekend passes. To save all cars travelling to the site I gave Alan a lift( he had taken his front passenger seat out presumably for extra stocks obtained from one section of the supermarket at Calais prior to his return ferry)

Due to the wrong information by a pretty car park attendant we ended up at Porsche corner without the passes and then returned to the blue car park and walked across the road and paid our entrance fees. We then did a tour of the pit lane and the hospitality area before visiting the ACO offices to enquire about joining. Received an apology from the staff, who did not reply to my email of about a month ago and walked out with a package of their goodies. Part of the track was still open to public vehicles and so we took the opportunity to drive along the last section of the Mulsanne straight and met Lauren and her crowd who were camping on the trackside green site. It was marvellous to see all the cars parked on the side of the track and we then continued and left the track at Arnage crossroads. (Amazing to think that this crossroad has a 90 degree bend for the race cars and another 90 degree bend for the spectator road access to Arnage viewing point – they filled the racetrack road just before the crossroad with a huge pile of earth in case any of the race cars couldn’t make it round the corner!)

We had booked a table for eight at the campsite restaurant and so we returned to the camp site via the local bank and supermarket in time to sh.. sh.. shave and shampoo.

We had an enjoyable meal followed by the now obligatory beer tasting session and retired to our beds round about midnight.

Race day dawned and again lots of blue sky visible. We managed to park together at Porsche curve and we then proceeded to sunbathe, eat and drink before the magic hour of 4pm arrived. Seats were placed behind the wire safety fence and at 4pm the noise of the cars reached our ears. Sure enough about 4 minutes later the noise increased to a three figure decibel number as all cars swept through this curve at about 130mph! Audis of course with their multi-million expenditure bill were in the first three places.

It soon became apparent that a radio is really essential if you want to monitor the progress (or lack of it). Evidently the Audis were only managing 11 laps per tank full and the MG’s were doing 13 laps so although they were slower, over a period of time they would catch up.

The weather was still beautiful and we decided at about 8pm to walk up to the main entrance and catch the bus to Arnage. After waiting about 35mins we eventually stepped aboard a bus and proceeded to the crossroads by Porsche curve and then left the track perimeter and motored through the village of Arnage, before arriving at the 90 deg crossroad that wasn’t a cross road and pulling up just past the spectator area. By this time it was dark and when you stepped off the bus all you could hear was the screaming of very high powered engines as they accelerated away from this corner. We stood in awe at this corner for quite some time watching the cars brake from about 130mph to 35-40mph in half the length of a normal emergency stop and then immediately after negotiating this bend accelerating like you’ve never seen with max revs in each gear unbelievable!

We then walked along the approach to this corner and sure enough all the cars undergoing such heavy braking had their discs glowing red hot!

After the best part of two hours we decided to get the bus back and after waiting at least an hour with no bus in sight we decided to walk back to Porsche curve – easier said than done for even at this time of night the narrow roads were busy with cars coming and going and of course on a minor French country road as UK there are no footpaths. Mike reckoned it would take about 11/2 hours but with us walking briskly we did the journey in half the time.

At about 2am Richard Rachael and I decided to get a bit of proper sleep and return to the chateaux.

Wake up time arrived (all too quickly for me) and we rejoined the crowd at Porsche curve. Bad news was that the MG’s were out but at least the Bentley was still in the race.

The sun was now out with a vengeance and everyone was turning a pleasant red/brown colour. The race was going to end with a predicted 1,2,3 for the Audis and so we decided to return to the chateaux to avoid the huge traffic hold ups that would take place immediately after 4pm.

Enjoying the relative peace and quiet of the chateaux grounds at about 4pm on Sunday – out of six of us sitting round our foldaway tables – 5 of us had umbrellas up as the sun became too strong!

A last supper at the chateaux became a midnight feast as our table did not materialise until nearly 10pm - nobody seemed to mind though as beer kept on arriving. A last sit out by the tents with the aid of Alan’s pole camp light powered by his spare battery plus two 3ft long candles.

Monday morning was up reasonably early with ‘how did we get all this into the car?’ Mike,Jo and Alan were staying on a few days more and saying our goodbyes we started the long journey home. Unfortunately this was the plan followed by another 5,000 GB motorists and our journey to Rouen probably took twice as long as our outward one. Fortunately the roads were less crowded (and dual carriageway) after this city and Lauren and I were busy getting cobwebs out of our engine departments. Her loaned automatic SC having only four gears could not get away from mine (I was taking it up past 6K on each gear). About halfway to Calais from Ruoen we met up with Richard and Rachael, and proceeded in convoy straight to the terminal as we were cutting it a bit fine for our appointed ferry. Safely aboard we all tucked into a meal and soon the cliffs of Dover were visible. After saying our goodbyes Richard, Rachael and I proceed up the A2/M2 to the M25 carpark and the first thing that struck us was the amount of traffic and the terrible condition of the road surface. (Oh to be back in France). We proceeded through the Thames tunnel without much delay and after a brief stop on the M1 we decided we could have a last pint in our local. I went ahead and arrived at the pub, ordered the drinks, played four games of darts, three games of cribbage, 2 games of dominoes and Richard and Rachael arrived. (no, only kidding – I can’t play cribbage!). We agreed what a fabulous time it had been and all of us cannot wait to do it all again.

STUART KYNOCH

We’ll keep this short as the others have contributed already and the general consensus is that we all had a great time.

We met up with Stuart at Maidstone services and found the others at Dover terminal no problem. The ferry trip was short and then we were off into France. We went off on our own route and had a fast drive down the empty toll roads until Rouen, which was full of road works, which we managed to get through with no real problems. Then it was straight flat country down to Alencon and through to Le Mans.

Mike, Jo and Alan were waiting for us with beers and barbeque at the ready, which was much needed and appreciated by the time we got to the Chateau Chanteloupe. Next day it was tickets and a drive round the circuit followed by an evening meal back at the Chateau. Hold on, I was going to keep this short. Right, next day (race day) highlights:

Meeting Huan who had travelled through the night from London (via Paris) to get there.

Getting to the deserted Virage Porsche carlpark at 7.30am (race start = 4pm) just to make sure we got a parking spot ! (fair play, we did)

The National Anthems at the race start followed by a low speed flypast from the French Air force, followed by the engine roar as the cars left the grid.

The noise

The night-time visit to Arnage corner, the lights went out and the forest was illuminated by the car headlights and brake discs.

The drive back to the campsite dodging drunks at 3.30 in the morning.

Next day seeing the finish on the straight just before the grandstand – all the drivers waving; damaged cars limping home with the crowd cheering and the Marshals flag twirling.

So we had a great time at the race and had a great time with the club who made it possible. So thanks to all involved and lets see some more of you out there next year. Oh, and how about a trip to the Nurburgring……

MARK and HAZEL

4 MR2's at Dover, still waiting for Lauren. Andy Bonnette came to wave us off

Lauren arrived in time to see the clouds roll away for a hot 5 days

Friday pit walkabout

The Chateau.....

....has a welcoming swimming pool

Washday at the Chateau de Canteloup

The Mulsanne Straight on Mad Friday - Don't park here tomorrow!

We pulled off because....

....Mark and Lauren were on the other side of the road....

...watching the Brits getting worked up.

7am to grab a pitch at virage Porche, only 9 hours to go!

Huan with the group at Virage Porche

Hazel, Jo and Rachael

Alan Jones

Sunday night at the Chateau - 3 course meal for £6.50

Stuart disappears to find a cigar shop - at midnight

Mike in Japanese mode goes Kamikaze with the beer

Mark tries the French version of the yard of ale

Photo courtesy of the French police

Jo at the track

----- Original Message -----
From: Huan Dang <hhdang@hotmail.com>
To: <Mistertwo@msheavills.freeserve.co.uk>
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 1:00 AM
Subject: Le Mans trip