Alfie goes to Le Mans

Another day, another full English. After getting ready, we went to the final and also the best support race  of the day, with GT3 and LMP3 cars battling for an hour. We then went to the village again, where rain greeted us and which then caused the race to spend 45 minutes behind a safety car. When the race started, Toyota took the lead, but it has been cat and mouse between the Porsche and the Toyota for the first six hours. 

Porsche Porsche Toyota Toyota Audi Audi were the results for quali. An unevenful journey and also a rainy evening. On Friday we had breakfast, and then went to mulsanne to surprisingly see nothing interesting apart from a ford car show. We proceeded to go to a shop, and then to Le Mans village to see what was being sold. We then went to town, where we went on a crowded tram but at least we had a good dinner where we talked about politics and what cars will be like in the future. We went home, for race day. 

For the 7th time, I’m going to Le Mans. Been awake since 1.40. I might be up for 22 hours, which isn’t fun. 

Tickets sorted, tunnel booked and new tyres on the car.. Ouch! Great service from ProTyre in Cambridge though and they price matched to the competition ( saving me a great deal of hassle ).

Yep, as most of us said this was going to be Porsches year, it most certainly was. A 1 2 finish ahead of the Audis sets up a perfect race for next year. By the time it had hit 6 AM the Porsches had started to pull out a lead on them. With Toyota and Nissan out of the equation, it was just then battling it out for the rest of the race. The race might of taken a turning point when it started to rain with half an hour to go, but Porsche had already won It before it had ended. Definitely deserved winners of Le Mans. When we got back it rained, but we watched England play Slovenia and actually win a match 3-2 (thanks Jack). Then we had a nice steak and chips and then went to bed listening to the sweet sound of incredibly loud fireworks. Woke up at 5 and were gone by quarter to 6. At the moment we are 105 km from Calais.
–Alfie

Before you question the title, it’s because Porsche (which returned in 2014) is doing a lot better than Toyota, who returned in 2014. It is a real scrap at the front between Porsche and Audi, with one taking the lead with every pit stop. And usually by now they would all be spaced out by a couple of laps. It is set to rain at 4 AM to the end of the race at 3PM which could change everything, which would make this already exciting race even more than it is now! From where we were as the race progressed was that we started from our grandstand for an hour. Spent an hour at the Forest Curves and Tetre Rouge. Went back to our grandstand for another hour. Went for tea and went to Arnage and Indionapolis for an hour which was epic (as usual) and did a bit of filming. Had to sit in the boot of Robs car which turned out to be quite fun, and now we are at Sunday. 

Cant wait ant to see what has happened overnight.

Friday started off with going to the shops, but the route we went included the straight from Arnage to Porsche Curves. As you would expect it is very tempting to go fast, Tristan found it so tempting on the 90 km/h road that he did 190 km/h and got his licence taken away. Getting a 135 Euro fine. Then we did finally go to Carrefour, getting mostly beer and things to chill beer. Afterwards we went to a very eneventful Mulsanne Straight, which rained a lot so most decent cars parked on th side. Afterwards we went to the tent again and then to town, where we had a very late dinner. 
Now it’s just race day.

We didn’t have a that much of an eventful journey to Le Mans. Coffee, lunch and dad speeding and getting a 90 Euro fine, they were the only interesting things on the way. We arrived at 5, greeted by a shower so we had a drink. We stayed outside in the 30 plus degrees heat afterwards until seven thirty when we had dinner. Then we went to th grandstand we would be at for the race which is at the Dunlop Bridge and stayed there for an hour. After wards, we came back to our tent to be seeing a huge lightning storm heading out way (it just started spitting) with strikes every few seconds. And here we are at the present. Friday will be fun.
–Alfie

I always get very excited for Le Mans. And this year we all think that we are more excited than usual. Maybe it’s because Dad has a new car, or maybe Nissan have a new LMP1 car. Either way it’s always something to look forward to. Getting up at 4 is the earliest I’ve woken up to go to Le Mans. But photo taking will be another aspect to the journey, with the added collection being a Go Pro we borrowed!     Expecting to arrive at around 4-5 PM, so we have a few hours until qualifying, in day and night conditions. So there is definitely an excuse to be excited. I’ll be posting another thing when we arrive. 
-Alfie

3 weeks to go before we head off for Le Mans 2015.  Getting very excited.

Last night, fireworks went off in celebration of the 82nd 24 Hours of Le Mans. There were lots of them, which was nice, but had to be ruined by some idiotic electronic music and somebody revving what I think is some sort of modded Japanese 90’s thing.

I woke up at six, having to get up very quickly to move everything out of the tent, pack the tent and then packing everything in the car to leave.

We will go to a coffee shop to have breakfast and…coffee, and then we will head to Le Shuttle and then go home.

Le Mans is redundant.
For now…

Yep, after so long thinking that Audi would be defeated, the Porsche No.20 decided to have an electrical problem, being fixed just before the end of the race.

It was in second, trailing to last years winner, the Audi No.1, but a turbo problem caused it to be stuck in the pits for 15 minutes, putting it in 3rd, behind the number 2 Audi.
Then a few minutes later, the No. 20 Porsche that went into the lead by un lapping itself and overtaking the Audi No.1 became very slow on the end of he Mulsanne Straight, limping to he pits, being lapped by many cars, including the No.8 Toyota, putting it into 3rd.

The number 2 Audi was catching the Porsche No.20, making the gap around 40 seconds, which counted for nothing after the Porsche broke, putting it into first place, around an hour before it was over.

As we approached the end of the race, the Audi No.2 and 1 got in a formation for pictures, going side by side, as the crowd applauded every car going past their grandstand, for completing this race.

Next year, Nissan will be entering LMP1 officially, and there are rumours that Ferrari will be too.
It is very rare to see 5 marques in LMP1, as it costs a ton of money to make these cars, but if any of these teams enter, will they beat the Audi R18 E-Trons?

The No.7 Toyota was retired last night at 5 AM on the dot because of an electrical problem, and the No.2 Audi also had a problem in the night, but was fixed and is currently second, less than half a lap behind the No.20 Porsche.

Around half an hour ago, the Audi No.1 (which was winning at the time) had a turbo problem, losing all turbo power. It took the Audi mechanics around 15 minutes to replace it. It is in 3rd, a couple of laps behind the leading Porsche.

The Toyota No.8 is far behind in 5th because of the crash it was in at the start of the race, and the No.14 Porsche is in 4th, still far behind the Leader.

It would be really good to see Mark Webbers No.20 win, it would be amazing to see a car win on its debut at Le Mans.

Its Sunday now, and I’m still in my Dunlop Grandstand watching the race at night.

We went to Arnage and the Mulsanne Corner to see the cars go by, and really that’s all that’s happened.

In LMP2, Jan Mardenbourough (who won GRAN TURISMO academy Xbox users) is in first in its group.

In GTE Pro, an Aston Martin V8 is winning its group, and it is the same story in GTE Am.

And in LMP1, the No.7 Toyota is 1 minute 40 seconds in front of the No.2 Audi.

Yesterday (Friday) we went to the Mulsanne to see some hooligans be idiots in Chevys, Porsches, Bicycles and stuff like that. For example, because everyone was next to a pub, quite oftenly there would be someone coming out, so I Corvette driver drifted out of the car park and almost lost control. Therefore there would be a nasty crash into someone.

Then we went to a Pistonheads BBQ for lunch, having some nice burgers, and seeing some exquisite cars.

Then we went to Camp Houx, or Camp Death, dubbed by Dad and Ian, because there was a dirt track that people drag raced on.

One of Dads friends was there, and he owned my dads old red (not black like you used to see at the school gates) TVR Cerbra. It had flip flop blue and purple colour, and an awesome noise (I revved it mwahahahahahaha)

Then we went to Le Mans town centre to have dinner (steak and French fries) in a great restaurant showing Spain vs Holland, which ended 5-1 Holland.

I went to bed at midnight.

This morning, we went to see the LMC Class Le Mans cars and the Porsche Carrera Cup races, which were exciting, and a couple of hours later, the race began!

At the moment, the standings are:

1. Toyota TS040 Hybrid No.7
2. Porsche 919 Hybrid No.20
3. Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro No.2
4. Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro No.1
5. Porsche 919 Hybrid No. 14
6. Toyota TS040 Hybrid No. 8

The Audi No. 3 is not in this list as it was retired because of torrential rain, and a Ferrari 458 Italia hit it and sent them into the barriers, and as the Toyota No. 8 was closely behind it, it hit the debris and also went into the barrier. Thankfully, the Toyota crew fixed it and it is racing again.

We are about to go to the Mulsanne Corner, which finishes the 2 mile straight, and after that we will always go to Arnage in the dark to see the cars go by.

Its Friday today, and today we are going to go to the Mulsanne Straight, to see some idiots fooling around in their cars. (Ferraris, Astons, Lamborghinis etc etc)

Yesterday at qualifying, Toyota dominated by by going first and 3rd, while the Porsches running 2nd and 4th. Followed behind them are Audis 1,2 and 3.

This was the qualifying positions I wanted to see.

So yeah, it seems to be turning out pretty well.

As perfectly legal as dad is driving, it is also very boring being in the car, as there is pretty much nothing to do. We are about 24 Hours from Le Mans, (I meant 1) and…

Yeah. That is basically all that happened. Apart from I’m in France…

Nothing special on the way, but we saw some nice cars in the car park. Astons, Porsches, stuff like that.

Well, when you are going on a exciting holiday, its usually really hard to sleep. Unsurprising, this happened to me. I set my alarm for 4:40 AM, and to wake up at 3:20 is just irritating.

Leaving Le Mans for a moment, let us take a brief moment about the World Cup, the worlds largest football tournament, who do you think will win, I think Brazil, but hey, they are hosting, right?

Anyway, today, the main event is of course qualifying, where all the car classes, LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype One), LMP2 (I don’t need to explain that one because it is kind of above, GT Pro (Professional racing drivers driving modded supercars) and GT AM (Amateur racing drivers and famous people who have payed to race, mostly actors.)

These brave people will battle it out to achieve pole position in their group. Therefore, they will be ahead of more drivers for when the race starts on Saturday.

I wont be able to post because of the Wi-Fi not working, but as soon as I arrive, I will be posting again.

See ya!

After the race…

We had dinner, pork and coleslaw, watched England versus Holland girls, England won 1-0, then me and Seb did keepy-upys with a can, after that we watched Portugal versus Holland in the Euro’s, Portugal won 2-1, then I brushed my teeth and watched some fireworks.

So then I went to bed for the last time in France for 360 days.

Monday…

We packed up and went home.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

But I suppose everyone has to do it at some point on a Sunday or Monday I suppose, anyway, the campsites close on Tuesday.

Au Revoir France!

Brilliant, our driver ( Oliver Jarvis ) was driving the third place car!! Excellent result.