Alfie goes to Le Mans

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.

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

Nearly down to the last hour, we are sitting in the Grandstands watching.. It seems pretty much like Audi will win it but there has been so much racing from all the other teams and great efforts from Toyota, Rebellion, Nissan and Honda….. Next year will be excellent!!

We are sitting in the market square for the drivers parade, it is however chucking it down so we have taken shelter in a bar…

On Friday afternoon the pitlane is open..

Hmm soon

We are on the Mulsamne watching the cars…

Off to first quali

Well we made it, a very interesting route which avoided most of the autoroutes and did not add much to the time. We spent an hour having lunch and we had a nice chat with a couple of French motorcycle policeman about what a nice car we have;)

We’ve done about 270 miles so far and have a couple of hours to go so we thought it could be time for lunch…
So we’ve stopped in a place called ‘Conches-en-ouch’ which seem to have steak and chips 😉

Yummers! Alf is of course drinking Fanta

We are here, well on the train still, but less Womblelike!

Just about to leave, in with a Mercedes SLS, a TVR Tuscan and the A team van 😉

After a very easy journey we are at the tunnel…just trying to get a coffee then we’ll find our train

The car is washed, bags more or less packed and most importantly…..flapjack made 😉

Just out of the tunnel, coming into the tunnel. Cannot wait to get out, it is rather warm in here..

After a rainy trip through France we are finally at the tunnel waiting to board. Alfie was a great co driver, helping at the tolls and passport control. Due to bad traffic, rain and a hold up at the tolls we were late for our train. Luckily we were put on the next one unlike poor Gary who has to wait until 5pm!Off underground let’s hope there are no more hold ups 😉

We have packed up and hit the road, stopping for a quick coffee..

We are sitting outside a bar in le mans, waiting for our food.
I think we’ve all had a great time but we think we have walked at least 12 miles
over the last few days. Well done
Audi, great race, shame the pugs did not make the end as it was shaping up to be a top finish….
We’ll head back to the site soon to, get the children to bed then start to pack..

Wow, thanks to a friend of the Bicks we have just met a real le mans driver and had a tour of the Kolles Audi garage!! Amazing is not the word! We are currently sitting in the grandstand awaiting a Group C support race.

We saw the drivers parade last night, great stuff, brass bands a big crowd the boys loved it.
We then got the tram back, went on the dodgems and some rather poor karts them came back to the tent.
The boys went to bed, we had a quick
drink them went to bed. Utter downpour last night, damp and overcast today;(

So, everyone has made it to Le Mans, the tents are up, we have provisions and a sort of plan. Team Bickashstaff are heading back from visiting a wine producer, team Clarkandson are on the pitlane walk Alf is having a kip and I’m doing this. We are heading into town on the tram later for the drivers parade and a meal.

Today has entailed mainly driving about between Mulsanne and Arnage, we’ve been to a bit of a car show, had a drive around the local countryside  with a DB9 and a Viper and generally had a great time. I have set up a gallery of the pictures so far (not many this year as I have not brought the big camera), you’ll notice there are quite a few of cars on track, Alfie took most of them.

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We are in Mulsanne with Gary and
Co. Clearly we are eating and watching cars. The
Cerbera is taking part in a little car show, bless, people seem to like it, we get lots of waves and thumbs up.
Finally, to prove the boys are eating properly…

There are 5 salad dodgers from midlands on a pitch opposite, shame they wake up so early!! Grrrr

A boy in his element