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General Matra related => General Discussion => Topic started by: Moes on June 04, 2010, 03:33:33 pm



Title: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: Moes on June 04, 2010, 03:33:33 pm
Hi !!

well..  As you might get from the heading I am going to attend  at this year Le Mans.  And I am curious to know if any from this forum is going to be there?

I am going to stay with one of my brothers, and some of our friends, in a camp of forza motorsport fans. Mostly existing of Englishman and a few Dutchman, and of course my brother, I, and our four friends.

We are traveling Thursdag and is going to spend a a night in Holland, so we should be at Le Mans friday at noon.

regards Frederik        


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: Anders Dinsen on June 04, 2010, 10:42:10 pm
I am :D

Send an SMS when you're on the camp site and we can find a way to meet up. Warning: Friday is extremely busy.

We're leaving Wednesday evening, dropping by Romoratin to see the museum thursday morning, then going to Le Mans in time for the qualifications (group C cars start already at 1600 hours - gotta hear them!)


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: macaroni on June 05, 2010, 07:58:51 am
I'm going too, on the Friday.
I intended to take the Matra but, well that's another story, so I'll be in my Alfa in a campsite at the Porsche Curves. Hope the weather stays fine!


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: Anders Dinsen on June 05, 2010, 04:43:13 pm
I'm going too, on the Friday.
I intended to take the Matra but, well that's another story, so I'll be in my Alfa in a campsite at the Porsche Curves. Hope the weather stays fine!

It looks like the weather will be hot and slightly wet. I'd prefer rain on Sunday over Saturday as it looks now, as that usually makes the race much more interesting! ;)

We're in the Grand Espace on Beausejour. You have email, Antony.

/Anders


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: michaltalbot on June 05, 2010, 05:19:03 pm
Which date it is?


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: macaroni on June 05, 2010, 05:19:58 pm
12/13 June.

Anders, your campsite is just over the track from mine.
Should be able to easily say hello.


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: Moes on June 06, 2010, 10:03:15 am
I am also going to stay in the Maison Blanche area (5) at the Porsche Curves :) so if you suddenly see a Peugeot 306 "missing the 6" with a lot of small dents and a looooong sketch along the right side...  then you have found the car I am driving..  unfortunately my Bagheera was not ready for this year  :(     and the color of my Peugeot...  not rusty as you might think. But a very dark metallic... hmm  green- ocean color.

I agree with Anders, if it is going to rain ..  please let it be sunday and not the whole weekend.  But our "weather guys" are fortunately very often mistaken, when the are looking more than a day ahead  ;D        

Anders- I call you when I have settled in the camp on Friday.


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: Lennart Sorth on June 06, 2010, 06:37:26 pm
I'm here too ... currently sitting in the Place des Jacobins, translating press releases. Its VERY cramped, as the normal venue is a building-site this year (the old theatre has been demolished, to make room for a new Centre Culturele - lets hope its finished before next years race.

Here is a picture ofone of the Ford GT's beingoffloaded in front of the cathedral:
  http://www.sorth.dk/LM10/Med/d7c_7858.html

Le Mans had *hailstorm* and heavy rain this morning - but its all cleared away for now, sun shining.
However, weather-forecast for the week and race-weekend is for "unsettled", so campers should prepare to possibly get wet.
Hopefully you will only get wet by beer though :-)

/Lennart (ClubArnage)


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: Anders Dinsen on June 06, 2010, 10:44:15 pm
Here is a picture ofone of the Ford GT's beingoffloaded in front of the cathedral:
  http://www.sorth.dk/LM10/Med/d7c_7858.html

Can't wait to see those GT40's on the track - it's a magnificent car!


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Mat
Post by: Lennart Sorth on June 15, 2010, 01:58:19 pm
At scrutineering (which this year started already on Sunday) I spoke to Henri Pescarolo, and I am pleased to say he seems physically in better condition than last year, even though he is still marked by the stroke(s). Inside, however, he feels even worse than last year, he told me, as his cars were back at the factory, as the moneyman behind the team had been unable to secure enough funds for the 2010 season. Pescarolo-Sport have thus ended its 2010 program, and are focusing on 2011, where they hope to have the funding sorted out.

What a Le Mans !

First it looked like a Peugeot walk-over, - and I am sure the French newspapers had already printed their frontpages ahead of time.
Once the race had started, ACO did what they could to help push the Audi's back (like inserting a safetycar between them, or making sure the Peugeot was OUT of the pitlane before sending in another safetycar etc)

Then it transpired that Audi did NOT even have a fuel-economy trick up their sleeve as I thought, so on top of being 2-3 seconds slower per lap, they ALSO only ran 12 laps per stint, while the Peugeots could to 13.

Peugeot have run several 32 hour tests on Paul Ricard, and has never had any severe mechanical problems. They simply seemed like the obvious (if a bit staged) winners.

Audi soon fell behind, unable to match the fast Peugeot, - but then the Peugeots started to fail.. First a suspension mount-point in the frame went astray, then engines started to blow up. It was quite simply unfathomable to watch how their supreme power evaporated, and left the three Audi's scooping up the podium.

For a while it even looked as if a petrol car - the gorgeous Aston Martin Lola could challenge the third placed Audi ... and I was torn, - should I support the #7 Audi with Tom Kristensen, or hope for the Aston to split the Audis?

It all cam to an end by the Aston sadly expiring on the track, and we could simply watch as the Audi's - still at a surprising pace - headed for the finishline.

Evrytime an Audi had a problem (like when TK ended up in the gravel) the Peugeot mechanics were cheering and all excited, - evrytime a Peugeot ran into trouble, the gentleman Ulrich simply shook his head in disbelief and you could see how he felt sorry for Peugeot. Such a difference, and I have to say, if the excessive nationalistic bullshit campaign hadn't already done so,  my sympathy waived towards the gentlemen Audi team.

IMO a fully deserved defeat for Peugeot, and fully deserved win for Audi.

Here is my gallery of pictures from this years Le Mans 24h :  

                         http://www.sorth.dk/p/20100605-13/index.html

Our press releases and small updates are available on  http://www.lemans.org/en/update.html

We as the Club Arnage team also summed up our experience in the much more opinionated (but fun to read) blog we had setup:

                          http://clubarnage2010.blogspot.com/
                                       well worth a read !

PS: And I even got to meet up with mr Dinsen !

Regards

Lennart


Title: Re: Le Mans 2010 (^_^) who is going to be there? and can I expect to see any Matras?
Post by: Anders Dinsen on June 23, 2010, 05:39:24 pm
I've finally sorted my photos too... despite my equipment being in the serious amateur photographers league, it's not that motivating to do all that photo sorting once I've seen Lennarts photos, especially his wonderful photos of the cars in action. Mine are not quite the same class... and I have to say it's not just because he's got more expensive gear - he's just a heck of a photographer. Don't let him tell you he's just an amateur... ;)

But here they are: http://gallery.dinsen.net/v/2010/le_mans/

We camped on Beausejour campsite, arrived thursday around 1pm. We planned to go by Romoratin, but for varous reasons we were delayed and decided to avoid Paris and take a detour through Rouen, where we also did some shopping etc. Thursday evening programme started with Group C (Le Mans cars from 80's) qualifications, but just before the session, the skies opened and we got soaked - despite rainjackets! Too bad, as we were really looking forward to seeing the old driving-machines, but that did not happen. Fortunately, the skies cleared somewhat and the rain stopped so we could watch the qualifications at 8pm.

Friday, my son Jens slept until noon, so it was quite late before we could go and see the cars - the pitlane is open on friday, so you can get a good, close view of the cars in their garages. Usually without bodies. Audi was moving lead around on their cars, so no 9 went to the weighing station while we were standing there - I was almost run over ;). See if you can spot Hans rushing out of one of my photos.

Friday is also the day of the big drivers' parade, but we didn't go there, as my boys don't like the crowds too much. They prefer the cars! :)

But we got to see Lennarts girlfriends' new car... uhmm nice! and my son Jens even got a ride on the Bugatti circuit! ;)

Saturday is race day! We saw the warmup, Group C and Porsche Carrera cup from the new BSJ viewing point on the inside of the Porsche curve - that was only a 10 minute walk from our tent. We saw the the race start from the Esses, then sat for a couple of hours enjoying various kinds of action in Tertre Rouge!

The boys got tired though, and we walked a long way down the outside of the course, through Maison Blanche, to Porsche. You get to walk a LOT at Le Mans. Met up with Antony in the evening in Porsche, then went to bed, only (for me - the boys stayed in the tent with Hans and my mate Mikkel) to get up at 4 - take a shower, then meet with Lennart at 5am. This is the best time at Le Mans - the sun rises, the cars start falling apart etc ;)

After my time with Lennart, I walked up to Tertre Rouge again, got a few action photos, but left 10 minutes too early - just before the first Peugeot engine blowup. You always miss the action, at Le Mans - at least the photos!

Sunday afternoon was enjoyed at Mulsanne Corner (after taking the tent down), which is a really nice place to watch the race - only downside is that my pocket radio couldn't receive Radio Le Mans. My son Aksel witnessed the Aston Martin engine blow up (lots! of smoke!), but again I and my camera was out of reach.

I'm already looking forward to Le Mans 2011!

/Anders