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Le Mans
As several other members have been to Le Mans I thought it might make sense to have a separate thread for Le mans over the years that anyone can add their experience/photos to :
Le Mans 2013 : Mike Garner - Part 1
This weekend has just been incredibly special......wow, how lucky can a man be?
Three lads from my uni days (I'm 55 today, but it still feels like yesterday that we shared a house together) met up in Le Mans to camp together and watch the race. That was a great prospect in itself, but it just got better and better.
Maz has been looked upon favourably in his career, and had the opportunity of aquiring an Aston Martin DB9, AND ALSO an Aston Martin Rapide (4 door version of the DB9) which has 4 proper seats, and 500HP under the bonnet!!!!!.
Just as we are proud to be members of the Marlin Owners Club, so he is with the Aston Martin Owners Club.
This year is the centenary year for Aston Martin, so of course they are looking for ways to mark the occassion: and what better way than having 100 Aston Martin owners parade their cars around a full lap of Le Mans on Race Day prior to the race!
Maz obviously jumped at the opportunity, and being a good mate, opted to travel down in his 'family car' Rapide rather than his preferred DB9, just to be able to take his mates for a ride around Le Mans in comfort. So, there we were on Race Day, in car number 48, having a blast around the Full Le Mans circuit in an Aston Martin Rapide - with everyone taking it in turn to gun it down the Mulsanne straight - absolutley brilliant!
We took the obligatory phone video, and at one point its possible to hear the acceleration make me wince as my internal organs were rearranged into the back of the seat!
All of this followed another fabulous experience when we were invited to join a calvalcade of special British Classic cars from St. Saturnin in to Le Mans on Friday, which was timed to arrive at Le Mans to watch the Parade de Pilotes.
They say everyone has 5 minutes of fame - and those two rides in the Aston were truly an experience of a liftetime. The streets were lined 2-3 deep with spectators as we left St Saturnin towards Le Mans, and they would all cheer when Maz carefully pulled up both flappy paddles to engage neutral, and then floor the accelerator - what a cacophony of sound!!!!
Maz with his Aston Martin Rapide at St Saturnin Classic Car show (approximately 10 miles from Le Mans)
If anyone is considering going to Le Mans in the future, this is a very good Classic car show to visit on the Friday before Race Day. Well recommended
The race is truly a test of endurance - its quite weird, watching a race from 3pm to 12pm, going to sleep for 7 hours, and waking up to hear them still lapping round, and then getting back to the stands at 9am, and there is still another 6 hours of racing! Then around 11am you can sense the teams feel they have survived the night, and begin to think about going racing! Unbelivable!!
Fred and myself on the Start Finish straight
Lining up for the Parade Lap with the other 99 Astons
As several other members have been to Le Mans I thought it might make sense to have a separate thread for Le mans over the years that anyone can add their experience/photos to :
Le Mans 2013 : Mike Garner - Part 1
This weekend has just been incredibly special......wow, how lucky can a man be?
Three lads from my uni days (I'm 55 today, but it still feels like yesterday that we shared a house together) met up in Le Mans to camp together and watch the race. That was a great prospect in itself, but it just got better and better.
Maz has been looked upon favourably in his career, and had the opportunity of aquiring an Aston Martin DB9, AND ALSO an Aston Martin Rapide (4 door version of the DB9) which has 4 proper seats, and 500HP under the bonnet!!!!!.
Just as we are proud to be members of the Marlin Owners Club, so he is with the Aston Martin Owners Club.
This year is the centenary year for Aston Martin, so of course they are looking for ways to mark the occassion: and what better way than having 100 Aston Martin owners parade their cars around a full lap of Le Mans on Race Day prior to the race!
Maz obviously jumped at the opportunity, and being a good mate, opted to travel down in his 'family car' Rapide rather than his preferred DB9, just to be able to take his mates for a ride around Le Mans in comfort. So, there we were on Race Day, in car number 48, having a blast around the Full Le Mans circuit in an Aston Martin Rapide - with everyone taking it in turn to gun it down the Mulsanne straight - absolutley brilliant!
We took the obligatory phone video, and at one point its possible to hear the acceleration make me wince as my internal organs were rearranged into the back of the seat!
All of this followed another fabulous experience when we were invited to join a calvalcade of special British Classic cars from St. Saturnin in to Le Mans on Friday, which was timed to arrive at Le Mans to watch the Parade de Pilotes.
They say everyone has 5 minutes of fame - and those two rides in the Aston were truly an experience of a liftetime. The streets were lined 2-3 deep with spectators as we left St Saturnin towards Le Mans, and they would all cheer when Maz carefully pulled up both flappy paddles to engage neutral, and then floor the accelerator - what a cacophony of sound!!!!
Maz with his Aston Martin Rapide at St Saturnin Classic Car show (approximately 10 miles from Le Mans)
If anyone is considering going to Le Mans in the future, this is a very good Classic car show to visit on the Friday before Race Day. Well recommended
The race is truly a test of endurance - its quite weird, watching a race from 3pm to 12pm, going to sleep for 7 hours, and waking up to hear them still lapping round, and then getting back to the stands at 9am, and there is still another 6 hours of racing! Then around 11am you can sense the teams feel they have survived the night, and begin to think about going racing! Unbelivable!!
Fred and myself on the Start Finish straight
Lining up for the Parade Lap with the other 99 Astons
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