| I guess a lot of you will not know too much about Le Mans as
an event. It was, arguably is, and hopefully will remain the greatest GT sports event on
the motorsports calendar. It is unarguably totally multinational and a lot of fun. It
draws 400,000-500,000 spectators, of which normally 150,000+ are from the UK (although I
heard it was significantly higher this year). The fun starts at the UK ferry port which is
just amass with sports cars from every era - MGs, Jags, Ferraris, Loti, TVRs, Cobras (and
more Cobras), Bentleys, TRs, Morgans and of course one yellow Vette. I am pleased to
report that the Vette did me proud and I overheard several conversations in the bar on the
ferry where the Vette was mentioned (how I blushed!). I was though totally upstaged
boarding the ferry by having a real Ferrari GTO behind me in the queue! The drive down
the main highway through northern France to Le Mans tends to be one loooong procession of
sports cars with GB plates - so you tend not to wave! - interspersed with French lorry
drivers irritated by these little cars buzzing all around them and French saloon car
drivers with a point to make. The drive down was uneventful, rain in the morning (a first
for the Vette), lunch and hood (soft bit over your head) down in the afternoon sun.
Friday is the day for cruising down the Mulsanne straight, or should I say crawl until
you have passed the cafi where both sides of the road have every car imaginable parked up.
You are up against the best and the Vette stood the test with heads turned and people in
the road taking photographs (I heard later there was a C5 there but I guess I missed it by
minutes which was a real disappointment). Hang a right at the bottom of the straight and
onto the Arnage Virage; approaching the curves what should pop out coming the other way
but a red '79 Vette. Waved as we passed, he U-turned and I pulled over. Turns out he lives
20 miles from me, in the town where I work! |
Le Mans Vette Trivia
Q. Which year did Le Mans first see
a Corvette.
A 1960. A truly fantastic debut. No. 3 driven by
Fitch-Grossman finished 8th overall and 5th in the GT class. They also set a new class
record (for 4001-5000cc engines) of 97.917 mph average, covering 2,350.025 miles. No.4
driven by Lilley-Gamble finished but was not placed, failing to cover the minimum
distance, No. 1 driven by Cunningham(Briggs)-Kimberley crashed on lap 3. (See Photo.)
Q When did the first Sting Ray race
at Le Mans
A 1967. No.9 driven by Bondurant-Gullstrand. Went out after
13 hours with a broken piston, but in 18th position overall, was leading the GT class.
Q When did the first Stingray race
at Le Mans
A 1969, No.1 driven by Greder-Wisell. Went out after 16
hours with a failed gearbox, in 18th position overall, running 3rd in GT class.
Q What was the bhp of the 2 1968
entered vettes
A 550
Q Who drove the highest place vette
in the year Steve McQueen shot the Le Mans film?
A. 1970. Greder-Rouget. Running 6th at the end of the 23rd
hour. Non placed at the end but crossed the line in 8th.
Q. Why did two vettes feature in
the 1972 race
A. The no. 4 car drive by Heinz_Johnson set a new class
(>5000cc) record of 100.037 mph average. The no. 29 vette driven by Beaumont (at the
time) and Greder, smacked the race leader on the Mulsanne straight during the 20th hour!
The Matra managed to limp back to the pits and eventually finished 2nd. |
| You have to put the event into perspective. It is the greatest
annual concentration of sports cars in Europe. Over the 5 days, apart from the red Vette,
I passed a blue 80/81 and saw 3 C4s parked up at various times, which is fewer than the
number of Vipers, Diablos and Testarossas that I saw. So the beauty and the uniqueness of
the 73 convertible were much admired. Three highlights then I'll stop.
- Seeing the Callaway Vette all over the rear of the Rustangs at the start of the Dunlop
curves on lap 2 (hell he almost lost it) and seeing the Vette ahead of the Rustangs at the
curves on lap 3.
- The cafi in Arnage is the place for lunch. Overflowing onto the pavement with us Brits
enjoying ourselves with healthy banter and informed race talk. After lunch I went to
collect the Vette from down the road and returned to pick up my friend's (rather
attractive) 17 year old daughter. This was of course met by a chorus of roars from the
male crowd as Jos got up and climbed into the Vette. "lucky old sod" was
overheard. Jos was not amused when we got back to the campsite and explained that the
comment was referring to the Vette rather than her!
- THE HIGHLIGHT. The UK is a small island with a pop. of I guess around 55 million. There
are a lot of cars, about 18 million, and in the heavily populated and richer South, not
too much room for driving on empty roads. France is a much larger country with a similar
population, where the French drive on the A roads and hardly ever touch the B roads. On
the morning travelling back home, I left the main highway and took to the country roads.
For twenty minutes on one stretch I had the drive of my life. Hot, blue sky, occasional
cotton wool cloud, not a car in sight. Perfect tarmac, a mixture of straights and gentle
curves in open countryside so you could spot any oncoming traffic (if there was any!).
Using the full width of both sides of the road the 454 was perfect, no need to change down
to third and keep the revs up except for the tighter bends, just concentrate on the line,
the 255s gripping like limpets and the rear squatting as you power out of the bend. The
ears battered by the rumbling and roaring of the 454, straight after straight, corner
after corner, like a never-ending rollercoaster. Only saw two cars during the entire 20
minutes and they were coming the other way.Hell I'm going back on the next ferry!!
|
Well having got back from my
trip to France and cleared my mail I thought I would give you a brief run down on Le Mans
97. This is a non race report, no doubt the racers amongst you will have read the reports.
Suffice to say Porkers led from start to finish with the Maclarens giving a good chase.
The lone Callaway Vette p**d over the Rustangs but unfortunately did not have their
longevity, whilst the Panoz cars were awesome and deserved to get at least one finisher.