Le Mans Classic 2014
Page 3

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Opening Page

Story and Images by Joachim Gruchot

Story and Images by Patrick Wheeler

Story and Images Page 2 by Patrick Wheeler

Story and Images Page 3 by Patrick Wheeler

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WET RUNNING

Oh, did I mention they were racing these lovely beasties at Le Mans? After all, the fun fair and time trialing are only a part ...

After mixed weather and a long delay, starting at 5 pm on Saturday instead of the more traditional noon, the races are underway ... plenty of time as the oldsters circle the tracks at a spanking pace, but my favorite always seems to be the night running ... the air is heavier with moisture, the sounds echo differently, the lights pool and reflect ...

But as the mist grows heavy and the first moisture starts to really hit the track, hot oils lift up from days' time-trialing and practice laps, is no fault of the speeding machines or their pilots, the pavement goes in one moment from controlled surface to something akin to black ice ... here two cars are virtually parallel parked in the 'kitty litter' gravel runoff ... soon there are over five more, and some incredibly near misses of serious accident, not funny. Fortunately the coordinators are focused on safety (old cars are _not_ like modern ones with their safety features) and red-flag the race in a few more moments ... I have enuff, time to bed, not like watching this ...

But, may I just ask you to pause a moment to soak up some atmospherics with this couple? The heavy mist turning to rain roiling in the overhead light, contrasts of bright and dark, pools of light, dynamism on track where race is yellow flagged (soon to be red flagged and cancelled for until climate settles) the emergency car heading into the night, blue-lights flaring, a peaceable couple sharing a moment under a spreading umbrella ... may I wish all a sweet good night from the 24 hrs le mans classic 2014 ...

Morning, early morning, dawns quickly and the cars are running happy and proud again, snuck out of the house early, before breakfast, the race was only stopped for one heat, and I could hear the cars all night long in my sleep/drowse ... and as morning dawns and the sun slips underneath the cloud layer, well, my photos are not the best, but please believe, is a pretty pretty sight ... And the sun smacks the driver in the face on tertre rouge, if a measure of a places import is the space dedicated to it in Wikipedia, then perhaps the fact that the Tertre Rouge has its own entry helps to share the significance, but it needs reams more to describe the drama and evocation that this name spells out...

... but for Tertre Rouge as an entry to the Mulsane, here is where true legend lives, starting from a roman road, where Wilbur Wright had the Wright Brothers had their first manned flights in France, and a place of legend to motoracing ... the Porsche 917 (long-tail variant to be precise) reached 236mph here, others later reached 250, but this was too much and rules and roadbeds were changed to allow man and machine a chance against such a legend ... on this morning, pause a few moments to enjoy the reflections of the morning light of some lovely sculpted lines, the sun dapples, as the engine lifts to all-out onto straights of legend ...

But a jaunt back to the house for breakfast brings an unwelcome climatic change ... torrential summer downpours ... it is not cold, is a lovely warm rain, and I pause a moment as the storm front moves in to capture the intensity, the stairs are positively cascading water ... and the umbrellas of the spectators (yes, after that first mist, these cars still run hot and hard on the wet track with dedicated rain tyres!) remind me of Kosan ... well, sorta ;-)

There is a concrete tunnel from the outside of the track to the inner paddocks, it seems half our morning population has adopted it as a fallout shelter, the number of drippy happy faces is charming, but, after a few moments respite watching the faces around, this rain is not stopping, so, miss the racing, or get wet(ter)? Not a choice at all!

Oh, my, our poor coordinators, two years of planning, seriously the best layout ever in the years of doing this, well-coordinated and infrastructure well done, to be met full face with the fierceness that is La Sarthe under torrential assault ... but bear with me? I love the photographs and atmosphere, may my red and blue lone walkers hearken back to Koson again? Yes, I know he is known for his snow-bridge, but I always preferred the rain ...

Our car elements left out as the rain pummels down and dances on the pavement ... fiberglass does not rust! (nor does aluminum and a lot of other exotic materials used often on these oldster racers), but cameras do, so the number of photos is quite reduced ...

But on the track, the pace continues ... and between laps the modern cars are let out (one assumes with well-paying passengers from the manufacturers) mixing it up with their counterparts of legend, here a lovely green Jag racer, in open, mucks it up with the modern heated, _dry_ cars, at this point, well, the new Jaguar F type, it is really getting people's attention ...

Oh my, my little camera sensor is not up to it, there are serious camera equipment here, and people on the track who do better images, but may I please share? Two Mercedes SLR's, machines of legend and storied in the most epic drive ever with Sir Stirling Moss (pilot) and Denis Jenkinson (navigator, if you enjoy motoring and a well turned phrase, please take time to read that epic story) ... rain totally messed it, blurred, totally muddy shot ... but two SLR's leading the hunt, rooster tailing like damned banshees as an open piles on behind, is a beauty ...

And the rest of the pack rapidly following , I've (regretfully) not ponied up the extra for bandstand seating (preferring my race viewing on foot), but in this weather, well, a kind French guard has allowed us 10 minutes, and the time is mostly spend in rapt attention, so the photos are few...

But may I share one last pretty with you? A nice closed saloon, a set of rain tyres, not the fastest on the track, but oh to be a passenger ;-)

In and out the rain breaks into the racing, is hard to imagine what the conditions are like on the track, rain driving is never my favorite, things can go from OK, to seriously NOK in an instant ... but the drivers here are serious about their craft, and as the rain has been pummeling, all the oils are well washed off ... none of the drama from the previous night is repeated, thankfully ...

Supergirl, what can I say, how utterly France, stopping for a baguette for lunch, on a bench, with the entire family, at Le Mans, does it _get_ any better? (well, yes, previous day we had an al fresco picnic in the car park with champagne to add to the baguette w. saucisse and fromage as buddy leaned against his Cayman and we discussed cars, photography and the cares of the world as puffy white clouds bounced overhead)

OK, may I just share this image, dunno why, the flag overhead perhaps? The peaceable couple in their mac's? the fellow with his see-thru plastic umbrella? I dunno, it just made me smile and it felt emblematic of the experience, rain and wet is not a bad thing if taken with the correct mindset and no metal gets bent ...

But all too soon there is a motorway east, we convoy to Chartres where I drop my buddy off to continue his travels in Paris for a week, other buddy heads directly east across france to Luxembourg, and I dip north a bit where a constant stream of classic cars are also spreading across France like a wave after the Le Mans Classic ... I follow a Porsche 904 Carrera GTS (replica) through the peripherique of Paris (ugh!) and find this little cutie enjoying a ride in peace on her way home (she was not broken, her loving owner runs a garage and this is his way of transporting her to events!) ...

Signing off, for now, from a wet and wonderful Le Mans Classic of 2014, they do these very two years, so with any good fortune ... until 2016 ...

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