There will be plenty of reports written about this years Le Mans 24 Hour race, but this one is more about my pilgrimage, to this years event. I’m addicted to sports car racing, having followed the “Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency”, for more than 40 years. Family, career, a mortgage and lots of other things in life have prevented me from getting there, but we finally made it this year. My wife, who hasn’t any interest in motor sport whatsoever, came with me. We did the U.K. and European adventure before and after the race, so she was happy to tag along and actually enjoyed the whole, extended weekend.

To say it was a lifelong ambition to attend the race, is an understatement. Since seeing the Steve McQueen movie “Le Mans” back in the 1970’s, when it originally lit the flame, going to see the race and experiencing the atmosphere of the place, had made the hunger to get there even stronger. We toured around London and England for a couple of weeks beforehand, but as we got closer to leaving the UK, the excitement was building. When we arrived in Paris, there was a strike by the rail network employees, leading up to the weekend. Apparently, the French are notorious for pulling stunts like this, so although the TGV trains were running, they were crowded by race fans heading to Le Mans for the weekend. They had coupled two trains together and we were packed in (complete with luggage) like sardines. The other thing which intrigued me was the security. I have heard about it before we traveled, but for us Aussies, it is quite confronting to see these guys wandering around the cities and in railway stations, with full combat gear complete with assault rifles, ready to go to war! Thank goodness, we don’t have this in Australia (yet). Nevertheless, we weren’t alone. It was like a scene from the movie, with hordes of people pouring off the train on arrival.

I had read plenty of reports and blogs from people who have been for the first time and experienced similar feelings of excitement on arrival, and wondered what all the fuss was about. We were the last ones off the station, with me taking pics of the place, the signs and the people etc. It really has that effect on you when you finally arrive. For many Australian motorsport fans, to visit the Mt Panorama circuit at Bathurst, I have heard it described, as like having a religious experience. I genuinely felt that way when we arrived at the Circuit de la Sarthe. It has been an eternal dream for me to get to this place, where some of my lifelong sporting heroes, plied their trade. I have been reading race reports, seeing movies and documentaries, studying the lives and achievements of the race drivers and teams, collecting replica model cars and of course, watching the annual race since I was a boy, so I was thrilled to actually arrive here. The place has so much history, and is generally accepted as the spiritual home of sports car racing.

We stayed at the Travel Destinations Flexotel village in the middle of the circuit. It cost us an arm and a leg, but was totally worth it. To be on track and close to everything is a big bonus. My wife wasn’t as prepared as I was, to walk the huge distances required, but as soon as we arrived and settled in, I was off exploring the place. I must have walked about 10 klms on the Thursday afternoon and night watching qualifying and taking in all the sights and sounds of this brilliant circuit. The Flexotel village wasn’t far from Tertre Rouge, so that was my first port of call. When I walked up the hill onto the track for the very first time and saw the cars coming through, I just stood there dumbfounded for about 10 minutes, taking it all in. The camera started clicking and didn’t stop for four days. I had a theory about photography before coming to Le Mans. There are plenty of professionals out there taking lots of better pics than me of race cars, who also get into better locations that I would be able to get access to. The dreaded catch fencing does get in the way of  taking photo’s, but there are still plenty of good locations to get excellent shots. I was keen to get plenty of behind the scenes, pictures of the place. The immense size of the track hits you, no matter what previous ideas you bring along. The huge crowds, with over 260,000 in attendance this year, also create an outstanding atmosphere in the track and surrounding areas.

Everyone we encountered were passionate race fans, there to enjoy and savor one of the worlds truly outstanding sporting events. Before we arrived, I was marginally concerned as to how I would handle the crowds. We have some huge events in Australia, but nothing like this. We spent a week in London prior to the race, and I was a bit claustrophobic with all the crowds and the insane busy atmosphere of the city. But this was a different type of crowd. They were all there (the ones I saw anyway) to enjoy the race and take in the whole experience. We went into town on Friday and had a good look around, took in the drivers parade and made it back in time to get a bite to eat and meet a lot of the lovely people also staying at the village. The guys and girls from Radio Le Mans dropped in to say G’day to everyone at the village and have a chat.

The Brits are there in their thousands. But what about the Danes! I don’t know whether they are all there because of Tom Kristensen or not, but they sure are a passionate, crazy bunch, who love their motorsport, plus they all seem to enjoy a cold beer on a hot day. We ran across plenty of them, but they’re a harmless lot, who are all hellbent on having a great time.

Saturday was race day, so we, along with everyone else headed over to the circuit, to take it all in before the start. We wandered around, before getting over to the tribunes to get ourselves sorted out before the main event. I’ve seen the start many times on TV, but there is nothing like being there. The French know how to do a big event start, but I gotta say, I felt like strangling their start line commentary PA guy. He was a real pain in the arse. Luckily, Radio Le Mans and earplugs took care of our french mate. We were in T20, adjacent to the start/finish line and for some reason, we had quite a few vacant seats all around us at the beginning of the race. Maybe the locals knew they had some crazy Aussies in the crowd and gave us a wide berth. Who knows, but it certainly made it more comfortable, because the rest of the joint was packed out.

We watched the first few hours in the stands, but then made our way back across to the other side and checked out the village, hospitality and merchandising areas. After taking the wife back to the Travel Destinations Flexotel village, where we were staying, I headed off to see some more racing. There has been plenty said about the night racing at Le Mans, and they are right…. it is fantastic. The distances and my crook knees took their toll and I wimped out and returned back to the village totally exhausted, where I took in a fair bit of the night racing on the TV in the bar area, before collapsing and getting some much needed sleep.

Sunday dawned, we headed down to the Porsche curves and after a bit more exploring we headed back over to get in the stands well before the end of the race. This place delivers some brilliant photo opportunities. I had the joy of yelling out to the Mrs “PORSCHE LEADS LE MANS” before the disappointing hour 22 demise of the #20 car driven at that stage by Mark Webber. Never mind, the race played itself out with the #2 Audi driven by Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer taking their third outright Le Mans victory with the #1 Audi of Tom Kristensen, Marc Gene and Lucas di Grassi in second place. Although the #8 Toyota qualified on pole, their #7 car (Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi, Nicolas Lapierre) eventually finished in third spot, which only goes to show, that they really need a three car team at this race. I would have liked to see Tom Kristensen pick up his 10th overall victory, but the guy is already a LM24 legend with nothing left to prove.

We had a fantastic weekend and met lots of great people including a heap of Aussies over for the race which lived up to all my expectations and more. On arrival home, my son tells me he is making plans to head over next year (and shout the Old Man, hopefully). With a bit of luck, this won’t be my first and last trip to this great race.