M’off…. For the month of June
- Thread starter Wapping
- Start date
I was a tad confused.Her foot hasn't healed yet!!
Great stuff!
I thought of you (in a non-biblical way) yesterday, when I wandered past the race officials’ very nondescript building on the exit of the Porsche Curves. Compared with all the razzmatazz of the pits, it’s a very dull portacabbin type thing.
Gating being injured pre-race, has shades of Mike Conway, falling off his bicycle on Thursday in 2024 and missing the race as a consequence.
Can’t be arsed to drive into the very large supermarket car park and find a place to park? OK, abandon your Ford Transit, so as to make it very awkward for locals to access lane one at the fuel station.
There is a word for Brit’s aboroad….
There is a word for Brit’s aboroad….
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Gatting’s Instagram post:
The news on Radio Le Mans, is that a race car was somehow lowered onto her foot. That is going to hurt anyone.
Now confirmed:
The news on Radio Le Mans, is that a race car was somehow lowered onto her foot. That is going to hurt anyone.
Now confirmed:
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Day seven
Awakened by a light rain, which at least should clear the air.
First task is to make an early start, to get up to the supermarket, to buy some additional nosebag ahead of the arrival of my chums in the midafternoon. Then it’ll be up to the track for hyperpole and anything else that is going on.
I’ll also be preparing our Le Mans Cocktail:
500 ml Cider
200 ml Calvados
50 ml Crème de peche
The three ingredients have been chilling in the fridge.
Awakened by a light rain, which at least should clear the air.
First task is to make an early start, to get up to the supermarket, to buy some additional nosebag ahead of the arrival of my chums in the midafternoon. Then it’ll be up to the track for hyperpole and anything else that is going on.
I’ll also be preparing our Le Mans Cocktail:
500 ml Cider
200 ml Calvados
50 ml Crème de peche
The three ingredients have been chilling in the fridge.
Two Essex boys on pole!
Day eight
Friday.
Our hosts gave us all a lift up to Arnage, where we anchored ourselves in our usual roadside cafe from noon until 16:00.
Friday.
Our hosts gave us all a lift up to Arnage, where we anchored ourselves in our usual roadside cafe from noon until 16:00.
Day nine
Race day
Up early to get bread. It was a good job I was up and about, as the bakery had all but sold out. Then, at nine AM two of us went up to the track at Indianapolis, to try to find a good spot for the four of us to watch the start of the race at 16:00. Yes, with the much larger crowds the event now attracts, you have to get up to the circuit seven hours before the race starts.
Job done, we anchored ourselves in a pretty good spot, able to see the cars hurtling down from Mulsanne and entering Indianapolis, with the benefit of a large TV screen, too.
Race day
Up early to get bread. It was a good job I was up and about, as the bakery had all but sold out. Then, at nine AM two of us went up to the track at Indianapolis, to try to find a good spot for the four of us to watch the start of the race at 16:00. Yes, with the much larger crowds the event now attracts, you have to get up to the circuit seven hours before the race starts.
Job done, we anchored ourselves in a pretty good spot, able to see the cars hurtling down from Mulsanne and entering Indianapolis, with the benefit of a large TV screen, too.
Day 10
Race day two
The great thing about a 24-hour endurance race, is that it’s still going in morning and on through the afternoon. Today, it’s up to the north of the circuit, parking in the Panorama car park.
Race day two
The great thing about a 24-hour endurance race, is that it’s still going in morning and on through the afternoon. Today, it’s up to the north of the circuit, parking in the Panorama car park.
I don’t think this fellow was best pleased
@Wapping, any insight into this event? Looking to be from the Le Mans this year?
@Wapping, any insight into this event? Looking to be from the Le Mans this year?
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Le Mans - 4th place Ferrari (#50) disqualified after post-race scrutineering because of dodgy rear wing.
Surprisingly, that driver's conduct does not appear to have been penalised.I don’t think this fellow was best pleased
@Wapping, any insight into this event? Looking to be from the Le Mans this year?
Continued…..
Parking in the Panorama car park, gives easy access to the track after the iconic Dunlop bridge, as the cars sweep down towards Terre Rouge and tge start of the Mulsanne Straight:
We then walked on a bit further, to take the tunnel under the track to watch them come towards us on the sweep down:
To show how hard it is to win Le Mans, the third placed car in LMP2 suffered a suspension collapse and the loss of a rear wheel as it headed towards us. This was after about 21 hours of racing. That was it the driver’s and the team’s entrance and the chance of a podium finish were over:
Likewise, the number eight Toyota suffered a double jeopardy. The rear right wheel nut was not affixed properly in the pit and came off, followed immediately with a sudden and complete deflation of the tyre, close on the pit lane exit. The car limped past as, with almost a full lap to drive, the rear wheel wobbling alarmingly. The rear wheel then came away completely somewhere around Mulsanne, the driver somehow scraping the car back to the pits on three wheels, taking about 20 minutes. The car was then patched up in the pits and re-entered the race.Toyota suffered a double punishment: One, for enduring a 20 minute lap, during which the car was lapped repeatedly. Two, an additional ime penalty sanction from the stewards, for not attaching the wheel nut properly in the first place.
Ferrari by now had three cars in the lead in the Hypercar class, headed by the satellite team’s yellow car, followed by the two official red Ferrari works entry cars and a Porsche. The yellow car was driven by Robert Kubica, the very popular (and very fast) Polish driver. Some will remember that Kubica suffered terrible injuries in a crash, which finished his F1 career:
There was lots of chat over the very good Radio Le Mans commentary, as to whether Ferrari would pull rank and order the satellite team’s car to slow, allowing the two works cars to finish one, two with the satellite car third. Thankfully, that never happened.
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@Wapping - out of the thousands of marshals that volunteer for the Le Mans 24 Hours, you manage to snap a picture of my two good friends, Rachel and Julze (to whom I have sent your picture this morning. Rachel says "It was like an army work out running in that heat with a tyre" (written, no doubt, on behalf of husband Julze!)
What a coincidence!
![20250518_142728[1].jpg](https://www.ukgser.com/community/data/attachments/419/419943-f3091f4f100c2bb61a716e887fb6ab28.jpg?hash=MWsdbQA40h "20250518_142728[1].jpg")
Kubica was interviewed on Saturday evening and was asked about "team orders". He was quite clear that he wasn't a Ferrari works driver and wished that hey would stop trying to give him instructions over the ship to shore radio. Pretty sure that he would have ignored any instructions from Ferrari if push came to shove.
Kubica was driving for the privateer team run by Amato Ferrari (no relation!), AF Corse.
I think that it was a bit of an embarassment to the works team that they were beaten into 3rd place by a privateer. Even more of an embarassment when their 4th place car was DQ'd!
