I've just booked for another visit to the 24 Heures Du Mans in June. I will of course be going in the Crossfire as I have pursuaded one of my mates to take his estate car to take all the gear for the 4 of us. I am camping at Houx and going Wednesday to Monday.

Paul

 

HHmmm got me thinking now - Ken has mentioned more than once he fancied a french adventure, I did Le Mans four years on the trot in the nineties and camped every time. Its a great escape for the lads and a great drive there and back, just might be tempted again ........

By the way - what date r u goin down there Paul?

 

Hi Steve,
we travel on the overnight ferry 10th June arriving early on the 11th ( Thursday) to set up camp and see the last practice sessions. Last time I went was 1997, maybe you were at that one as well ? First Le Mans I went to was 1979, the last year of the awesome turbos.

Paul

 

I was there 96,97,98,99, so will have been there same year as you. I allways seemed to end up with a tarmac tent pitch and had to take 6 inch nails to use as tent pegs, but it was allways good fun.

 

I really like the idea of Le Mans, but like Jane I'm not into camping. Small hotal's with a bar is more my style.

Ken

 

I'd just take the RV and tow the xfire

 

I'd LOVE to go ... but don't enjoy the proximity you guys do and couldn't possibly arrange that sort of travel this year ...

 

Mmmmh Le mans, high octane fragrance, lots of beer, smell of burning rubber and thats just getting there......................


Sounds like it could be a good un will think about it....

 

The whole Le Mans thing is something you have to do if only once - its a agreat atmosphere and theres allways something to se and do - Im def interested in going again

 

I'm into the final planning stages and after our last "planning meeting" fueled by beer and curry, the most important task of choosing a team name was achieved. As we all work in I.T. and are basically beer fuelled "geeks" we are team "CTRL+ALT+DRINK" T-shirts are now being printed and I will spend this weekend checking the tyres, oil etc ready for the drive down on Wednesday next week.

For anyone not used to Le Mans all the info and a taster of what it is like can be found on the unofficial British Le Mans site :

www.beermountain.com

 

Yes, Le Mans is a must do for any petrolhead. Its a bit shot notice for me this year though.

If anyone does fancy a euro jaunt though we organise a run to the Nurburgring. You can easily do it in a weekend and there is the option of camping or small guest houses for those who like their creature comforts. I'm off there in July again anyway but happy to do another run later in the year.

Another trip in a similar vain is the Tour of Mull Rally in October. Its a fantastic weekend and the drive up through the highlands in the early hours is reason enough to go there in itself! The fact that scrutineering takes place in the distillery at Tobermory gives you a hint at what the event is all about! I'm sure we could field at least a couple of teams for the Tunnock's Teacake eating competition they have before the rally too

Some pics from last year:
Tunnock's Tour of Mull 2008 - Images | PhotoShelter

 

After going to the 12 hours of Sebring for the last two years, I was thinking of going to Le Mans this year. The racing between the Audis and Peugeots has been fairly decent and I'm a big fan of the French team. Maybe 2009 will be the year for a Peugeot win but IMO they missed their best chance in 2008. The new Audi R15 is an outstanding race car right out of the box and I'm pretty sure that Audi didn't show its full potential in Sebring.
Anyway the strong Euro vs the $ has put an end to my plan at least for this year. I hope you guysl have a great time and don't get into too much trouble
Cheers, I'll be watching for the XF banner on TV

 

I am tempted with the Tour of Mull and will be discussing a trip with my fellow team CTRL+ALT+DRINK members in the bar on the ferry tonight as we travel to Le Mans. We will be "sausage side" tomorrow morning after a night sleeping it off in a cabin and will be playing the traditional brits travelling to Le Mans music as we disembark, which is of course "633 Squadron". Looking forward to "Mad Friday" and will try and get a photo wearing my CICCI cap with the Hawaian Tropic" girls in the pit lane , the Stranglers are playing on Saturday night and lots of beer will be drunk and apparently there is a car race

I can't find any other Crossfires going on the main Le Mans forum www.beermountain.com but will keep a look out.

Tally Ho chaps, hope to make it back to blighty in one piece on Monday

 

Have a good one Paul! Really annoyed that I can't make the trip this year.

 

here is a belated summary of my trip. It was a quite amazing experience, the whole atmosphere is quite unbelievable these days. The British are definitely quite mad, here are a couple of videos I took of some of the antics in the campsites. I also saw a motorised sofa and an entire bathroom built into a tent awning incuding tiled walls !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZpWPJGpD2Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sDoak8a9es

The amount of exotic kit in the campsites is incredible. Lamborghinis in the mud next to a tent, countless porsches, more TVRs than you can count, ferrraris etc.....but I am very confident I was the only Crossfire !!!

The race was fantastic, with all the glamour of Le Mans night and day, and as it was a Peugot win the French were more than a bit happy. On the way back to the ferry ( more than 100 miles ) the French that had been watching the race on the TV ( it is a national event there ) were on the islands and motorway bridges waving and taking photos. I don't know how many times people photographed the Crossfire !! They definitely took an interest in it, did they ever sell Crossfires in France ? There were French people lining the entrance to the ferry because they knew that almost every exotic car from Blighty was in France that weekend ( that is what it felt like ). In the queue I had 3 x Audi R10s on my left, 2 x Aston Martin DB5s on my right , surrounded by TVRs, Caterhams, Porsches, etc as well as Cobras , Austin Healey 3000s etc etc. A glorious sound driving into the ferry. Great atmosphere in the bar before retiring to our cabin.

It was a fantastic trip and I'm glad I went in the Crossfire, it's not often you are outnumbered many times by Ferraris and Lamborghinis

 

way to represent the XFs Zaphod...glad you had an excellent time....

 

Hi Paul
What a fantastic sounding trip you had, as you mentioned, its a shame more Crossfire were not present. The videos (You Tube) are great, and show just how much fun was had by all.

Cheers

UKKen.