Le Mans Classic

-Laser- · 15 Jul 2010 at 15:36

Took the crapi over to France for a little roadtrip to the Le Mans Classic. Relatively trouble free on the capri front thank god, handled the 425 mile round trip with ease.

Some pics:

^Mulsanne Straight

^ Managed to sneak into the pit lane....

^ ...and again the next day

More pics here: http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h96/j_j_c/Le Mans 2010/

Housey · 15 Jul 2010 at 20:39

Brilliant, was planning to go but ended up in Devon, shall go in 2012! This is so much more me than the modern day 24 hours, hope you enjoyed it, it will become MASSIVE in future!

GeezerButler · 16 Jul 2010 at 22:46

That BMW M1 is epic

pcoltrane · 20 Jul 2010 at 09:56

GeezerButler said:
That BMW M1 is epic

My dad raced that very car in the early/mid 80s including twice at Le Mans

He's still racing group C cars now.

-Laser- · 22 Jul 2010 at 14:01

marc mercer said:
My dad raced that very car in the early/mid 80s including twice at Le Mans He's still racing group C cars now.

what an odd coincidence! I snapped a good 6-7 cars coming into the pits and that was the only one that came out properly! Still can't believe we got into the pit lane unchallenged, twice!

It's a great event, would definetly recommend it

Housey · 22 Jul 2010 at 21:49

marc mercer said:
My dad raced that very car in the early/mid 80s including twice at Le Mans He's still racing group C cars now.

Who is your dad?

Flibster · 22 Jul 2010 at 22:54

Housey said:
Who is your dad?

Going by the user name, my guess would be David Mercer.
IIRC drove a couple of Lotus cars in the late 70's too.

Housey · 23 Jul 2010 at 14:33

Yea think he runs a Spice or something in Classic Group C, goes well too.

pcoltrane · 26 Jul 2010 at 12:07

All correct

He's racing the Spice again this year.

Interestingly I was speaking to him about the M1 a few weeks ago. It's one car he has particularly fond memories of racing. There are some on board videos on you tube that are well worth a watch. Turn up the volume too - they are one of the best sounding racing cars ever

I'll dig out the links when I get home.

They are worth an absolute fortune now - I've heard of cars swapping hands for half a million :O

For anyone who hasn't seen Group C cars in the flesh - I'd definitely recommend heading to brands this sunday to watch them. The Nissans and Mercs have as much as 1200bhp, and you have everything from 7 litre V12 Jags, Twittering porsche turbos and Screaming Cosworth DFR V8s like in the Spice. Loud doesn't even begin to describe it

Watching them thundering into paddock is something else.

pcoltrane · 26 Jul 2010 at 21:32

M1 on board at the nurburgring:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcdIhrYvDx4

Not the best drive, but worth it for the sound alone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVkY8oA3RlE

A quick search will bring up some more good ones!

Housey · 27 Jul 2010 at 20:24

marc mercer said:
For anyone who hasn't seen Group C cars in the flesh - I'd definitely recommend heading to brands this sunday to watch them. The Nissans and Mercs have as much as 1200bhp, and you have everything from 7 litre V12 Jags, Twittering porsche turbos and Screaming Cosworth DFR V8s like in the Spice. Loud doesn't even begin to describe it
Watching them thundering into paddock is something else.

I was actually there in the flesh through the entire Group C era, never missed a race in this country until it went 3.5 and did Le Mans too, epic racing. I've been promised a few laps (as a passenger, if I can fit in) in a 962 at some point this year!