Soldato
From the moment I started driving, I've always wanted to go on a road trip to Le Mans, and this year we finally decided to do it. We asked around, and ended up with a total of six people, which would be spread between the two cars.
We're all Pistonheads members, and have read the Le Mans threads every year, drooling over both the race cars, and the "artistic creations" of those who decide to sticker up their own vehicles for the weekend.
Many hours were spent on Facebook deciding a theme, and we eventually settled on John Prescott (not a sentence I ever thought I'd type in my lifetime!). Why John Prescott? Well, we were taking two Jags - James's silver S Type and my black XJ, so it seemed the obvious choice.
The stickers were soon ordered and being printed, just as James's car decided to punish him for not checking the oil (or lack thereof) before he bought it. This resulted in catastrophic engine failure, and a bill for several times the value of the car.
However, James wasn't disheartened and immediately went out to buy another Jag so that we could stick with the Prescott theme: £1000 got him a solid XJ8, and Team Prescott was once again ready for Le Mans.
We decided to meet on the M2 services at 7:30am. This was the first time I'd seen both the cars stickered up together, and I was very impressed - they looked hilarious.
Once we reached Dover, it became apparent that nearly everyone there was going to Le Mans. There was plenty of Lamborghinis, Ferraris and other exotica, but these two were definitely the best of the bunch. The "Le Mans fun police" even had flashing blue lights and a megaphone!
On the ferry, we discussed our plans for the drive to Le Mans. After hearing many horror stories of the Gendarmes confiscating vehicles and issuing huge fines, we decided to stick to the speed limit. Having driven in France several times before, I knew I would struggle to resist the temptation of the wide, clear and perfectly smooth toll roads, but I told myself that this time, it'd be different. This lasted for at least 10 minutes, until a 911 and A5 blasted past us, chasing what appeared to be two Dutchmen in a white convertible mini. Obviously, I had to find out what kind of mini could possibly achieve such speeds, which in turn meant finding out what kind of fully loaded XJ could keep up with it. Turned out the Mini was a JCW, but we couldn't find out any more details as the 911 overtook him, and the Mini used a downhill section to reach a speed which would almost certainly get him thrown in jail. So, I backed off (a bit).
Driving in such a manner meant this happened an awful lot
We'd planned on averaging high 20s/low 30s for the journey down, but instead we just scraped over 20MPG. That wasn't so much of a problem though, as the fuel stops were all part of the fun, with everyone looking around each other's cars and laughing at our stickers.
We got to the camp site with plenty of time to spare, set up the tent, and begun to make a dent in the 100+ bottles of alcohol we'd brought with us. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same, but we didn't see any of the drunken antics we'd been warned about.
The next day, we went to Pistonheads Friday Service, and then on to the Great British Welcome. I didn't get many photos, but there were some very impressive cars at both events.
Afterwards, we went down to the track to see what was going on. I spied a display of Corvettes and had a massive crisis - a convertible Stingray is my dream car.
We then decided to have a drive around the track to get some photos before the race started.
This guy didn't seem to understand our stickers
We then bumped into a photographer who offered to take official Team Prescott photos
and then we took some pictures of our cars on the track
Then, at last, we went to watch some racing
Which was absolutely incredible. I've watched various forms of motorsport before, but nothing prepared me for just how quick these were. The noise, particularly from the Corvettes, made the ground shake - the entire experience was just fantastic.
After watching some racing, we decided to go for a walk. We'd heard about the craziness of Mad Friday, and I decided to leave both our cars and my camera back at the camp site. However, one of our group was brave enough to get out his camera, and captured some of the madness.
There was a lot of smashed bottles, and people encouraging burnouts and drifting, but nothing quite as crazy as we'd heard. The riot police didn't seem to mind what people did as long as they didn't get too close to the cars, which was probably the best approach. Interestingly, most of the participants were French: we'd been told the culprits were ****ed-up Brits, but this year at least there seemed to be barely any English people causing trouble.
The next day, we went to see some more racing, and managed to find a decent spot quite close to the track. I'd have liked to get some more photos of the actual racing, but we were too preoccupied watching it, and most of our cameras weren't up to the task anyway. There are some fantastic ones on flickr from other spectators though, if anyone is interested.
A few people also went up on a ferris wheel, where you could get an even better view
And then it was suddenly time to go home. The few days had gone even quicker than we'd expected - I guess time flies when you're having fun. I was planning on leaving the stickers on for a while, but I had to take some important people to Ascot the next day, and I wasn't sure they'd be too happy about arriving with John Prescott's face stuck on the window!
To anyone thinking of going next year - DO IT!! We all had a fantastic time and returned with some great memories which will probably last forever (or at least until we go again next year!) The whole trip was very cheap, and we didn't encounter any of the violence/crime/sneaky speed traps which a lot of people seem to complain about. Basically, it couldn't have been better
We're all Pistonheads members, and have read the Le Mans threads every year, drooling over both the race cars, and the "artistic creations" of those who decide to sticker up their own vehicles for the weekend.
Many hours were spent on Facebook deciding a theme, and we eventually settled on John Prescott (not a sentence I ever thought I'd type in my lifetime!). Why John Prescott? Well, we were taking two Jags - James's silver S Type and my black XJ, so it seemed the obvious choice.
The stickers were soon ordered and being printed, just as James's car decided to punish him for not checking the oil (or lack thereof) before he bought it. This resulted in catastrophic engine failure, and a bill for several times the value of the car.
However, James wasn't disheartened and immediately went out to buy another Jag so that we could stick with the Prescott theme: £1000 got him a solid XJ8, and Team Prescott was once again ready for Le Mans.
We decided to meet on the M2 services at 7:30am. This was the first time I'd seen both the cars stickered up together, and I was very impressed - they looked hilarious.
Once we reached Dover, it became apparent that nearly everyone there was going to Le Mans. There was plenty of Lamborghinis, Ferraris and other exotica, but these two were definitely the best of the bunch. The "Le Mans fun police" even had flashing blue lights and a megaphone!
On the ferry, we discussed our plans for the drive to Le Mans. After hearing many horror stories of the Gendarmes confiscating vehicles and issuing huge fines, we decided to stick to the speed limit. Having driven in France several times before, I knew I would struggle to resist the temptation of the wide, clear and perfectly smooth toll roads, but I told myself that this time, it'd be different. This lasted for at least 10 minutes, until a 911 and A5 blasted past us, chasing what appeared to be two Dutchmen in a white convertible mini. Obviously, I had to find out what kind of mini could possibly achieve such speeds, which in turn meant finding out what kind of fully loaded XJ could keep up with it. Turned out the Mini was a JCW, but we couldn't find out any more details as the 911 overtook him, and the Mini used a downhill section to reach a speed which would almost certainly get him thrown in jail. So, I backed off (a bit).
Driving in such a manner meant this happened an awful lot
We'd planned on averaging high 20s/low 30s for the journey down, but instead we just scraped over 20MPG. That wasn't so much of a problem though, as the fuel stops were all part of the fun, with everyone looking around each other's cars and laughing at our stickers.
We got to the camp site with plenty of time to spare, set up the tent, and begun to make a dent in the 100+ bottles of alcohol we'd brought with us. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same, but we didn't see any of the drunken antics we'd been warned about.
The next day, we went to Pistonheads Friday Service, and then on to the Great British Welcome. I didn't get many photos, but there were some very impressive cars at both events.
Afterwards, we went down to the track to see what was going on. I spied a display of Corvettes and had a massive crisis - a convertible Stingray is my dream car.
We then decided to have a drive around the track to get some photos before the race started.
This guy didn't seem to understand our stickers
We then bumped into a photographer who offered to take official Team Prescott photos
and then we took some pictures of our cars on the track
Then, at last, we went to watch some racing
Which was absolutely incredible. I've watched various forms of motorsport before, but nothing prepared me for just how quick these were. The noise, particularly from the Corvettes, made the ground shake - the entire experience was just fantastic.
After watching some racing, we decided to go for a walk. We'd heard about the craziness of Mad Friday, and I decided to leave both our cars and my camera back at the camp site. However, one of our group was brave enough to get out his camera, and captured some of the madness.
There was a lot of smashed bottles, and people encouraging burnouts and drifting, but nothing quite as crazy as we'd heard. The riot police didn't seem to mind what people did as long as they didn't get too close to the cars, which was probably the best approach. Interestingly, most of the participants were French: we'd been told the culprits were ****ed-up Brits, but this year at least there seemed to be barely any English people causing trouble.
The next day, we went to see some more racing, and managed to find a decent spot quite close to the track. I'd have liked to get some more photos of the actual racing, but we were too preoccupied watching it, and most of our cameras weren't up to the task anyway. There are some fantastic ones on flickr from other spectators though, if anyone is interested.
A few people also went up on a ferris wheel, where you could get an even better view
And then it was suddenly time to go home. The few days had gone even quicker than we'd expected - I guess time flies when you're having fun. I was planning on leaving the stickers on for a while, but I had to take some important people to Ascot the next day, and I wasn't sure they'd be too happy about arriving with John Prescott's face stuck on the window!
To anyone thinking of going next year - DO IT!! We all had a fantastic time and returned with some great memories which will probably last forever (or at least until we go again next year!) The whole trip was very cheap, and we didn't encounter any of the violence/crime/sneaky speed traps which a lot of people seem to complain about. Basically, it couldn't have been better
