Le Mans Classic 9-11 July 2010 Pictures.

[Guest]

 

I went to the Le Mans Classic for the first time last week, instead of buying a Saab 900 Turbo I liked the look of on eBay. It was epic, even after you take the trip in an extremely slammed Polo Breadvan into account.

 

Here are a few of the shots for me that stand out and that are particularly relevant to Autoshite. They were taken on a combination of my C 902 cameraphone and the bling Canon IX 20 I nicked off fatha_watanabe.

The shots from the latter end up as 4000x3000 monsters that make my Dell cry, so I can only resize two at a time. Factor in the small issue of 3,500 pictures to sift through, and you can understand why this post is a preview (and that I'll get through the others and update the thread as and when I can).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy 'em, there's tonnes more on the way.

[michiel]

Excellent! I R well jealous.

[VWPowered]

mez toooz

 

look like some cracking pics, and ohhhh ohhh its a *faints* Tagora

[seth]

Stunning teaser shots there Wat.

 

Is that a DB? (The on that isn't a Renault/Citroen/Talbot Tagora)

[Guest]

Stunning teaser shots there Wat.

 

Is that a DB? (The on that isn't a Renault/Citroen/Talbot Tagora)

'Tis a Salmson.

[VWPowered]

talking about Le-Mans theres a thing on BBC2 about the 1955 crash that was called the worse motorsport crash in history

[CreepingJesus]

'Tis a good docu, is that. (I watched it the other week on BBC4).

 

Still, I wouldn't mind doing that trip myself. How do you keep your hands steady enough to take the snaps, when faced with all that vintage tin (and GRP)? I'd have the Cobra pic for a screensaver...

[Guest]

We arrived for the opening of the campsite at Maison Blanche, only to be told 'Non. Eet opens aht fyve oh clohck. D'accord.'

 

Despite everyone's (and I mean everyone's) documentation saying the site opened at two. Never mind. I used the time waiting to photograph some chod. There's some AS exclusive pictures here as well. The rest is just a mash up from the rest of the weekend. I'm not doing them in any real order at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

For Fred, and nowhere else

 

 

 

Eventually we were let on to the campsite, which was in fact the Clubman track used for practising and smaller ACO trackdays. They had marshalls directing people in on mountain bikes.

 

 

Last shot I got of the road before we were let in.

 

 

The campsite itself was better than many car shows I'd been to in the UK, going off the sheer variety of cars there.

 

 

 

 

AC Cobra was actually a 212 S\C Superblower, and as such was rocking the 3.5 litre Lotus V8 designed for the Esprit GT. I grabbed this shot just before a spectacular forked lightning show that bathed the surrounding area in a diffused lilac evanescence.

 

Below are a selection of the many Citroen DSs that were seen around the showground. They were used as VIP cars amongst other things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gotti wheel stand was endearingly ramshackle, and caused the crashing of several yoghurt trucks as the days wore on.

 

 

Emergency stairs redolent of the inner workings of a turbo.

 

Am I OK to go on?

[Guest]

My potted account of the Classic continues. A mixture of racing (across the historical classes) and the colossal autojumbles commences NOW.....

 

 

 

We went over to Arnage corner to see the night racing. The Type 35s were quick but got comprehensively stuffed by the Roesch Talbots.

 

 

A very early 356 Streamliner in one of the first sessions I saw.

 

 

The autojumble had some ambitious pricing.

 

 

They didn't know Fugazi's Waiting Room. Can you imagine my disappointment?

 

 

Hopefully Seth will fill us in on exactly who these dashing chaps are. I saw Tony Dron walk through the crowd on the Sunday.

 

 

GT 350 taking Porsche corner. We camped very near this spot.

 

 

 

Cars were often driven from the display areas straight onto the track after scrutineering.

 

 

 

BMW M1 latter shattered its driveshaft and had to be trailered away.

 

 

A Spanish 911 team was using an Amazon as their service bus.

[Pete-M]

Looks like a top mission, that.

[Guest]

A bit of paddock tomfoolery.

 

 

 

 

[trigger]

I always say this but i wish i could photos like you Wat, they are really on another level (Jay-Z).

[mk1_4dr]

Im guessing most of these aren't GIMP'd

 

Seriously professional looking shots. Looking at the contect, I can imagine how easy it was to take 3.5k shots.

 

Looks like I'll have to partake in a bit of this next year, I should've taken heed when we were talking about it way back in January.

 

MOAR PIKS PLZ WAT'

[garethj]

MOAR PIKS PLZ WAT'

What he said. Fantastic pics so far

[michiel]

They didn't know Fugazi's Waiting Room. Can you imagine my disappointment?

 

ROFL! I can imagine it - Fugazi by brass band would be ace.

[AnthonyG]

Great photos Wat.

 

I love the pic of the fat German bloke in the 300SL in the first set. Classy sunhat!

[seth]

Moar! Moar!

 

Hopefully Seth will fill us in on exactly who these dashing chaps are. I saw Tony Dron walk through the crowd on the Sunday.

Why the hell should I know?! At Goodwood I wonder about the paddocks, see drivers in all their garb and wonder if they're anyone famous. Especially if they're a bit older.

[Mr Lobster]

That looks superb, I reckon I'd rather enjoy it.

 

Is it every year or every two years?

[face]

What an excellent photograph, well done sir

[pompei]

Brilliant pics!

 

How do you get that contrasty colour soaked effect, as in the 2 rear DSs and the front view of the DS?

[Guest]

Brilliant pics!

 

How do you get that contrasty colour soaked effect, as in the 2 rear DSs and the front view of the DS?

Contrast adjustment +eleventy million.

[Guest]

They didn't know Fugazi's Waiting Room. Can you imagine my disappointment?

 

ROFL! I can imagine it - Fugazi by brass band would be ace.

I give you:

 

 

[Guest]

 

 

 

 

OK, that's most of the decent shots from the Classic.

 

 

Let's do Portsmouth (before the LMC) and then Paris (after the LMC). Still interested?

[Mr Lobster]

Let's do Portsmouth (before the LMC) and then Paris (after the LMC). Still interested?

Yep. Crack on then

[michiel]

They didn't know Fugazi's Waiting Room. Can you imagine my disappointment?

 

ROFL! I can imagine it - Fugazi by brass band would be ace.

I give you:

 

 

[Guest]

Halifax - Portsmouth

 

As this was a NSJC undertaking, we left from Halifax very early in the morning. We had to pick up Lewis (a fellow NSJCer) from his house in Reading before heading to Portsmouth.

 

The cars we used for the trip were Nev's Breadvan Polo and WB's company Audi A5. Lots of stickers were involved.

 

 

 

 

VW with roof rack in use shocker!

 

 

NSJC crew.

 

 

We met up with some friends on the M1 who followed us down.

 

 

We trawled round Portsmouth for a bit. Here's the Spinnaker Tower.

At the risk of sounding like a kiddie's narrative, we then decided to go to the Isle of Wight for a bit. On the hovercraft!

 

 

Found this on the beach, like a Choro Q Chibi Group C. Seemed quite appropriate given where we were eventually going to end up.

 

 

Best bus ever.

 

 

Back on shore, I snapped this Zephyr waiting at the docks.

 

 

Swiftly followed by a pre war Rolls ferrying a wedding party back into town.

 

 

 

Eventually, time ticked down to the point of requirement at the port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never has a humble Mk 2 Polo elicited so many evil looks and trite comments. Most of them appeared to emanate from the Morgan Owner's Club. Nobheads.

 

 

ALL SET UP 4 DRIVIN ON DA RIGHT.

 

 

We boarded amid harsh stares and a glut of sixties sports cars.

 

*HALIFAX TO PORTSMOUTH TRANSMISSION ENDS*

[Guest]

Paris

 

 

After bidding a fond farewell to Le Mans, we headed up to Paris to round the holiday off in more of a traditional sightseeing fashion. I still had tons of batteries from the Super U, and room on my memory card......

 

 

Meanwhile, the Best Western car park proved a tad tricky for Nev's car to navigate.

 

 

Travelling by the underground was a must.

 

 

A bridge. A bridge with tributes. A bridges with erratum and a bibliography.

 

 

Unbelievably, there were two 240 K Skylines driving up and down the Champs Elysee. They both had UAE plates.

 

 

There seemed to be a definite underclass of battered Fiat 500s chugging about.

 

 

 

I paid a visit to the Renault showroom on the Champs Elysee while my fellow holidaying NSJCrs yogged 120 Euros on ice cream. It had a great little reference library.

 

 

Have a mint 356 to finish on, as pictured by the Seine.

 

That's it. Did you have fun?

 

*END OF PARIS TRANSMISSION. LMC OVER*

[Guest]

Hey, does anyone know where I could host a sound file from? I recorded a section of the Group 5 night race with a glut of Panteras, M1s and 935s et al hoying down to Arnage corner.

 

Any ideas?

[Richard]

Youtube?

[Mr Lobster]

Cheers Jon. You've just cost me 30-odd euros there I wonder if I can claim a book on Renault models as a business expense?

 

 

Incidentally, the Renault La Collection book is ace. Bought in France last year. Not particularly cheap but worth it