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The wheels on that last 936 are interesting...they are faux-bbs fans painted with spokes but those are actually fans...



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Pelican keeps flipping the 919 upside down. Its got lots of downforce but not that much...

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The Toy too. Lets see if this stays right-side-up

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The intricate carbonfibre work was really impressive...

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I really wanted the Zeod Nissan Garage 56 entry to do well, at least better than the original Deltawing and more than the 5 laps it did before the gearbox died. I was shocked to hear they quit so early with a gearbox failure. For Xsakes, Audi changed out two turbos and still won, why would Nissan quit with a gearbox failure with 23.7 hours to go? Impressive entry but disappointing outcome for the second year in a row.

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Arg. My Surface just glitched and I lost 30 mins of work...

So resuming with Friday afternoon, that was a party. I cant seem to find those pics but the highlight was the Danish side of Porsche curves where they line both sides of the narrow road and egg traffic cars into burnouts. Hands-down the owner of the Smartcar and a second place goes to the Toy or Mazda minivan that both just about shredded their tires to the cords. Shame on the myriad exotica that wouldn't play. The Dane henchmen made sure they felt the same too with their supersquirters and horns. Even worse were the exotics and ricers who tried and stalled or couldn't manage a burnout! Who knew a Smartcar could rip it wide open?

Anyway, even the no- or poor-shows only got goodnatured ribbing.

The rest of Friday evening was filled with making new friends and touring around on foot.

So we turned in early on Friday at 2AM Saturday morning and got an early start around 7AM. Every day started with a big bacon/egg baguette that I am sure will show up in my autopsy. Yum though.

Saturday started with a 83-91 Group C race for which I had high hopes but didn't quite live up to the billing. First off, it had a pair of Merc cars that never raced in period that won by several laps. How you can have a car in a Historic race that never raced itself and was never homologated is silly to me. Second, half the field died of engine failure or suspension woes before the end. At least none burst into flames like in London last week, though that would have been a highlight. I was really let down by the noise too. I remembered them sounding awesome. By comparison, the modern Astons and Corvettes sound absolutely unreal. Far and away they were the best sounds of the weekend.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B81Zf7DuDU6WRDdtOXdlRm80WHc/edit?usp=sharing

ANyway, few pics of them worth sharing though I have some video I'll post later.

Then onto to the Carrera Cup race. It was 40 minutes of sheer madness. 65 idendically-supplied (though differently prepared and set) cars going at it was awesome. Sometimes 3.5 wide through Porsche Curves. All of them looking to be noticed for a ride next year. Good stuff. Heres some video of 65 of them pouring through the Porsche Curves...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B81Zf7DuDU6WWlRNYTlDVXpVa1E/edit?usp=sharing

So the big show itself started at 3:00 as scheduled and promptly we had 2 very hard downpours. Like biblical kinds of rain, but only for 5 minutes each. Track temps went from 40 to 20 in minutes and all kinds of mayhem ensued. Safety cars out and things calmed down, but not before the Nissan Zeod quit with a gearbox failure. As I sad earlier, how can you spend millions on prep and quit with a bad gearbox 10 mintues in? The Billy Madison Ms Lippy tirade comes to mind..."you don't give up...you get out there and you fix your FXXXing gearbox!" Audi fixed 2 turbos midrace and still won. OK, I understand the difference in resources but seriously they could have flown to Xtrac, got another, fit it, and done at least a few more laps for pride. Poor from an enthusiast and spectator view.


Anyway, with the race underway it was an awesome signt and sound. I should say here the sounds of the Astons and Corvettes were unreal. Spine-tingling. I spent a lot of time talking with other attendees and the strong consensus was-
Astons - Awesome
Corvettes - Great, and feel that thump in your chest
Porsches - The expected great sound but nothing new or special
Ferraris - Annoying, like a drill in your ear
Audi LMP - Didn't hear them. Silent
Rebellion and Porsche LMP - as it should be

We watched the start from the Porsche Curves near our campsite and then took Internet Advice to walk around and see the sights. We walked up through the Paddock area to Tetre Rouge, back along the straight, back to the Curves and all the way to Indianapolis, Arnage and back to the Curves. Easily 25 kms but spread out over 8 hours and - ahem - enough hop- and grape-based hydration.

Here's a clip from Indianapolis at about 10PM

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B81Zf7DuDU6WZ1JWM0N4LWVlUGs/edit?usp=sharing

We got back to the Curves about midnight and slept for 2 hours, then watched from 2AM to 4AM, then a quick nap again from 4AM to 6AM then up for the day.

Dawn was a great sight and though I have lots of video, little in the way of pics. Doug may have more.

The Porsche Curves at 7AM...https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B81Zf7DuDU6WVFdoUVI1cjRjR0k/edit?usp=sharing

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One of the best things we did was to go early on Sunday to the Ferris wheel. Touristy, yes but awesome views. No line at 7AM.

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Doesn't seem to matter if I flip the pic in Paint, one is right-side up and the other upside-down in Windows bit Pelican puts both upside down?



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damn I am going bald...

There was bound to be a huge number of impressive cars there in an event with 200,000+ petrolheads and I have lots of pics but these two are the ones I'll call out.

We didn't actually get to speak with the owner of this car but its a beautifully turned-out backdate with great details. If this is yours, step up and accept your award...Along with Jury's its a favorite of mine...

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I'm posting the last one for a few reasons.
1 - He and a mate roadtripped down from London in an Ariel Atom
2 - I appreciated his labelling of "Captain Underpants" and "Dr Jahnkapedia"
3 - They were fun guys to talk with
4 - They nearly set the entire Porsche Curve parkinglot on fire. As their Dad and I were speaking, their BBQ dropped a coal into the pile of dry grass underneath, and the wind immediately spread the fire. 20+ frantic guys poured their beers, stomped on it and did anything wise and unwise to get the fire out. There was easily $15MM in cars in that immediate parking lot, with 300+ Carrera GTs, Astons, Ferraris, TVRs and other stuf that would have been lost in short order.

More tomorrow

We spent the last few hours watching from the Porsche Curves. It got crowded but still no problem seeing the race. It was exciting to see the Porsches back in the race and with 3 hours left actually looked like they might win with the Audis suffering turbo problems. But we know the ending now, disappointing for Porsche especially given all the $ and effort into the event.

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At the end we jumped the fence with the crowds and strolled down to the finish line where there was a party going on.

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Parade lap

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Champagne at the finishline.


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So that's about it for highlights. We spent the rest of the day Sunday walking around and making friends, slept there Sunday night and left about 5AM on Monday morning for the drive back to Frankfurt. Silly traffic again around Paris but overall a beautiful drive through the countryside.

It was an expensive trip so I don't know if I can spend the $ again. It was a special occasion for me and any other trip I'm afraid might not live up so I may leave it at that. Maybe the Nurburgring 24 hrs next time?

Thanks again to Doug who was a great co-pilot, enabler and friend. I had a blast Bud, you are a legend.

Thanks for the great write up and for posting the pics and vids. What a great trip.

I made Motorsport Magazine's coverage of Le Mans!

No joke, I can make out me and my buddy Doug in the crowd there by my sunglasses and his backpack...

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Thanks John. I really enjoyed the story and pics. Great adventure :)