Le Mans Classic 2010
Night Running

Le Mans Classic
Night Running
Le Mans, France 2010

Story and Images by Patrick Wheeler ©

Every two years they run the Classic 24 hours races. They bring together old cars from the 1920's and 30's through the 70's and 80's on one of the most storied race tracks in the world ... it is basically a very large 3 day party celebrating the history of the automobile ... with a particular French flair ...

So the older cars from the 30's or so did not have the brightest of headlight filaments. They make up for it in shear dinner plate size and in quantity of lamps. Still, in a 24 hours of racing these particular cars would have been racing without modern flood lamps on local streets wending their way among the trees. As the Classics, we have the liberty to run when desired and the oldtimers get the last rays of the sun as it sets on a hot _hot_ day in central western France ...

Friday was for time trials and qualifications and many parties and events in the surrounding communities as car enthusiasts drive in from all over Europe, a lot of islanders from the UK have dropped off the boats across the channel, plenty of germans have crossed no-man's land of Belgium to get here and plenty of Spanish and Italians have driven up as well. For the races they start around 4 pm on Saturday after a morning of events and fun-runs on the track, a lot of cars who drove in drive directly on the track for a circuit or two ... but as the sun sets it is time to get serious...

Part of the fun of this event is the seeming utter chaos that reigns off the track. As the cars exit their heat they must wend their way through the crowds that throng the early evening ... and you can get up close to cars and drivers, as a matter of fact, more than a few break down as they are coming back and if you are close by, you lend a hand to help shove them back to their paddock ...
As the one group comes in, the other gets ready to go out, you can wander among the drivers and cars as they line up to get onto the track, for all of the festive atmosphere the drivers are mostly motionless, they and their cars are very still amongst the chaos. It is likely complete concentration as they are getting ready for some stiff competition, it also may be the overwhelming heat in the early evening that makes sitting here in your flame retardant underwear and thick racing suits beyond sweltering ...

Soon enough a horn sounds, the crowd dissipates, and the cars head through the gates, here even the safety workers are photographing the historic cars heading into the night .

Around midnight your correspondent is a bit tired and heads back to the parking lot for a lie down ... the party is continuing here, the fire is decidedly _not_ permitted, but as enforcement is not a high priority a few are visible ... this is not an official camping site but plenty of tents and other accommodations are readily apparent ...

The VW fans have themselves well set up with a classic runner and amore modern version done in historic Gulf colors, these are some serious fans ...

After a coupla hours sleep or so, the cars on the track are still pounding away but these are the newer and faster cars, with better headlights, in the dark is very hard to capture the activity with my little camera, by swinging along with the movement I can get a few semi-decent if uninspired pictures, note the weak beam of the headlights about three car lengths in front of the little yellow Porsche ...

The Porsche was one of the slower cars so could almost capture it at speed, this speedy one can be partially photo'd only when braking hard for a sharp corner ... and the slow digital camera comes out a bit grainy ...

The headlamps on this car are decidedly better than a normal road-going car, but then almost everything on these cars are taken to the limit ... need to do the same with my camera solution, considering the amount of high end zoom and other lenses that abound among the observers I have serious camera envy ...

As our yellow friend comes off the track he is sandwiched between some mustangs that were pounding the night air with their big roarty V8's. Unfortunately one of the mustangs had lost one of this two headlamps and on the track he was at a serious disadvantage and lost several places ...

And we get ready for another set from the mid 70's to head out, here the BMW CSL lightweights are getting ready to give some of their fire breathing big brother's a run for their money, hmm, almost looks like the Calder art-car in the museum stand ...

In the paddocks you can wander through the night checking out the cars. After a day of overly bright sunlight, the flood lamps provide much more interesting photographic opportunities to let the real art work of the function and form to show through, amazing shift gate for the gear change lever ...

Of course serious work is needed as well, here one of our British friends get dedicated attention, by counting body part I think we've three fella's underneath and one left draining the oil sump ... just all in a night's work, she'll be ready to go by the next heat ...

No, this is not a spectre from Andrew Lloyd Weber's latest and greatest masterpiece, it is just a self- portrait of your correspondent passing on to another viewing area on the track, but it does give a bit of the atmosphere (I think).

It is quiet at times as the fields of cars shrink from attrition, but they regularly come blasting through in a flying formation and are gone around the next bend ..

our spectre visits a few of the die-hard track fans who even in their sleep are not missing a moment of the events, the sound reaches you even in your sleep, trust me, have learned this the direct way ... manage to catch a few winks with hat over the eyes and photo bag for a pillow ... but the sounds keep coming through and you know when a shift change happens from the change in timber you know a new generation of cars are on the track ...

as morning starts to break it is a the turn of the older cars again, as they start out the lights are barely enough to make out the track, but they are photographable as they are moving markedly slower than the big guys ...

and as the sun rises they circle the track bravely enjoying the early morning coolness before the heat sets in again ...

in the early morning the dew falls and the extra moisture is a boon to the engines which breathe easier, the driver's must be enjoying the early morning cool as well in their layers of fire protection, heavy abrasion proof jackets and helmets ... but there is a tram heading into down-town Le Mans and I know where a farmer's market is setting up on the main square ...

After one of the _best_ crepes ever (salted local butter and sugar, simple and fabulous) from a market stall and several cups of caf&ecute; au lait at a little caf&ecute; built into the rocks that support the local cathedral, finished off with a chorizo tarte from the market, I return to the track to meet my Australian friend who has been sleeping off track with a group tour ... the morning shift of 50's era cars take over we can see some of the damages from the evening. This little sweetie has more then taken a few blows as she works her way around yet another heat ...

this year is a bit more aggressive than 2008 when last it ran, some of the racers are quite competitive and with new types of tires available and modern metallurgy in the old parts they perform better than they ever did, and at times are pushed beyond the limit, a nasty little disagreement at Tetre Rouge has the Lister Jaguar(?) losing the discussion and needing a completely new rear end and a lot of metal work, not good pool at all but at least no one was terribly harmed ... that safety gear is not for show.

But soon enough it is time to hit the rolling hills of central and northern France to head home to Bruxelles, there are a _lot_ of interesting motorcars on the road, surprisingly enough for all of the testosterone spent al weekend and all of the fast cars, the GB drivers assiduously obey the posted speed limits, keep any aggression on the track and be a good guest when visiting the southern neighbors ...

here is a sight of something one does not exactly expect to see anymore in this part of France, a rundown Chateau. From all of the press reports you'd have thought our island neighbors had purchased them all and have had them restored ... wonder how many conversations tired spouses will be having on their way home about just this, mayhap it is kept here in this state by the French Real Estate board for just this purpose.

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