The 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race is this weekend, AND I’M GOING!! Leaving early tomorrow morning, ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, then on to Le Mans. Loads of eating, drinking, and merry-making with a little fast car watching thrown in. I’m looking forward to seeing Bentley return to Le Mans after a 70+ year absence. Any other dopers gonna be there?
Nope, I’ll be in front of the tellie. You lucky bastard!
Ah, Bentley. Back after 70 years of absence. And with a vengance, if looks alone could win a race! I’m curious as to how competitive they will be.
I’ll also be looking for my fellow countryman Tom Coronel, driving for Gulf Audi.
While I don’t like 24 hour races as much as your average Grand Prix, there’s still a certain magic about Le Mans. Kinda like Wimbledon: it’s not the most exiting tournament of the year by a long shot, but you just HAVE to watch it.
Have fun, kferr!
I’m quite jealous, I’d love to get there myself someday. I hope to see a full report when you get back. And I don’t really expect too much from Bentley this year. When Jaguar and Mercedes Benz came back into the ranks it took them a few years to get the teams sorted out and win the race. And they knew it would be that way, too. The first year is just to learn.
And I seem to remember reading that MG was also coming back, either this year or next, but in one of the less powerful classes.
Mercedes is lucky if they can keep their cars from becoming airborne! 
I’ve seen that footage, Coldfire. Yow. Kind of a shame they had to break up the Mulsanne Straight with chicanes, but if they hadn’t that car would still be up there somewhere.
How long ago did Mercedes return to Le Mans, early-90s, late-80s? I thought it was fascinating to watch them come back after the way they left the sport in '55.
My dinky cable company probably doesn’t carry whatever network it’s being televised on 
When’s Shelby American gonna get back into it?
[sup]Scary thought: Shelby’s building new/old Cobras. they could, theoretically, race in one of the stock-appearing GT classes![/sup]
That would be Speedvision, and yes, they’re broadcasting the entire thing. It was worth it last year just to hear Sam Posey talk about the hallucinations that set in when cranking out lap after mindless lap through the night.
Didn’t Cale Yarborough take a stock car there once?
Well, I’m back, but as it’s nearly midnight and I’m running on very little sleep, I’ll just post a couple highlites. As expected, Audi came 1st & 2nd, but the amazing bit is that Bentley finished 3rd! Martin Brundel actually led for much of the first 2 hours, but the rain played havoc with the electronics in the transmissions and the lead Bentley dropped out fairly early. The MG cars were brilliant in the wet, getting as high as 6th overall, but both eventually died due to engine or gearbox problems before halfway. Oh, did I mention the rain? It varied from light showers to absolutely bucketing down. The cars had to switch from rain tyres to what they called monsoon tyres for the worst of it. It was the wettest Le Mans for 30 years! I’m off to bed, tomorrow I’ll tell how we faked our way into the Heniken hospitality suite, into a garage, and out onto the track.