Le Mans 2004 – “They let him out of the country?”
Gary Horrocks Discovers Le Mans - & Many Other Things

Wednesday June 2 – 5:00 pm EST.
Well, it’s here. Something that I never thought was possible is about to begin. I’m on my way to Le Mans.

I remember seeing highlights of the race on Wide World of Sports when I was a kid, watching with great interest as the Ford GT finally brought home the trophy for both Ford and the United States. Not in my wildest dreams did I expect to ever make it to Le Mans. But here I am, on June 2, sitting rather impatiently in the crowded Terminal C in Washington / Dulles Airport, waiting for my connection to fly to London.

Some will say that it is not exactly the most interesting Le Mans field ever assembled, but does that really matter? This is Le Mans. This is history in the making.

What will I see there? I really don’t know. I’ve been told it is something that is beyond belief. It is an event that is larger that can be imagined. Well, I’m about to find out. But first, a few days in London to see the sights and meet up with some friends and hopefully to get my bearings and a resemblance of a sleep schedule established. It’s a tough job, but somebody has got to do it…

Thursday, June 3 – who knows what time
Well, I survived the flight. I’m not really sure how I did, as I was surrounded by a group of 7th graders on the way to England for a field trip. Some field trip! I sure never got any like that when I was in school.

I landed at Heathrow at some time approximating to when I should be going to bed at home. I was feeling about the same as I felt part way through the race at Daytona this year. I think there was enough sand in my eyes to build a gravel trap. I finally found the bus area, and got it sorted out as to whether it was Gatwick North or Gatwick South. I chose South, for no particular reason. I guess it worked OK. After transferring to Gatwick Airport, most of the day was spent hanging out at dailysportscar.com central. Malcolm, Sue and all were very gracious hosts, sharing their wonderful place out in the country with me. After taking a walk in the woods, I finally succumbed to the lack of speed and crashed for about two hours, only to be awaken by a rather hyper dog, Lily. Later, Malcolm took Lily and I (she was now my long lost buddy), on a drive to a park, where we followed a trail (and the dog) to a nice view of the countryside and a spectacular tower (a folly, Gary).

The area was very beautiful, somewhat reminding me of home, except that the cars were all odd, with the drivers on the wrong side of the car and on the wrong side of the narrow and twisty roads. The villages are spread apart and typically quite pleasant looking places. Due to the clay soil, most all of the buildings were made of brick, adding a nice touch to the view.

After a nice time in conversation with Malcolm, Sue and one of their relatives (no, that was Auntie Carole – not really a relative, she’s just attached herself to the household), it was time for a well earned sleep.

Friday, June 4
I think the jet lag has gone away some, but regardless of how I felt, I was determined to get to London to see the sights. Got woken up by Lily, who attached herself to my bald head! I was dropped off at the train station at Horsham, left to fend for myself, knowing that Victoria Station was my destination. The ride was rather uneventful, in fact it was so uneventful that I was able to rest my eyes a bit. Most of the time was spent trying to make sure I was able to understand a group of men off to a horse race (supposedly speaking English), and the rest was spent trying to insure that I was headed to the correct place and that I could remember where I was supposed to return.

When I got off the train at Victoria Station, what I found was quite a sight. Sort of a combination of a transportation center and a swap meet. Eventually, I found my way out to the streets of London without getting hit by any funky taxis or double decker buses. I wandered the streets, first finding a tourist map, then heading to Buckingham Palace and wandering around without getting too lost. It was quite an interesting place that I would definitely like to return to. The scenery was incredible, seeing such sights as the River Thames, Westminster Abbey, St. James’s Park and the Houses of Parliament. Eventually I walked over to the Imperial War Museum, where probably the most moving section was on the persecution of the Jews during WWII. As it was also the week of the 60th Anniversary of D-Day, there was quite an elaborate presentation on that historic event.

While I still had some legs left, I walked over to meet Graham Goodwin at his office, to see what it was like to be the “supreme being”. In his job as a PR person for public transport system for the whole of London (great job), he is the keeper of a rather large monitor from which he can call on any of the traffic cameras in the city. Things like that are just not meant for mere mortals as I.

Graham then took me out to see some further sights and teach me about the “Underground”, which is their very elaborate subway system. Put it this way, I’m glad he was there to teach me, because otherwise I might still be lost, wandering around down there.

Rather that shoving me back on the train, Graham showed some mercy on me by driving me back to his place to eat and then drove me off to Malcolm’s. After meeting two of Sue’s boys, (well men actually) it was time to crash.

Saturday, June 5
Snetterton. According to Graham, this was the reason for my trip. To see a British GT race. Well, maybe it wasn’t exactly the reason I was there, but it was still very enjoyable. Sort of like going back in time to the IMSA races of the ‘80s. The racing was very enjoyable, even if there were some weird rules drawn up to attempt to equate the competition. I just hope that this series is allowed to grow to the potential that it has. Longer races would be a good start…

Malcolm drove me out through the country to this track outside of Norwich, which ended up being about a 2-3 hour drive. I saw plenty of countryside, which is not all that dissimilar to what I am used to at home. We even attempted to check out activity at an airbase, but it didn’t appear that anybody was home. At least this gave me a chance to rest my blistered feet.

Sunday, June 6
Up early to pick up Regis Lefebure and James Davies at Heathrow to get their transportation all sorted out. Malcolm took us over to meet his mom and dad, who supplied us breakfast and entertainment. I should have taken better notes on the stories of Malcolm when he was younger. They might have come in handy at a later date… It was at this point that attempts at explaining cricket to Americans were started. This seemed to be a common occurrence (or is that a threat) during the remainder of the trip.

As a way of killing time before heading to France, we went through the Hampton Court Gardens in London. WOW. A must see. Stunning. Beautiful. Words can’t fully describe the place.

Eventually, we were on our way to France, via the “chunnel”. Amazing service and technology, but as far as an experience, well it was rather anti-climatic. You drive the car into a train like thing, and then you eventually see through the windows that you are moving. Then the view out the window goes dark for about half an hour, when it gets light again. Ta-da. You are in France. Probably the most disturbing thing about all of this is that the French appear to have a compound on British soil, for custom purposes I’m sure, but I have expected something out of the Holy Grail. “Go away you silly kniggets…”

The drive through the French countryside was very uneventful, but at least we were back on the “correct” side of the road again, except that I think I was starting to get used to the English side of the road. Besides the time zone difference, I was also suffering from the chicken problem. You know the one. Not sure which side of the road to be on. Sorry…

Monday June 7 and Tuesday June 8
I can’t believe it, but here I am at Le Mans. As I was invited over to do some writing for the ACO, I was no longer formally with the dsc gang, but was staying with a French family in their house, somewhere that I could never find my way back to if my life depended on it. Here, I had the privilege of meeting my colleagues for the next week and to get further indoctrinated into the French culture.

The first sight of the track for me was not the buildings or anything else: it was the actual track as in “hey, guess where we are. This is the Mulsanne straight we are driving on.” Yes, I got a tour of the streets / race track before they were closed to normal traffic. Absolutely amazing. Thanks Peter.

Monday is really a day to get things moving. Teams are getting their equipment ready, workers are getting ready to convert the public roads to race ready status and the general populace of the area braces for the full week of events. Scrutineering kicks off on Monday afternoon, and takes place in a city park, a few miles away from the track. Unlike the old days when the cars were driven to the track, now, the cars are transported in the team trucks or flat towed, much like a car that has broken down or been impounded.

The actual activity of scrutineering is about as exciting as watching paint dry (we like it Gary!). The cars are pushed around to various compounds in the park, where they are checked and measured to insure that they meet all of the various standards and regulations. The drivers are all present and are interviewed on the PA system, where the rather large crowd can get a feeling of what to expect for the week. Scrutineering is only in the afternoon on Monday, but takes all of the day on Tuesday. It is a tradition that has been carried on since the early days and is something that is enhanced by the general population and the shop keepers in the area.

To say that the general population is enthusiastic about the race is a huge understatement. They are fanatical. There are posters everywhere. The shops all look like Le Mans gift shops and the postcards feature race cars. I think it is more fanatical here than it is back home for NASCAR. In that way, it is my sort of a town.

Le Mans is somewhere around the fifth largest city in France. It is nowhere near what I expected. I really expected to see this small town atmosphere, sort of village like, but instead, what I find is really a city that I want no part of driving in.

My conclusion about France is that everybody is hustling about, driving their cars wildly around so that they can get to their two hour lunch. Traffic lights are suggestions, traffic circles (roundabouts, Gary) are skid pads or driver challenges and the general impression is one of chaos. Funny thing is, I have never seen an accident yet, even though the frantic pace is well deserving of many. The pace of life for me at home is rather fast, but I am so glad that I did not have to drive while I was over there. I’m not sure if it was the narrow roads, the haphazard parking, the traffic circles or just the general pace of the driving, but I gladly allowed others to do the driving. Well mostly. There was the time that Peter Radcliffe had us going down a bus lane in Le Mans…

I’m sure I looked like a pig to those that I stayed with and to the general French population that I came in contact with. I’m just not used to having two hours to eat a sandwich. Back home, I’m lucky to get half an hour to eat. Open up your mouth, shove it in and maybe taste it later on the “feedback”. The food was very good, and all the stories I head about French bread were very true. What would you like with your bread? Also, not being much into wine, I was like a fish out of water at times. As bad as it may sound, I did find myself really craving Taco Bell. A couple burritos and a cold Mountain Dew. Oh, don’t get me started of the temperatures of the drinks over there either. Doesn’t anyone like their drinks more than a couple of degrees below room temperature (No)?

As for me, I’m just soaking in the history of this place. Sitting on the pit wall, walking down the straight, trying not to allow the tears to well up in my eyes. Yes, I’m at Le Mans. The cars take to the track on Wednesday, and I just can’t wait for the real action to take place. I’ve had enough of the paint drying. Now I want some action.

Wednesday June 9
Now the fun starts. Well, at least it will start. Finally I would get to see the cars on the track. Unfortunately, that was not to happen until later that night. In fact it was 7:00 pm (oh, I know that’s 19:00 over there) before the cars actually went out. So part of the day was taken up on shopping and just seeing the sights at the track. One major disappointment to me (but not to my family, I’m sure) was that I came home without any model cars. As a model builder, I was hoping to be able to pick up some kits somewhere, but it appears that the diecast scene has taken over. Nowhere at the track did I see more than maybe a hand full of kits for sale. Considering the exchange rate for the dollar, maybe I’m lucky it turned out that way.

When the cars finally took to the track, it was magic. What I soon found out though was the phenomenon of having less that 50 cars on a eight mile track means that they tend to get strung out some and generally it was one car at a time, as opposed to what I am used to at Sebring, Laguna Seca and the other tracks back home, where it is constant traffic on the shorter tracks. After a while of wandering around, I walked out towards the Dunlop Bridge to see the sights on track and just sucked in all of the atmosphere that I possibly could. Eventually, it got to be dark. Well, eventually is not an exaggeration. I don’t think it got to be truly dark until at least after 11:00pm (yeah, I know, 23:00). I had a tough time adjusting to that.

Besides the communication issues that I was having due to my obvious lack of French language skills, I, along with many others, was having obvious communication issues of another sort. At least the ice cream vendor at the track spoke English. Than was a lifesaver, even though it was a drain on the funds. Anyway, here it was Wednesday and I still wasn’t getting consistent internet hook-up. For me to have access, I had to beg, borrow and / or steal a line in the ACO office. Life half a world away, without consistent lines of communication back home, is not a good thing. Especially when you send things out, but get no reply. Eventually, it became clear that what I was sending out was not being received by the intended receiver. Must have been filling up that great dead e-mail box somewhere out there in the internet universe…

Thursday June 10
More of the same. I must say, walking around the media center, at least in the part of the building we were in, it was just like any other race in the States. Most of the people were the same exact ones that you would see at Sebring, Road Atlanta… Tom, Sylvia, Reilly, Shane, with a nice appearance from Fiona meaning that Prodrive was ready to go. Thankfully Janos alerted the powers to be about the smoking in the room, otherwise the full Japanese contingent in the media center might have smoked us out… It had the potential of being very thick indeed…(at the ‘Ring, full ashtrays greet your arrival and there’s a cigarette machine right outside – much more civilized Gary)

Speaking of ready to go, right up there in moments of the event so far would have to be the ups and downs that the main contenders in the GTS class went through during qualifying. As the evening wore on, it became more and more apparent that the Corvettes would own the front two spots, especially when Tomas Enge went off and damaged his Ferrari. While the damage did not appear to be too major, it did look like they would not make it back out on track. Well, the team pulled it off, and late in the session, when most teams were prepping for the race or had already parked their cars, Enge puts on some new qualifiers (for the first time all week) and goes for it. Just in time to wake everybody up too. Especially the Corvette team…

Friday June 11
This is a day of basically nothing. No track activity at all. Press conferences and such. But the crowd was growing. There were more people in pit lane and around in the village than I had seen so far. Yes, it was getting close to race day and the party animals were starting to show up.

Unlike Sebring, it appeared that most of the crowd was here for a race first and the party second. I think at Sebring the race is an inconvenience to the partying. That may be different at the out lying areas, but at least around the areas of the track that I was able to get to, there were race fans everywhere.

A couple attempts at interviews were cancelled due to other commitments by the interviewees, but I was quite pleasantly surprised when I was invited to go on the air on Radio Le Mans. Jim Martyn, the ALMS announcer, invited me to come on over and meet the guys and to give a plug for Inside Track. I was more than happy to oblige and thankfully, I didn’t wet myself in the process.

From there, it was off to the Audi press conference at the museum. Oh, that’s too bad. I have to go to the museum. Why oh why am I being so punished? I took it well and sat through the conference, listening to all the drivers and the team owners comment and posture. Not your typical dry conference, thankfully, but I did see a few nod off during the speaking. Once the conference ended, it was off to see the museum, which effectively was in two areas. One was dedicated to a history of street cars. Ho-hum. I could only take so many of them, especially as they all looked alike, so I quickly bolted to the race section. A good selection of cars was present, with an obvious bias towards some French entries. It was nice seeing a selection of Rondeaux though. You don’t see them very often in the States.

A quick write up of the press conference was followed by another futile attempt at sending e-mail, and then it off to the house for a barbeque and off to bed at an early (in comparison to the previous nights) hour.

Saturday June 12 and Sunday June 13
The so called support race (note – singular) was great to see. Sort of a Group C reunion - of sorts. The cars that ran here back in the ’82 through early ‘90s time frame. Now I realize what I missed by not seeing the Group C cars in action at Le Mans. All that was missing were the heroes of the day; Ludwig, Bell, Holbert, Ickx, Mass, Wollek… Ah, nostalgia.

Well, it’s race day, but that still entails waiting till 16:00 for the actual race to begin. I spent some of the time speaking with Dave Freidman concerning his views of “progress”, as he had not been to the track since 1967. Let’s just say that some of his views are rather interesting. From the coverage point of view, despite some organizational issues, things went as well as could be expected. The work was not difficult at all. It was stuff I could, and probably did do, in my sleep. Rather mindless summaries of what happened in the previous hour, which some times could almost be summarized as the cars kept going on and on…

I started the race shooting some photos with Hal Crocker, borrowing a camera for the first hour or so. I was amazed at the general population that was milling about in the “photo areas”. I think there were more people in some of the corners than there are at the typical Grand Am race. You either needed the right vest, needed to know the right people or just simply be able to breathe to make it into the photo areas. I guess the thought is that if you get hurt when you are not supposed to be there, oh well. Your problem. Sort of a rally spectator outlook.

As far as the race, it was all that I thought it would be. That is except the pit lane. That was a zoo. I cannot believe the masses of people that are down there. In some ways, it resembled the general population driving on their way to lunch. Thank god for the warning horn of a car entering pit lane. I’m amazed that there were no incidents down there.

I do wish that the ACO would do something about the gravel in the traps. As I was walking about the track, I went through one of the traps on the Bugatti circuit. I could not believe that stuff. I’m amazed that there were not more cut tires. That stuff is brutal. Note to the ACO – change the gravel to something less “edgy” before someone gets hurt badly, as Ron Fellows could have been.

The fact that the race at the front was so close this year was a bonus to me, but I was so wide eyed about everything, the end results probably wouldn’t have mattered to me at all. That I got to see Tom Kristensen win number six was pretty cool, but the fact that I got to see Audi continue their domination is fitting. That may be considered routine and boring now, but in the future, I can tell whoever is unfortunate to be stuck listening to me that “I was there when…”

One thing that will probably forever be etched in my visual memory is walking around the village at 4:00 (yes, that 4:00), taking in the sights. Watching three drunks trying to play hakey-sak was very, well, um, entertaining, in a weird way. I don’t think that ball thing was ever in the air for as long as I was watching, but when someone finally connected their foot to the sac, even though it was static on the ground, you’d think they had just won the Euro Cup.

Now if only I knew how bad the pictures were of me “sleeping” at my desk. I’m sure I’ll find out in due course…

Off to dinner and then it more than past time to crash. I think I was out before I hit the pillow. And I was armed with ear-plugs just in case my own snoring was to wake me up…

Monday June 14
After some hard sleep, it was all over. A quick breakfast was followed by all the good-byes and such. It was the start of a long journey back home.

A quick session shoving supplies and equipment into the back of Graham’s car was followed by more good-byes, a few quick stops around the track and we were off. But the first true stop for us (Graham, David Lord and Paul “I don’t think J. Palmer will like this” Slinger) was to meet up with Graham Tyler (from Radio Le Mans) for a very enjoyable five-course lunch in the French countryside. Now this is what I call living. The scenery was great, the buildings amazing and the company was enjoyable. Oh, the food as usual was fantastic. Now I know why the French hustle about, trying to get to their two hour lunches.

After lunch, the caravan continued through the countryside, visiting various cathedrals and forts. We even stopped at what must have been one of the initial battles to take place during D-Day. Monuments document where three gliders landed, delivering the troops to battle at midnight. Their objective was to capture Pegasus Bridge. The original bridge is still in the area, complete with bullet marks, but it has since been replaced with a newer model. To think that some of these towns were leveled during WWII is rather spooky and very humbling. From there, we caught the ferry to Portsmouth and then off to Graham’s for a short night’s sleep.

Tuesday June 15
The best and the worst part of traveling – going home. I was more that ready to get there, but really dreaded spending 24 hours in taxis, airplanes and airports. Oh well, that’s the price you have to pay. I don’t remember much about the flight from London to Los Angeles other that it was stinking boring. That might have been the appropriate time to take up drinking, doing drugs or even both at the same time. Oh, I do remember looking down at Greenland at 7:00 home time. Consider that the highlight of the trip.

Upon arriving home, I found that my race posters were missing out of my luggage. I hope the “security” people at LAX enjoyed them and whatever else they felt might have been “dangerous”.

Looking back on this trip, there are some times that I really have to wonder if it was worth it. In the end, it was a long time away from the family and a real drain on my vacation time and energy reserves, especially with having to be back to work less than eight hours after arriving home. But of course, the trip was worth it. Would I do some things differently next time? Yes, but notice, I’m already talking about next time. Hmmm, what is the date next year…