Le Mans Classic Track Laps

[Paul Brameld]

I am afraid I have bad news from the organizers that it is very unlikely that we will be able to participate in Track Laps at the Classic this year. It seems that the racing schedule has eaten into the track availability and track time for clubs will be severely restricted if not non-existent.

As a consequence we are advising you at the earliest opportunity so that you can make alternative arrangement, if available/appropriate. As stated above there is a VERY SMALL chance that something may become available in due course but it is not a realistic for the club to get involved in this case for a number of reasons.

Firstly the chances are that numbers would be limited and this would need to involve some sort of selection of participants and I do not propose to put myself in a position to get flak from members who think that the rationing of slots would be in some way flawed or fixed.

Secondly the organisation of these Track laps involves a huge amount of time/effort/financial arrangements and this can just about be accommodated if there is time (many, many months , just ask committee members who were involved in previous years). To consider doing this at what would be short notice would be intolerable.

It is with much regret that we advise this bad news but wish you luck with any alternative arrangements that you may be able to make.

 

[Geert-Jan]

I had contact with Gregoire from Peter Auto, he told me that all track sessions are fully booked.
He couldn't sqeeze me in, it realy is fully fully booked!!! :-(

 

[Geert-Jan]

Now, I am not sure wether to go with the GT40 or not. What is the point, just to put it on display on the infield parking section? Without even being able to get it on the track!

 

[OliveR]

Hi Paul, Geert,

From our side in France we've booked the track laps end of November in order to be sure to drive on the track the Saturday 5.

I don't know when you sent your registration documents but maybe it was a bit too late ?

OliveR

 

[Paul Brameld]

Hi Paul, Geert,

From our side in France we've booked the track laps end of November in order to be sure to drive on the track the Saturday 5.

I don't know when you sent your registration documents but maybe it was a bit too late ?

OliveR

September 2013 last year is when we started talking to LMC Management, is that too late?? :veryangry::veryangry:

 

[Geert-Jan]

@OliveR,
With what organization did you book your tracksession(s)?

 

[OliveR]

Paul, is it in September that you've booked your track laps or later ?

Because if you booked in September you were one of the first ! I don't understand why LMC organisation told you that you won't be able to drive your car on the track ? So it means that all others that booked the laps after you will be noticed by LMC organisation that they won't drive on the track. ==> I'm going to check tomorrow.

Geert: I've booked my track session and tickets to a French friend that organizes our LMC week end. By the way some Dutch people have registered their track sessions and tickets to my friend too. They're going to come with Cobra.

OliveR

 

[SteveB]

There may be confusion here about the track session.

The Enthusiasts Club arranged for a track session on the Friday evening at the 2010 and 2012 LM Classic. These sessions were between the end of day practice and before the night practice began. This is the session that cannot be scheduled by the organisers this year.

There is, as in previous years track access on the Saturday through the LMC organisation

Stephen

 

[Paul Brameld]

There may be confusion here about the track session.

The Enthusiasts Club arranged for a track session on the Friday evening at the 2010 and 2012 LM Classic. These sessions were between the end of day practice and before the night practice began. This is the session that cannot be scheduled by the organisers this year.

There is, as in previous years track access on the Saturday through the LMC organisation

Stephen

Thanks for clarifying the lappery Stephen.
You are quite right, anyone who has booked like OliveR will be for the parade laps where the world and their wives are on a crowded track and it is not ideal for drivers of GT40s wishing to explore the track at speed!
Unfortunately we are now paying a price for the growing popularity of the Classic and hence the restrictions on track availability.
In reality we should be really grateful that we had the track laps in 2010 & 2012!!

 

[OliveR]

Paul, I drove my Cobra in 2012 at LMC during the track session (I've been able to drive 4 laps of 13kms.).

You can believe me I drove my Cobra like I never did it before. On the Hunaudière straight I was at 160/165 miles per hour. The track is very long and very large you can drive most of time as fast as you want !

This year I'll come with the good car for this type of race track: the GT40 !

I get confirmation today that we'll be at least 35 Cobra/GT40/GT on the same session.

Batteries of GoPro are 100% full, Cameras are ready !

You'll find me easily there are no many GT40 like mine in Europe !



OliveR

 

[Geert-Jan]

OliveR, do you think that your friend can arrange a tracksession for me to join?

 

[OliveR]

All tracks sessions are full but if one of the guys that booked one session cancels for any reasons why not ?

I'm going to ask to my friend if it's possible and let you know.

OliveR

 

[Fred/Belgium]

I agree with you guys,

The friday evening track lap was also for me the ultimate experience of a child dream watching the GT40s on TV during the 6OTies.

I ended buying a GT40 one day and drove it 2 times (LMC 2010 and 2012) on this magic track just as in those days...
I never understood how you guys managed to allow us to drive (race..) on the track without speed limit and/or Pace Car during daylight and ending in the dark.

It was just Magic and I am afraid this may not happen anymore.
The saturday morning parade lap is really parade only but you still capture the magic of having been on the track with your car.

All the honors to those who organised this for us.

Fred

 

[SteveB]

Fred

I'll second that!!

I drove on those Friday nights , onto the circuit at twilight, apprehension, exhilaration, as darkness fell scary stuff as well. Then it was over, what an emotional cocktail. I sat in the car back in the compound for quite a while just savouring the moment.

We had lived the fantasy.

It may not be available again so my thanks to the organisers in the GT40 Enthusiasts Club who made it possible

Stephen

 

[Brian Magee]

So what about in two years time with the 50th aniversary of the Ford 1,2,3? Surely the CLM organisers won't let that go by without some track time for us guys.

Brian.

 

[Ian Anderson]

Fred and Steve
Many thanks for the kind words, and for those who joined this forum more recently I organised the first half hour session in 2010, and yes it was a mammoth task.

I can let you know I started working on that event about 22 months before the event and at numerous stages almost pulled the plug and admitted defeat, however always had some light at the end of an extremely long and dark tunnel.

About 6 months before the event I had a quick add up of my time spent and it was well over 250 hours, and in the last 6 months probably added another 100 plus hours to that total.

Eventually it all came off, all be it an hour later than we wanted and was advertised, with no speed restrictions and indeed ran from dusk into the dark.

As Fred said it was a childhood dream and the dream came true.

In 2012 the club pulled it off again with another session.

Now on to the 2014 event and the club again approached the organisers to try and get a session. By now we had all the right contacts and initially it looked like a third session would be possible.

Paul has done all the work in the background and recently received the disappointing correspondence from the organisers where they have confirmed the ACO (track owners) have advised they cannot have the time slots, and in fact no high speed sessions will be available this year, not even Ferrari, Mercedes and Porsche who are big sponsors are able to get a slot.

It is terribly disappointing but outside their control, and certainly outside the club's control.

Lastly Brian, I am sure the club will again try for a session to mark 50 years since the first win. Will that one come off, that is in the lap of the Gods!

Ian

 

[Fred/Belgium]

Put me on the list for the 50 years !!!

 

[Geert-Jan]

Me toooooooooooooo !!!!!!!

 

[Charlie Farley]

If you got there on the tuesday or wednesday,
what would there be to stop you just venturing out on the circuit ?
Just a thought....
:idea::evil:

 

[Stephen Tonks]

Hi

Depends what you mean by "venturing out on the circuit". Le Mans, as I'm sure most people are aware, is made up of a combination of a closed circuit, sections joining it to the public roads and public roads. These public bits, which do actually form a large part of the circuit, can obviously be driven on at any time. Access to the closed circuit (known as Bugatti), is strictly controlled, and the sections joining it to the full circuit are normally sectioned off with quite large fence panels.

I am extremely lucky as I live here, and drive my GT40 on the public sections quite regularly. Sometimes there is quite a lot of traffic, other times quite minimal. However, there are a number of obstacles (?) you need to be aware of. There are a couple of roundabouts that the drivers in the classic and 24 hours don't normally have to negotiate and also when you come down to Arnage via Indianoplis, Arnage corner is a crossroads, at which you don't have priority. Also, one other slight problem is that you have traffic travelling in both directions.

Otherwise, its fantastic.

Stephen