Southern GT heads to Le Mans

[Malcolm]

Southern GT heads to Le Mans

This year I was lucky to be asked to crew for Glenn Mason in his Southern GT GT40 replica on his trip to Le Mans to take part in the Grande Parade Des Pilotes on the Friday before the big race on the Saturday and Sunday. It turned out to be a fantastic trip.

Having joined up with Glenn at the Southern GT premises in Botley, Mick Sollis and his crew sent us on our way. It is quite amazing how much gear you can pack away in a 40 if you set your mind to it. With a posh evening expected after the parade we had to get some smart clothes down to Le Mans uncreased. Glenn had made his car with good attention to detail so that storage was simple, quiet ample (from a male perspective I suspect!) and effective.

Glenn has his seats so that you can lift the back cushion up to reveal a trap door through to a compartment that fills the triangle of space behind the seats making it very accessible. In there we stored Mick’s marketing material that he wished for us to distribute and a few more odds and sods. This is an optional seat feature from Southern GT which is just so useful that I may get a set for my car!


(l-r: Malcolm, Glenn, Mick, Matt and Adam at Southern GT HQ)

 

[Malcolm]

At the ferry terminal the car was typically instantly surrounded by people. Like the Le Mans Classic, there were many interesting cars queuing to go to France that day. I think we had chosen the same ferry as the Porsche Club GB as about 50 Porsches arrived in convoy and boarded together. We were surprised when two chaps in a bright yellow Lotus Exige began chatting to us, asking us what event was going on. We told them it was Le Mans. Being rather surprised at this question when they clearly looked as if they were heading that way too, we were then completely floored when one of the guys asked, “What’s that? Some kind of rally?” They should have their Lotus confiscated for such ignorance!

However Glenn’s humour was soon restored when I was attacked quite aggressively about the head by a 70 year old lady wielding a rolled up newspaper for mistakenly sitting in her Eric’s seat!


(Car in the queue at the ferry terminal)

 

[Malcolm]

After these two episodes all became calm again and the ferry made a smooth crossing, leaving us with a simple run to our Chateau south of Le Mans where we had been promised a beer upon arrival.

The French roads are excellent and the peage is very efficient and swift. Even at speed on the peage people try and photograph or video the car. I guess even after many years of ownership myself, I should be used to this by now but I still find it a weird experience every time.



(Glenn cruising! If only I had £1 for each time a picture was taken when out in a 40......)

 

[Malcolm]

The Chateau de la Fontaine was as good as promised and the beer was there and was most welcome. Our host Patrick was charming and an excellent cook. I definitely put weight on with this trip! During the afternoon and evening our fellow 40 owners arrived and a long evening was spent in car talk and swapping stories.




(Glenn's car outside our base camp)

 

[Malcolm]

The next morning we were due to head off to the British Welcome car show at Saint Saturnin where hundreds of British cars are on show, covering about 5 football pitches. The French made us feel extremely welcome and were so enthusiastic about the British and their cars. Very well organised too. Here Glenn’s car had to compete for attention but held its head up very well with always a crowd around the car, cameras busily snapping away.



(Glenn's Southern GT, Tony Jasper's rapid KVA (like impressively rapid!), Miscellaneous cars)

 

[Malcolm]

Glenn happened to bump into an old friend of his, travelling in his 40, and so with a little jiggery pokery, we were able to get him to join in our convoy of cars for the parade. This is part of the fun of ownership in that being in a group of like minded people, you can never have too many together at once and working together everyone achieves more.

From Saint Saturnin we then headed into Le Mans itself, to the city centre where the cars for the Grande Parade Des Pilotes was gathering. As is typical at these moments, staying in convoy becomes a nightmare as city traffic simply makes it impossible for 5 cars to stay together. And being navigator it was only by the skin of my teeth and a healthy dose of good fortune that we stumbled upon exactly the right spot to be! A mixture of Gendarmes and marshals stopped the traffic and we swept sharply across four lanes of traffic into the paddock where our eyes feasted upon a host of fantastic cars laid out before us. And we were to join them!

I will leave the photos to speak for themselves about the cars we encountered but my favourite of the show was still a GT, but not a Ford! I thought the Citroen GT was stunning and it quite blew me away.


(Citroen GT, is that really a solid copper dash?)

 

[Malcolm]

(More fantastic cars!)

 

[Malcolm]

Time for a wonderful lunch on the other side of the square, watching more cars arrive and soaking up a growing atmosphere. Two small grandstands were being erected in front of us and crowd control barriers were appearing as if by magic. You got the feeling these guys knew what they were doing and had everything in hand.


(l-r: Graham, Nigel and Glenn)

 

[Malcolm]

A challenge! Can you identify the 4 different and best (IMHO) brands of GT40 replica from these photos. I will start you off with the Number 5 car as Glenn's Southern GT!

The furthest two cars in these pictures were also part of the Parade but I regret not to know the names of the owners, both of whom I think were French. However they were the lead two cars in the Parade under the title of Legends of Le Mans! How cool is that?

 

[Malcolm]

From the marshalling area we were then called, two cars at a time, to drive to Jet D’Eau. We had absolutely no idea where this was so it was no surprise that we got lost and after about 4 kilometres ended up back virtually where we started. Embarrassingly that was where we were actually meant to be, about 200 yards from where we had spent the last 3 hours! However we were now in the most exclusive of paddocks where only cars in the Parade were on display and from where the drivers of the Le Mans cars would be chauffeured through the city for the public at large to see them. And Glenn’s car was right in the middle of it all so everyone and everything was to come by us! Talk about being spoilt!



(We got caught up in an exotic traffic jam! The crowds start to form in Jet D'Eau)

 

[Malcolm]

Next to Glenn’s car was a vacant spot with a big T painted in it. In front of Glenn’s car were painted the letters GT40 so obviously the positioning of each car was strictly pre-planned. But what was a T? This time T stood for Trophy and the 24 Hours Du Mans trophy promptly turned up strapped to the back of a 1937 Auto Union and parked right next to us! Wow and Wow again! And there it stayed for the next 2 hours. To me endurance racing is the top form of racing and Le Mans is iconic so to have the 24 Hour trophy that close for so long was really quite an inspiring moment for me. Glenn was quite chuffed too although the security guard wasn’t so pleased at having to wipe his sticky finger prints off the trophy! Glenn got more than a Gallic shrug for that one!



(Just how close can I ever get to this trophy again? Simply an inspirational moment to me)

 

[Malcolm]

Then the razzmatazz began with bands marching and cars rolling out over the start ramp to begin the parade. As I mentioned before, every car in the parade had to pass our car and so I was able to see each and every driver in the race and even talk to a few of them. I am sure Alexander Wurtz was a bit surprised to have Southern GT marketing material thrust into his hand when it was typically the drivers dishing out the promo goods but then again, he did ask first about Glenn’s car and it was an opportunity not to be wasted. In fact a good number of the drivers did look at the 40’s on display, possibly being able to imagine driving a GT40 at over 200 mph down Mulsanne better than most. Many famous faces drove past and it was fun trying to name them all. Even a couple I have raced against in Brit Car so that was fun for me.

In 2009 there were 32 drivers who had never raced at Le Mans before and the youngest driver was just 17 years old.



(Can you name all these drivers? Alexander Wurtz has just recieved the sales pitch from me and holds the Southern GT literature!)

 

[Malcolm]

Then we had to get into Glenn’s car as it was our turn to join the parade, near the end. But most importantly, we were in front of the Ferraris! This was going to be some experience.

As we were running on board video we went at the end of the line of 40’s so that the other cars would be “in frame”. We were then able to see the car go up and over the start ramp where we were introduced by the commentators to much applause and shouting. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people in one place, certainly not at a car show or the like. I had been told to expect about 200,000 people but only when we went over the start ramp could you believe that figure. Please don’t break down car, please don’t break down!



(climbing on board for the start of the Parade, Heading up the start ramp)

 

[Malcolm]

The next 4 kilometres were quite staggering with crowds as far as the eye could see in all directions. Ok, so you cannot see very far when low down in a 40 but people were hanging out of windows, off balconies and climbing lamp posts to get a better vantage point. Every so often there was another small grandstand with additional commentators yelling out information on each car as it drove past. How they knew quiet so much detail about each car was impressive and certainly the crowds loved it. They loved it even more when the engines were wound up to a crescendo and they went positively bananas if the rear wheels momentarily lost traction, something the marshals were keen that we didn’t do!

 

[Malcolm]

Glenn’s Southern GT worked flawlessly the whole way round with the air con running to keep us cool and the radiator fans running to keep the engine cool. In fact the car was so good at controlling the temperatures I would have to say that I never seen a GT40 replica manage the heat and lack of forward movement as efficiently. Very impressive.


(This is about as hot as it got!)

 

[Malcolm]

As we nudged our way back into Jet D’Eau the crowd at large was now given direct access into the area where before we had been protected and they surged in to gather around the cars close up. But all behaved well and were respectful of the cars and their values.


(Prospective customers?)

 

[Malcolm]

Then it was time to drive to the next part of the day, by now getting well into evening. Not often you can do this in a 40, but all of us were able to simply drive off the curb on to the road without grounding! Then it was out with Sally Sat Nav to find Chateau Montbray for the champagne reception put on for the owners and drivers of the cars in the Parade by the Mayor of Le Mans. A short 20 minute drive (plus a stop for yet more petrol) found us heading up a long private driveway to a most elegant Chateau where our cars performed an immaculate synchronised parking manoeuvre to the lively tune of a jazz band, who, as the last car gracefully came to a halt, managed a fanfare signalling the arrival of the GT40’s! It could not have been orchestrated any better had we tried.



(Petrol and yet more petrol! A beautiful setting at the end of a long day)

 

[Malcolm]

The next four hours were spent having a relaxed look at the cars from the Parade and being able to talk to the owners or developers of some simply jaw dropping gorgeous machinery. As if to prove I have impeccable taste, the Citroen GT was awarded the trophy for the Car of the Parade and fully deserved it. We were then very pleased to have the McLaren representatives ask to join us at dinner and we spent a very enjoyable evening with them.

Right towards the end of the evening a typically French moment occurred when, having sat down to eat at about 11:30pm and finished just over an hour later, the Chef came out of the kitchens and berated us all for having eaten too fast!

The journey back to our Chateau, now some 85 kilometres distant, was a surreal middle of the night drive. Sally Sat Nav took us to the peage once again and we were able to cruise at a good healthy speed on a pretty deserted motorway. With ear plugs firmly in, darkness all around except for the narrow strip of tarmac lit up by the Xenon headlights on the Southern GT, it was ever so easy to slip into the mind of Steve McQueen in the classic film Le Mans, when the cars are simply pounding out the laps through the early hours of the night. The lazy way in which the long white lines delineating each lane mesmoradically flash past and the Armco being ever present to the side of the road taking us to another place and another time. To me it is these rare moments that owning a GT40 replica is really about, not the garish cruising and the high exposure but the ability to experience something that most other people on the planet could never fully understand unless they had been there too.

It is for others to take over with the story of the actual race but thanks must now be given to Glenn Mason for inviting me, to Paul Kingham (Tornado owner) for initially inviting Glenn to take part, and then to the other 40 owners Tony Jasper (KVA), Emiel de Weerdt (KVA) and Nigel Hulme (Superformance) for great cars and good company and to the GT40 Enthusiast Club under whose banner we were taking part. We met other great people on the way, all of which made this a trip to remember.




(Other pictures that should be seen but didn't fit easily above! Amazing what gets into Gulf livery!)

 

[Keith]

Great post Malcolm - thanks..

 

[Dave Bilyk]

Malcolm, thanks for putting that report together. Thoroughly enjoyed the text and pictures during my lunch break - awesome - thanks

regards

Dave