It started as all great things do in the pub with “do you fancy going to Le Mans” my response was, what the pinnacle of sports car racing, watching drivers race side by side at 200mph, of course I’d like to go but what is it going to cost. With visions of sky high costs as per F1 at Silverstone it seems a very daunting prospect, throw in the difficulties of doing this in a foreign country and you begin to realise why I have never visited Le Mans one of the most famous of race tracks.

So it continued I know this guy whose been going for years who reckons if you camp you can do the whole weekend for less than the cost of a grandstand seat at Silverstone. So sceptically I met with Mark and asked what the deal was, he said “you drive down in your Discovery with two of us in the car with you and lug all the gear down we split the cost of the ferry and diesel 3 ways, €50 for your ticket and camping and that’s all there is to it. So looking for the catch off I went in June 2003 for my first visit to what was to become an annual event Mark, Russ and myself in the car, Biggles (Phil) flying down in his balsa wood plane, John on his bike off we went with two tents, a cooker and a cool box and arrived at Mulsanne to watch Bentley dominate the weekend. Total cost for the weekend including a hotel for the Sunday night about £200 to watch a fantastic race and event.

Memory of 2003 Phil getting arrested at Le Mans airport for not having a passport when he went to check on his plane.

So  a couple of months after the race I was in the pub and someone says to me, “I hear you’ve been to Le Mans” so I said yes had a really good time living off beer and barbeques for a week with a great bunch of blokes. So Mr Recovery as he was to become better known said I’ve always wanted to go but thought it would cost a fortune. So I said to him well come along next year and he did with Avatar.

There was a missing part of the story which has recently been pointed out that it was Peg who made the introductions to Mr recovery and Avatar and who was also supposed to travel with them in 2004.

So there was supposed to be Mr Recovery Avatar and Peg in the Toyota but then Peg blew us out at the eleventh hour but said his brother in law and mates wanted to go, plus his brother in laws brother Brian could fill the space in the van. So there was Dave, Supra and Dean turned up on their bikes plus Brian travelling with Mr Recovery and then Rob who happened to be touring France with John dropped in. So in total from 5 in 2003 we had now become 12 although Russ had emigrated to Oz.

Memories of 2004 Dean splitting the casing open on his Suzuki and dropping oil and coolant all over the exit of the racing line on the Mulsanne corner. This event was to add some excitement into the Group C race on the Saturday morning.

Collected a €90 fine for speeding on the way home on Monday for which the hat had to be passed around.

Mr Recovery waiting outside Dover for what was the start of his annual ride in a Britania Recovery truck.

So after the events of the year I was in the pub and Mr Recovery said I know this bloke TVR Rules who wants to go to Le Mans, so of course we let him join the hallowed event for 2005 and although he didn’t have a good start to the weekend, Mr Recovery did let him ride with him in the Toyota support vehicle and then in the Britania recovery truck to the French garage.

They then shared a cab to Le Mans from Chartres together with Phil, who to avoid passport control had this time flown into Chartres . So they arrived at Mulsanne hot and bothered by Renault Meganne taxi with the barbeque, tent various bags and other baggage for 10 people on their laps but we think he enjoyed himself, as he rebooked for 2006 and took the even bigger gamble of expecting a TVR to be able to get to Le Mans without the aid of a recovery truck.

Memory of 2005 well this was the year the ice ran out, as someone thought it a good idea to buy several cool boxes of ice on Friday, thinking it would last all weekend and what was worse left no room for the beer.

The same person also got fined €40 for riding his bike without a headlight on during the day but generous chap that he is gave the nice gendarme €50 tipping him for his time and efforts.

Avatar couldn’t come as his girlfriend at the time decided she wanted to be Mrs Avatar and booked the wedding to coincide with Le Mans weekend, so guaranteeing him a lifetime of grief for going away on their anniversary every year.

So to 2006 after several drinks in a few pubs we met some more people who all wanted to go to Le Mans, so this year we ended up with two parties one of 10 comprising of  7 seasoned veterans with three newbies in tow and another mixed party of 11 including Peg who didn't blow us out this year, although I’m sure some of the newbies were not aware of what they had signed upto, as this is certainly not a 5 star campsite.