by "Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
Published 06/26/2017 at 14:53
by "Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
Published 06/26/2017 at 14:53
Tags: Le mans
; france
STARS: 7
But for now here are the cars from our campsite car park (please ignore the poor quality of composition, angles, and lighting. Most of these were taken in a rush and I was in a daze from having just driven down the Mulsanne straight):
And this last one is of our trust Citroen DS4 Crossback rental, which traversed 1086km of beautiful french roads.
"66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash" (66671)
06/26/2017 at 14:59, STARS: 0
Dat Ford Puma tho
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
06/26/2017 at 15:01, STARS: 2
That’s the odd thing about the 24 Hours: it’s essentially a British race that just happens to take place in France.
When I went the car parks were as interesting as the racing!
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 15:02, STARS: 1
That poor guy was getting so much shit from everyone there (campsite was essentially a whole bunch of english dudes who knew each other) about the “bright blue fiesta blocking the drive”. It was a weirdly cool looking car.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
06/26/2017 at 15:03, STARS: 0
I think I can see a Ford Racing Puma (or a replica). But I wonder also... what is the big butch thing behind the Europa?
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 15:03, STARS: 2
Evora 400M. Brand spanking new, gorgeous. I think my wife’s phone has a picture of it on it.
Not sure if the Puma was a replica or not, but that guy’s buddies sure were giving him shit about his “Fiesta” the whole time.
"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform)
06/26/2017 at 15:07, STARS: 0
Came for the Cerbera.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
06/26/2017 at 15:09, STARS: 1
Thanks!
How funny. Seeing just that corner in the picture makes it look as if it were a much bigger car with exaggerated proportions, which is clearly not the case with the Evora at all.
That green Jaguar also looks as if it could have a couple of interesting stories to tell...
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 15:09, STARS: 1
Here, have a convertible driving right through the spectator entrance at Tetre Rouge
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 15:10, STARS: 0
Well, parked with a Cobra and a Europa in the foreground just about anything would look large.
Yeah, I didn’t ever track down who owned that car but I’m pretty sure they bought it for pennies and drove it down Top Gear style.
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 15:13, STARS: 0
You know it was kind of weird. The campgrounds are heavily British (like, 90%. Ours was an off-site campground and we were the only two non-Brits there), but the people we were around in the circuit itself were far more diverse. Huge local turnout for the driver parade too, surprisingly.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
06/26/2017 at 15:14, STARS: 1
I am curious about what you experienced there. And about the DS4 review obviously, which I’m sure we’ll be getting as well ;)
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 15:15, STARS: 0
Spoiler: loved the race, found the DS4 surprisingly likable (if honestly a bit large for our needs), loved French roads, $32 toll between Le Mans and Bordeaux notwithstanding.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
06/26/2017 at 15:17, STARS: 0
I haven’t driven through the French countryside that much, but in the Alps last weekend checking the ‘avoid tollroads’ (and avoid highways) on your navigation sends you to much more interesting roads.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
06/26/2017 at 15:21, STARS: 0
I think the Racing Puma is considered quite to be valuable nowadays... maybe the problem is that his was the only (or one of the few) FWD cars among them?
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 15:22, STARS: 0
We did ‘avoid tollroads’ on the way down to Le Mans which was fantastic, but the rest of the trip was on a tighter timeline so we had to suck it up unfortunately.
The left-lane discipline was just incredible, really took a lot of the chore out of covering long distances. The 130 kmh speed limit out in the rural areas was quite surprising. And Jeremy Clarkson really isn’t exaggerating about random, unoccupied French roadworks that pop out of nowhere and slow you down to nothing for seemingly no reason.
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 15:23, STARS: 1
Probably just that they were all well heeled gentlemen in expensive cars and I got the feeling that he was too but enjoyed the subtleties of the little Puma, his buddies be damned.
"f86sabre" (f86sabre)
06/26/2017 at 15:24, STARS: 1
From my time there for the race it would read:
La Mans is a pretty town, especially around the cathedral.
The race was cool
It was hot
There were 300,000 sun burnt, drunk Europeans there.
Did I mention it was hot?
I walked from Arnage to Porsche Curves due to gridlock.
The beer was pretty good.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
06/26/2017 at 15:33, STARS: 1
Phil Llewellin once wrote a hilarious piece for an American magazine about a convoy of British enthusiasts going to Le Mans. I seem to remember there were vintage Bentleys and/or racing Jaguars involved.
Predictably at some stage right after reaching France there was some argument with the gendarmes or customs staff, which prompted one of the group (a very old, retired high-ranking officer of the British Army or something) to start mumbling about coming to France having been so much easier on D-Day (or something like that).
Llewellin might have overdone the Britishness thing at times, but his articles were very enjoyable.
"BeaterGT" (beatergt)
06/26/2017 at 15:45, STARS: 0
Need more pics of that Euro spec C5!
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 16:19, STARS: 0
Very surprised at how pretty Le Mans was.
The race was damn cool
Felt like I flew all of the way from Texas to go watch a race in Texas
My god those people love getting sunburned and they refuse to drink water, I do not understand how they live.
Again, Texas.
Dear god how long did that walk take you?
As a grade A insufferable douchebag hipster beer snob I found the beer to be pretty meh (much the same way that I found the coffee across france to be pretty meh), but I’m not one to complain about beer. Did have a proper pint of warm bitter at my campsite restaurant, which was not bad at all.
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 16:22, STARS: 0
Thought I had one somewhere, but it must be on my wife’s phone. That dude was a Brit, but my god do the french people love corvettes. Horrible smog-era C3s EVERYWHERE.
"Clemsie McKenzie" (thestirringcolumn)
06/26/2017 at 17:20, STARS: 1
Ha, didn’t know you were there too! Turns out we were quite a few Oppo at Le Mans this year, hopefully next year we can all get together for a beer at some point! I’m also surprised that you found our left-lane etiquette amazing, because it generally angers me to no end! Makes me wonder what it must be like in the US...
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 17:33, STARS: 0
Hilarious that you say that because I was talking to one of my British cohorts at our campsite who was waxing poetic about driving in the US due to being able to camp out in whatever lane he liked.
It’s honestly pretty bad here. It can be so bad that you really don’t have a choice but to pass on the right sometimes.
"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
06/26/2017 at 17:34, STARS: 1
And I plan on finding my way back again next year, we should absolutely plan on working out an oppo meetup next year when the time comes.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
06/26/2017 at 18:29, STARS: 0
HHHnnnngggggg OMG!!!
"f86sabre" (f86sabre)
06/26/2017 at 19:00, STARS: 0
My rented flat was right by the cathedral in the old part of town and it was amazing. Awesome old French lady and her husband owned it and they were super cool.
The lack of sun block usage is amazing. The US does not have the market cornered in rednecks. Most were hanging out at the Porsche Curves.
Yeah, it was hot.
It took us about 90 minutes to make the walk on the same road the busses were using. It was fun and terrifying at the same time. In the time it took us to walk we were not passed by a bus going the direction we were going. It was the fastest way to go. I had walked 10000 steps between 0000 and 0300.
Europe has been largely overtaken by big brewers, but microbrews are coming. Jensen Button invested in one of the first in France.
I did get to do 189 MPH on the train.
"Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12)
06/27/2017 at 05:36, STARS: 0
Love the TVR. So rarely get to see them in Australia