18 Jun 03
As the evening wears on, it's still no cooler, and people begin to retreat to the campsites. Lots of groups have brought paddling pools with them, or improvised with tyres and tarpaulins, which are doubling as mini swimming pools or giant beer-coolers. The barbies are fired up, we sink back into our deck chairs and completely fail to make it out to the Jamiroquai concert, taking place on a large stage within the perimeter of the circuit. I cook a mean ratatouille, however, in a large pan on the camping gas stove: served up with salad and couscous, it makes a welcome break from sausages, burgers and frites. Radio Le Mans in the background, we get out the detailed map of the area and plot the night's spectating.
Nighttime is the most exciting time for the race: there's few sights to beat the glare of headlights at 200mph-plus down the Mulsanne Straight, or the glow of red-hot exhausts and brake discs under sharp deceleration round Indianapolis - and it's also when much of the overtaking, jockeying for position and collisions occur, as the caution of the first few hours gives way to serious competition. We head out in style, in the Citroen: with more rear legroom than in a Maybach (not that I've measured either, but it's an educated guess) we have limousine comfort and it seems most appropriate for trundling round the back roads of the Sarthe region, where this car was first registered. There's also the advantage that all the French love it, and the gendarmes have a particular affection for it: we get waved through roadblocks, directed to prime positions for parking and allowed to cut through villages that have been shut off to through traffic. All the roads leading directly to the circuit have been closed, but it's possible to navigate all the way round on the back roads and designated car parks have been created in nearby fields. Some brave souls are doing the rounds on bicycles and mopeds, some are walking, though after our experience one year of getting lost in a field and nearly savaged by farmers' dogs, I wouldn't recommend the latter option.
First stop is Arnage, where we park by Arnage Corner and sit on a tall bank, just feet from the action. Wandering each way, we can see down to Indianapolis in one direction - a sharp corner - and up towards the Porsche Curves the other, and at any point, the atmosphere is thrilling and it's possible to hear each gear-change as the cars slow for the corner then accelerate away. Not quite thrilling enough for John, who manages to fall asleep just as a Corvette spins off into the gravel and brushes the Armco, but anyway... it is around 1am at this point. After an hour or so, we stir John and head for Mulsanne, where we beat a path through some trees to stand near the Carte 'S' chicane, where the cars have to slow between the long, straight stretches.
It's impossible to hear Radio Le Mans now, as our tiny radios can't compete with the sheer volume of the cars themselves, so we haven't got a clue what's going on, but at some point, we realize that the second TVR has now disappeared (it went out just before midnight, with differential failure) a Ferrari or two has gone and the distinctive green-painted Reynard-Cosworth, the first Le Mans contender to run on bio-ethanol fuel, is no longer in the race either. By 4am - the halfway mark for the race - the Bentleys are still running first and second, with the Team Goh and Champion Racing Audis behind them. The number 7 Bentley (Kristiansen/Capello/Smith) has established itself firmly as the leader; the number 8 car (Blundell/Herbert/Brabham) was held up with a couple of minor faults, including headrests falling off, though Blundell made a few spirited challenges in his nighttime stint. The Goh car drops to fourth place in the wee small hours, after suspension problems and a misfire, but the strong Champion Racing car needs nothing but a battery change during the night. We need our own pit stop, however, and Matt (who's at the wheel of the Citroen) needs a beer, so we return to camp, where we make a fire, catch up with the news on the radio and retire to bed just before sunrise.
