|
|
|
Well it has taken a couple of days to get through the photos, but here it is finally. This will be gradually added to as I want to curate most of the photos I took, so if you want the full story to go with the gallery read the thread, if you just want pictures of pretty cars feel free to go to the flickr and gorge yourself on goodness. Le Mans Classic 2014 - the HoTWire experienceMy main reason to head down to Le Mans was actually to check out Château Rive Sarthe as a place for a bit of Retro Rides continental action, but it would have been rude not to check out the Classic at the same time. The event runs every other year and attracts people from all across continental Europe as well as a strong showing from the UK (and a fair number from around the world to be frank). I will start off by admitting a bit of a minor lapse in judgment, I figured we (myself and my friend Tim) would reach the Château around midnight given the time of our Chunnel crossing, I had forgot to account for time spent eating, time spent refueling and the different time zone. We arrived at 2am. Tired and a bit frazzled we hit the hay and tried to get some sleep. Friday morning arrived and to be honest I spent most of the day in a bit of a daze, you can see what we got up to here : retrorides.proboards.com/thread/168417/tente-cordiale-mini-teaux-picturesWe went out for food on the Friday evening, Rich606 put the idea of steak and chips in our brain and it wouldn't leave. The small local town had a number of classics parked up and dotted through the center from a lovely DS21 to an Aston Martin that was parked next to us when we return to the car and all sorts of stuff in between. The whole area seems to embrace the event, our Château is 20-30 minutes out from Le Mans itself but was in full swing with old cars and suitably decked out shops. Dinner consumed we headed back to our gite and got a very well deserved and very welcome restful night. Saturday was going to be busy. First stop on our journey to the circuit was the local Super U for supplies, mainly bakery goods. The car park at the Super U would put a number of classic car shows I've been to to shame, we knew we were in for a good day from that alone. We had originally opted for car park Bleu, but seeing the queue to get into it we headed for Rouge. 18euro to park for the day is excessive, and I'll leave it at that. To reiterate that we were somewhere special the first car I saw when I got out of ours was a Mercedes 600 Pullman, just parked up like it ain't no thing. A few cars down was a Maserati Khasmin, a car I've never seen in the flesh before. We made our way towards the entrance and after being gouged for more money than I care to think about we were on our way in. Outside Club StandsRain and thunderstorms had been forecast for the entire weekend, whilst there was a bit of a rumble and a few spots over night the day had started dry. As we got into the track there was a small down pour, but it wasn't too unpleasant as it was still qutie warm. The first stand in from the entrance contained more Citroen SMs in one place than I've ever seen. Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr One of the things I'd promised myself was to take some better photos for a change. Tim who I was with is a very good photographer and artist, he suggested having a theme or an idea to give me the kick to take better or more interesting photos. He had gone for perspectives that included a lot of sky (being concerned primarily with aesthetics rather than just documenting cars), I decided to go with trying to capture what it was about that particular car attracted me to it, you'll see them smattered through this gallery, and it started with this. Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr And dat ass doe Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Occasionaly I just went for the obvious shot of something that I thought would make a nice photo Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Not really knowing where we were going or how big the event was yet we decided to pop over the bridge and see if we could find a cup of tea*. Apparently there were more clubs this way Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Inside the iconic Dunlop bridge Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr *please note it was three hours until we actually stopped gawping at stuff long enough to get a cup of tea.
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 22, 2014 14:16:57 GMT by HoTWire
|
|
|
|
|
|
First Set Of Inside Club StandsThe first thing to greet us as we cross the bridge is the Morgan club stand. I've never been the biggest Morgan fan, but I do really appreciate that they have kept going through thick and thin and stayed true to their roots in providing the world with a British sports car. This one however very much caught my eye. Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr It is hard to photograph the think I like about this "polished metal" is a difficult ask, luckily the earlier rain helped Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Then there was this Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Mainly the eye searing colour is what attracted me on that. Heading up from the Morgans I saw something which pretty much sums up Classic Le Mans Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr The kids do love a super car Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr I think this was a UK car (anyone know them?), it must have been both a joy and a nightmare to travel to the event in, a joy because it looks super comfortable, a nightmare because fuel stops on E402 are few and far between. Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr One of my favourite cars in the whole wide world right here Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr It has such a pretty face Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr I should have probably photoshopped the people above the car our of the photo, but it took long enough to sort the wheat from the chaff on this set and do some reasonable cropping work. Tim was rather taken with this Panhard, latter in the day I saw a Panhard I didn't even realise they made ... but for now this is rare enough for us UK folk Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Diversity really is the watch word of the event, or a combination of diversity and rarity at least Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr The 504 Coupe is VERY high on my list of deserving a bit of cafe/gentleman racer treatment as per my other thread recently... very high indeed. Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr I'll pause there and return later with more... so, so much more...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Magnifique! Lovely, lovely stuff, I look forward to the rest...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Very, very nice.
*n
|
|
Top grammar tips! Bought = purchased. Brought = relocated Lose = misplace/opposite of win. Loose = your mum
|
|
|
|
|
I like what I see so far! Nice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Looking good! Unfortunately I couldn't justify the time off work to do three 24hr races in a month! Judging by these photos so far I'll definitely be going in two years time though!
|
|
1990 BMW 318iS, 1971 Range Rover V8
|
|
bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,858
Club RR Member Number: 71
|
|
|
The car park charges were for the whole weekend not just one day.....
This was a minor annoyance to the BC mob as we like to see mulsane corner, arnarge, tet rouge and the main circuit. In 2012 all the satellite areas were free and main circuit parking 15 euro for the wwhole weekend.
This year, blue was 18 euro, mulsane and arnarge 10 euro and red for tet rouge 35 euro, none of the parking permits covered usage in any other car parks..... So if you wanted to visit all the total car park costs got bloody silly or you walked a lot....
I chose walking....
|
|
|
|
mylittletony
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,335
Club RR Member Number: 84
|
|
|
Awesome selection, looking forward to the next batch!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks for the nice words so far ... in the words of Bachman Turner Overdrive, you ain't seen nothing yet djet. lets continue our stroll around the top end of the club stands, still no idea how big the event really is I was feeling already pretty happy with my entry fee and the stuff I'd seen, it was like a high quality version of Bromley Pageant so far. Big Brit living in France Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr I'm adding Marcel lamps to my list of Cafe Car/Gentleman Racer bits Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr I'm an Alfa fan, and the two I'd seen so far had left me very please, if that was as good as it got on the Alfa front then I'd have been happy.. but this is Classic Le Mans... oh boy... in the mean time lovely and understated Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr See the influence, the Alfa coupe shape next to the Porsche, or did the 356 infulence the Alfa? ... anyway great stuff all round Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Gallic charm in black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr So... this was parked in this stand... there were a couple more in another stand too.. Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr I really like how frankly brutal these cars are, like they were carved out of a breezeblock... and then it picks up its skirts and disappears into the distance at a serious rate, brilliantly deranged. Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Wonderful Simca 8, I know this because it says so on the hub caps, a tool I used later to identify something even more unusual Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr p-p-p-pickup a p-p-p-purple p-p-p-porsche Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr We had come to the limit of this little club stand area and started to head down the hill back past the Morgans hoping to find that cup of tea we were searching for ... and to quote the worst of internet spam "you won't believe what happened next" ... but you'll have to wait until after work as I've got things to do now.
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 9, 2014 15:26:07 GMT by HoTWire: Edit to add pun
|
|
|
|
|
Okay I've been sort of teasing amazement so far, so I guess I should deliver on that promise. This was the first thing that made me realise that this event isn't normal on the other side of the Morgan stand I was greeted with this little lot Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Matra Djet you say, unusual and interesting, but not mind blowing surely... well, yes and no... these are René Bonnet Djet, of which less than 200 were ever made. I've never seen one in the flesh before, in fact I've only seen one Matra Djet in the flesh before, so this was pretty damn special. The stand also had some plain old Matras on it too Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Three stud wheels all seem to be awesome Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr My pick here was the arch headlight curve line going on Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Next door to the Matra/Rene Bonnet group were a pre-war Talbot club Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr The eagle eyed will have noticed nearly all the cars have UK plates, it must have been hell of a sight seeing this lot traveling down the Autoroutes, phenomenal dedication to awesomeness right there. Step into the next stand and we have another selection of ridiculously rare French beauties Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr I'll be honest with you, other than being a Panhard I have no idea what the above car is, I thought it might be a DB something or other, but it appears not. This on the other hand is a DB HBR 5 (I think), another car that Rene Bonnet has his hand in Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr That is some interesting wheel fitment, anyone know the PCD? Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr And then we have this... a Panhard Monopole, it is about as rare as actual hens teeth and it was stashed here on this club stand with little to no fan fare... because Le Mans Classic Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr This too has a nice behind Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr What happenss next? Well I discover another car I never knew existed, I find a selection of my favourite cars in the entire world... all by moving another six foot along from the Panhards... but will we get that cup of tea?? You'll have to wait a while to find out..
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 10, 2014 11:22:04 GMT by HoTWire: correct word
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ooh, you are building the tension.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ah, this sailed past me and my dad on the Saturday morning, as we were having a coffee in Arnage! Someone in the distance was talking about how it had early Saab running gear (at least I think this was the car he was referring to..) and my Dad was explaining what he thought was going on with the wheels - that they were also drum brakes (all in one kinda thing). I would've paid more attention, but at the same time a 275 GTB pulled up at the side of the road, so naturally my attention wandered.. Great pictures, I'll probably stick mine up once you've finished
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Great pictures, I'll probably stick mine up once you've finished Awesome stuff, I hope to be mostly done tonight... there are still a lot to go through though
|
|
|
|
longman
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 506
Club RR Member Number: 3
|
|
|
Great shots! , only wandered about with my iphone this year. Camping is the way to go, 1 Qashqai 4 up , 1 911 2 up and a Transit 2 up and full of bikes and assorted tat for le weekend , turned up Friday after traveling through some mental rain storms to find bright sunshine at the pistonheads site , set up quick and went and attacked the beer. The only downer for me this time was the rain , sat morn till the race started and then sunday morning when we all got soaked , bikes are the way forward as you can get everywhere with a little pedal power... anyways only took a few as I took 100's in 2010.. beer n porsche some more s&m with an R5 Gordini hiding behind it Boost Just bimbling about this made a great noise in the races front end of a GT40 The paddock at night is a great place to be , beer in hand with this stuff burbling past Boom! 917 fell over the fence round the Mazzers... got pipes.. Arnage at night is a proper place to be , the tier 5 cars sound mental , especially the 7.5ltr Vettes.. all my other shots are of us lot drunk .. hey ho
|
|
Paul 98 500 SL 86 911 Carrera/sold 23 Octavia Phev
|
|
|
|
|
MORE! Warning, I come over all a bit gooey in the process of the following pictures... First let us start with something very unusual, very very cool, and I wish there were more of them because I'd love to have a play with one This (as the useful hubcaps once again tell us) is a Dyna VeritasLe Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr It has a passing resemblance to a certain other German car of the era, although this one is based on Panhard underpinnings Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr I couldn't help but imagine this lowered over suitable wheels. The interior looked somewhat more plush than its Wolfsberg rivals so I imagine it is a very nice place to spend some time pottering around the back roads of France. ENOUGH of these obscure French sporting cars Bring on the slightly less obscure French luxury Gentlemans Touring cars! The finest backsides in France Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Notice the V in the tail light... that is class my friends, class you can't fake. Facel Vega are pretty much my favourite road cars, so it is hell of a treat for me to see a line up of them... what is the collective noun for Facel Vega? A Swag of Vega? A Lounge of Vega? Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr I didn't really take that many photos of them as I was busily actually looking at them and picturing myself wafting back to Blighty in one after having duped some poor unsuspecting owner into swapping it for my half broken down Smart ForFour... I'd have settled for a Facel III Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Or even a Facellia F2 (which also has a rather splended behind) Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Oh and this was opposite them, but whatever Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 10, 2014 11:33:41 GMT by HoTWire: fixed word so sentence means what I wanted to to mean rather than what I didn't want it to mean which was wrong.
|
|
|
|
|
A Quick Detour Through The Market PlaceComing out of the first set of club stands, there were many more than I photographed btw, we finally found a place where we might purchase a cup of tea, to our dismay it had taken us until nearly lunch time to get there and the queues were very long. We walked around the various stalls hawking many and varied goods for a little bit to escape another rain shower and found a small selection of interesting motorbikes... the only photo I got was this : Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Moving along again once the rain had stopped and we found a bunch more shops in a plaza and a car or two hanging out... I took this, because it seemed the thing to do Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr At the end of the plaza was the entry to the Paddock ... I queued up briefly, got to the front and was told I needed to purchase a supplement to get into the paddock ... 45 euro each (okay it lasts three days but we were only there for one). Merde. Oh well no bother, we'll just walk around the edge of the paddock, now that we've done the club stands we can get to see some track action (they were doing parade/show laps for some clubs and organisations that had booked them). Also we might be able to find a cup of tea on the way. The edge of the paddock contained more stalls selling the usual array of books, over priced toys, things for your house that were some how car related, all that good stuff. In the haphazard nature of Le Mans Classic this was randomly stashed in this area, for reasons unknown Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr AND THEN WE FOUND TEA! It was just next to a junction and I kept spotting interesting cars going past as we waited... I did briefly jump out the queue and get a shot off of this Fiat Dino (it has been a long time since I've seen one) Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr With tea in hand we just went with the flow of the crowd through the gate you can see in the picture of the Dino above... about 30 seconds later my mind dribbled out of my ear...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Super sweet. Yep, definitely on my list...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In Which HoTWire Loses His MindThrough the gate (just visible in the above picture) was the back of the Porsche Lounge along side a handful of stalls. We ambled around the stalls as our teas cooled and the sun came out. At the front of the Porsche Lounge was a bit of track that wasn't in use and a bunch of people milling around on it. We found a place to sit for a bit (we've been doing a lot of walking) by sitting on one of the flag bases at the front of the Porsche Lounge. I was mildly amused that a bunch of Ferrari 355s and the like had pulled up outside it, I'm not particularly awed by modern Ferraris, living in London I regularly see them and various other super and hyper cars. Although I did see a LaFerrari whilst sat there which was a first for me. That having been said, there are many people that are very sniffy about Ferraris, "I don't get Ferarris", "I don't like Ferraris", all the things people say and think they mean. What happened next though, well I'd defy anyone to maintain they don't like Ferraris if they were there. In fact I'd go as far as to say if what I'm about to share happens to you and you say you don't like Ferraris, I'd suggest you don't like cars So ... I got up to take a picture of the LaFerrari that had parked up for my friend Tim (different Tim, the Tim with me could take his own damn picture). I realised that this was the queue for the parade laps, and then I realised there was another lane to fill, and then... Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr Le Mans Classic 2014 by RetroSceneMag, on Flickr The sound, oh god the sound, the wonderful wonderful sound... the sight, these cars, these incredibly beautiful cars, here in front of me, so rare, so precious that they change hands for more money than most of us will see in a life time... there they are just rolling past a scant few feet from me, driven by enthusiasts who realise what they mean to people, who are stopping for photographs and exchanging pleasantries with people. For many people this would be the highlight of the day, for some the highlight of the years, for Ferarri fanatics it would be the highlight of their life. As I sat back down to review my photos to make sure I'd got the pictures I thought I had I reflected that maybe that was enough for the day, I could go home happy, satisfied with my entry fee. Then again what I discovered about Classic Le Mans is that you never know what is going to be around the corner. It was a while before the euphoria of the parade of priceless Ferraris was bettered,.. but bettered it was...
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 9, 2014 20:18:47 GMT by HoTWire
|
|
fred
Posted a lot
WTF has happened to all the Vennies?
Posts: 2,957
|
|
|
I feel a Cravat growing and a pipe appearing in my hand, wonderful pictures I feel I need to be gentrified to be able to own a Facel - (and a heap of cash) I imagine a group of them should be a Facel of Vega's
|
|
'79 Cossie ran Cortina - Sold
2000 Fozzer 2.0 turbo snow beast
'85 Opel Manta GSI - Sold
03 A class Mercedes
Looking for a FD Ventora - Anyone?
|
|
|
|
|
Looks amazing the quality of the cars is mind blowing, great stuff Mr. Wire
|
|
Sierra - here we go again! He has an illness, it's not his fault.
|
|
|