Sunday, June 10, 2012

LeMans

Everywhere there is memorabilia for the 24 hrs.
Race Track Entrance
Le Mans cathedral





Start Time for Race
Stats over the years
We visited LeMans between the time trials weekend and the actual race. Our B&B here was incredible, “Clos D’Hautville”, very central in old LeMans with our hostess providing us with great rooms, sheltered parking and a wonderful breakfast the next morning in a grand dining room fit for a king! We arrived after a drive through Fougere ( covered in Chateaus) and on our way to Blois and the Loire valley.
Each of these cities has a Cathedral and this one competes very well with the one in Chartre which we visited with our kids back in 1991. It is incredibly huge with arches in overabundance.
Dinner that evening was a La Stromboli’s pizzeria after Sandra saw the wood burning oven in use. Our pizzas were just simply superb and the chef would work each dough with loving kneading hands.
The next morning we headed out to the track and museum. With the track closed since crews are beginning to work in the garages on vehicles for the race next week,  we toured the museum, which provided the historical background and major competitors for LeMans. As well there are many vehicles there that can’t be seen anywhere else.
   
Audi TDI's rule here
R8 Safety Car Just Right for Chandos!

Sandra's Travel Suitcase
Of course Porsche, Ferrari and Audi are well represented, but so is Jaguar, Bentley, Renault, Peugeot and Ford. Ford made a big push in the 70’s with their GT40 and won LeMans more than once with it. Porsche is the winningest car manufacturer and now Audi with their TDI based race cars have been very successful winning 10 times since 2000. Diesel will be the racing engine of the future until they can hot swap battery packs in electric vehicles.  
Artifacts of the bygone eras are everywhere there and Sandra just loved the travel suitcase, wishing she could have it on our motorcycle. From here we head to Blois and the Chateaus of the Loire Valley.

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