The buzz from Le Mans

Ian Dickson writes

For one weekend every year the small city of Le Mans in northern France puts on one of the greatest motoring spectacles in the world.

Revered as a breaker of cars and men, Peugeot was leading the charge and looked set to make it a second win in as many years when its four cars retired with unreliability woes.

This left Audi to roar all the way to a spectacular 1-2-3 finish. I was there with Audi as it celebrated its ninth Le Mans win.

Even if you’re not a huge motor racing fan, the buzz and atmosphere of Le Mans is worth the trip alone. It starts from the moment you get to Dover where hundreds of like-minded people in all manner of weird and wonderful machines embark on the trek to northern France.

Just watch out for the French cops if you ever go. France’s 130km/h limit is stringently enforced, especially on Le Mans weekends, with the sneaky Gendarmes hiding on bridges, down embankments and in the back of unmarked cars with tinted windows. A few R8 drivers weren’t so lucky…

Audi kindly loaned me a Q7 for the trip, which cruised brilliantly and drank less than a tank of diesel, and I drove in convoy with my former work buddies, Steve Huntingford, Matt Sanger and Ivan Aistrop from What Car?, the four of us making quick progress but not straying too far beyond the limit.

Left to right: Steve, Ivan and Matt

Audi does hospitality on a grand scale and the makeshift hotel where I stayed beside the track was a comfortable place to catch up on some rest, while they had three other venues for watching the action and replenishing the boiler with food and drink.

The best place to watch the race, though, was from Audi’s corporate box above the pits, where we were treated to a spectacular view of the on-track and pit action.