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My
Tub at Le Mans 2004 - Dave Rennie
I
picked up my co-driver (direction finder and hard drinking
attorney) at the silly early time of about 5am and stashed
his stuff all over the car which had a noticeable effect
to the cars already low ride height.
We
decided that a nice gentle drive from Southampton (Titanic
port) to Portsmouth, just to get the feel of the car
during long journeys, would be a good idea. The car
had been tuned, striped of the bumpers, headlights replaced
with speedster grills and lowered especially for the
trip but had been back a few times for re-tuning and
an 050 dizzy fitting. The problem being that my car
has a 1600 normal engine but has 912 solex carbs and
Knetch Mesh Filters which had not been rebuilt and where
being a bit of a bitch for my man at Retromotors to
sort.
Any
way the tub made the small trip no problem and we were
directed to board the ferry to France. It was like a
scene from the Gum Ball Rally film. Exotic sports cars
ranging from old Porsche (of which we only noticed two)
to old Alfa and Jags. The ferry filled with the sound
of reving engines and the dim lights bouncing of the
cars shiny paint work.
The
crossing was uneventful. The normal scene of kids running
around screaming and shouting and adults trying to ignore
the behaviour.
The
arrival at France was less painful and the cars were
lined up and sent on there way. We tried to follow a
group of E and D types but just could not keep up. Later
after a quick pitstop they past us again. We arrived
at Le Mans and found our way to the unofficial meeting
point in front of the cathedral. For those of you that
have seen the Steve McQueen film it was like the scene
at the beginning when he stops in his black 911 and
looks at the women selling flowers and has a flash back.
Several other Porsche owners had already congregate
in the area and we parked up and settled in to a couple
of pints of cool French lager. My old tub seemed to
be getting quite a bit of attention from the locals
even though there were other 356s parked about. I can
only guess that it was the racing look of the car.
The
Porsche contingent moved on (Ritche King of karmann
Konnection included) and we decided that there was time
for a couple more cool lagers and anyway most of the
Porsche GB people had booked hotels when we had decided
to ruff it in the Mason Blanche campsite.
The
weather was good and the temperature was rising. The
temp gauge on my car has not been working properly for
sometime so after a quick feel of the engine and an
oil check we ambled on to register our attendance with
the Porsche France club. My attorney got him self a
nice Porsche club watch to go with his Omega Seamaster
and the car got its stickers (necessary for the laps
around the track the next day).
The
campsite was set and the car needed to be prepared for
the laps so we went for shopping. My attorney selected
a mixture of fine wines (at least 18 bottles) and an
assortment of salty snacks. I picked up a few choice
bottles just to be sociable. That night a few bottles
went to good use preparing the driver and his copilot
for the laps and also to try and drown out the sound
of race cars zipping past. A quick thank you to the
Netherlands club for the company and a parking space.
Next
morning we placed the car in the Porsche club compound
and sat in the sun. Again my old tub was getting lots
of attention (may be its the louvered deck lid).
Had
a chat with an old gent that was parked next to me.
He had recently paid #15,000 to have his engine rebuilt
and was still not happy with it. His car looked patinered
and his engine had been upgraded to 75bhp from the 60bhp
it once had. #15,000 is just to much, he could have
bought my whole car for that. My car had also recently
had engine work, a replacement fitted which cost me
#1,200 + parts and a tune-up (thank you Ritchie King).
Anyway we noticed that several drivers had started there
cars so we jumped in, fired up the damon and rolled
into place. My attorney grabbed his camera and hunkered
down (no seat belts) hoping that if we crashed that
this would help.
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