So, web service is sketchy so pics will follow at some point… Yesterday (Thursday) we arrived in Paris after about 20 mins to spare in Detroit at our connection. From there a train to Le Mans (about 2 hours), a quick shower and we’re in the back of a diesel golf headed to the circuit for the last bit of qualifying. The level of excitement and crowd numbers were evident and actually shocking as I’ve never seen anything quite like this in the states. We love our cars back home but it’s simply a whole new level of passion… this is a full two days before the race actually begins and it was wall to wall traffic (car and foot) at the venue. The ‘vendor row’ was incredible with scale models, hats and t shirts – so many of them. And the pit buildings and hospitality buildings… I simply have no words for them. They were massive and stunning. As we’re guests of Michelin and they are a premier sponsor of the race, and not to mention are the main supplier of race tires to most of the teams, we toured their facilities and their hospitality area… this is no ‘hospitality tent’ that I am used to. This was a full two story building that would rival many nightclub environments – beer kegs, great food, neon blue lighting throughout, huge back balcony that is situated right on the edge of the track, just simply first class all around. As I said, I was stunned. Porsche and Audi have huge presences here and their hospitalities were more than one and were just unbelievable. The Audi one was three stories I believe and the building itself looked like it would be at home in any major modern city in the world. So, we watched the last qualifying from said balcony sipping a beer, which started at 10pm. The three Audi diesels that are running are almost silent while passing by at full speed, which is sort of strange but they are so good at what they do, impressive nonetheless. The Ferraris and Porsches are loud as expected and the Corvette C7R and Aston Martins sound so damn sexy with their rumbling massive engines. The Ferraris are by far the loudest with high pitched yelps and screams accompanied by crackling and burbling. We lasted for a while and started to fade fast so headed back to the hotel in a public transit train (which was packed by the way), we arrived at the hotel around 12 or so. And the campers at the track! Oh my we saw some pretty awesome and unusual setups for sure. These people are truly passionate about this event. That was one hell of a long day!

Some interesting facts leading up to the 83rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans

I slept until about 3am and woke up to a pretty spectacular thunder and lightning show, so I propped up my GoPro and took some cool time lapse sequences from our window sill. Couldn’t sleep much after that so arranged my photos from the previous day. As I said, the web is sketchy even though I’ve rented a mobile hotspot for our entire time in Europe. It’s been marginally adequate for the occasional FaceTime call back home and a few Facebook/Instagram posts here and there. But at least we can keep in touch back home.

Friday’s activities don’t get stated until around 4-5pm as there’s a driver’s parade of sorts in downtown Le Mans, nothing really going on at the track as qualifying has ended, Porsche is on the Pole by the way. Anh wanted to take a visit to the Le Mans Cathedral so about 6:30 we ventured out on public transport to go find this thing… we figured out how to buy tickets (which are cheap by the way at 1.50 euro, ride anywhere on the line) and ended up at the base of this stunning cathedral where construction began in the 6th century. We walked all around and through it and marveled at the stained glass and construction that occurred so long ago. In the parking lot there was a huge outdoor market set up, kind of like a farmers market. So Anh approaches an old lady selling what looked like a variety of small grapes. After some total mis-communication and a few laughs we ended up buying two baskets of the small fruit for 5 euro and they are nearly inedible… so sour, we think they’re used for jams or something else. That was funny, we just laughed at ourselves – silly Americans in France! After a little andouille sausage (which again wasn’t edible) and some roasted chicken we headed back to the hotel to take a nap before the festivities begin, which is why I’m writing now!

Here’s a link to the 24 Heures Du Mans

And some links for MichelinMan and Michelin So much thanks to our hosts Steve and Sarah for the hospitality so far!

More later…