Gill and I, in the TR7 Drop Head Coupe, along with 5 other cars from the Club Triumph Norfolk Area attended Classic Le Mans in July 2010.

We set of early on a Wednesday morning for the 150 mile drive to the Channel Tunnel, never having been before we did not appreciate the British Invasion to this event, from the M20 onwards we saw classics and sports cars everywhere, heading for Le Mans. Arriving at the shuttle terminal in Folkestone in time to catch an earlier shuttle, just 30 minutes later we where heading down the A16 from Calais towards Boulogne, before heading inland on D roads towards Montreuil and Abbeville for lunch at a roadside cafe in glorious sunshine.

KBA resting after a long drive from UK.

Driving in France, once you get used to driving on the right is very nice, there doesn't seem to be the normal ruts caused by lorries, and the D roads where great to drive, with no congestion anywhere. We carried on after a typical French lunch of bageutte and beer through Neufchatel , around Rouen which was very busy, through Saint Etienne Du Rouvray,then through Brionne heading towards Valleville, then on to Beaumont St Roger, near Bernay to stay at the Hostellerie du Lion D’or.

Having a well earned beer at the Hostellerie du Lion D’or.

We where soon joined by a couple in a Lotus Elan stopping over.

The following day we had a 100 mile run to Le Mans through Broglie, Gace, Sees to Alencon, At Alencon we managed to get in Convoy with other classics heading for Le Mans passing through Beaumont –S- Sarthe and on to Le Mans. Finding the campsite was a nightmare, we followed sign after sign, always ending up lost, managing to visit the Arnage corners, the Mulsanne straight, and Maison Blanche before we finally arrived very hot and bothered on the campsite.

Typical Scenery and weather near Bernay.

The signs we had to follow, we folowed the "rouge" one.

Our home for the next 4 nights was the Triumph Camp Site at the Tetra Rouge corners within the circuit, along with 350 other Triumph owners, all the usual facilities where on site, Showers, Toilets, Marquee with a bar and telly for screening of the Grand Prix and World Cup Final. We had use of a chiller van permanently parked up by the organisers for keeping food and beer cool in the extremely hot 32 degrees plus weather. After setting up tent, we discovered the Carrefour supermarket in Le Mans guided by Keith and Sue in the Stag, stocking up on wine, beer, water, and food.

Home for 4 nights. Tetra Rouge campsite.

We sacrificed the view of the track for the shade of trees, whilst the 4 other cars from the Norfolk Area chose a good view of the track with only their gazebo for shade, which they constantly had to move to stay shaded.

On the Friday we toured the Le Mans Village, a collection of stalls, food outlets, retailers, exhibitions of some fantastic cars, classics everywhere, and lots of other interesting items.

Lancia, Porsche, and Ferrari Le Mans Racers.

1957 Lotus Le Mans Racer.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C Le Mans car from 1966.

Adler Super Triumph from 1937.

More modern machinery, Bugatti Veyron.

Batmobile!

Porsche Carrera GT.

On Friday the qualifying sessions began, with 6 classes or Plateau 's, this carried on till 2 on Saturday morning, each class running in the day and in the night. We watched some early action from the Dunlop Tribune Stand.

D type Jags, Cobras, a Lotus in their qualifying section.

Triumph Le Mans Spitfire in qualifying.

Porsche and Jag C Type.

Later qualifying session for Plateau 4 cars, couple of GT40s and Cobras.

We eventually retired to bed at 3am after the night time qualifying.

Saturday was again bright and hot, we got the shopping out of the way early, ready for racing to start proper. We spent quite some time looking round the paddocks at cars being prepared for the 4pm start.

Porsche 936 from 1979. Eventual winner of Plateau 6.

AC Cobra from 1964.

Ford GT40 from 1965.

Le Mans Spitfire from Jigsaw Racing. ADU1B from 1964, French Spitfire behind.

Marlboro/Saudia BMW 3.0 CSL from 1973.

Capri 2600 RS from 1971.

Aston Martin DP212 from 1962.

Lotus 11's from the 1958 Race.

Jaguar E Type from 1962.

Couple of Porsche 935's from 1978 and 1980.

Plateau 5 Ligier JS 3, 1970.

Triumph TR2's from Plateau 2, 1955.

After looking in the paddocks we went out on to the grid formation area, where cars where lined up ready for the off. We chose to watch Plateau 5 and 6 with cars from 1965 to 80. Again, you could get up real close to the cars up to about 3 minutes before the cars where ready for the off, only standing back when the engine start warning was giving. Here you could see the last minute dramas, see drivers sweating away, trying to keep cool, and once the engines sounded it was awesome.

Chevron B1 on the grid.

Ferrari 365 GTB/4 from 1972.

Couple of Chevrolet Corvettes from 1971.

Porsche 906 from 1966.

Dodge Charger from the 1976 Le Mans 24 Heures.

TOJ SC 206 from the 1978 Le Mans, driven in that race by Fittipaldi. Porsche 908/4 from 1974 in background.

1971 Porsche 908/3 in Gulf colours.

We returned to the Dunlop Stand to watch the start of the race at 4pm on Saturday, then back to camp for food and beer, then continued to watch the race throughout the night, and through Sunday until race finish at 4pm. We occasionally wandered down to the paddocks, where we could watch the cars coming and going to the circuit. Discovered my camera is crap for night time and race action!

Lola T70 MkIII arrives in paddock after 2 hour session in Plateau 5. Eventual winner of Plateau 5.

Chevron B21 from Plateau 6 having some remedial work done.

BMW M1 from Plateau 6 race heading back to paddock.

Whilst Ferrari 512M is towed back to its paddock.

A Matra, 2 Porsche's and Capri make their way back after Plateau 6 race.

2010 Le Mans Classic - Final Results:

Plateau 1
1. BMW 328 - Albert Otten #26
2. Talbot 105 BGH 21 - Lee Maxted-Page/Julian Bronson/Gareth Burnett/Alex Ames #7
3. Talbot 105 - John Ruston/Alex Amex/Phil Stanton #2 

Plateau 2
1. Jaguar D-type - Peter Neumark/JS Baxter #14
2. Maserati 300S - Nicolas Chambon/Henri Chambon #21
3. Jaguar C-type - Nigel Webb #2 

Plateau 3
1. Maserati Tipo 61 'Birdcage' - Willi Balz/Frank Stippler #35
2. Lotus 15 - Roger Wills/Joe Twyman #4
3. Lotus 15 - Ewan McIntyre/Jamie McIntyre #74 

Plateau 4 1. Ford GT40 - Christian Gläsel #34
2. AC Cobra - Steve Hitchins/Bernard Peruch #24
3. Ford GT40 - Manuel Ferrao/Diogo Ferrao #42 

Plateau 5
1. Lola T70 Mk IIIB - Bernard Thuner #21
2. Chevron B16 - John Sheldon #7
3. Porsche 917K - Richard Attwood/Vern Schuppan #42 

Plateau 6
1. Porsche 936 - Jean-Marc Luco/Jacques Nicolet #34
2. Lola T298 - Patrice Lafargue #44
3. Chevron B21 - Ludovic Caron #21

Plateau 4 Winning Ford GT 40.

Sunday night after the race we where able to grab some sleep, before a good english breakfast on Monday morning, then packing up began ready for drive home.

We left Le Mans at 10-00am, all the Norfolk contingent off in different directions, some straight home, other staying over at various places. We headed for Alencon, past Sees, to Gace on the motorway, convoying with other Triumphs.

Triumphs on the Motorway.

We left the motorway for D Roads towards Vimoutiers and Lisieux.
After Lisieux we picked out a small French restuarant for dinner, off the tourist trail, having 3 courses for 12 euros which was a bargain.

Heading for Lisieux.

Restuarant near Liseux.

Carrying on we crossed the Honfleur Bridge heading for Le Havre and the coast of Normandie.

Honfleur Bridge.

On Honfleur Bridge.

We then went through Le Havre and on to the Normandie coast, through Etretat and Fecamp to St Valery En Caux and the Hotel Les Hetres.

Hotel Les Hetres, St Valery En Caux.

KBA resting at Les Hetres in the lovely grounds.

We then spent an afternoon and evening looking around St Valery En Caux, famous for battles in the Normandy landings by Scots brigades, and twinned with Inverness.

Beach and Cliffs at St Valery En Caux.

Harbour entrance.

Looking towards town of St Valery En Caux.

Well kept streets and gardens.

Cliff mural on building in town centre.

Oldest surviving building in St Valery En Caux.

Yacht harbour.

More Yachts in the Harbour.

Sun setting on our Le Mans Trip.

Final view of our hotel on the Tuesday morning.

We left at 8am the following morning, heading up the coast road to Dieppe and Le Treport, before joining the motorway for a dash up to Calais, weather worsening all the way. Arrived at the Tunnel Terminal in rain, manged to get on a early train and back in the UK at 11-30 am Uk time. Then the slog up the M20, hectic at Dartford Tunnel, then dreary and miserable weather on the A12 to Ipswich, brightening up as we reached home around 3pm.

KBA home at last.

This was a great trip, in hindsight we should have spent more time on the coast on the way back as the return to work on the Wednesday was a wrench. Car performed OK, 985 miles in total. I was worried after the enforced head skimming and jackshaft and timing gear change before we set off, especially with only 130 miles done since the work, but It did OK. Had a oil leak on the gearbox, and level must be quite low on G/box oil, so that is one job for the weekend.

The bootbag we bought prior to setting off proved a good buy, easy to attach and remove.

Boot Bag, a good buy, will fit most Triumphs and removes easily, with carrying handle, useful when boot full of camping gear.