If someone offers you the chance to go to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, never say no. If you do, then you are missing out on one of the most incredible weekends you’ll ever have in your life.
On Thursday afternoon I was presented with a very last-minute opportunity to go to the centenary Le Mans to cover the event for Autosport’s social media channels. Within a couple of hours, the flights were booked, hotels sorted and accreditation secured. That evening I was busy doing my best Bilbo Baggins impression across Scotland and on my way to France.
The first thing which struck me when I arrived in Le Mans was the sheer number of motorsport-related posters, advertisements, signs and tributes scattered around the town. This place oozes a love of motorsport and truly embraces the 24 Hours as something to celebrate and be proud of. The buzz was real and completely authentic to anything else I’ve ever experienced heading to a motorsports event.
The palpable excitement only increases as you approach the track itself and the sea of people decked out in motorsport merchandise begins to multiply. This is an event people have waited not just all year for, but for some, all their lives. Ferrari was back in the top class with a factory programme for the first time in 50 years - on pole nonetheless - and there was a genuine sense the battle for the win was going to be one of the hardest fought in some years.
On Friday evening it became obvious to me that this isn’t just a 24-hour race, it’s a 168-hour festival. The evenings are filled with the sounds of supercars blasting past, people chatting about race cars and fireworks. The smells of fuel and rubber everywhere. The campsite car parks are filled with the most glorious machines including a beautiful 1963 Ferrari 250 GTE which had been re-bodied into a 250 TR back in the 1980s. It’s a car lover’s heaven.
By the time I was ready to walk into the track on Saturday, I was positively hyper. This was it, the big one. The most anticipated motorsports event in years and I was here. More than that, I was being paid to be here and I knew I had to enjoy every second.
Source: Autosport