2023 Le Mans Classic

[keitht]

Anyone on here go to this event, either as a competitor or spectator?

I have recently gone back to work on the spanners at a small garage that looks after a few cars, so will be going as crew.
Been a while since I have been to a track, in any capacity, so really looking forward to it.

[adigra]

I've been a couple of times in the past, but the last time was in 2012, so not sure how relevant my info would be. I loved it, but it seemed like a more unruly Goodwood Revival. Fabulous experience going on the ferry with hundreds of other classics, some great roads towards Le Mans as well, and a few lovely lunch stops. We stayed in a chateau organised by the club I was with so there were also fantastic dinners in the evenings, etc. A great time and absolutely awesome cars and racing.

I was there in my old Lotus Elan for the 50th anniversary. They invited us on track and asked us to take some VIPs around. I thought it would be a sightseeing lap as there were all kinds of cars there, but I was wrong! They urged us to go as fast as we dared. The guy in front of me promptly spun out with his VIP onboard. I did OK, but once we got to the straight I was going 125mph, which was the max for my Elan, while overtaking a campervan and at the same time being overtaken by a Zonda doing 200+. It felt insane. My VIP just about disappeared into the footwell and was very happy to get to the end of the lap in one piece. Good times.

[thieuster]

[petethegeek]

I was there in my old Lotus Elan for the 50th anniversary. They invited us on track and asked us to take some VIPs around. I thought it would be a sightseeing lap as there were all kinds of cars there, but I was wrong! They urged us to go as fast as we dared. The guy in front of me promptly spun out with his VIP onboard. I did OK, but once we got to the straight I was going 125mph, which was the max for my Elan, while overtaking a campervan and at the same time being overtaken by a Zonda doing 200+. It felt insane. My VIP just about disappeared into the footwell and was very happy to get to the end of the lap in one piece. Good times.

[andy tims]

Went once.

Good event.

Very different to the 24 hours. The racing is for me not as good despite the variety, but there is more to see away from the actual circuit action.

[barreti]

I've been to all except the very first. Its been steadily getting better in terms of shops and food places being open at the circuit. Its also nearly as busy as I recall LM24 being.
This year I'm going to LM24 though because its the anniversary year. I haven't been to LM24 for at least 10 years because it was full of assholes whereas the Classic is full of like minded car enthusiasts who are there for the cars and a laugh with friends.

I'm sure you'll have a great time at LMC

[CardShark]

Been just the once, that was 2008. As has been said, it's a great event however it's nothing like the LM24h, partly because (if I remember correctly) the classes are split by vehicle age and race in their own 2h events over a 24h period and partly because it's less... riotous. Generally the LM24 is well behaved if "boisterous" at times, though there'll be an odd pocket or two in the evening where it all gets completely out of order, you just won't see that at the Classic. Those that attend the LMC tend to be more, on average, race/car nerdy - and I mean that as a complement - than those at the yearly event, as well.

Being on the spanners is going to be a fantastic experience, if I had the opportunity I'd take it! Mechanical ineptitude aside...

A glowing Bentley Blower exhaust at night is a sight to behold! No 'photos of that unfortunately, here's one of my old Zed and my brother at Maison Blanche campsite instead - that'll never happen again!

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

[Foxy100]

I can't go this time, I was planning on it but it would have been (historic motor racing) work and it looks like the chap I was going with can no longer make it. I may still make a last-minute decision though and head down but the wife is very against me going to both the main race and the Classic.

I went for the first one in 2002, again in 2010 (in a 1930 Morris Minor four-seat tourer, fitted with a tuned M-Type engine, we saw 80mph on one stretch of Autoroute) and the last time was 2014, in my old MX-5. That year it rained so much we packed up at 10am (once we could get out of our tent, it really was torrential rain), chucked out the tent and headed off into Normandy to find somewhere dry and with access to cold beer to stay. It was a good year that, on the Saturday the two of us bumped into a member on here with his friend and we got outrageously drunk in the old city.

I will be at the main race again, as usual. I wouldn't miss that for the world.

[Foxy100]

I realise I didn't add photos:

2002: Caterham R300. A friend (both of us over 6') and I spent 10 days in France in this, we did 2,000 miles. I couldn't fit my left foot under the pedals (couldn't move my knee under the dash) so it had to hover over the clutch pedal all that time. During the race, in the middle of the night, we (and some Dutch friends) climbed a couple of walls and fences to get to the the apex of the corner coming out of the Esses towards Tertre Rouge, made friends with the marshals (we all had press passes too, which helped) and were about a metre or so from the apex of the corner as Bobby Rahal was going through in his 917. That was rather special.





2010: We saw 42C in the campsite, which wasn't fun at all. Aside from the clutch overheating leaving Cherbourg, the drive to Le Mans was faultless, and then south of Tours afterwards, and an epic trip though heavy rain back to Le Havre or Cherbourg for the ferry home. I had a ride round the circuit at 10:30pm during the race (each of the eight groups of cars would start their race on the hour and 45 minutes later would peel into the back of the pits, and BMW and Ford paid the ACO enough money that they would have five or six cars each sitting in the pit lane ready to do a fast lap of the track while the next set of race cars was peeling out onto the grid to set up for the next race) in a Focus RS and the temperature gauge read 32C even then. It was far too hot. The Focus was very impressive though.



2014: It rained. I had one of the biggest hangovers of my life on the Saturday. My tent leaked. My inflatable mattress floated (it really did, it rained that hard).



This year's wheels, which should (should) be ready for the Classic (it's spent the last few months being converted from race to road car and is almost there). Kind of tempted to take it to the main race in June now I just have one passenger (who may be reading this - feeling adventurous?) but we'd have to find someone to take all our stuff.

[thieuster]

Thanks!!

I was quite serious about pics with this thread, but the GIF was a lot larger than I'de expected (). Still, it gets it across.

Is that TVR a Grantura? If so, tell more about the car. I won't mind when you open a new thread for that one!

[Foxy100]

Thanks!!

I was quite serious about pics with this thread, but the GIF was a lot larger than I'de expected (). Still, it gets it across.

Is that TVR a Grantura? If so, tell more about the car. I won't mind when you open a new thread for that one!

It's a Grantura MkIII. It was a road car until 2015 when it became a race car until it retired at the end of last season and is now going to be a road car again, albeit a lot lighter and stronger than original (not much is changing from the race car - suspension, tyres, engine and gearbox and lots of small details that take a long time to sort). It belongs to the small TVR company I work for and is about to be used for press and publicity to help show the stuff we do (make brand-new 1960s Granturas and Griffiths). It's going to be a pretty silly road car though, 150+ lb/ft from the road engine (MGB 1800 with an HRG cylinder head) doesn't sound like much but it's more than the race engine had and the car weighs about 650kg. Those are Watanabe magnesium wheels too. We have plans to do some track days (and pop it on a set of those wheels with Dunlop L section tyres, which are what it wore in historic racing and don't have much grip) but mainly it will be going on show at events, and being used in as many road events as we can find time to do!

I will do a separate thread on the TVRs at some point, the chassis and components we make are works of art and the Griffiths (950kg, 450bhp) are fantastic.

[snowman]

I've never been to the Classic, although I like that sort of thing.

I used to go to the big race every year for decades, but it lost its appeal as it got increasingly corporatised.

M

[thieuster]

It's a Grantura MkIII. It was a road car until 2015 when it became a race car until it retired at the end of last season and is now going to be a road car again, albeit a lot lighter and stronger than original (not much is changing from the race car - suspension, tyres, engine and gearbox and lots of small details that take a long time to sort). It belongs to the small TVR company I work for and is about to be used for press and publicity to help show the stuff we do (make brand-new 1960s Granturas and Griffiths). It's going to be a pretty silly road car though, 150+ lb/ft from the road engine (MGB 1800 with an HRG cylinder head) doesn't sound like much but it's more than the race engine had and the car weighs about 650kg. Those are Watanabe magnesium wheels too. We have plans to do some track days (and pop it on a set of those wheels with Dunlop L section tyres, which are what it wore in historic racing and don't have much grip) but mainly it will be going on show at events, and being used in as many road events as we can find time to do!

I will do a separate thread on the TVRs at some point, the chassis and components we make are works of art and the Griffiths (950kg, 450bhp) are fantastic.

As always: thanks again. I love that info. And yes please when it comes to more info about the work you guys do. It was not too hard to find your company on the internet. I love the pics! Did you even considered an engine with Mikunis or Keihin carbs? My idea is that these Mikunis are easier to tune than Webers. That could be interesting when you're fiddling with your track car under a party tent next to the track... (I am getting all enthusiastic here, sorry. I must not derail this thead).

[ChronoPantera]

If you've never been before it's well worth a trip....

bigger than the Silverstone Classic, and the night racing is great to watch.

good access to the pits, and can get close to the cars, (from 2018 - Lola T70's)

[ChronoPantera]

Anyone on here go to this event, either as a competitor or spectator?

I have recently gone back to work on the spanners at a small garage that looks after a few cars, so will be going as crew.
Been a while since I have been to a track, in any capacity, so really looking forward to it.

i think i found the garage you're spannering for online... looks very nice quality work on the TVR

are they based in Sussex or Hants ? as i noticed photos from Goodwood

[Foxy100]

As always: thanks again. I love that info. And yes please when it comes to more info about the work you guys do. It was not too hard to find your company on the internet. I love the pics! Did you even considered an engine with Mikunis or Keihin carbs? My idea is that these Mikunis are easier to tune than Webers. That could be interesting when you're fiddling with your track car under a party tent next to the track... (I am getting all enthusiastic here, sorry. I must not derail this thead).

Not thought about different carbs, I'm not sure if we stick with the Webers because that's what's on the race car. This is the first road car conversion we've done so possibly worth a think.

[Foxy100]

i think i found the garage you're spannering for online... looks very nice quality work on the TVR

are they based in Sussex or Hants ? as i noticed photos from Goodwood

You may be confusing Keith with me, the garage is in Hampshire and yes, we went to Goodwood with a customer whose car we mostly built before it was finished by someone else. I'll start a thread soon on what we do!

[rico]

Went to the classic for the first time last year. Quite a different feel than the 24 but not in a bad way. The ‘racing’ didn’t feel totally authentic and was a bit convoluted. Very much looking forward to the 24 this year!

[ChronoPantera]

You may be confusing Keith with me, the garage is in Hampshire and yes, we went to Goodwood with a customer whose car we mostly built before it was finished by someone else. I'll start a thread soon on what we do!

sorry, my mistake.

i'm looking for someone to spanner on a race car later in the year so please do let me know when you start the thread. thanks

[YCymro]

It belongs to the small TVR company I work for and is about to be used for press and publicity to help show the stuff we do (make brand-new 1960s Granturas and Griffiths)……….I will do a separate thread on the TVRs at some point, the chassis and components we make are works of art and the Griffiths (950kg, 450bhp) are fantastic.

Seeing your great looking car reminded me that I’d like one!
Does your company build/sell complete cars or components? Please let know company name details and contact.

Thanks

[keitht]

Been a busy week, preping for race season, and getting the cars ready for testing etc.
We are testing at Goodwood tomorrow, and one of the 328's going to Silverstone on Tuesday. Sadly I am not going as we have two work experience kids who are going alternate days so I have to man the fort.

I will be at Goodwood Members meet in April, not sure what is going down yet, possibly the Saab 93, the Lola's, though if the Alfa Giulia Saloon is back, that might go too.
Running the 60's Lola's for the first time is what I am really looking to, though watching the little Saab scream its way down the straight is something to behold I am told.


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The E-Type has recently come to us from one of our main customers.

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Been sorting the brake bias on this Classic Saloon car racer......who can guess what it is from the engine pic?

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[the.admiral]

Dolomite Sprint?

I am going to have to put the Le Mans Classic on my bucket list….

[keitht]

Dolomite Sprint?

I am going to have to put the Le Mans Classic on my bucket list….

Spot on.

It has, I believe, one of only 7 engines made specially by Triumph engineers.

[Foxy100]

Whoops! Meant to be a PM

[keitht]

Menno has requested some pics of the Saab, so for you Sir here they are...

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[thieuster]

Thanks for that! Awesome!!!!