[LM24] When You Didn't Go........

[Aysedasi]

I've been thinking about this for a while..... I'm lucky. Very lucky. I first went to Le Mans in 1986 and in 2015 I went for the 30th time. As a certain Icelandic gentleman used to say on UK TV, 'And no passes'......

Now I have absolutely no intention of retiring from attending the 24 Hours, not yet at least, but I guess that time will eventually come. But there are plenty of LM fans on here who have had to miss the pilgrimage from time to time, whether that's the result of things such as work constraints, family issues, finances or ill-health. I also readily accept that living in the UK, it's extremely easy to get to Le Mans whereas those who live many thousands of miles away really have to push the boat out to make the trip.

I used to go with my friends the 'Tourists' for the short weekend hop to Le Mans and one of the guys, Peter, went for about 10 years. But there was one year (1996, I think) when he couldn't go due to a carelessly arranged family holiday (!). The one thing I remember his partner saying to my wife afterwards was that she should NEVER think of trying to persuade me not to go. For the whole time during the race while Peter was on holiday, he was constantly saying, 'About now, we'd be on the tribunes waiting for the start' or 'About now, we'd be heading down to Tertre Rouge' etc. etc. And I'm bad enough after Le Mans each year, playing a similar 'This time last week' mental torture game with myself....

Remembering this, already nearly 10 weeks after this years race, set me to thinking about that one experience that I've not had (and don't want) - how do you deal with being at home (or somewhere else) while Le Mans is taking place?

(I'm thinking now of those who have been regularly, not those who have never been able to go).

So, how did you survive.....?

[CTD]

I'm in the same boat as you Ayse!
Ever since I started, I have always been there

[Steve Tarrant]

The year I missed was 2005, but at least I had a good excuse for that year - I was in hospital saving my remaining leg after encountering secondary infection! Hooked up to drips and heart monitors is not something that goes well with waving flags trackside.

But my colleagues there kept a chair for me in their annual photo -

[Coach Ep]

Aww, the fabulous crew of (former) 106bis!

My 'nail in my marshaling coffin' is undoubtedly 1999 when the local Zandvoort marshals club didn't allow any of it's members to marshal that years 24 hours because of a scheduling conflict... (something to do with official paperwork and such).

I had made my marshaling debut at LM the year before, at poste 70 - the Mulsanne hump (before they lowered it). I don't have to remember you all what happened there in '99...

[GT6]

Well my first year was 1985 and since then i have missed one year, the year Jaguar won after a long gap, can't actually remember why i did not go that year but i think it was because my usual group all could not make it, the following year went down with a a friend who had been going for many years and he showed me what you could do down there if you knew how to get around the circuit rather than just stay near the main straight, loved it even more and never missed a race since, since then i have gone down earlier and stayed longer.

[joeb]

I have never been, but I'm the type of person who stays up for the entire race to follow via radio and t&s. Despite that, I had two years of familial commitments that made me miss the race in 2013 and 2014. In 2013 I got to a hotel and sat in the bathroom with my tablet plugged in so I could listen to rlm and watch t&s while my family slept. I was torn up not being able to follow the entire race, but my only solice was I could follow next year.

But then next year came and I wasnt able to watch again. I was in a remote location with a lot of people and couldn't follow most of the race again. I could occasionally check t&s but couldnt get radio until the last hour when I locked myself in my room to hear the finish.

I have no desire to ever miss another Le Mans, and I hope to actually make it there someday. But until that day, I will follow from afar.

[GT6]

Well in the last few years we have welcomed several of our US tenthers to the circuit and i suggest you start planning, i know it will cost a little more than we spend getting from the UK, holland and germany but ask those that have done it in the last few years and they will tell you it is worth it

[Brake dust]

I'm very envious of all of you in the UK! Living in the States, I enjoy living vicariously through your posts - having been to Le Mans only twice. I sometimes think about the idea of renting a car in the UK, and drive it to Le Mans, just to be able to experience the journey and the anticipation of the race week. Have viewed some youtube videos of people getting their stickers on the cars and making the drive to Le Mans - looks like great fun as you see all the sports cars gathering at the ferry and tunnel. I guess the only positive that I can think of is that I have not had to make the drive back to the UK after the race - I would be very sad that the race and the adventure are over!

[GT6]

Yes but as soon as the race is over the planning for the following race starts, already planning for 2016

[ATLFalconsFAN]

My first Le Mans was 2012. I missed 2013 because I thought I could get by with watching it at home. It was torturous and I felt bad for the friend who was watching it with me, I kept saying things like, "This time last year I was doing this, or I was at this spot". Honestly though, if you're going to miss a year 2013 wasn't the worst one to have missed.

After going in 2014 and then again this year I have a feeling that my chances of going next year are poor, looks like I'll have a year of torture again.

My only saving grace is that besides sports car racing my other passion is home theater. I'm fortunate to be able to watch the race in a comfortable reclining, theater style seat with cup holders and to watch on my 118" projection screen with a separate 40" screen for timing. Really it's not the worst way to have to watch a race if you can't be there in person. In the likely event that I will not be there next year I will still take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off from work so that I can watch all the practice and qualifying sessions on television.

I would like to go every year, and if I was single I would no doubt. For someone like myself who comes from the states and has to get on a plane and wants to make an extended vacation of it, it's not terribly fair to my wife if I dictate all of our vacations. There are other places in the world that both of us want to experience and we can't only go to France all the time (as much as I adore it). I'm thinking that in the future Le Mans may have to become an every other year sort of thing.

Besides, absence makes the heart grow fonder, perhaps missing it every other year will make me appreciate the experience of being there even more!

I will say though that besides the whole Le Mans experience, one thing in particular that will surely be at the top of the list of things I am missing will be the tenths meeting before the race. I have thoroughly enjoyed those!

[Muppetdave901]

Thankfully since my first trip in 2005, I've not missed one. My wife whinges and moans about it every year, that it shouldn't be the be all and end all... but to be honest, I think she does it more to antagonise me saying it rather than actually trying to stop me; I think she knows I'd be unbearable (well, more so than usual).

I think it was maybe 2009 I thought I might have to miss it and she was trying to push that. I told her that on that basis, I'd be watching every last second available over the whole duration... It took ten minutes of Wednesday evening's practice of "I took such and such photo there, we do this, we do that" (much as you said Ayse) for her to cave and get me to ring my friend who was going and muscle in on his trip

[Alex Toropov]

Hello guys! I did not go every year except for 2013 But it was great experience thanks to all of you, especially Ten-Tenths meeting Life is a bit tougher now and I'm not feeling well, but it's OK, just want to say hello to all guys and girls who I meet in 2013. Hope you are fine Hopefully see you in future years maybe Le Mans is great place to visit!

[GT6]

Good to hear that you are still following the Forum Alex, i am sure that when you make a return to the race the majority of us will still be there.

[Gingers4Justice]

I've missed two since 1999 (although I guess you could technically say I 'missed' 1998, as I was only taking to qualifying, but I understand why 4 year old G4J was left at the gite with mum).

I missed 2010 through GCSEs (a decent race, but bearable), but it is a huge regret of mine that I missed the best race of the modern era, 2011, through further exams.

I simply wasn't having it again, and I went to the race in 2012, sticking my head in A-Level Economics text books wherever I could - on the ferry, at the Houx campsite, even in that seemingly never-ending wait between the first practice and first qualifying on the Wednesday.

My friends thought I was mad, and perhaps I am, but I did enough to get into my first choice of university and see the greatest race on the planet.

[Simmi]

Five consecutive trips between 2011-15. I'm sure the time will come when I need to miss one. Nothing lasts forever. But definitely trying to prolong that for as long as possible.

[racerkeke]

My original plan was to do Le Mans every other year. Organizing, and especially affording, a trip from essentially the other side of the world every year at the height of the North American racing season seemed like it would be too difficult. And it's just another race, right?

Well, in 11 years I've missed two. Both at the beginning of that timeframe. Every year I tell my chef de poste that I'm not sure I can make it. Every year I squeak through and find myself in the Les Hunaudières forest in June. Finally this year my chef de poste asked me how I manage to make it every year. I had to explain that my loving husband makes sure I have enough money to do it after having had to put up with me the two times I didn't go. Apparently the weeping and pouting was too much. That, and the fact that there is no Le Mans television coverage in Canada!
keke

[GT6]

No coverage in Canada? i know they have area's that could be discribed as winderness but surely now days one of the sports channels will show it

[isynge]

Originally Posted by GT6

No coverage in Canada? i know they have area's that could be discribed as winderness but surely now days one of the sports channels will show it

Does seem astonishing in this day and age that there are places where you can't get coverage - I remember even back in 2001 Channel 4 and Digital Island offering a streaming package - which over a 56k modem wasn't the most satisfactory experience but was an insight into the connected world we now take for granted.

I've not a got a 'didn't go' story. Since 2007 it's been an annual fixture for me, and it's testament to the strength of the wider Le Mans community that when the prospect of having to go solo in 2014 raised its head there were some enormously kind people around who meant that that I was very much included in their plans.

Like most things there'll probably be a time when for one reason or another I miss it in the future. I like to think it'll be for a good reason and I won't be grouchy as a result. There is also the issue that I'm pretty sure you're better informed about what's going on and see more of the race when you do it at home - but I'm not sure that's any compensation for not being able to stand on the inside of Tertre Rouge as dusk falls and watching spectacular cars blast off towards the impossible.

[racerkeke]

Originally Posted by GT6

No coverage in Canada? i know they have area's that could be discribed as winderness but surely now days one of the sports channels will show it

I live in a major Canadian city of more than 1 million -- hardly wilderness. But what we have since Speed collapsed is no Canadian sports network that shows the event, and the US licensee (FoxSports) is not offered by the major Canadian cable companies (three: Rogers, Bell and Telus). I heard that one of our satellite systems now has FoxSports but it isn't available here.

This year I purchased the Le Mans app so my husband could follow the race while I was away, and stream it to our TV. So thank your lucky stars if you can do otherwise and stay home.
keke

[Mike E]

My first trip was 2010. I resolved to make it an annual tradition and do my best to go every year.

Then I missed 2011... My sister very inconsiderately got married in South Africa in May, so no leave and no money meant no Le Mans that year.

Then I missed 2012. But I did go to the Classic and took my dad along. He was involved in racing in the 60's and 70's so it was a trip down memory lane for him. And it's a very enjoyable, and far more relaxed experience than the 24 Hours. Glad I had an excuse to go.

I made it in 2013, 2014 and 2015, so I am hopefully back on track.

It is the best week of the year.

[kpkorsager]

Is this a trick question?

Don't tell all thoes Urban Legends about people not going.
Just thinking about the possibility not to go is horrifying enoug.

[Aysedasi]

So true Kenn - makes me break out in a cold sweat.......

[GT6]

Well i try not to even think of not being there

[Alex Toropov]

Got into road accident on motorbike last saturday, survived it - Thanks God! - with only minor bruises, so I'm definitelly going to Le Mans in future years My vacation starts on October 1st, next week, so hopefully I'll catch up on many things racing related here on Ten Tenths

[GT6]

Glad you are OK Alex, motorbikes can be dangerous and i have the scares to prove it, that is why i prefer sportscars now, still enjoying my new toy at the moment might not be as fast as a motorbike but the smile on my face when i am driving it is worth the extra costs