[LM24] OK, So What Do We Talk About Between Last Year's Le Mans and Next Year's.....?

[vincegail]

The news must have hit him pretty hard, no reply yet from Simon.

[whitemr2]

Originally Posted by vincegail

The news must have hit him pretty hard, no reply yet from Simon.

I think Simon already sent flowers to his new contact

[whitemr2]

Originally Posted by vincegail

The news must have hit him pretty hard, no reply yet from Simon.

I think Simon already sent flowers to his new contact

[GT6]

so good you had to say it twice

Oh well i will deliver some chocs next year

[J Jay]

For anyone in the UK or with the ability to circumvent geo-blocking, there is currently an old documentary on Le Mans of iPlayer (Tuesday Documentary - 24 Hours at Le Mans). And I mean old - it covers the build-up and running of the 1982 race. It principally follows Alain de Cadanet & Guy Edwards' separate efforts to get funding and logistics sorted before covering their fortunes in the race itself.

However, as someone who is relatively recent to sportscars (and who wasn't even born when this race ran), it's the general atmosphere that I found fascinating; everything seems to be ramshackle and thrown together. Of course it wasn't, for the time it was as professional as any other sportscar race, but as someone who has only been exposed to the big-budget factory era there were times when I didn't even think of the issues teams would have faced back then, like the dodgy fuel that was ripping through fuel pump belts.

Even the off-track sections seemed to be from a different age, with sights such as freak shows, crude fairground attractions and gendarmes queuing up to shave at a solitary communal toilet. However, in covering these aspects of Le Mans culture there is some foul language and a couple of shots of strippers, so I won't link the documentary here. But it shouldn't be hard to find for anyone who is interested.

[Aysedasi]

Found it. But am I going mad - is that Eric Idle narrating???!!!

[dwh43scale]

My first Le Mans - blurb says Jack Pizzey reporting - but won't let me download yet

[Aysedasi]

No, I can't get it to download either.....

[isynge]

Originally Posted by J Jay

For anyone in the UK or with the ability to circumvent geo-blocking, there is currently an old documentary on Le Mans of iPlayer (Tuesday Documentary - 24 Hours at Le Mans). And I mean old - it covers the build-up and running of the 1982 race. It principally follows Alain de Cadanet & Guy Edwards' separate efforts to get funding and logistics sorted before covering their fortunes in the race itself.

However, as someone who is relatively recent to sportscars (and who wasn't even born when this race ran), it's the general atmosphere that I found fascinating; everything seems to be ramshackle and thrown together. Of course it wasn't, for the time it was as professional as any other sportscar race, but as someone who has only been exposed to the big-budget factory era there were times when I didn't even think of the issues teams would have faced back then, like the dodgy fuel that was ripping through fuel pump belts.

Even the off-track sections seemed to be from a different age, with sights such as freak shows, crude fairground attractions and gendarmes queuing up to shave at a solitary communal toilet. However, in covering these aspects of Le Mans culture there is some foul language and a couple of shots of strippers, so I won't link the documentary here. But it shouldn't be hard to find for anyone who is interested.

The early 80s are fantastic, in that there's a reasonable amount of footage available if you dig about, and there's still the ramshackle rough and ready culture to it.

I've not seen the one you refer to on iPlayer (but about to rectify that) but on '82 there's a fun one about the Cooke Racing Lola (which has to scrabble about and change direction a bit when the car disappears early on) and my personal favourite is one about Nimrod Aston Martin which if nothing else serves to illustrate that the world and its value system have changed dramatically in the last 35 years (as well as indicating that it used to be possible to build a Group C car under a railway arch in Brixton).

[GTfour]

Wow, this must've been the longest period I've been away from here...
Only making use of a smartphone does not help. Luckely there's a proper keyboard again.

Still enjoying a bit of afterglow from the race event and enjoying sportscar racing in general, seeing most on TV/PC, visiting the odd track event. Upcoming is the Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix, a quickly becoming fixed venue for any Dutch petrolhead with respect for racing history, becoming more impressive any of the last five years it's existed now. Thanks to the hard work and great network of Dutchman Mark Koense(Racing for Nederland's team manager at this years 24 quatre heures), this weekend of classic racing with the most glorious of racecars and special displays, surely makes it one of the great classic racing events on the planet. If you happen to be anywhere near Zandvoort in the weekend of September 1, 2 and 3, go see it!

So yes, enjoying 'the last summer of peace'.

[isynge]

Later than expected (it happens a lot) but finally watched the documentary J Jay recommended.

First off let me get the confession and gratitude out of the way. This was not the first time I'd seen it, I saw it when first broadcast in 1982, when the 10 year old me was captivated by cars that looked like spaceships, did something incredible like race for a whole day, and by personalities that weaved a rich story around the race. This, along with the GPI issue on Le Mans 1982 was what made me really start to love sportscars and long distance racing. I've been hoping to stumble across it for years - wondered if the footage of the 1981 race was what I'd watched but misremembered, but now I'm reassured my recollection hasn't faded.

It's a lovely bit of footage isn't it? While a lot of the attitudes displayed make me cringe, that's one of the great things about the cinema verite style of the time (qv 'Speed Merchants' or in cycling 'A Sunday in Hell') in that it shows things a bit more warts and all than some of today's productions.

Watching it now as a jaded 45 year old rather than wide eyed child of 10 I still look at Le Mans of 1981 as a place I'd like to be at - even if I think I'd cringe at some aspects of the era the time machine drops me into. I wonder how the productions of recent years (from "Truth in 24" to the most recent Amazon thing) will age projected forward 30 years - will they inspire the 10 year olds of today to come and will they revisit the in their forties with the same fondness?

Less philosophically - for those who haven't watched it (with the geoblocking caveats mentioned before) go and watch it - it sums up Le Mans in all sorts of ways.

[Aysedasi]

I watched it today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Bearing in mind that my first Le Mans was only 4 years after this, it brought back a lot of memories. Le Mans has been massively 'sanitised' since the 80's, which has brought some good things, like clean loos (!) and a far better spectating experience from the information point of view, but we've lost the atmosphere of the fairground, most of the trees at the Esses (as well as the magnificent run to them on the track). I still think the narrator was doing his best Eric Idle impression.... Very much worth a watch people.

[J Jay]

Thanks for the positive mentions. Other duties have somewhat taken me away from sportcars (and hence 10/10ths) this year, so it's good to know I can still be of some use

If I could leverage that goodwill for an answer to this question - who was the commentator that was barred from the race? I can't find much about it by searching (which makes sense for a time when everything was apparently not recorded by default) and that moment struck me as something that perhaps would not occur today. I know it's the ACO's race and whatever they say goes, but I would be surprised if there didn't need to be an official procedure for barring media personnel now, as I suspect there was no need for then.

Originally Posted by isynge

It's a lovely bit of footage isn't it? While a lot of the attitudes displayed make me cringe, that's one of the great things about the cinema verite style of the time (qv 'Speed Merchants' or in cycling 'A Sunday in Hell') in that it shows things a bit more warts and all than some of today's productions.

The parallel to A Sunday In Hell is very apt, and one I'm ashamed not to have thought of before - comparing that footage to coverage of current classics and you could almost draw exactly the same conclusions about how nonplussed the participants and organizers were to the less tasteful elements of the competition. Ironically, as technology has allowed for more exposure those involved have become ever more reluctant to open their doors, unless they are both behind and in front of the camera.

[dwh43scale]

Originally Posted by dwh43scale

My first Le Mans - blurb says Jack Pizzey reporting - but won't let me download yet

Just one thing - its the 1981 race - so not my first after all - but well, well, worth a watch !

[Kpy]

My first race. Brings back a lot of memories.
I was on the pits balcony at dawn. Bumped into Derek bell on the stairs behind the pits and got his autograph.

[Giba]

There's another Le Mans documentary on TV at the moment called From Leeds to Le Mans. It's about United Autosport at this year's race and is repeated the next couple of nights on sky sports in the UK

[Aysedasi]

Thanks for that - I must seek it out.........

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Giba

There's another Le Mans documentary on TV at the moment called From Leeds to Le Mans. It's about United Autosport at this year's race and is repeated the next couple of nights on sky sports in the UK

Has this aired yet? Interweb seems to indicate ep1 is broadcast tomorrow and Sky Go catchup isn't revealing it.

[Giba]

Originally Posted by isynge

Has this aired yet? Interweb seems to indicate ep1 is broadcast tomorrow and Sky Go catchup isn't revealing it.

Hmm odd, I recorded it last night so it should be on Sky Go. However it's being repeated a lot and despite saying episode 1, I think it is only one episode long

[Simmi]

For anyone like me who has a stack of these, the 2017 DVD is out on Monday. I'll be waiting a couple more weeks to grab the Blu-Ray.

https://www.dukevideo.com/prd3746/Le-Mans-2017-DVD

Haven't really had the desire to watch the race back despite having the whole thing recorded, but looking forward to having a few beers and watching this.

[Aysedasi]

Yes, I have the Blu-Ray on order. Just in time to take away with me on my hols......

[J Jay]

I was tossing up whether to order Steve McQueen: The Man And Le Mans and noticed that the LM2017 BD was due in a fortnight. Thanks for keeping it in my mind Simmi, I likely would have forgotten about it by the time it becomes available.

[isynge]

I'm a bit torn. I've got the recent Duke offerings, but they never make it to the top of my playlist, simply because it's too much of an investment of time and, dare I say it, they've not really been edited to appeal? My fear here is it will be 4 hours of footage cropped from commentary that works fine if you're watching it at track or live, but a retrospective requires a little bit more work...

A genuinely well produced context plus highlights package running to about 90 minutes would work for me, and I suspect would serve as a good introduction to the non aficionados.

In a world where full reruns are put up on YouTube my gut feel is something like this might, sadly, be a little bit of anachronism.

Obviously if someone who's invested and watched can convince me otherwise then I'd be delighted to invest for my hols (thinking sometime later in October, so bags of time...).

[Aysedasi]

You're probably right Ian, I buy it as much now as a record of the event, more than entertainment. I watch it through once and return to it for snippets now and again. The one thing that is vital for me however is the live RLM commentary. I hated the review videos when they had added on commentary. The false 'surprise' of the commentator when something happened was a total turn-off for me....

[Simmi]

The ACO showed they could not be trusted to put together a decent review DVD. I think 2009 was a particularly low point. Almost like someone had set them a personal challenge as to how far into the DVD you could get before the race actually started.

Like Ayse says the RLM commentary on this current breed is great because it links the footage with the memories you had at the track watching the race. Couple that with great quality Blu-Ray pictures and I think it's a decent purchase. Even if it does often require a couple of sittings to watch, or a good risk of me falling asleep.

The irony that I can stay awake for a full 24 hour race but can't make it through a four hour review!