Favourite time of the day in enduro races?

[MikeHoyer]

Out of interest, those of you that attend endurance races, particularly 24 hour ones, what is your favourite time of the race?

Is it the start, the finish, the night hours, etc. etc. And what do you like to be doing/where do you like to be at various times of the race?

Just out of curiousity!

[vs346]

As a photog, I love the outside of turn 7 (the two corner hairpin) at Road Atlanta during dusk at PLM, although you have to trek through copperhead infested woods to get there!

And I love extremely early morning hours at LM. And shooting pits at 3am during LM. Very few media to crowd your shot, just the mecanics and the cars.

As a fan, to me the night at LM is magical, and seeing the cars (that are still running) see the first rays of sun after a grueling night of racing. They're dirty with bugs and carbon fibre dust. EXCITING!

Great thread Mike.

[MulsanneMike]

Dusk and dawn. The drivers hate it, but it makes for nice photos (not that I've ever gotten any at those times that are worth a flip).

[Fab]

The debut of the rolling start procedure at LM : one year of speculations is going to find an issue...

[nobster]

making pictures with my 400mm lens at sunset at mulsanne corner.
Spectacular sight acompanied with good sounds of the car engines passing by.

[kdr]

for pictures anytime between 6am and 10am on the sunday morning of the race, anywhere from the dunlop bridge to the start of the mulsanne. photographic goldmine.

for atmosphere, although i quite like saturday night between 8pm and midnight (especially if its warm, no repeat of 2001 thanks)...my favourite time is bizarrely 9am on the sunday morning of the PQ session. theres not a lot of people around and theres just something about being there right at the very very start...like you're showing the same commitment as the teams, and the sight of the cars lined up in pitlane waiting for the clock to tick over...goosebumps! i also liked the fact it still felt like spring...so i'm a little annoyed they've moved it closer to the race so its almost just like a warm up session, rather than a test.

[rdjones]

Oh tough one but I have 2. The first is just as darkness falls the atmosphere starts to take of and its a magical time

The other one is early morning I try to head out the entrance of the Porsche Cerves about 7.30 on sunday morning and its wonderful there is hardly anyone about and its just nice get away from the hussle and bussle of the start/finish area. Sadly I didn't get there last year but will try to get there this year for sure.

[Aysedasi]

The whole of the night. God, I just love the night at Le Mans. (I'm not thinking of this from a photographic perspective, particularly). I wander the circuit alone during the night (while the rest of our Tourists sleep ). I like to walk down to Tertre Rouge and back again. I normally spend quite a long time on the roof of the Welcome building and back in the grandstand (with the camera on the tripod for a few long exposures). But the atmosphere is just so special. It never fails to amaze me that people want to sleep during the night at Le Mans........

[MikeHoyer]

I do enjoy it from about 8pm onwards. Still light to take photos, but the oncome of the night is really special. And after about 1030 I enjoy just walking the track, maybe having a beer etc., or coffee just to keep me going.

This year I will be up at dawn at Le Mans, only really been up till 6 before, but it looks like a great time for photos, sun coming up, not many people about to get in the way of your shot etc. Where do they all go?

[SALEEN S7R]

Personally I have 2, although ive only seen both races on TV so far. For me though its seeing the grid of the Spa 24hrs fly up through Eau Rouge and onto the camel straight for the first time, and my 2nd favourite moment is the first lap at Le Mans, seeing the cars coming onto the Mulsanne straight and going around the small right hand kink before the first chicane. Both moments look very appealing if u ask me.

[MikeHoyer]

The start at Le Mans this year was good this year with about 4 helicopters chasing the cars down the Mulsanne straight on the first lap.

[simon c]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Personally I have 2, although ive only seen both races on TV so far. For me though its seeing the grid of the Spa 24hrs fly up through Eau Rouge and onto the camel straight for the first time, and my 2nd favourite moment is the first lap at Le Mans, seeing the cars coming onto the Mulsanne straight and going around the small right hand kink before the first chicane. Both moments look very appealing if u ask me.

It's Kemmel Straight, not Camel!!!!

[simon c]

Dusk at Spa 24, sat on the high ground above the entrance to Pouhon. The sun sinks below the Ardennes in front of you. This does of course depend on the weather, but 2002 and 2004 was just wonderful.

Driving to Le Mans as dawn breaks on race day from the Loire Valley on quiet country roads is special too - get a great sense of occasion and nostalgia

[Fab]

Some good ones too : at 8am on saturday, at the Paddock bar : you have the whole teams and pilots going through there...

The two or three hours before the start in the GS... with friends around or wavine from the other side, from their own GS... the TT meetings... then, at 6pm, the first trip to Tertre Rouge in the crowd, hearing the events (remember in2004, the Audis wreckage ?).... then at 8pm the dinner in the infield, with friends again (one, if not the one, of my favourite meals in the whole year !)... Mulsanne and Arnage in the morning... the smell of BBQs around the track... the infield between La Chapelle and Tertre Rouge at 7pm, the cars are sooooo close !

And for the race I miss in the flesh : the exciting moments on the forum, when events arise Sebring), the end of the race at Daytona last year (remember that thread ? We had ants in our pants, seeing the Porsche closing, closing !)...

The night (6 hours later here in France) during Sebring's race... alone facing my screen with a coffee, with the sound of RLM... as if I was there !

Lots of good moments in sportscars....

[gfm]

In 24 Hour races, if you can get the 'dawn breaking' stint then you feel very special indeed. Racing hard through the dark demands serious concentration, so when dawn come you get a lift from getting to see familiar shaps and realising the worst is behind you. You get a second lift when it's your normal 'wake up' time and you're ready to tear the world apart!

[racer11]

nothing better then sportscars from dusk til dawn

[Karl Kling]

When the days grow darker and colder i try to remember myself being at Le Mans, 3 am at Tertre Rouge with a merguez sandwich (where the merguez actually is more like a coal stick than a sausage) and a cold Amstel with the cars roaring past you and the lights are flashing through the trees in the dark... It usually helps me get through the long, dark Swedish winter. Here's a try to capture it on film.

Also, twelve o'clock saturday and sunday is a nice time at Le Mans... Hey, it's only six months to go!

[Woolley]

Haven't yet done a 24hr - plan to put that right soon - but in any endurance race, GTs, 1000kms or whatever, I love the point where the last planned pitstops have happened and you now know everybody's strategy. Then they get down to pure racing knowing that everything they've done so far is to get them to this point. In chess they call it the end game. The strategy was fascinating, but now they can be agressive as this is where the result will be decided.

[vs346]

To add to my previous post.
I get a rush of energy at dawn because of the new found day, but also, i realise there is still 10 hours to go! And it's psychologically mind boggling. (When I'm working, I don't like to leave during the race, breaks the rhythm. Just catch a 15 minute power nap on the floor of the press room.)
It's killer though because at about 11am sunday, you're body starts to tell you it doesnt matter what timezone you're in ITS TIME FOR BED! Second wind comes at about 1pm when it's time to start getting ready for the finish!

All this is making me want to do is hop on a plane for Paris!

[Mal]

During the race it has to be dawn - especially down at Arnage. However one of the best moments at LeMans is when you pull up to road behind the Grandstands each year for the first time and you know the year long wait is over!

[nobster]

To add my previous comment, there was a nice view at the "shanghai 24heures" restaurant, untill a few years ago that is.
You could see the cars flying past at close range at top speed braking for the first chicane. We have seen a lot of outbraking there and the sound was amazing, specially the Panoz cars of the nineties.

[billkirbywofb]

For the true fan, it has to be the whole 6, 10, 12, 24 hours of the race.
For most of the drivers, specially the backmarkers 45 laps down - the best part of an endurance race has to be the finish.

[Garrett]

Late dusk and early dawn are the icing on the cake just because of the sky being a dayglow orange. At Petit near turn 5 on the hill at dusk will give some good pics because the cars have a glowing apperance to them from the setting sun and it is high enough that the damn safty fence is not in the way!!!

[MikeHoyer]

In fact, going beyond the race itself, I enjoy just packing my stuff for Le Mans, then leaving the house, getting on the ferry etc. Something about it... even just a mundane ferry crossing.

I used enjoy the packing the bags while listening to Radio Le Mans, qualifying and such, but I will be at the track by then this year!

[gfm]

... you are a bunch of romantics!