Yes, I'd say Le Mans is one pilgrimage every sports car enthusiast
should make at least once during their life time, if possible. It was
one of the two races I managed to get in during a European trip in 1965.
That was a different time but I suspect the carnival atmosphere hasn't
changed much since then. I made the trip from Paris a as passenger in a
friend's brand new BRG MGB (to be replaced three weeks later by a brand
new gunmetal grey E-Type). Somewhere around the house I have a color
photo taken over my friend's shoulder during the trip showing the
speedometer pegged at 105 MPH. Even so, he had trouble keeping up with
traffic. We weren't the only ones headed for Le Mans.
Like most of the other spectators we laid out sleeping bags in one of
the many open fields along side the course that served as
parking/camping areas. We were located nearly opposite the start/finish
line. We certainly weren't the only Americans. There were lots of
tourists like ourselves, but I suspect we were outnumbered by European
based military personal. I particularly remember a family directly in
front of us. They had driven to the race from Germany in a GMC pickup
with a camper shell. What caught my attention was a case of Budweiser
they had bought at a PX to bring along. I couldn't comprehend why
anyone living in Germany would prefer Bud to most any German beer they
could have gotten. Well, I suppose it was cheaper.
The race started in the afternoon and we all squeezed against the fence
waiting for the leaders to come by. It wasn't a long wait. We could
hear them long before we could see them. The sound was unmistakable;
thundering big block Fords. They came by in two bunches and the sound
of the second group had pretty much receded into the distance before we
heard the screaming Ferrari pursuers. Of course, this is exactly what
We had come to see. It was very exciting; for a while, anyway. 1965
was not to be a Ford year. Eventually the GT40s dropped out one by one,
but it was a show while it lasted.
As it turned out, it was an historic year for Carroll Shelby, who was
intimately involved in the GT40 effort. That year Shelby's 289 Cobras
took the World's manufacturing championship for GT cars.
After I returned to the US I bought copies of all the sports car
magazines I could find with description of the race. I particularly
remember a paragraph in the article written for Road & Track by Henry
Manney III. He went to some lengths to describe how terrible the local
water was. Try as I may, I couldn't remember drinking any "foul" water
during my entire stay in Europe, including Italy. Then it dawned on me,
I hadn't drank any water during my stay at Le Mans.
Roland
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