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Le Mans 1977

by Pete Giles

This was the year that Aston Martin came to race.

The dawn light saw us at Plymouth bus station with a tent, kettle and a tape recorder and very little else waiting for a coach to France.

When it arrived a problem arose - a toilet had been fitted in the back and to do this they just moved the seats up on one side this made for very short leg room.

When I tried to get into my seat I could not get in it so I asked to move to the front this was agreed and as I did so I passed a chap that was at least 4 inches taller than me and at 6 foot 2+ I often wondered how he got into that seat.

This was my first trip abroad as an adult, I had been to Barcelona at the age of 9 on a steam train full of other school kids we had a great time. I managed to get separated from the rest of the school when on a trip to the water front I was looking at some pre war cars (nothing changes) and they went without me, I had to spend the whole day on my own, what would they say today I wonder.

Anyway the coach went first to Dover, then down through France to Le Mans passing through many small villages some that still had signs of the war with bullets holes and shell damage in many of the houses.

I returned to some of the places in later years and all the evidence had disappeared.

We arrived early on Race Day and found a place to put up the tent, unfortunately we had left a tent pole behind so it was off to the nearest hedge for a stick, we went in search of drink and food and headed for the Track side this just happened to be the other side of some rusty chicken wire fence, no run offs or sand traps then.

We decided to cross the Dunlop Bridge just up from the pits to get to the opposite side of the track to see if our cheap tickets would get us in This enclosure is just down hill from the Esses that lead out onto the Mulsane Straight, this is actually the main road to Mulsane village.

During our wanderings we say a 6 wheeled Land Rover in the Stands car park and as this was the first time we had seen such a vehicle we thought we would jump the fence and have a look. It suddenly dawned on us that we had got into the centre of the track and as we knew the layout we might be able to get to the Straight itself. Dodging Police and other officials we eventually found ourselves standing by the Armco that runs down the side of the road only to be shouted at by 2 local policemen.

To be continued...

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