Well the mustard shortage has been resolved – in this household at least – thanks to kind friend Ron who came over to France last week (not just on a mustard run) bringing supplies that should last us into our dotage! We now need to find, or invent, lots of mustard based recipes.
After being on our own since we came to Europe for this trip, June has brought has several opportunities to meet up with friends and the first half of June has been focused around car events. At the beginning of June we spent a long weekend at Laon, to the north-east of Paris and home to the Circuit Historique de Laon, a gathering of classic and more modern cars. This was the 31st running of the event after a two year pandemic pause and there was a very large turnout of Brits amongst the 900-1,000 entrants, no doubt eager to be able to get involved again in such events. We were delighted to be able to meet up again with friends Steve and Yvonne, whom we met last year at Angoulême at the Circuit des Remparts. They travelled to the event from the UK in their classic Ferrari which, in true classic car style, kept them on their toes with small mechanical challenges along the way. The first day of the weekend involved a run out through the surrounding countryside via 3 different routes, all meeting up at lunchtime at a very hot and sweltering Saint-Quentin – not great for classic cars that had to spend some time idling in traffic as everyone was marshalled for parking. We’d gone out on the motorbike to see some of the cars en route so were able to avoid the worst of it.
The Sunday gave us the opportunity to explore the centre of Laon in more detail. The striking old town sits on a promontory 100 metres above the surrounding flat plains and the cars are displayed in the historic centre around the town hall and along the ramparts. A specific theme of the gathering this year was Japanese cars and, in particular, Nissan Figaros, small pastel-coloured cars that always seem to raise a smile from passers-by.
After lunch (let’s hope not too heavy on the alcohol) the cars are then allowed to drive a circuit through the cobbled streets of the town centre and ramparts, even joined by the enthusiastic mayor. The weather was changeable with some light showers, so setting off on slippery cobbles was a bit of a challenge for the vintage motorcycles that joined in. It was certainly an experience that car drivers and spectators alike all seemed to enjoy.
From Laon we took a leisurely cross country route south of Paris over a couple of days to get to Le Mans, meeting up with motor cycling friend Andy for the 24Heures du Mans weekend. Andy has been attending the event for many years, Joe has done it about 4 times and we had all three attended once before together. The race has still gone ahead over the past two years but with no or very limited attendance. Our campsite area was managed by a British events company and was located right next to the race track on the Porsche Curves, a popular area of the track for spectators. Although the race doesn’t start until the Saturday afternoon there is plenty of racing practice, both day and night, in the preceding days. We also had the opportunity to take a ride out on the motorbikes to Saumur on the Loire for lunch.
On race day we watched the pre-race build up and start from our grandstand seats opposite the pits, so there was plenty of action. There are several different classes of cars involved in the race ranging from hypercars (sports prototype race cars) down to production car-derived cars modified for racing. Each team has three drivers and in the lowest category there is one professional and two amateur drivers. This year’s amateur drivers included the actor Michael Fassbender, which shows how you can indulge expensive hobbies when you’re a well paid actor.
We watched the first couple of hours from the grandstand then headed back to camp to watch more from the grassy banks of the Porsche Curves when darkness fell. We were well aware that sleep would be limited with the cars racing by through the night but it’s surprising that with earplugs you do manage to zone out from the noise to get some shut eye. On the Sunday we headed back to the grandstands to see a few more hours racing and then the race finish, with plenty of pre-finish tyre changes in the pit lane. It says a lot for the reliability of the cars, running continuously at full whack for 24 hours, that only 8 or 9 of the 62 starters didn’t finish. It’s great to have been part of such an iconic event.
Our campsite was on a small corner of a huge public campsite with thousands of campers and when we arrived we were issued with rubbish bags for recycling and general rubbish. After seeing pictures of the aftermath of UK festivals and summer beaches, on leaving site on the Monday morning we were very pleasantly surprised to see not a piece of litter on the dried out grass, just filled rubbish and recycling bags left tidily. Perhaps you feel compelled to fill the bag when you’re given one….
