day 2 - from Le Mans to Spa

VVVRRROOOOOAAMMMMM
This was my wake up call!
The exige 260Cup had just turned on it’s engine! And what a noise that was!
I jumped out of bed and looked out the window.
Sure enough there was a man behind the Exige a pony-tailed woman behind the Elise (girlie car?) both taking off to God-knows-where.
I sat by the desk to finish a report that I should have finished before leaving and took a quick shower.
Fred was already awake and 20 minutes later we took off as well.
Destination? Le Mans museum!
But before that, and with an empty car in our hands, we just couldn't resist doing the public part of the circuit one more time.
I mean: it's Le mans, there road is empty, and you're in a sports car.You just have to don't you?
Yes, you do. And you should too, as it's one of the most memorable moments we had, and I think I can still hear my laughing when I left the car parked by a turn.
Ok, museum.
When I got there I froze.
There, in big, capital letters was the writing: CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES DU MANS!


Big, Blue on red, with the entrance to the race track bellow it.
I parked the car at the first available place and we almost ran inside with excitement.
I had asked the toll boy at the race track if we could visit the circuit and he said a ticket could be bought in the museum to grant us access to the race track, so my first question when we entered was to know where to buy and how much would it cost.
This was my first question, but I managed to ask a whole lot more as the beautiful young woman behind the counter was gorgeous and with that French sexyness that immediately makes you wanna quit your job, sell everything you own and move to a little cottage with her.
She guided me through the museum items: T-shirts; caps, Polos, stickers, …. A few more but admittedly I wasn’t paying much attention to that, or to anything else inside the store either.
She spoke near perfect English and had the most beautiful smile you could imagine that side of a baguette. Ahhh…. I love Le Mans….
Sadly Fred called me back to reality and told me we had to visit the museum and the race track and that we still had a lot of miles to do.
Bye bye little cottage with beautiful French lady inside….
The museum was great!
I mean, I’m not a very “museum-kind-of-guy”, and it still took me about 20 minutes to see it all.
There’s pictures of all the great drivers, pictures of the various stages of circuit evolution, and, of course, cars! Lots and lots of cars!
From old carcasses that got Fred wishing he had a few million quid hidden somewhere, to ultra-recent LMP1 winners like the Bentley and Audi and Peugeot.
I took pictures of the whole thing, especially my favourite: the Mazda Rotary-powered P1 that won Le Mans more than a decade ago.
I once had a love affair with a Mazda RX7 – 2nd gen; and I read all I could possibly get my hands on about that engine.
And when I learned that a rotary powered car managed to race on the most legendary of endurance races and win I was in awe. Amazing car, amazing technology! Congratulations Mazda.


Sooooo, to the museum store again, maybe they have some new items since a few moments ago….
CLOSED! What?? I turn my head to the museum entrance lady and she tells me that “Elle a sortie por dejeuner” Which is something like: she left for lunch!
Good! As Schwarzenegger would put it: I’ll be back!
Start the car, get to the toll, show the tickets, and drive inside!
There were Lotus everywhere!
Exiges, Elises, Elans,Europas, Speedsters, old ones from the 60s, and a brand new blue Evora!


We drove through the roads next to the track while we wondered what was happening and why were there so many Lotus cars inside.
Fred stepped out of the car and I went in pursuit of a black Exige that had strayed from the herd.
“Bonjour, pardonnez moi, mais qu’est qui ce passe?”
« C’est la réunion annuel de Club Lotus France ! »
AH ! I was enlightened already!
So it seems that Lotus France had scheduled their annual meeting for this weekend, in Le Mans, while I was there.
So nice of them really, don’t you agree?
The gentleman also pointed that there was a car like mine on the track, and that if we were doing a automotive-driven trip we should go to Mulhouse to the Cité de l’Automobile, supposedly the greatest auto museum in the world, and he looked like the kind of person who had seen a few.
Dully noted! Back to Fred and the great pictures he had taken of the Lotus going around the track.
I had this belief that maybe, just maybe we could be allowed inside the track for a spin with the rest of the lot, but Fred pointed out that nobody was racing, they were just “strolling”.
Ah! That’s no fun at all is it?
So, again we leave the track, the museum is still closed and none of us had breakfast, so what do we do?
Head for the city and search for a restaurant!
We didn’t have to search much though, as close to the track there’s one of France’s many Buffalo Grills, also redecorated with about 10 Lotuses of all kinds and shapes in the front yard.
I parked my car next to a white, track ready 2-eleven and peek inside: nothing but a fire extinguisher and some buttons. WOW! And this thing should be light as a feather….
I step inside the restaurant and immediately see a team eating with shirts that match the stickers on the 2-eleven.
I sit down, order my meal, and moments later while waiting for the much desired ribs to appear in front of me I get up and go to their table and ask them if it’s their car.
“Oui. Vous désiré de la voir? Would you like to sit inside?”
“Oh yes! Very much so, thank you! Merci beaucoup!”
So we step outside the restaurant into the parking lot and I really, CLIMB inside the car.
I mean, it has nothing inside, but I didn’t want to step on the seat or anything, so care was taken in order to avoid shame and misplacing my feet!
Once inside they showed me how to start the engine, and if I thought my engine was loud, this one was in a whole new level of loudness….
I blipped the throttle a few times and pictured myself doing the Monaco chicane at full speed in that thing. Aaahhhh to be a boy and dream again….
I got out, or flew out, whichever you preferd, and returned the favour: the pilot sat inside my car and turned the engine on.
“It’s a turbo, no?”
“Oui, yes it is! Addictive torque.”
We had a few laughs and talked a bit more but they had to go back to the track and I had lunch on the table waiting for me.
Fred had stayed inside and I didn’t ask no-one to take my picture. Shame on me.
Lunch was great (this is France, remember) but time was already running out and we had to leave.
First, a quick return to the museum store and had the beautiful woman join me in choosing something to buy.
I ended with a nice polo and when I was paying she asked if I wanted a poster.
“Sure! I’d love one.”
She smiled, ripped my heart open with those beautiful eyes, and rolled up a poster for me.
“Ah, sorry, is it too much to ask for another one? You see I came here with a friend…”
“Pas de problème. No problem.”
Again, another smile, and another palpitation inside my chest.
I smile, she smiles back, we say goodbye and that’s the end of my love affair with Le Mans.
Inside the car it’s boiling hot, with more than 30 degrees outside, even with the windows open it’s like a franchise of hell in there.
Fred urges me to step on the gas to allow the wind to circulate inside but allas, we’re still inside the city and I can’t speed that much.
Once on the highway though, it does improve a bit.
Not by much, as our sweeted shirts and jeans go to show, but it is better than roasting in the sun when we have to stop.
Beeing respectful to the speed limits meant we often got overtaken, even by urban city cars.
On one of those occasions a Citroen C1 with an Italian license plate and filled with 4 young girls passed us and waved.
Ok, their Italian, and in Italy you love cars as much as you love pizza, right?
Well, almost.
These girls stayed with a us for a while, and we overtook each other a few times, all in good fun.
The BIG surprise was the immense traffic that awaited for us.
I mean, I had never, ever seen anything like that, and I have my share of road trips.
Fred quickly found the answer: It was Sunday, sunny day, and everybody went to the nearby beaches for the weekend and was now returning home.
It took us almost a full hour just to get pass the tolls, let alone the rest of the highway clogged as it was.
Our route was taking us through Paris and that was the biggest possible mistake.
I don’t know if there was any alternative road, but this was impossible.
Not even London during rush-hour has this much traffic.
When we approached Belgium, things got a bit better, and by then we were able to speed up a bit.
I see a small, red car on the horizon: a Lotus Exige R. British plates and right hand side steering wheel.
We drive together and all of a sudden we’re in a convoy with a Porsche Carrera 4; and a 997 Turbo. Yeah!
We speed up and the Exige is the first to throw the towel.
At two tons the Carrera also pulls to the side lane, and 20km/h more it’s my turn to let the Turbo go.
That thing is fast! Seriously fast!
The landscape changes also from yellow in France, to a beautiful green in Belgium.
Obviously they have a lot more rain in here.
You also appreciate the “chateaux” that pop every other mile.
Ah! One of these and my beautiful Le Manian princess :)
It’s getting dark now, we’re hungry, and the Belgium roads aren’t all that good.
There are a couple of tunnels were we have some fun but soon we’re on a detour has the main road to Spa is closed.


Great!
In the middle of the night, sweated, hungry, tired, and in a small road to Spa.
We managed to get there unharmed and were greeted with a town party.
Again: how nice of them!
Everybody was cheering and jumping, and partying in the middle of the streets.
We parked the car in the hotel’s garage and drop our stuff in the room.
It turns out Liege, the near by football team, had just won the Belgium championship, so everybody was celebrating.
Good!
It’s 11 o’clock at night, it’s warm outside, everybody’s happy and there’s a pizza parlor open and with mouth watering pizzas for us.
We sit down and relax for the first time in almost 14 hours.
We’re in Spa! And a good Spa is exactly what we need!