Bucket List - big one

♫♪♫♪♫♪ I'm going to the 24 Hours of Le Mans! ♫♪♫♪♫♪

Awesome. Are you going as media or as a guest of one of the teams?

Media. I'm doing a centre spread illustrated feature for the Toronto Star, and an overview sort of story for Autos.ca. I'll be going with Audi, with pit access.

One image that has always stuck in my head- a Ferrari 308/328 with a tent next it. I want to do that. I'll compromise and use an Alfa.

Have fun!

My List is down to Monaco, Silverstone for F1, and LeMans. For some reason, the Ring has never been that big.

(have done Spa and Monza)

I've been to Monaco, but I have to confess it was not during the race. I drove the course (slowly) in an SLS AMG - a thrill despite there being so much traffic that for the most part we didn't see 80 km/hr.

I plan on staying up all night, wandering the pits and getting random shots to later work into illustrations. So excited, I'm going with Audi so I'll have lots of access to cool, candid scenes.

That's excellent.

I went to the Historic Le Mans last year, and it was very cool. But the one thing it was missing was the battle. Cars were racing in 50-minute heats over 24 hours, but it's different knowing at 3 am that they still have 12 hours to go instead of just 50 minutes. Seeing the cars wear out over the race is a big part of the fight.

CONGRATS! AGAIN! Errythang's comin' up Lesley!

I've never been, so I'm really excited. We'll be a really small group, and we've all hung out in some weird and wonderful places before, so it's great knowing that the company will be cool too. They'll be the kind of guys who'll want to stay up all night and find the interesting stories too. I plan on taking a couple of thousand shots - lots of the e-tron of course, but I'll see if I can bug Ralph for some close-up access to the Viper too.

Oh, I'm sooooooo jealous! One on my own list was to work the event..I didn't know until I was already 50yrs old that ACO has a rule that says no one can work Le Mans for the first time after their 50th birthday, regardless of their skill/license level in their home country. If I'd known that beforehand, I would have been a little more aggressive in my previous attempts to go. I still want to go see it in person once, though.

Go down to Poste 106 (a bit downstream from Arnage Corner) and talk to my buddy Steve Tarrant.

Yes, he works turns on one leg. Bring an audio recorder with fresh batteries, it's an amazing story.

EDIT: "Downstream"= in the direction the cars travel down the race track. Sorry for the Corner Worker terminology. Worker station track map (106bis is where he'll be):

EDIT #2: Egad..downstream, not upstream. Jeez, maybe there's a reason ACO has that age rule..

Awesome!!!!

I've heard that there's an entire field of spectator parking that's nothing but lotus sevens and their clones. If you have time, you should take a picture.

Congratulations!!!

Count me into the jealous and super-happy for you all at once camp.

JoeyM wrote: Awesome!!!! I've heard that there's an entire field of spectator parking that's nothing but lotus sevens and their clones. If you have time, you should take a picture.

Funny you should mention that. From the Historic last summer...

That effing rocks!! Congrats

< Jealous.

In reply to Lesley:

That's awesome. Congratulations!

Congrats! Can I come with you? My wife won't mind lol

Outstanding!!! I could probably fit in a carryon...

Very cool!

Please be sure to share a link to the story, once published. I'd love to read it!

dyintorace beat me to it ... link(s) pics ... happy for ya

Congrats Lesley! Awesome!

Congrats

n report in often

That is pure awesome. I would like to go one day..... I have no doubt you will enjoy every second.

Thanks so much guys. I'm beyond excited about it. I'm going to try to see everything and take thousands of pictures. It will be a crazy week, as I go directly to Newfoundland from France for another event, then on to Detroit. Then it's a week of being a recluse while I catch up on all the work!

That is so cool. That, Goodwood and a race at Spa are at the top of my list.

Totally on my bucket list! Congratulations!