Vehicles Spotted at the Classic - Part 1

When I attended my first Le Mans Classic event back in 2010, I was of course impressed by the expected amazing collection of sports and racing cars that filled the six period paddocks. However, being an MGA enthusiast and having driven there in mine, I was also pleased to see the unexpected and very unusual sight at that time of the replica 1955 BMC Competitions Department works transporter that was parked nearby. A restored 1956 Fiat bus chassis bodied as a transporter by Bartoletti. Originally commissioned by Maserati. Rebuilt and extended by Carroll Shelby in the early sixties to transport his Cobra sports cars.

BRM Motor Racing Transporter based on a 1959 Leyland Royal Tiger Export Chassis, bodied by Marshall Motor

1955 BMC Competitions Department Replica Transporter Bodies. Vehicles Spotted at the Fast forward to 2016 and now such is the current enthusiasm for period race transporters, that they even have their own Le Mans Classic - Part 2 display area adjoining the circuit 'Village'. As anyone who has spectated at a Formula 1 Grand Prix race will know, you go there primarily for the atmosphere and the supplementary sights. The race itself is best watched on television at home. And so it with events such as the Le Mans Classic. It seems to me that anyone with an interesting vehicle within driving distance of Le Mans turns up in it just for the sake of it, and parks it pretty much anywhere they can find a space in or around the circuit. This year we noticed a Mercedes 300SLR Gullwing just abandoned by some dustbins and my son said something along the lines of "only at Le Mans are cars that anywhere else be a centre of precious attention just dumped unnoticed in corners". Similarly, we saw a very nice vintage Vauxhall in one of the public car parks outside the circuit.

The Ecurie Ecosse Transporter is based on a 1959 Commer Chassis with the unique TS two stroke diesel opposed pistons three cylinder engine.

This year the transporters displayed varied from the very modest flatbed of an early Team Lotus entry, to rather more splendid Ferrari examples. The recently auctioned Ecurie Ecosse transporter was also present, complete with complimentary matching Jaguar D-type, which must be as near perfect a set of 'big boys' toys' as they come!

Vauxhall 30/98

Willys Jeep Ferrari Transporter – 1957 Fiat Bartoletti (Note RH Drive)! There isn't as much dressing up as at Goodwood but occupants of the many Jeeps usually make the effort. Vehicles Spotted at the Le Mans Classic - part 3 The Le Mans 24 Hours race has a long and illustrious history, races having taken place since 1923. One of the attractions of the Le Mans Classic is seeing examples from the earliest years up close in the paddock and back in action on the circuit both in daylight and at night, just as they would have been almost a century ago. The races for these earliest cars are for those manufactured from 1923 to 1939 and whilst there were a few examples of non-British manufactured cars such as Alfa Romeo, Citroen and Mercedes, the race is largely a British car benefit. So by far the majority of cars participating in 2016 were a roll call of our most famous and familiar pre-WW2 names; Alvis, Aston Martin, Bentley, Invicta, Lagonda, MG, Morgan, Riley, Singer and Back to the Future De Loren Talbot. The fact that the Le Mans Start is only for the formation I couldn't see how the people inside the 'Back to the Future' De lap takes little away from the spectacle of seeing the drivers run Lorean were dressed. and jump into their cars and roar off towards the Dunlop Of course, interesting moderns are also always good to see, Curves. such as the German registered Morgan 3-wheeler we noticed in The variation in machinery is always fascinating with early the Morgan club area, which is always by the . leviathans such as the Bentleys and Lagondas looming large It is similar with manufacturers in the 'village'. Priceless, even over the diminutive little MGs, Morgans and Singers. That the unique, cars that anywhere else would be well behind barriers styling changed so dramatically during this period is also and surrounded by security men are simply parked out on the evident with the streamlined late-1930s BMWs making the plaza for visitors to get up to as close as they like - even touch! Bugattis of a decade earlier look positively antiquated. Also, I

have a particular love of the Art Deco styled cars that the French were particularly adept at in the 1930s so I was pleased to see both Peugeot and Alfa Romeo examples in the line-up.

New type Morgan Three Wheeler Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS The variety is breathtaking, as my photos, hopefully, illustrate, and many vehicles draw as much attention from the spectators as do the competing cars, themselves. I have a particular soft spot for Edwardian race cars so I always look out for them. One Edwardian this year had clearly been driven all the way from Scotland and, I believe, typify the sort of owners who attend the Le Mans Classic - they like to 'really use' their cars.

Peugeot 402 Darl’mat

Edwardian race car from Scotland

MG K3 Supercharged I was also glad to see an MG K3, deservedly there as one won

Edwardian Simplex its class in 1935.

One can be forgiven for being patriotic on these occasions as British cars typically do very well, often better than in period due Morgan 4/4 Le Mans to their superb condition and subsequent refinement as a result However, the highlight of this group's action for me was of this country's passion for historic racing. Whilst Plateau 2 seeing an original Bentley entrant doing its first stint with hood was won by that man Wallace again in the D-type, Plateau 3 by erected, just as was required for the early laps when the self- a Lister, and Plateau 5 by a Lola, Plateau 4 bucked the British same car raced at the circuit 90 years ago. I had never seen trend by being won by a GT40. Indeed all the top ten Plateau 4 that before. finishers were powered by Ford V8 engines, the first nine being a mixture of arguably part-British GT40s and Shelby Cobras and tenth was a Shelby Mustang. So there, Enzo!

Bentley Three Litre The lowlight for me was the Lagonda that my brother-in-law was pit-crewing for not surviving beyond the first lap of its first race. Oh well, there's always 2018!

Aston Martin Ulster chasing Blower Bentley Of course, American cars have long been entered in the Le Mans 24 Hours and if there is one make that prevents in-field Vehicles Spotted at the Le Mans campers getting much sleep it is Chevrolet with their GT class Classic - part 4 Corvettes.

Whilst I like to see the pre-WW2 cars at Le Mans I cannot deny that it is the cars of my childhood years, which is post-WW2 to about 1970 that I love the most. Hence I always make a point of walking the paddocks of the so called Plateaus 2 to 5, to see close up the cars that I dreamed of in my youth and then, of course, go and see and hear them being driven in anger. And make no mistake, whilst some of the pre-WW2 cars are maybe doing little more than parade laps, the majority of the other plateau drivers mean business, despite some of their steeds having seven figure values. The icing on the 2016 cake was a special Jaguar (only) Classic Challenge race to honour the marque's Le Mans pedigree. In this race a mouth-watering selection of XKs, C-types, D-types and E-types plus a couple of Mk2 saloons took to the track. Victory went to a certain Andy Wallace in a D-type - yes, he of the outright Le Mans win in 1988.

Thankfully, such cars are still shipped across the pond for the Classic, a notable 2016 entry being a 1950 Cadillac.

During this period the host nation Le Mans entrants did not compete for outright victory but chased the Index of Performance, which takes into account fuel efficiency so it is great to see survivors of these quirky lower-powered vehicles, such as DBs, Panhards and Alpines also having been preserved and reunited with the circuit. They are invariably blue.

Lastly, being an MG man, I cannot omit the fact that whilst I am used to seeing ex-works MGAs and the original Paddy Hopkirk Le Mans MGB race at Le Mans, the 2016 MG entry also included a 100% fake. It was that of the recently created replica of the MG TC special that raced at Le Mans in 1949 and 1950, and very nice it was too.

Roger Martin