Friday in Le Mans
19. September 2008Le Mans - Nearly all the teams went directly to Le Mans from Zolder, some of them even arrived at the Circuit Bugatti already on Monday evening. In regard to the FIA European Truck Racing Championship, Fabien Calvet is not only the chief technician, but is also responsible for the organisation of the paddocks. And so it was ensured that the teams were allowed to pitch their tents long before the paddock was officially opened. Consequently everybody was relaxed and took it easy. Today – Friday – there were only the pilots of the sidecars and the Super Karts doing some laps as an unofficial training session.
As always in Le Mans, the paddock is again jam-packed. Besides the two series of the support programme, far more than 50 RaceTrucks – in two series – are registered, among them the Scania of Erwin Klein Nagelvoort. Last week in Zolder the team around the Dutch race-by-race pilot had been burning the midnight oil to replace the engine, but after only a few laps the new one had packed up too. Back home they had completely reconditioned the engine, and when they were ready on Wednesday, they resolved to go to Le Mans after all.
On the showground all the manufacturers of commercial vehicles and a lot of companies who supply truck parts and accessories assemble, but besides the business the pleasure should not be neglected. Hence there is a long row of stalls offering Lucullan specialities – catering for all tastes and wallets. The Ferris wheel, which is meanwhile mandatory for the ’24 Heures’, towers above everything. But there are many more opportunities to spend money on a lot of things which warm the cockles of – not only – the trucker’s heart.
The weather was splendid today with a cloudless sky; and although the temperatures did not rise above 5 – 6 °C (41 – 43 °F) in the early morning, we got summery temperatures of almost 25 °C (77 °F) in the afternoon. And the forecast says it will stay like that for the remaining weekend. So the odds are in our favour that in Le Mans a record could possibly be cracked in regard to the total of attendances.
