As I arrived a day earlier than usual I’d decided to have a few hours on the beach on Friday morning. After a visit to the merchandise village to buy a couple of event t-shirts, it was off to the beach. The local resort Bandol has very safe and sandy bathing beaches, but require quite a wade out to get to swimming depth. After a 10 minute splash about, I spent enough time in the sun to get dry, then called in a supermarket for a few cold beers before returning to the track.
There’s plenty of track action from Thursday onwards, with practise and qualifying for each of the teams riders, both in daylight and the dark. Teams normally have three members identified by blue red or yellow arm bands. Some teams use a fourth rider (green band). I was amazed to learn that prior to 1954 there were no teams just one rider for the whole 24 hr stint. Real hardcore,chapeau. There are two classes within the same race, similar to BSB super bikes and super stock being in the same race.
Early Friday evening was the much awaited pit lane walkabout, enjoyed by the crowd but no doubt dreaded by the riders, as many don’t like the public relations side of being a rider. I managed brief chats with Chaz, Leon, Chris Idden and Sylvain Guintoli. It does get to be quite a madhouse with the crowd pushing and shoving in attempts to get autographs from their heroes. It was then time for some food, and a traditional merguez and chips was the order of the day, washed down with a few beers. An early night was called for as tomorrow would certainly be a long and busy day.
There’s plenty of track action from Thursday onwards, with practise and qualifying for each of the teams riders, both in daylight and the dark. Teams normally have three members identified by blue red or yellow arm bands. Some teams use a fourth rider (green band). I was amazed to learn that prior to 1954 there were no teams just one rider for the whole 24 hr stint. Real hardcore,chapeau. There are two classes within the same race, similar to BSB super bikes and super stock being in the same race.
Early Friday evening was the much awaited pit lane walkabout, enjoyed by the crowd but no doubt dreaded by the riders, as many don’t like the public relations side of being a rider. I managed brief chats with Chaz, Leon, Chris Idden and Sylvain Guintoli. It does get to be quite a madhouse with the crowd pushing and shoving in attempts to get autographs from their heroes. It was then time for some food, and a traditional merguez and chips was the order of the day, washed down with a few beers. An early night was called for as tomorrow would certainly be a long and busy day.
Whizz kid sitting pretty on his two wheeled stallion.