It's been a long time... this is very overdue!

It’s been a few weeks since I got home from Le Mans, but I have had a lot to do since then, and writing on the blog, as regular (and patient) readers will know, tends to get shoved down my priority list fairly easily. I posted on Twitter that it was incredibly important for me to be at Le Mans this year – for the 90th running of this epic 24-hour endurance race. Having said that, it would be stretching the point somewhat to describe this year’s race as an epic. But I’ll come back to that later.

Looking back, I was surprised to find that my last post here was more than six months ago – I knew that it had been a while, but hadn’t realised that quite so much time had passed. Hence, a bit of a catch-up is due.

On the personal front, our house move was achieved as planned before Christmas, and since then we have spent time sorting things out and settling in. Health-wise, I am doing pretty well. My strength is not what it was, and I tire easily, but my body is tolerating the regime of medication and my day-to-day life is more or less normal. The good news is that since moving in, for not a single moment have I regretted the move, despite the associated stresses involved.

I have suggested before that infrequent posting on my blog is probably a good sign – certainly this year has been a busy one so far, and looks like it will continue in that vein for a few months (at least) yet. Getting things sorted on the house seems like a never-ending task, but squeezing in some trip abroad has helped raise the spirits no end. Following a trip to the 24 hours of Dubai in January, I have made two visits to family in Germany and spent a week on holiday in Lanzarote. Then I have managed three visits to Silverstone (including the 24-hour Citroen C1 race), been twice to Brands Hatch, and further afield, to Mugello and Hockenheim for Creventic 24H Series races. Each of which have probably been worthy of blog entries in their own right, but time for writing stuff here has simply not been available.

Le Mans for me, though is “the Big One”. And I am sure there are many of you for whom that resonates. It’s difficult to describe why the event is held in such high esteem by so many people, but when Covid struck the world and multiple myeloma struck me, it was the race that left the biggest void.

In June 2020, I was really rather poorly, and wasn’t in a fit state to travel – visits to the local hospital to receive my weekly treatments were on the limit of what I could manage. When the race was re-scheduled for September, there seemed no good reason why we wouldn’t be allowed to go: Autumnal colours in La Sarthe – that would be worth seeing. At the time, September seemed a long way away, the medication was working and my strength was returning. By the time the race weekend came around on 19th/20th September, I was reaching what would turn out to be a bit of a peak of fitness, before being struck back down by the stem cell transplant, which happened to me in October. And far from going away, Covid hung around and prevented any spectators (and a good deal of media people) from making the annual pilgrimage.

For me personally, it was extra disappointing, as my first visit to Le Mans had been in 1981 (you can read about that adventure here {https://trussers.blogspot.com/2011/05/le-mans-1981-personal-recollections.html}) and 2020 would therefore have been by 40th visit without missing a year. It took me a while to recover from my stem cell transplant, but surely 2021 would not see a repeat? It did. Again the race was postponed from its traditional June date, to August 21st/22nd, and although there were some media present, Radio Le Mans was not; there was no FM transmitter and only limited numbers of spectators allowed through the turnstiles. My 40th Le Mans would have to wait.

Although I missed being there, I did participate, in a limited way, in Radio Le Mans output in both 2020 and 2021. I was listening in, and had a link to the Skype chat that the broadcast team uses to control the streamed output. But for me it was a shallow way in which to follow the race.

The beauty of Radio Le Mans, as listeners will know, is the chemistry that exists between the various people on air – the banter, the mix of vivid descriptions of race action with technical detail and strategic analysis along with entertaining tangents and the way the whole thing somehow knits together as a cohesive unit. This year, that was back. We even visited one of the camp sites!

Working at Le Mans is never easy, and this year was certainly no exception. I won’t go into the details, but you should be aware that away from the microphones, there’s a lot of hard work put in by everyone involved. As for the race – well let’s be frank – it was somewhat disappointing in terms of the overall lead. But there was still drama: surely everyone will take away the image of Alexander Sims’ vicious exit from the race on Sunday morning, bringing Corvette’s Le Mans story to a most disappointing close. And there was still tension: the Toyotas one hiccup for the Conway/Lopez/Kobayashi car – was it a just a one-off glitch or a portent for more trouble ahead? And records broken: the most cars ever to take the start of the race (62), the most finishers ever (53), and the best reliability record across the entry (85%). And there was Josh Pierson, who became the youngest driver ever to start – and finish – the race. And there was Toyota, winning for the fifth time in a row.

For me, you can forget the racing, it was the event that was so very special. I was most touched by all the messages of support – many from people I had never met. And being able to walk around the paddock and see people I hadn’t met for years. It is a privilege to be able to talk to so many people on Radio Le Mans: those at the track as well as those listening all around the world: hopefully my ramblings fitted in with the rest of the team, that we made some sense and encouraged those who weren’t there to make the trip in future. And that those who were there at the circuit felt well-informed and entertained about what was going on (most of the time).

I originally intended to put some analysis in here before signing off, but I am afraid time has once again got the better of me. It's off to Portimão next, where I shall be helping Red Camel with their Porsche 992 Cup car in another 24 hour race. Maybe there’ll be time after that! Maybe.