Le Mans Classic

1969 Chevron B8-BMW

In my book, 2006 was a good year. Got my pensioner’s bus pass, had two cataract operations, made my Le Mans debut…not necessarily in that order! I can only now reveal that it is possible to race at Le Mans with one eye! This may come as a shock to the team.

The chance to finally race at Le Mans came courtesy of John Ruston and Gareth Burnett who had recently found a tidy and quite significant Chevron B8 and were about to use it as part of a serious team effort at the Le Mans Classic, now regarded as the historic race to take part in…well six races to take part in. The Patrick Peter organization has built up this event extremely well over the few years it has been running and it can now boast a staggering entry. It was well oversubscribed for 2006, an outcome of only running the event every two years. The format, as most of you now know, is to have six grids of up to 72 cars, each spanning Le Mans history from its origins in 1923 up until 1979. Each grid has three 45-minute races and positions are judged on both outright position and index of performance. Teams consist of one car from each grid. Preference is given to cars with genuine 24 Hours history or competition versions of the same models. The Le Mans Classic has become a real showcase of Le Sarthe history, and this year there was also a celebration of the Ford victory 40 years ago, with a reenactment of the finish of that race.