Le Mans 2008 report

Well, I've been back in Montreal for almost a week and I finally have time to post my report from Le Mans. The photos below are mostly from the various camping and parking areas around the track. I can't imagine a more varied bunch of cool cars. I didn't take any photos of the actual race in progress because my camera is not that great and does not have a zoom lens. I figured it was better to focus on the ambiance when one attends the race.

I arrived in Paris Thursday before the race, which would be held on Saturday and Sunday. I was staying with my friends Etienne and Roberta, who moved to Paris last year. They would be coming to the race with me. We rented a Fiat Punto on Friday and drove the 200 km to Le Mans.

We had a great time at the race and, for me at least, it was over too fast. I was hoping Villeneuve's Peugeot team could take the win, but second place is still pretty darn good. We managed a quick escape avoiding the traffic on Sunday and got back to Paris in the early evening. I really had an excellent time and would recommend attending the race to anyone who is interested in sports car racing.

Here are the pics:

Trip to Portugal

Well, I'm on vacation in Portugal and it really is a beautiful country. We've driven about 1000 km in our rental car in the last 4 days and we've covered a lot of the southern part of Portugal. I can't say that this is a country where they're really into cars the way they are in Italy. Still, I have spotted a couple of decent cars, like a Ferrari F430, an M5, a Clio Williams, a couple of Integra Type R's and a Civic Type R. My rental car is a Nissan Micra. I don't know if it has the 1.2 80 hp or the 1.4 88 hp, but it doesn't have that much power. It rides nicely though.

Our rental car

We also managed to drop by Estoril, where there was some sort of formula car doing testing. It was hard to get good photos with our small camera.

Unplanned stop at Estoril

I'll be heading over to Le Mans in a few days and I expect to see a few more interesting cars at that time. Stay tuned...