Count yourselves lucky
Discussion
If this had been Le Mans week, you wouldn't have really enjoyed it, that's for sure. The last time I can remember such storms was the Wednesday of 2008 when the tunnels were flooded, but this week has been worse. We had torrential storms Wednesday, we've had rain since, but Saturday beat them all. 11pm, night, rain so hard I couldn't sleep due to the drumming on the roof, then another during the night at 2pm, the lightning flashing all around. Wednesday provided 512 lightning bolts in the Sarthe it seems. And this evening, for many who stay over and leave Monday, Sunday has been dry until 6pm. We have again had two storms of serious proportions, and anyone staying in Beauséjour would probably have been flooded out.
Count your chickens folks. Hope for better in August.
Count your chickens folks. Hope for better in August.
August is usually very hot, the hottest in my time here 46C by day and 28C by night in 2003. I remember sleeping in the cellar on a camp bed for three weeks. But don't let that put you off because while warmer than June the average isn't that hot. Have a look here though:-
https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/france/le-mans-we...
https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/france/le-mans-we...
I wasn't trying to be specific. Look through history and the race has been run on different weekend depending on when the 24th weekend of the year falls. It was 18/19 June in 2016 for example. Anyway, it is still pissing down and another day, another thunderstorm. At least one a day for a week now.
Was 2007 the year it rained for almost the whole week? Large areas of the campsites were cordoned off and in some cases whole fields! That was a year which tested my resolve to the maximum. We were shovelled in a field, behind a field, behind a field on Beausejour and had been given Dunlop grandstand tickets (we usually booked Houx and T18, but the ACO bumped us that year). We vowed to never have that problem ever again!!
For me it was the Wednesday in 2008. I left home with a light drizzle falling, crossed the Mulsanne at Family Village towards the circuit and as I exited the shopping area everything changed. The ditches were overflowing, the field on the left was a lake, and under the Porsche curves there was about 30 cms of water. Up to the circuit entrance, and the old tunnel entrance on the right was 2 metres deep. Apparently the main entrance tunnel was up to the rail on the elevated walkway. Impossible to sign on, but apparently a substantial amount of soil and stones had been washed down in front of the pit exit.
Davwlk said:
Our first Le Mans 1998, we arrived Friday night, put the tent up in Camping Bleu, all hell broke loose, tent flooded, slept in the car.
It hailstoned that year as well... possibly on the Thursday or Friday during the day. Some tents in Houx Annexe were floating around....I seem to remember going to the 'bar' at Houx Annexe late at night on one of the week days and seeing a couple of guys drinking a lot - a couple of locals... Thought they were walking somewhere but then they put helmets on and got on to a moped - well they struggled to walk out of the place and then fell off the moped at least once! The barmen went over to them - I thought they were going to take away the keys but no - they helped them on their way....!!!
Gassing Station | Le Mans | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff