Le Mans Legends Race, 16 June, 2007

[John Turner]

A few rather dodgy pics of this event as I was there. Out at Arnage corner, a clear view over the top of the fencing was limited to about a 50 metre stretch as they were accelerating away from the corner. So all the pics are 'snatched' and all pretty much from the same angle. There I was, at the top of the banking, when I glanced down straight in front of me, and spectating at the fence, no more that 5 metres away was one Ted Walker, whereupon a short exchange of greetings took place along with the observation that it was indeed 'a small World'.

A big field of 59 cars, it soon broke up, and the two leaders drove away at some pace. They were the Andre and Thomas Baillie T70 MkIII and the Ferrari 275LM of Peter Hardman. I never tire of watching Hardman drive; he is truly one of the finest of our current crop of Historic Racers, and he gave Baillie a really tough time until the latter finally managed to get into his stride in the Lola and pulled away. However, the Lola failed to complete the last lap, although was classified 9th overall. Hardman in a strong 2nd place and therefore, by his standards, rather stroking it, inherited the lead, but was completely unaware of the hard charging Shaun Lynn who had started from the back of the grid in his GT40. Lynn's fine drive brought him up to and passed Hardman on the last lap. Hardman thinking that Lynn was unlapping himself was unruffled and let him go. However, I'm sure that had he known the real situation, he would have ensured that Lynn would not have got close enough to pose a real threat. Nevertheless, the GT40 driver's fine effort netted him victory. I understand that Hardman had originally been down to drive the Ferrari P3; had he done so, I really don't think the rest of the field would have seen which way he had gone! Pure speculation, of course!


Tony Dron in the 330LMB came 5th and Graeme and Ollie Bryant came 55th in their Cobra. I rather think that the latter must have experienced some problem, possibly a lenthy driver change?


Very out of focus, but couldn't resist a three abreast picture. On the outside, the Derek Hood/Gary Pearson Lister Jaguar which came in 25th, the Neil and Joe Twyman Lotus 11 series 2, which later pulled off to retire on the approach to Arnage Corner, and the similar car (35) of James Paterson and Chris Aklam which finished 31st:-


Berni Chodosh and John Young were classified 58th with their Corvette:-