" Mini Marcos parading in Le Mans "
Maybe you missed the 24hours of Le Mans this year,
maybe you didn’t hear about 2 Audi crashing during this Grand Prix; and best of
all, you may not have known about a Peugeot coming 14 seconds too short
after 24 hours.
But I am sure you were all waiting for “la Grande
Parades des Pilotes” this year. The day before the race, pilots drive across
the city of Le Mans in old cars to celebrate this unique competition.
For the first time, the Mini Marcos were invited to
join the retrospective part of the Parade 2011. And four owners attended the
event: Frank Morskate and Tom Wiggers from The Netherlands, Bernard Cettour and Eric Cettour from France. If you ask them about that day, they
will only say “it was so Fantastic!”… But let’s make it more detailed.
First step was to draw up the programme of the day. And
it was done around a big breakfast, thanks to Jean-Marc & Muriel living in
Le Mans, and supporting every Mini Marcos trip there. The drivers decided to
start with a photo session of the cars on the legendary circuit.
The traditional stop for British cars on their road to
Le Mans is in St Saturnin. There in the morning, the 4 Mini Marcos made the
first good impression of the day. Then they reached the centre of Le Mans,
surrounded by some Jaguar, Ford GT40, Bentley, Aston Martin… and a local TV
crew waiting for them to report on the Mini Marcos! You can see this report below.
In the early afternoon, the Mini
Marcos started the Parade in the city streets. Following the Ford GT40, as they
used to do in 1966, 70mph slower!
The LM66 replica of Frank at the head of the march,
followed by Bernard, Eric and co-driver Jean-Marc, and finally Tom’s cars went
all over the town.
They have been hearty welcomed by the crowd. As they
approached the tribune they could hear from the speaker “maybe French people
eat frogs, but the English build it!”. All the way long they were encouraged by
a lot of applause. It was a nice tribute to celebrate the 45 years of Mini
Marcos performance at Le Mans, with the unexpected 15th position of
Jean-Louis Marnat & Claude Ballot-Léna.
All those encouragements from the public helped the 4
Mini Marcos to struggle with heat during this slow speed Parade. Some pilots of
the 24h competition, autographing on the crowd, were surprised when asked to
sign on the roof of one Mini Marcos… but they admitted the high is perfect for
it! The audience could also enjoy a very special show, proving to every
unconvinced people that it is absolutely possible to go in and out of a Mini
Marcos without using hands!
Through this festive event, the Mini Marcos owners
were proud to contribute paying homage to the amazing cars of Jem Marsh in Le Mans.
