Le Mans Visit, May/June 2008

Rotarians, partners and friends from the Rotary Club of Ascot travelled to Le Mans recently to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their twinning with the Rotary Club of St. Nazaire. To join in the celebrations, members of RC Ascot partner club, Gulpen-Vaals in the Netherlands, and RC St. Nazaire's partner club, RC Wurzburg in Germany also attended, over 40 people in total.

The French club arranged a superb weekend programme which included visits to the famous 24 hour race circuit at Le Mans, where one of their members is Director of Racing. Consequently we were able to access the pits area, the control centre and the medical centre as the teams prepared and practiced for this years 24 hour race.

Saturday lunch was arranged in a restaurant in the town of Le Mans, where, somewhat to their surprise, the four Presidents were formally and with great ceremony inducted into the "Brotherhood of the Knights of the Sarthoise Rillettes". Lunch, of course, featured rillettes, which in this region is a meat paste served on toasted French bread. After lunch, we were driven to the race circuit where we were able to watch the teams preparing their cars for the Sunday practice day, and take the guided tour behind the scenes in the operations centre.

At the end of this visit to the race circuit, we were invited to aperitifs by the President of the Rotary Club of Le Mans, after which we returned to our hotel for the Gala Dinner. This was preceded by yet more aperitifs, this time with the President of the Rotary Club of Sablé-sur-Sarthe, where the hotel was located. Before eating, speeches were made in commemoration of the 25th anniversary, and gifts were exchanged - RC Ascot presented the President of RC St. Nazaire with a dozen bottles of English wine (and a guidebook to English vineyards). RC Gulpen-Vaals presented the President of RC St. Nazaire with a very large Dutch cheese.

On Sunday there was a choice between spending the morning watching the practice sessions at the circuit, or taking a guided tour of old Le Mans, before meeting for a splendid lunch hosted by the Director of Racing, Rtn. Jacques Olivier, in a room overlooking the circuit. After lunch we had a further two hours on a private balcony overlooking the circuit and pit area, before departing to make our way home.