Early start

Destination: Le Mans. Early start, on a 4.20 am ferry out of Dover, and this was the beautiful dawn as we departed, with a long drive through northern France ahead of us. Not as long as it will be for the race drivers we are going to watch, though!

There is something very addictive about the 24-heures du Mans, as the French know it. I was first there during the late 1960s, when the drivers still lined up across the track from their cars and sprinted across the Tarmac to leap into their cockpits and accelerate away to start the race. That historic tradition stopped long ago, deemed too dangerous.

The road to Le Mans for race weekend is always a petrolheads' fest of exotic cars be-stickered with Le Mans memorabilia, like the famous Mario Andretti quote: 'If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough."

Our weekend cottage-on-wheels in the form of a Baileys of Bristol Compact motor caravan has an electrically-operated bed that descends from the ceiling, but stows away during the day to leave standing room under it. How clever is that! On Saturday night it stays at roof level though. Who needs sleep when there's a motor race to keep us entertained through the night!