What we'll miss about Le Mans this weekend

For the past couple of weeks, everyone from drivers to mechanics to journalists and fans should've been flocking to Le Mans for the legendary sportscar contest.

Sadly, it has been a very different story this year as the race has been postponed until September due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

There may be the Virtual Le Mans race to take its place but that does not bring all of the atmosphere and build-up of the endurance classic.

So, Autosport decided to speak to a diverse range of members of the sportscar paddock to ask what they will miss the most about not being at Le Mans this June.

Harry Tincknell

The new Aston Martin Racing driver has competed at Le Mans every year since making a winning debut with the Jota Sport team in LMP2 back in 2014.

"The thing I love the most is barreling down the Mulsanne Straight at three o'clock in the morning with no one in front and just your headlights lighting up the road ahead. It's the darkest part of the circuit, you're doing close to 200mph and yet it's a strangely calm place to be. You get a surreal feeling inside the car.

"I remember in my first year at Le Mans with Jota, I was going down the Mulsanne in the Zytek P2 car thinking, 'this is where I belong'. It was the same in my first season with Ford in '16. We'd had our gearbox issues early on, and I remember saying to myself, this might not be our time, but this is where I want to be for the next 20 years."

David Ingram

This Le Mans all-rounder (pictured fifth from the left above) has been at Le Mans every year since 1982, variously as a fan, a weekend warrior on refuelling duties with Richard Lloyd's team and a PR and marketing man.

"My wife still doesn't understand why, if the race starts on Saturday I have to go on Monday or Tuesday, but being in Le Mans as the atmosphere builds is the thing I love the most. That's what the event is all about: quite simply, it's the buzz.

"I enjoy sitting around in the bars during the week and just soaking up the enthusiasm. I always try to be on the start-finish straight as the beginning of the race approaches. You can feel the pent-up excitement in the crowd. I find it quite emotional.

"I never think about whether I am going to Le Mans or not. I am going — and wouldn't miss it for the world. When I get too old for a tent, I guess I'll have to get a motorhome."

Vincent Beaumesnil

Born 500 metres from Tertre Rouge on a day when Matra was testing around the Le Mans-Bugatti circuit, Beaumesnil has been to Le Mans every year since 1981 — as a spectator, wheel-polishing gopher, team manager and, since 2009, sporting director of race organiser the Automobile Club de l'Ouest.

"I will let you into a secret: when the leading car is about to start its final lap, I go out on the podium, watch the leader head down the straight and then look down into the pitlane to make sure everything is in place for the finish of the race.

"I go there from the start of the final lap until the cars arrive underneath the podium after the finish. I probably have one or two minutes on my own and it is magical to be alone looking out at thousands of people and watching the teams getting ready to celebrate on the pitwall.

"It's quite special and the moment that I will miss the most this weekend."

Nicolas Lapierre

The former Peugeot and Toyota LMP1 driver has competed at Le Mans 12 times since 2007 and will be going for a fifth LMP2 class win with the Cool Racing team in September.

"The thing I'll miss this weekend is the build-up to the start and being out on the grid. It's a special feeling as the atmosphere grows.

"My emotions are a mixture of nerves and relief. You are going to have to put into practice everything you've been working towards since the previous year. You finally get to see if your plans are going to work.

"I've been lucky enough to start in most of the years I've raced at Le Mans. Taking the start is a big responsibility, but I always put my hand up to do it.

"Having to watch the start is actually more stressful than being out there in the car. I definitely prefer being on track than standing in the box. Your nerves mean the formation lap feels like it takes hours."

David Leach

G-Drive Racing's technical director first worked at the 24 Hours as a data engineer in 2003 and is on course for his 15th Le Mans in September.

"I'll miss that feeling you have as the last lap begins. Whether you are leading by a country mile or fighting back from adversity, you've got to finish that last lap to be classified. It's at that point that you can start to enjoy it.

"It's quite a special feeling, especially if you are up there at the sharp end. It's when you finally believe that you can actually do it. Up to then, you can never take anything for granted.

"I have a love-hate relationship with Le Mans. When I'm there, I want to be at home, and in the years I haven't done it and have been at home, I want to be at Le Mans."

Bart Hayden

Rebellion Racing's team manager has worked at Le Mans 14 times, starting when his family Sebah Automotive team first entered the race with a Porsche GT car in 2005 and has only missed one year since.

"The Tuesday of race week is the day I enjoy the most. You've gone through scrutineering in town and you're not on track until the next day. It's the only time that I can really take in and enjoy the amazing atmosphere of Le Mans because there's no pressure on my shoulders.

"We usually have a team briefing in the hospitality to make sure everyone is on the same page. I tend to lead it, and it's a bit of a 'rah-rah, let's do it' affair. My job each time is to make it a bit more interesting than the year before to rally the troops."

Rick Wilson

A life-long sportscar fan, Wilson has made a pilgrimage to Le Mans every year bar one since he was 17 in 1981. For the majority of his 38 visits he has been what he calls 'beerside' and out in the campsites.

"That special moment I will miss is getting up early on Sunday morning and sitting with a coffee on the banking at Tertre Rouge, and just watching the cars and taking in the atmosphere. It's a great place to watch the cars through the corner and then head off down the Mulsanne Straight. It's become a bit of a tradition.

"We now camp on the inside of Tertre Rouge and have always gravitated towards that point of the track even when we were based down on the Maison Blanche site. If the weather was good we used to sleep on the bank on the outside of the left-hander. I remember always being woken by the the voice of the English-language commentator doing his hourly updates over the PA."

Sam Hignett

Hignett's Jota Sport team has run cars in all but two of the past 15 editions of the 24 Hours. He drove in the race in 2005 and before that in the 1990s attended the 24 Hours regularly as a spectator.

"A few years ago I took on board something I read in an interview with Ulrich Baretzky [Audi Sport's former engine boss]. He said he always went up into the grandstand above the pits on Sunday morning as the sun comes up. It was something I took on board.

"I've taken to doing it every year now. It's nice to get some sun on your face for the first time in hours and to savour the atmosphere. But it also gives you a chance to think about the rest of the race.

"There's a realisation that there are 10 or so hours of the race left and no matter how clever you've been up to now, this is where it starts to get exciting. That's the bit of Le Mans that I'll probably miss the most."

Mark Patterson

A veteran of six Le Mans starts, all after he turned 60, the American is set to become the oldest driver in the history of the race when he lines up with High Class Racing later this year.

"I have three or four favourite moments of the week at Le Mans. It's going to sign on and seeing lines of fanatical fans all wanting your autograph, it's the parade in the city on Friday evening and it's getting in the car for the first time.

"You think, right I'm back at Le Mans and this is the moment to start improving on last year. There's an excitement about the risk of making a mistake as the bronze driver in the line-up."

Gary Watkins

A stalwart sportscar journo who has been reporting on Le Mans since 1990 has only missed the race once in the years since. So that will make the 2020 edition his 30th!

"And what will your author miss most about not being in Le Mans this weekend? Those trips out to Tertre Rouge, Indianapolis and the Porsche Curves to watch the cars? They are definitely up there, especially if I can conjure up the image of me with a cheeky beer in my hand.

"And I'm sure as four o'clock approaches on Saturday I'll think about that that knot in my stomach that slowly tightens through the morning. It's the result of the building excitement mixed with a sense of foreboding of the workload ahead for me and my colleagues.

"But most of all I'll miss those manic three or so hours after the race as I scurry around the paddock talking to drivers, team managers, engineers and anyone else I reckon might offer an insight into the race or answer that crucial question.

"I know what has happened on the fall of the chequered flag, but my job has only just started. I then have to find out why it happened."