Le Mans Classic 2023

[simon king]

Here we go again....

the first provisional entry list for LMC 2023 Plateaux 1 to 6, was announced on Thursday this week see it here https://www.dropbox.com/s/64to4wgyokcof ... y.pdf?dl=0.

Still very early days of course, and further Morgans sure to be included, but so far the UK pre-war Morgan teams (King/St.Clair Tisdall, Sebba , Goddard/Smith) all present in Plateau 1, including a new French team (Bouleau) with Adrian's 4/4?

Plateau 4, currently includes Keith with TOK, Simon Orebi Gann and 2 x French teams (Kinde/Theol, Ruchaud / Gurdjian) with their respective +4s

Regards,

Simon

[Jochem Kentgens]

Are you also on the waiting list for plateau 4 Simon?

I am... too bad the Frenchies discovered Morgans a couple of years ago.....

Fingers crossed that we will be on one of the next lists....!

Will watch you this time around pit entry....!

[John Clarke]

Shock horror..... SLR is at Le Mans!!



Early news from Friday qualification

Plateau 1



Simon qualified 49th overall! And 1st of the 4 mogs. Graeme was 2nd mog and Leigh 3rd.

Leigh recorded the fastest speed of 135.2 and Simon 132.8.



Plateau 3


Keith was quickest of the +4s, then Simon, then 'the French 1, Jochem, French 2 and 3.



Nice to see that TOK and FXD have been given there original le mans numbers

cheers
john

[John Clarke]

Race 1 Saturday

Plateau 1

The French series 1 won!!! This was a real surprise to me but perhaps not as it is the ex avdk car.

Simon was the first of the Brits , then Graeme and Leigh. All completed 6 laps.

The French had the fastest time recorded at 153.9 kph...some 15 kph quicker than Graeme in my old car and 21kph quicker than Leigh and Simon. Gosh! That ex avdk car was always quick.


Adrian Van Der Kroft at Doninton Park

Plateau 3

The speed of the SLR came to the fore and Simon was 20th, 7 places ahead of Keith/Billy who trailed two of the french supersports.

Top speed of the SLR was recorded at 225.7 kph with TOK only 3 kph slower at 222.5 kph.

All completed 8 laps.

So as expected the SLR was better suited to the Sarth with its slpippery shape than the the traditional Morgan.

Jochem completed 5 laps.

[John Clarke]

Plateau 1 Race 2 Saturday evening


The devastating news from the UK that Phil lost his struggle with life.

Perhaps a fitting tribute was made by Graeme in bringing Phils Series 1 Morgan home ahead of all the other Morgans.

Simon and Leigh followed Graeme home all completing another 6 laps.....the very rapid French Morgan completed 5 laps.

RIP Phil - a great ambassador for Morgan racing.



Plateau 3 Race 2 Saturday Evening

What was the story of this race? Keith had an accident and only completed 1 lap
Simon had a bump but won in a remarkable 18th place.
Jochem followed Simon closely to the flag with the other supersports finishing in 26th, 33rd, and 52nd places.
Both Jocham and Simon completing 8 laps


Whoops what happened to Simon?

[John Clarke]

Plateau 1 Race 3 Sunday

A perfect celebration of Phil's life with all Morgans completing 6 laps. Simon in DLJ was the first british Morgan home closely followed by Graeme and third was Leigh. Simon did not see Graeme alhough only a few seconds seperating them as he said to me "Graeme was running a different pit strategy"
Simon was classified 33rd, Graeme 34th (11 seconds behind Simon) and Leigh 40th. The French in were 31st.

Plateau 3 Race 3 Sunday



TOK remained in the garage leaving the SLR to uphold Morgan honours. Simon OG ran a fabulous race finishing 20th with Jochamin not starting. The French+4s finishing 22nd, 25th and 30th. A commendable effort.

LE MANS CLASSIC 2023 OVERALL RESULTS


Leigh and Peter with their reward for finsihing 1st overall with team 37

Leigh and Peter in FXD won the overall team prize for team 37. A fantastic achievement for Leigh as this is the 2nd time he has won in pre war Morgans.
Fittingly his first was 15 years ago driving with Tony and Richard in my car and now in his own car partnered by Peter.

Simon and Philip were placed 29th overall in PLATEAU 1 and the 1st pre war Morgan. Graeme was 30th, Leigh/Peter 38th all credited with 18 laps,
The French were placed 41st with 17 laps,

Simon and his glorious SLR were placed 12th (12th),,,,what a fabulous result. He was credited with 24 laps.
Take a bow!!!

In other Morgans the French finished 17th, 33rd,Jocham was 57th and Keith/Billy 63rd.

What a fabulous Le Mans.

cheers

john

[Andy Downes]

Great stuff John, thaks for all the (important) details.

Well Done to all, I know it's expensive - but Thanks for trail blazing Chris Lawrence/Shepherd Barron

Have Fun!
Andy