Le Mans 2015.

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Here are a few from my Le Mans trip over the weekend, am still sorting through loads of pics.
Managed to borrow a grandstand ticket off of a friend who I met down there for an hour or so during the race, this was a new experience for me as I have never bothered buying one, preferring to move around during the race.

Aston Martin 'Art' car which retired during the night, here getting some air over a kerb at the Esses during Thursday's qualifying session.
Le Mans 2015. by Paul Babington, on Flickr

A view from the Grandstand early on Saturday evening.
Le Mans 2015. by Paul Babington, on Flickr

The ungainly Nissan GT-R LM Nismo suffered with front brake/wheel/puncture problems, you can see why in this shot .
Le Mans 2015. by Paul Babington, on Flickr

Not looking too bad from this view though.
Le Mans 2015. by Paul Babington, on Flickr

Classic view at Le Mans, bit of a scramble fighting through to the fence though.
Le Mans 2015. by Paul Babington, on Flickr

Marmite - Not sure if this has been done before ? A through the leg shot from on top of the Audi viewing platform.
Le Mans 2015. by Paul Babington, on Flickr

To finish with here's race winner Nick Tandy giving me a thumbs up during the Friday driver parade.
Le Mans 2015. by Paul Babington, on Flickr
 
Nice shots!

Where did you shoot from besides the grandstand? I struggled with fences and overcrowded viewing areas all weekend!
 
I always try the inside of the Esses on the Thursday night and then walk to the outside, one of the best spots there (just by the underpass) is now covered in razor wire which cheesed me off, as you could grab some great head on shots of the cars coming over the rise at that point. A little further up you can have some clear shots through the left right sequence of the Esses. The approach to the Dunlop bridge is okay if the sun isn't reflecting on the fence there, although I found it better on the inside of the track this year as you are closer.
The Ford chicane is double fenced now, so the only decent shot is looking up the straight , it would be great to be in a stand there as I saw a few people taking advantage of that Saturday night. I didn't try over by the Ferris wheel, so am not sure what it is like there. We went to the Kart track on Thursday night to check out the view from on top of the old kart track buildings, that wasn't as good as I expected. We didn't do Mulsanne corner this year but with a 400mm lens it would be okay for a few shots. Tertre Rouge on the inside is good for panning shots, I think that is about all I've tried in the past two years down there with my camera gear.
I use a small fold up step but that didn't help much this year, a lot of the locals use step ladders, which are a pain to carry around on top of everything else !
 
Sounds like you tried most of the places we did. The spot by the Ferris wheel was okay as you can get on top of the buildings but I managed to do a stupid and took the camera minus a memory card out with me when we went down there and it's a long walk back to camp!

We hit Mulsanne in the small hours of the night and got a couple of nice shots of glowing brakes on the Nissan LMP1s would like to head up there in the daylight hours though, I had a Sigma 150-500 on me for the most part which was too long for some of the closer stuff. Would ideally like to carry another, shorter lens around with me but it's not practical with only one camera body really..

I did see a lot of locals carrying ladders around and also a fair few guys with small steps. Might be something to look into for next year I think. We found a couple of the larger ladders D-locked onto various railings around the track, so perhaps that is the way the locals manage it.
 
I haven't been through the 1000+ pictures I took over the weekend but I do love your Aston art car shot. It can be quite hard to get up above the fencing around a lot of the circuit so being up on the pit stand helped a bit. I'll post some pics over or after the weekend.

There is a spot in front of the Tetre Rouge grandstand (behind/above the concrete shed at the marshal's post) where you are above the fence and can shoot across the Esses after Dunlop.

I'd agree that the stand at Ford looks good too, we did pop up there for a look on Friday evening. I am not a fan of Mulsanne though, spent an age getting down there last year and was thoroughly underwhelmed.
 
I'll see about a step ladder for next year I think and just try it out on the Thursday night, as I don't fancy carrying it around once the race starts. I used an FX body for the first time this year along with a 24-70, 70-200 and a 300 prime, I was parked in Blanc so I didn't have to carry them all in one go. I may have tried that spot you mentioned Stephen last year, if it was the one with the razor wire on top of it ? (see thumbnail).
The mate who lent me his pit stand ticket captured some cracking pit stop action shots from up there during the night, he also found a good spot at the Porsche curves that worked well with a 300 on a DX body, although cropped and with an unattractive concrete wall in the background.
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For the 84


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Wouldn't be Le Mans without a GT40 and Ford returns to GTE next year


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1964 AC Cobra in the Le Mans Legends


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Every shot of this car looks out of focus


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The winning Porsche in the Pit Lane
 
Great images Paul, #2 & #5 stand out for me. Some good stuff on your Flickr too, makes me want to give Le mans a go one year.
 
Thanks Neil, it is a great event , without a doubt my favourite of the year .
 
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