Audi 2009 Annual Report Download - page 23

In his professional life, Booth spends
a lot of time in high-class hotels. He
considers camping at Le Mans to be a
down-to-earth luxury which he treats
himself to once a year. Joining him
are roughly 30,000 guests spread
out over 14 campgrounds. “This long
weekend is a timeout. I enjoy the
days outdoors, right in the country-
side,” gushes Booth as he slowly rubs
the soles of his feet across the dewy
grass. “I work enough at home. Here
I relax and fool around.” Wherever he
goes at the campground, the tall
Briton meets like-minded people
with whom he can talk shop about
the progress of the race, break-
downs, drivers and the latest diesel
racecars.
Two spots down, Danielle, Booth’s
21-year-old daughter, now crawls
from her flowered tent. She and her
friend Sophie are here for the first
time and have already caught Le
Mans fever. “Everyone here is really
friendly, and I love the cars,” says the
architecture student enthusiastically
as she gets a second folding chair
from her car.
The pulse of the Le Mans weekend
resonates through the campsites sur-
rounding the track. The first racing
aficionados wander in days before
the race. Small groups of fans set up
camp everywhere; they barbeque,
listen to music, laugh. “It’s a family
atmosphere,” says Daniel Bargh, who
has traveled here with a few friends.
Numerous Le Mans stickers adorn his
A4 Cabriolet throughout the week-
end. Besides a British flag, the door
sports his name and that of his co-
driver, just like on the professionals’
cars. The men want to take an up-
close look at them in a few minutes.
Bargh closes the top of his convert-
ible and joins the others as they head
out on the roughly ten-minute walk
to the home straight.
By this time the race on the 13.6
kilometer long track is well under
way. Flags bearing the four rings of
the Audi logo flutter in the wind over
numerous tents. A particularly large
number of Audi fans have made the
trip from Denmark to cheer on their
idol, Tom Kristensen. The “King of Le
Mans” has already won the race eight
times. The Dane has driven for Audi
since 2000. Joining him for the first
time at the wheel of the newly devel-
oped Audi R15 TDI in 2009 are his
teammates Dindo Capello of Italy
and Allan McNish of Scotland. The
ten-cylinder turbodiesel with over
600 horsepower and the sophisti-
cated aerodynamics ensure that the
latest star racecar from Ingolstadt is
the number one topic of discussion
at the campgrounds.
Kristensen’s countrymen reside in a
sea of hundreds of red tents set up
by a Northern European tour opera-
tor. Danish Village also includes a
medical services tent, a big screen,
plus sausage and beer stands that
also accept Danish kroner. Claus
Petersen even flew in specially from
Brazil. The 31-year-old moved to
South America for professional rea-
sons, but is not willing to give up the
weekend in Le Mans. An Audi flag the
size of a front yard lies over his tent,
completely enclosing it. “What can
be better than seeing all the cars on
and around the track?” asks the
Scandinavian, who has to shout out
the second half of his sentence over
the crescendo of the engines roaring
in the background. One car after the
other races past his campsite.
A stone’s throw from the pits, a cow-
boy hat seems to float through the
rows of tents. It’s Brian Booth on his
way back to his tent. Rounding the
corner, he gives a friendly nod to a
young man slinking around his R8
with a camera. His Audi makes Booth
one of the stars of the campground.
Le Mans is also about seeing and
being seen, with high-performance
racers, classic cars and convertibles
parked everywhere you look. A walk
through the extensive campgrounds
to look at the cars is every bit a part
of the weekend as the race itself.
Booth also knows exactly where the
must-see cars can be found this year.
It has now been hours since the
starting gun was sounded. The head-
lights and the glow of the red-hot
brakes of the racecars light up the
asphalt. The Audi R15 TDI models
are particularly easy to spot thanks
to their LED lights. The Ingolstadt
company now has just two cars re-
maining in the race after their third
“
This long weekend is a timeout. I enjoy the days
outdoors, right in the countryside.”
Brian Booth, manager from Liverpool
More space
20