24 Hours of Le Mans

Club Arnage Charity Fund Auction at Le Mans!

When you think of the Le Mans 24 Hours you will think of 55 cars running at full speed over the Mulsanne Straight, you will think of corners like Tertre Rouge, Arnage, the Porsche Curves and you will be thinking of thousands of fans enjoying their week in France while having fun with friends and watching the race. But have you thought about charity and Le Mans?

In recent years the people from Club Arnage have held some charity raisers and last year it involved a charity auction at the Drinking for Holland party on Friday night at the Maison Blanche campsite. All in all the Club Arnage Charity Fund collected almost 3000 Euros for the Motorsport Safety Fund, the Association for International Cancer Research and Kidney Research UK. For 2008 the charity auction is back! This time the three charities will be MSF, AICR and the Dutch Leukemia Foundation.

During the last 12 months the Club Arnage and Drinking for Holland members have used their networks to collect an impressive list of memorabilia which will go on sale next Friday during a, probably, one hour auction at around 10pm at the Drinking for Holland compound at the Maison Blanche campsite!

As several of fans will be heading to Le Mans way before Friday we can now bring you the items that will be auctioned. The following list with several highlights is not complete and not necessarily the order the auction will run in as they will start with some of the smaller items probably. If you want to see what else goes under the hammer…just show up at Maison Blanche when the auction starts!

- The Spyker wrecked wheel plus tire from the last Spa LMS 1000km accident with Alexander Wurz.
- Rear break disks from the Van Merksteijn Porsche RS Spyder which ran on their car until Monza and signed by the team including Jos Verstappen.
- Louvre panel from above the front wheel from the Van Merksteijn Porsche RS Spyder which got slightly damaged at Barcelona. and signed by the team including Jos Verstappen.
- Wishbone off the Chamberlain Synergy Lola, signed by all three drivers.
- Pair of race overalls signed by Chamberlain Driver and TV Presenter Amanda Stretton
- Wheel off the Sebring winning Corvette GT1 car (used in qualifying, not in the race) which was signed by the drivers (maybe only 2 or 3 but hopefully all 6).
- 30 x 20 inch photo print depicting both the No. 3 (white car at Sebring) and No. 4 (Usual yellow car taken at Road Atlanta) Corvette’s. Seperate pictures, on a black back ground with the Corvette racing logo in the middle. Signed in silver pen at Sebring by Doug Fehan, Johnny O Connell, Ron Fellows, Jan Magnussen, Oliver Gavin, Max Papis and Olivier Beretta.
- Spyker Squadron large photo canvas. Last year’s was spectacular and signed by the drivers.
- Pair of Michael Vergers gloves
- Michelin “podium cap” from Michael Vergers
- The team co-ordinator of Creation Motorsport will arrange a visit for two people to their LMP1 garage during the 24 hour race to experience what it’s like during the actual race, including being in there during a pit stop. This is something that is just not normally available to the paying public! This will take place at a mutually convenient time but not during the start or finish of the race (for obvious reasons)
- Pair of the ‘the world’s fastest pants’ as signed by (and formerly belonging to) Andy Green – driver of Thrust SSC and more recently, the JCB DieselMax. A Team Shirt will accompany the pants!
- Signed Spyker Squadron Shirt (or shirts)
- Creation Team Shirts/T-Shirts, signed by the Creation Drivers
- Taxi ride in a Radical SR5 (Out lap, 3 Hot laps and In lap) at Brands Hatch, Silverstone or Donington with Nigel Greensall, who raced in the Chamberlain TVR at Le Mans in 2004.
- Scale model of the Racing for Holland Dome
- Signed Avon Tyres Limited Edition Cap, by Bradley Ellis and Alex Mortimer, the 2007 British GT Champions.
- Signed Rockingham poster, signed by about twelve BGT drivers, including Alan Simonsen, Jonny Cocker and Paul Drayson.
- Signed CR Scuderia t-shirt, autographed by Andrew Kirkaldy, Tim Mullen and Rob Bell.
- Lamborghini GT Team Hat signed by Oliver Morley and Tom Ferrier
- British GT (SRO) standard goodie bags
- Brands Hatch WTCC poster from 2007 signed by Andy Priaulx, he won at that meeting and of course went on to take the championship - again!
- Spa 24 hour 2007 poster signed by Stephan Ortelli
- Pirelli banner, 12 feet long, donated by one of the Turn 10 corner workers at Sebring. Signed by all the members of Drinking for Holland!

With almost a week to go this already impressive list could still grow. If you see any item on your list and you’re really keen to get it but are unable to go to Le Mans (or you are there but don’t trust yourself to bid after you’ve had a beer), you can e-mail bids to the auctioneer of the evening Mark Every at mevery@blazepoint.co.uk.

For those that will be at Le Mans, the auction starts somewhere between 10pm and 10.30pm and will probably last for an hour or so. When the auction has ended the Club Arnage/Drinking for Holland will have a private party. Due to the new layout of Maison Blanche in 2008 they can only accomodate visitors during the auction and not before or after when their party is going on.