Views from the Mulsanne Cafe during Le Mans 1988

[@breeroberts1777]

Oh to have a time machine and go back and buy this cafe decades ago

[@bugattieb110ss]

Was there in '91. The difference in sound between the Porsche 962's (flat 6), Jaguars (7 litre V12), Sauber Mercedes C11 (V8) AND the screaming Mazda 787b's (4 rotor wankel engines) was absolutely fantastic. Group C at it's absolute best.

[@jagzntech]

I did go for a few years after 1988 including 1991 so yes I agree the screaming Mazda and the deep roar of the Mercs were just music to your ears 🙂

[@damianmadden9224]

I was there in 91 too. Totally agree and dont forget the Peugeots which sounded like F1 cars.

[@davidlangley1725]

I was at Le Mans in 1988 to witness the Silk Cut XJR 9,s win. Unforgettable weekend.

[@Ralph2]

Those couple of moments when you could hear them going up through the gears in the distance gave me goosebumps.

[@Erougel]

What memories in this place... At the time and for my first 24H (1975) it was called "Chez Génissel"; it is now the "Auberge des Hunaudières". A legendary place for motorsport. You can still watch cars from the 1st floor, owners of the place are welcoming.

[@jagzntech]

The speed is crazy. This was before they put in the chicanes to slow them down. Note the lack of video cameras around. Most spectators took photos on film in those days 🙂

[@brianhalberg131]

Not most, all.

[@jagzntech]

@@brianhalberg131 What I was trying to explain was that there were very few video cameras around at that time and they were expensive too. I just happened to be working for an AV hire company that let me borrow one.

[@brianhalberg131]

@@jagzntech Yep, I read "photos" literally without realising you meant motion capture. Yes, we had video for moving images, but as for photo-quality stills or digital stills, that was still a few years off.

[@CarLos-yi7ne]

​@@jagzntech Good quality after all those years! 👌🏻

[@sqmotorsports9230]

I appreciate the thought but at the speeds those cars are going I doubt that hay bale in front of the hydrant is going to do much...

[@VelvetRiot-hz5mp]

Helps with water leaks.

[@unvaxxeddoomerlife6788]

Safety was a token effort in 88.

[@pauldevenish]

The noise the TWR Jags make as they approach and pass by, pure bliss.

[@marksadler8521]

I was there in 1988. When the camera panned around I was expecting to see myself with a pint.

[@RobertEHunt-dv9sq]

This is my bucket list item number 1. I want to sit there and sip a glass of vin and take in the sounds of this spectacle. Fantastic. Thanks for posting. Cheers from Texas.

[@arneheeringa96]

In Michael Keysers book it is written glasses danced on the table each time the Matra 3 Liter passed.

[@teochristoforidis4625]

THIS is SOUND ❤

[@jagzntech]

Well worth turning up the volume 🙂

[@AndreiTupolev]

I like the Hay bales, to provide an extra layer of protection just in case something vaults the armco ...

[@matthewkistler9133]

You can sit on them

[@amphilbey]

Was there in '95, great memories and would have loved to have gone before the chicanes came in

[@peterrenn6341]

Great video! It never really captures the sense of speed you get in person though. You can watch them approach or you can watch them going away from you, but you can’t turn your head fast enough to do both! And the sound… indescribable! Left us physically shaking.. Vive les 24 heures!

[@prmolina]

Those hay bales are a little optimistic imho.

[@jagzntech]

pretty pointless, I would agree!

[@matthewkistler9133]

You can sit on them

[@LockedInWithLovebirds]

😂

[@GetUpFalcon]

‘Yes we’ve taken safety seriously this year’

[@Tstahl962]

I mean they're going at like 350kph already at that point of the mulsanne, so yeaaa I don't exactly think that one row of small hay bales would do much 😂

[@andymoore7337]

Fantastic and so clear compared to other Mulsanne footage.Thanks for sharing.👍

[@thierrymonmaneix3816]

Bonjour, ce n'est pas Mulsanne ,mais la ligne droite des Hunaudières, respecter les noms, vous n'êtes pas le premier Britannique à faire cette erreur, j'aimerais que vous teniez compte de cette remarque. Merci

[@jagzntech]

@@thierrymonmaneix3816 No offence intended. Like I mentioned in another comment, I called the video "Mulsanne Cafe" because that was where I was told we were going to as it was my first visit to watch the race. I also wrote "Mulsanne cafe" on the VHS tape but spelt it wrong of course!

[@RichardS-qh8mi]

Those were the days. The sound of those cars approaching in the distance is what motor racing is all about. Le Mans and The Mulsanne Straight in particular really was balls to wall in those unrestricted days.

[@gloriousstereo]

Wonderful. Thanks for posting.

[@georgecunningham7916]

I first went to le mans in 1970 .. I was so impressed I now have a display of models of every car that started in that year.

[@georgecunningham7916]

I still have so many memories of that first visit. I am shore I could write a book. Happy days.

[@TairnKA]

Is that the only restaurant at the end of the Mulsanne Straight? That was one of my bucket list items (never done), of having midnight dinner at the restaurant at the end of the Mulsanne Straight.

[@jagzntech]

I think it was Hotel Les Hunaudières. I found a picture on the motorsport magazine web site. Search for "The Mulsanne Straight: motor sport's greatest blast" and its about a third of the way down the article. Matches up with the initial view with the cars coming towards you.

[@jagzntech]

Looks like its currently called O'24 Heures Bar & Restaurant" looking at Street View. There is an hotel further down the straight called Hotel Arbor but it is further back from the track.

[@thejerseyj5479]

I don't think it's at the end of the Mulsanne straight. I heard cars still upshifting, so at this point, they're not at their top speed of about 230 MPH.

[@jagzntech]

@@thejerseyj5479 Looking on the map, the filming location is about 1.1 miles along the straight that was about 3.5 miles long in 1988. As they are already going fast around Tertre Rouge at the start of the straight, I would think that they were not far short of full speed after 1 mile. BTW I watched an interview last week of Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace who said they were just a couple of MPH short of 250MPH on the straight depending on the wind. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpvLfmesm7l9a6csi=brht93mXLQiqYJWx

[@johngibson3837]

Very cool thanks for sharing mate

[@mariomicallef7142]

This is a great place to have a drink whilst enjoying this motor racing spectacle.

[@janbonsema5888]

the WM clocked at over 400 km/h at that time

[@TheNovum]

Love it.. thank you

[@jagzntech]

Your welcome

[@TheDrAkira]

Imagine being there just chilling with a cuop of coffe enjoying the view and a wild Mercedes casually pass fly by

[@douglasdixon524]

Spectacular, I feel as if I were there. Damn, I graduated high school in 1988.

[@sleebanger]

Already travelling around 100m / 330ft per second by the time they get to the resturant section on the straight.

[@Timinator62]

All these years and I never thought Fire Hydrants ate Hay...

[@2bfrank657]

It's to protect the cars from it. If a car broke through the barrier at 300 km/hr, that hay bale has a high likelihood of preventing serious injury to the driver and spectators..

[@Timinator62]

@@2bfrank657 You really had to be "That Guy", you have nothing better to do? you think at 300 km/h that haybale is going to prevent injury?

[@2bfrank657]

@@Timinator62 no, I absolutely do not.

[@mikehipperson]

Did anyone else notice the chunky of wood wedged in behind the upright stanchion for the Armco barrier? That's safety 1988 style!

[@thomastempleman7601]

🤣🤣🤣🤣so funny love it

[@lunardawnimages6838]

"Simply Lovely"

[@patrickthomas7780]

❤This good old time ! ❤

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

You shot this on video??? Which camera, and which gear did you use to capture it? Any post-work clean up? I started getting in to AV not long after this, and still have some SVHS gear in storage, there was little beyond that and BetaCamS or SP that could get close to that quality of image back then, and DV was still a few years away in to the '90's. Love the footage, the audio is crystal clear, it's a place I'd love to visit, our modern HD and 4K gear is worlds ahead, but still needs a talented operator to get the best out of, back then, only the best got good sound and vision reliably.

[@jagzntech]

Definitely a camcorder, I think it was made by Panasonic. It took full size VHS cassettes. I dont remember the model but it was in a case and I seem to remember the zoom button and view screen being like the one that comes up when you search for "Panasonic OmniMovie VHS HQ Video Camera Camcorder Model PV320D" It could easily have been another model. At the time, I worked for an AV company and it was one the the cameras we used to hire out. No post work other than putting it in a box in the loft! This year I dug the tape out, put it in an old Toshiba D-VR17-K-TB VHS to DVD player and burnt it onto a DVD. Copied the DVD to my computer and then played around with various converters to get the videos into Davinci Resolve. Once in DR, I just cut out the bits where it was wobbling too much, pointing at the floor... etc. 🙂 I used ffmpeg to convert from vob to mov as follows: ffmpeg -i original.vob -vcodec mjpeg -q:v 2 -acodec pcm_s16be -q:a 0 -f mov final.mov (which I found online)

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

@@jagzntech I have some Panasonic MS4's, still in their cases, VHS and SVHS decks, edit controller, and a broadcast quality last-of-type SVHS deck too. All back from when editing was done tape-to-tape. I have some capture cards from the 90's, and a couple of USB based ones. Kinda never threw stuff away when updating, just back in to the cases and safely stored in a cool dry place. It's so much easier to use the USB capture dongles rather then the steps involving DVD discs, and a lot of the included capture software is built on top of FFMpeg - gotta love the folks that created that application! I have 8 or 9 tapes of a seminar on chassis dynamics to go through and capture and preserve digitally.

[@jagzntech]

@@PiDsPagePrototypes I guess I should transfer my wedding video too 🙂 Definitely a thumbs up to FFMpeg creators.

[@tokyodome93]

now imagine the famous Mercedes CLR flipping there!

[@jagzntech]

I think it was further down the straight but the hay bales here would do very little to protect anyone including the driver.

[@Dropped2436]

man I was born in the wrong decade

[@arnaudfauchere1769]

❤❤❤

[@F14foreverF14]

No chicane here, just a massive straight 👍👍👍

[@alexander1485]

I wonder if those guys film pics turned out well

[@BobGeogeo]

Single h🎉ay bail in front of fire hydrant - such safety. (?)

[@stipedomazet8169]

👍🏎🏎🏎

[@mrfixitman75]

Could a person still go and watch the race here?

[@jagzntech]

I looked on streetview and by selecting different dates there are some views showing very high armco and catch fencing in front of the buildings. That would spoil the view somewhat. There is also the chicane not much further along the track so they have to start slowing down for that as well. Google says that the bar is now permanently closed but the hotel a little further up is still in business. It would be difficult getting a booking there during the race I am sure!

[@mariomicallef7142]

This is great but to catch a good photo it is better to be at the corners.

[@Kerogas_]

High safety standarts

[@ENGBriseB]

JAGUAR WON La Mans in 1988 with a 1st and a 2nd Place With the Jaguar XJR-9

[@someasiandude2008]

Does this place still exist?

[@jagzntech]

The building still does exist. The left hand part of it is called O'heures Bar and Restaurant" les hunaudieres, Rte de Tours, 72230 Ruaudin, France. Google is listing it as permanently closed though? The Auberge des Hunaudieres hotel is a little "earlier" down the track. The building on the other side of the road at 0:11 is still there too and a good reference point. There is a building almost opposite the camera position that appears for two seconds at 3:29 which is also there to provide a second reference point. The camera position appears to be on the right of the now cream/dirty walls on the three windowed building. Unfortunately I cant post the streetmap URL. I will post a screenshot in the community area

[@paul-ie6wi]

No sadly ! France was once a great country ! It’s a shame it no longer exits ! UK will be next

[@sircharles7323]

Musik!

[@kevinpaynter]

Now a car spins and the whole race gets destroyed with safetycars.

[@ekspatriat]

Really does look slow compared with the present

[@jagzntech]

According to the official Le Mans site, the Hyper cars reach 345KH/214MPH just before the position that this video was taken in as now they have to slow for the chicane. The WM did 407KPH/252MPH on the 11th June 1988 so actually they were faster than current cars. Of course the top speed could have been a little further down the straight than at this position.

[@thejerseyj5479]

They're upshifting just before this point, so they're not at top speed just yet.

[@johannesfeigl5309]

Wasthere when schu macher waspiloting a merc and gaining 18 secs a lap.sspellbinding performancehe should be back driving againas god has dsired

[@stephen300o6]

Like standing next to a motorway. Noisy.

[@ENGBriseB]

Except for the 200+mph

[@alex630710]

Those cops must be itching to hand over those speeding tickets I ll bet

[@jagzntech]

They were busy enough around the circuit. Especially on the Friday afternoon/evening.

[@subafred1]

Ha ! Le Mans d’avant ….. Beaucoup mieux , Mais très dangereux.. Thanks

[@GR-tr4qq]

Even the birds used to sing more in the past! After the communists took over the world, there was only war and misery everywhere!!😔

[@wiegraf9009]

The birds sing less because we killed all the insects with insecticides you fool.

[@PascaLM_]

The Mulsanne Café doesn't exist. There is no Mulsanne Café on the Hunaudières

[@jagzntech]

It was Hotel Les Hunaudières. I found a picture on the motorsport magazine web site. Search for "The Mulsanne Straight: motor sport's greatest blast" and its about a third of the way down the article. It matches up with the initial view with the cars coming towards you. I have also looked it up on streetview and it is now a bar/restaurant. The reason I called the video "Mulsanne Cafe" is because that was where I was asked if I wanted to go and watch the race from way back in 1988. I had also written "Mulsanne Cafe" on the VHS cassette. I could of called it some thing like "Cars go fast next to building" but that means nothing to most viewers and it would be difficult for someone interested in the race to find it as well 🙂

[@seawolf9616]

He probably means Auberge des Hunaudieres, which does absolutely exist. The footage does look like that.

[@aureliobrighton1871]

There also were outside tables in the 70ties. Vic Elford said even at speeds xs 350 km/h he could make out friends enjoying their lunch. I doubt Derek Bell had the time to watch much of the landscape testing the LH 917 for 1971, being all over the road at 390+ km/h. What an era, what a circuit. Thanks.

[@jagzntech]

I added some pictures and location details in the community page

[@peterrenn6341]

True but to be fair that’s what a lot of people used to call it.

[@lpi3]

Those two policemen went to give a ticket to everybody

[@smoceskreen]

Does this cafe still exist?

[@jagzntech]

The buildings still do for sure. I added some pictures and location details in the community page