As I write, the 2010 Le Mans Classic is in full swing. The weather here is incredibly hot: Porsche restaurant tent temperatures hit a reported 45 degrees yesterday and Arnage lunch was taken in similar heat. Not all that comfortable, unless you went to McDonalds for the air conditioning and free wifi, like Mr James Lipman and I.

As per usual, base for our little ImpactBumpers.com crew is the peaceful Moulin du Prieure in Dissay sous Courcillon, 37 miles south of the track, on the edge of Sarthe province. It’s far enough away to feel like real France: Le Mans town becomes a tourist meltdown and traffic nightmare for this event.

That said, I got my first taste of Le Mans camping on this trip, by visiting the Dutch contingent at Karting Nord for the R Gruppe BBQ, and last night’s Leftovers Special. Their set up of tents around bivouac, with inflatable sofas and permanently active grill is perfect: food for thought in 2012.

I also had my first taste of ACO this weekend, as I arrived with media accreditation instead of my usual Porsche ‘Club Ticket Package’. Have to say I am not super impressed with the media dispensations and would probably have been as well off to travel as a paying enthusiast. It’s funny how some of these media junkets play out.

Porsche tent access is a worthy addition to the event and, despite positive confirmation of entry beforehand, it was not available to common-or-garden journos like me on the day. Talk about disappointed! I did get a very nice enamel badge to carry around and keep as a souvenir though, and the media girls are exceptionally pretty, so thumbs up for that.

Now I am freelancing full time, CLM is a good opportunity to bump into other writers and photographers and catch up with the news. Researching features in 45-degree heat really shows who walks the walk!  It was good to see two UK classic magazine editors on site: Phil Bell from Classic Cars and my old friend Gary Stretton from Classics Monthly. Both were loving it, and I got an update on their own old machines: an E-Type and a very rare Peerless.

This is the Classic Porsche Blog though, so we’ll post Porsche pics and updates once we’re back at home on Tuesday. In the meantime, check out a few iPhone shots taken in mind-bending high 40s heat. Gotta love Porsche reliability!