At 5 p.m., the 2006 race was over and the drunken thousands spilled into the pit lane to greet the victorious few. Audi's Allan McNish told me that nothing in motorsport compares with standing on the Le Mans podium, looking down at 20,000 people cheering for you-and he's raced in Formula One.
Ten minutes later, there was a mass exodus, back to the car parks and back in a high-powered convoy to the Channel Tunnel, stopping only for cheap French booze and the inevitable speeding ticket. It's an epic trip and one that's now being enjoyed by an increasing number of American tourists.
At one point in the movie, McQueen, justifying his decision to race, utters the immortal line: "Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting." That might still be true for the drivers, but for many of the demob-happy spectators, the racing is a mere detail. Le Mans is a motorsport event unlike any other, and I commend it to you.