2016 Tour Auto Optic 2000 - The first day

Eric Vandevelde in his 1955 Jaguar XK140 in the beautiful Burgundy countryside.

What more could you wish for in April than a nice sunny day, to be in some beautiful French villages and countryside, to see some of the best classic cars in the world and watch some motor racing action?  This is the 2016 Tour Auto Optic 2000!  For the third year running I headed out to Burgundy with my camera to capture the first day’s action. 

The cars and their drivers are divided on this event into those who are competing in the speed competition and those who are taking part in a regularity rally.   The cars are then further divided into classes depending on their age and performance.

The day started out sunny but cold and this seemed to catch quite a few of the quick drivers out and they had minor offs at the corner where I was standing on the special stage.  Later it became one of those perfect spring days that we all love.

The following cars were some of the stars on the 1st stage at Sens-Les Gaillards, pictured either on the first stage, at the lunch stop or on their way to the lunch stop.  Times varied from just under 5 minutes 30 seconds for the fastest car to over 7 minutes for the slower cars or those who hit problems.

Best of the Competition cars on Index of Performance

Top in terms of Index of performance on the first special stage was this 1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce driven by Alexis Raoux.

Frédéric Puren in this 1954 Porsche 356 was second in the Index of Performance on Sens-Les Gaillards stage.

This Alfa Romeo 1900 CSS was fourth in the Index of performance on stage 1 driven by Adrien Cathiard.

Competition VHC 1965 & prior GT Cars

2nd of the VHC GTs and fastest of the Shelby Cobra 289s was Ludovic Caron.

This Lotus Elan driven by Damien Kohler beat many more powerful cars and was third fastest of the VHC GTs.

This Porsche 904 GTS was running in the GTP category and was the 4th fastest VHC car at Sens-Les Gaillards.

Competition VHC 1965 & prior Touring Cars

The fastest VHC Touring Car was this 1965 Ford Mustang 289 driven by Christian Odin.

Second fastest VHC Touring Car and fastest lay driver in the VHC category was Daniella Ellerbrock in this Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA

Third fastest VHC Touring Car was the Lotus Cortina of Richard Depagneux.

Competition VHC 1965 & prior Sports Prototypes

Top VHC Sports Prototype was the Porsche 550 RS Spyder driven by Jean-Philippe Grand.

Also running as a Sports Prototype was this Ferrari 625 TF. 

Competition Cars 1966 to 1971 Touring Cars

Fastest in this category was this 1971 BMW 2800 CS

Second fastesrt in this category was this 1970 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAM

Competition Cars 1966 to 1971 GT Cars

The Benezet's Porsche 911 ST 2.5L was fastest in this category.

Second fastest G1/2 GT was this Lotus Europa JPS of Pascal Rapallino.

Competition Cars 1966 to 1971 Sports Prototypes

The fastest GT40 of Philippe Vandromme filling up with petrol in Noyers.

Second fastest GT40 was that of Marc Doncieux.

Competition Cars 1972 to 1981 GT Cars

Fastest time of the day in all categories was made by Christophe Van Riet in this Porsche 911 RS 3.0L.

Also fast was this Ferrari 308 GrpIV Michelotto.driven by Florent Jean.

Just one second slower was the other Ferrari 308 GrpIV Michelotto of Francois-Xavier Entremont.

Competition Cars 1972 to 1981 Touring Cars

Second fastest Touring Car in this age group was Jean-Claude Basso in his BMW 3.0SCL

Competition Cars 1972 to 1981 Sports Prototypes

Mr John of B had an off and a few issues on his run in the Ligier JS2-DFV.

This CG Proto 548 was a welcome participant in the Sports prototype category.

Régularité – Basse

This Porsche 904 GTS led those going for the lower target time in the regularity section.

Régularité – Intermédiaire

This Porsche 914/6 led the regularity section after the first stage.

This Alpine Renault A110 1600S had equally low penalties.

Régularité – Haute

Leading the cars going for the faster target time was this BMW 3.0CSL.

Famous Drivers

Amongst the drivers this year were Jochen Mass and Guy Frequelin, neither of who need any introduction.

Jochen Mass in a 1971 Group 4 DeTomaso Pantera going well on the Sens-Les Gaillards stage.

Guy Frequelin in a Porsche 911 RSR Replica

Best of the rest

The following cars weren’t all quite so successful on the first test but I enjoyed seeing them, so here they are:

Anthony Beltoise drove this 1972 Chevrolet Corvette C3

1966 Ferrari 275GTB

The Renault Gordini R8 is always a crowd pleaser.

Mustn't forget the Jaguar E-Types.

1969 Ford Escort 1600 TC

1957 Maserati 200 SI

1975 Lancia Stratos GrpIV

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

More photos of cars from this event can be seen by clicking here to visit my daily blog Auto Vitesse