La 56ème Course de Côte du Mont-Dore - 2016

This Lamborghini Gallardo of Philippe Schmitter was part of a very good field of GTTS cars, perhaps the best they had seen at Mont Dore.

As it is such a beautiful area of volcanic mountains and lakes, it doesn't take much to attract me down to the region around Mont Dore.  The promise of seeing the famous Mont Dore Mountain Hillclimb and Charlie Martin competing in her second season of the French championship were easily enough.
This was round 10 of this year's 12 round Championnat de France de la Montagne.

In the days before specialists took over hillclimbing, French stars such as Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Henri Pescarolo, Maurice Trintignant, Jo Schlesser and Gerard Larrrousse used to compete here.   Beltoise won here on 5 occasions including in 1970 in a F1 Matra Simca MS11/12.

There are 43 corners to remember if you are to really attack this mountain. (Honda Civic).

I had been here once before in 2014 and then had just visited the top of the 5.75km hill.  This time, for a change, I visited the bottom section.  Unless noted, most photos were taken at the first corner which is not a very impressive place for spectating (no impression of speed or thrills and spills)  but does allow you to take some nice pictures.

Lots of contrast between light and shade for the drivers to deal with as well.

As well as Charlie Martin and the stars of French hillclimbing such as six time champion Nicolas Schatz, they were plenty of interesting cars to see both in the modern categories and the historic categories, over 160 in all.  Below are a selection of photos I took of them during the Saturday practice.

TOP FIVE RUNNERS

No surprise that Nicolas Schatz would win again in his Norma M20FC.  This Norma has a more powerful 4 litre engine than those 2 litre Normas you see at the regional hillclimbs.  He completed the course in under 2 minutes 17 seconds.

No surprise about second place either, which fell to Sébastien Petit in another Norma M20FC.  He was 4 seconds slower up the course.

Another Norma M20FC completed the podium, this one driven by Cyrille Frantz.

Adding some variety to the proceedings in fourth place was this F3000 Reynard 95D of Nicolas's brother Geoffrey Schatz.

In fifth place and second fastest of the single seaters was Alban Thomas in a F3000 Reynard 01KL.

THE SPORTS RACING CARS CM/CN

This Osella PA 20S finished eighth overall driven by Benjamin Vielmi.  Osellas used to often win at Mont Dore back in the days when it was a European Championship round up until 2013.

Tranquil lunchtime scene in the paddock for Bruno Lamoica's Norma.

The TracKing cars dominated the class for motor cycle engine sports cars.  They are meant to look like DTM cars.  This one was driven by Julien Pontille who finished second in his category and in the top thirty overall.

The Merlin MP23 of Daniel Nature who finished 57th.

The BRC05 Evo, another motor cycle engined car, driven by Jérome Collias.

Silvain Dodille's Norma M20B exits the first corner with the mountains making an impressive backdrop.

The Jema of Sébastien Nogret.

The SilverCar of S2F Evo of Cyrille Chuppin.

The BRC CM05 Evo of Sébastien Kerlaux.

The Single Seaters DE.

Didier Chaumont won the Formule Renault category in his Tatuus FR2.0

One of the F3 cars, a Dallara F311 driven by Billy Kitchen.

The F3 Dallara F302 of Christoper Giet.

A dog guarding the F3 Dallara F392 of John Nicol.

The Formula Renault Tatuus of Estel Bouche.

........and then there was of course our very own Charlie Martin who seemed to be taking this difficult course quite gingerly on the Saturday after her recent accident.

Charlie taking a wide entry into turn one on her first run on Saturday on her second visit to Mont Dore.

....and continues fairly wide and misses the apex that most were taking.  She finished 53rd overall and fifth in her class.

Groupe GTTS
A very impressive entry for this category which was won by Nicolas Werver in a Porsche 997 Cup S.  However, my favourite cars were:

The Renault Megane Trophy of Francis Dosieres.  

The Lamborghini Gallardo of Philippe Schmitter.  He was fourth of the production cars behind three Porsches.

The Ferrari 458 Challenge of Vincent Lagache.

One of a number of Mitjets taking part in this category was that of Jean-Michel Lestienne.

Groupe GT de Serie

The Porsche 996 GT3  of Rémi Courtois.

Groupe A/FA

Winner of Groupe A was Rémi Bernard in this Seat Leon Supercopa.

The Renault Clio Cup 3 of Jessy Schenk in turn 2.

The Peugeot 206 Kit Car of Florian Bruno Buisson in turn 2.

Groupe N/FN/SP

Jean-Claude Brazey locks up in his BMW M3 E36.

The Hodna Integral Type Daniel Dmare.

Benoit Taviaux in a Citroen Saxo VTS.(one of Jane's photos as I gave her some interest by lending her my DSLR while I took a few other shots further up the track with my compact)

Dider Loton's Honda Civic makes the climb up the Mountain.

The BMW M3 E36 of Christian Sepchat in the fast Esses after turn 1.

Groupe F2000

The F2000 Peugeot 205 of Jacques Tkatchenko waits to go down to the start.

Mountains loom above the F2000 Peugeot 206 CC of Serge Grisin as he drives down from the paddock to the start.

Guillaume Bassin makes the climb towards the top of the Col St Robert in his Peugeot 205 GTi.

Groupe FC

The Renault R5 TDC of Didier Deniset.

The Alpine A110 of Alain Francais.

Second in this class by the narrowest of margins was Anthony Dubois in the Scora Maxi.

Winner in this category was Xavier Burgevin in the Jide.

The Jide Original of Renaud Desmereau.

VHC
This was the ninth running of the VHC category for the classic cars from the sixties to the eighties.

Patrick Giboulet in a BMW 3.0 CSL at the start.

One of last year's champions, Viviane Bonnardel in her VW Scirocco.

The Ford Mustang 390 GT of Christian Agostini who won Group 1.

Winner on scratch of the VHC section was Jean-Marc Debeaune in this Van Diemen RF82.

The VHC cars make their way back down the mountain after their first run.  This is the general view at Turn 1.  No fencing, great!

The Simca 1100 ti of Francois Durat.

Claude Perotti makes repairs to his VW Golf GTi after stopping at turn 1.

The Austin Cooper S of Dominique Sauvier.

Jack Bouzige in the Renault 5 Turbo.

It was quite cloudy earlyon Saturday when the VHC cars made their first run.  This is the VW Golf GTi of Dominique Brulat.

The Martini Mk 15 of Marc Poix.

The Chrysler Hemicuda of Jean Debaude returns to the paddock after its second run.

The BMW 323i of Eddy Antoine

The unusual Axone 1600 FL of Jacky Bonnot.

The Lotus Elan of André Tissot.

The Fiat 128 3P of Renato Vitale 

The nicely detailed BMW 635 of Charly Cauchois.

The Porsche 930 Turbo of René Michon powered its way to victory in Group 3.

The Martini Mk32 of Roger-Serge Toupence.

The ex-Alain Cudini March 75 FRE of Christian Bonvarlet about to start his second run.  He finished second on scratch of the VHCs and was one of only 2 to complete the course in under 3 minutes.

The NSU 1200 TT of Jean-Pierre Hoffmann.

The Marcadier proto of Gilles Cursoux on its way to the start of his second run.

The Marcadier at turn 1 on its first run.

Daniel Louis in the Opel Commodore GSE who won Group 2.

In the car park

Beautiful Alfa Romeo 4C with Lac Chambon in the background.

As usual, all photos taken from the public areas without a Media pass.  Telephoto shots taken with a Canon 7D MkII and a 70-300 f4.5-5.6 IS USM zoom.  Wide angle shots taken with a Panasonic Lumix Compact. All edited using PhotoScape X.

I can recommend lunch at the restaurant by the start line.  You can even watch the cars go by the the start line!

Don't forget to click here and visit my Auto Vitesse site with a different post and car every day.

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.

The official Mont Dore site can be found at http://www.coursedecote-montdore.com/