It is perhaps surprising that I have been to Magny-Cours just a few times even though I have a house only one hour away. Seeing the field for the TTE event at the end of October was enough to tempt me back and I was not disappointed. There was plenty to enjoy including;
- Seeing Nicolas Schatz racing on a circuit rather than driving up a mountain.
- Interesting cars such as the rare French marque Hommell racing.
- Lots of beautiful sports prototypes and GT cars - my favourite subjects for photographing.
- Large field of up to nearly fifty cars on the circuit at the same time.
- A pleasant autumn day which was overcast but not dull.
- Seeing a number of drivers really attacking the circuit.
- Free access to all of the village grandstands.
A really enjoyable two and a half hours on the Saturday afternoon. I can recommend attending a TTE event.
Free Racing
I made a point of getting there in time for the qualifying session of this race as there was such a variety of cars. TTE Free Racing has rounds at various French circuits including Dijon, Nogaro, Paul Ricard and of course Magny-Cours. Everything from Protos to GT cars to Production cars. Sports prototypes of any period are allowed including the categories C2, CN, CNF, CM et Coupes de Marques. GT cars include silhouettes, Coupes des Marques and all types of GT cars including classic GT cars. Various types of Touring cars are also allowed, again of any age. Thus this allows a huge variety of cars to take part. Lots of interesting cars as you can see below:
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| The T2 Racing Ligier JS53 Evo2 that qualified fifth. |
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| The Peugeot 406 Silhouette that qualified twelfth and third in the GT Cup class. |
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| It is more normal to see multi-French Hillclimb champion Nicolas Schatz competing on the mountains of France, but he proved equally at home on the Magny Cours circuit and won both the Free Racing races of the weekend despite qualifying well down the field in 21st place. |
Protos
The Protos had an interesting field with the Normas the most competitive. These Sports prototypes compete in 3 hour endurance races. However, as well the ultra-competitive Normas there were Ligiers, Funyo and Radicals taking part. It was great watching these cars really accelerating out of the chicane and getting their outside wheels off the circuit as they really attacked the circuit during practice. Eligible cars include class CN up to 3 litres and 6 cylinders, group CN-F up to 2.5 litres and group CM up to 1 litre.
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| Leading a group through the chicane is the car the eventually won the Protos trophy at Magny Cours, the Norma M20FC of the DB Autos team. |
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| Top qualifier was the Blue team Norma M20 of Jean-Philipe Jouvent and Dominique Cauvin. Seen here half off the track as it crosses the timing signal. |
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| Fifth place in qualifying went to this Krafft racing Norma M20. |
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| Fastest qualifier outside of the Normas was this Ligier JS53 of the Pole Position team. |
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| Protos breaking and turning into Chateau d'Eau. |
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| Adding variety to the field was this Tatuus of the Extreme Limits team. |
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| An earlier Ligier JS51 that qualified tenth. |
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| Further variety was provided by this Funyo SP05 of Xavier Cousin. |
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| Best placed finisher outside of the top six Normas was this T2 racing Ligier JS53. |
Mitjet 1300
The Mitjet 1300s were the first Mitjet cars and are powered by 150 hpYamaha engines and share the same tubular chassis but with a number of different body styles vaguely based on well known marques such as Ferrari, Aston Martin, BMW and Volkswagen. I was able to watch their first race which was had fought and was great to watch.
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| Olivier Martin in his Ferrari-look-alike Mitjet 1300. He was to finish third. |
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| Battle under braking into Lycée. |
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| That battle continues into the chicane. |
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| Olvier Martin leads Simon Crochart and Olivier Forzano. |
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| Further back Ludovic Revol is in sixth place. |
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| A lap or two later and Tim Grosrenaud is in the lead and Ludovic Revol is still in sixth. |
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| A few laps later and Tim Grosrenaud has spun and dropped out and Olivier Martin is back in the lead with Ludovic Revol is up to second. |
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| Ludovic Revol eventually took the flag in first place. |
TTE 4 hours
The big race was the 4 hour endurance race for modified touring cars and production fully enclosed GT cars. Unfortunately, the program was running late due to an incident in the Protos qualifying and I had a rendevous an hour away. However, I did see the first lap which was very impressive with such a large field.
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| The first lap and the lead Seat Cup Racer has a clear lead. |
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| The field of nearly fifty cars on the first lap entering and exiting the Adelaide hairpin. |
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| The winning car, the Seat Cup Racer of the JSB Competition team. |
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| A four hour race but this Seat spun on the first lap. It recovered to finished 25th. |
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| Battles going on down the field. |
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| I am not sure why this Radical Rxc was circulating with the Berlines on the first lap! |
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| The Team Marguerite Ginetta. |
Great Links:
For the organiser's TTE website, click here.
For the ROSCAR meeting in early 2016 at Magny-Cours click here.
For the Tour Auto at Magny-Cours in 2015, click here.
For Classic Days at Magny-Cours in 2014, click here.
All photos were taken from the spectator areas without a press pass.
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.
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