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| This Ligier JS2 "conversion" was just outside the top thirty after day one, but a stunning car. |
This section of the Tour Auto is a veritable feast of eighties competition Grand Touting and Touring cars. Everthing from Ferraris, DeTomasos and Porsches to Fords and BMWs and on to French exotica like Alpine Renault, Ligiers and CGs. I took all of the photos below at the first special stage near Auxerre and in the wine town of Nuits-Saint-Georges. Nice to see the American pairing, that I last saw in an IMSA race last year at Laguna Seca, doing so well. Here are the top dozen cars in the 1972 to 1981 competition category in the order of classification after the first day.
1st - 275 - Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0L - Cooper MacNeil / Gunnar Jeanette
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| An American team was leading after the first day. |
2nd - 273 - Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0L - Christophe Van Riet / Caroline Grifnee
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| Beautiful Porsche in beautiful Nuits-Saint-Georges. |
3rd - 252 - Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.8L - Michel Lecourt / Raymond Narac
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| The third Porsche. |
4th - 256 - DeTomaso Pantera GrpIV - Didier Sirgue / Jean-Michel Carriere
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| The fastest non-P:orsche was a Pantera. |
5th - 268 - Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0L - Dominique Guenat / Maxime Guenat
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| Porsche on ES1. |
6th - 259 - Ferrari 308 GrpIV Michelotto - Francois-Xavier Entremont / Jacques Entremont
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| The fastest Ferrari on ES1. |
7th - 270 - DeTomaso Pantera - Nicolas Maillet-Avenel / Romain Iannetta
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| The second of the Panteras. |
8th - 254 - Ferrari 308 GTB GrpIV - Arnaud Gauduel / Nicolas Missillier
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| A red Ferrari on the special stage. |
9th - 258 - BMW 3.0 CSL - Jean-Claude Basso / Robert Verber
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| Basso was back with his BMW on the Tour Auto. |
10th - 287 - Alpine Renault A310 V6 GrpIV - Gérard Besson / Marie-Odile Besson
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| A fast A310. |
11th - 277 - BMW 3,0 CSL - Alexandre Guesdon / Sébastien Seveau
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| BMW 3.0 CSL powers out of a tight turn. |
12th - 276 - Alpine Renault A110 1800 GrpIV - Richard Doux / Jean-Francois Laveil
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| ES1 Sinotte near Auxerre. |
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| The A110 being introduced to the crowds in Nuits-Saint-Georges |
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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| Simca engined CG Proto 548 that led its group. |
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| Famous French rally driver Bob Neyret drove this Citroen SM. |
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| Lovely to see some Ford Capri 2600RS cars on the Tour. |
Hi John, just brwsing through these Tour Auto 2018 photos which I missed first time around. Some fantastic cars in there: the Alpina Gosser Bier BMW CSL and the Broadspeed Capri bring back special memories. Gareth
ReplyDeleteYes, it would be good to go back in time and see some of those Ford vs BMW touring car battles again.
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