Etretat-Bénouville Hillclimb 2018 - Period 1947 to 1961

Paul Geering in the Austin Seven Pigsty Special at speed.

Very nice to see three Coopers in this group.  A reminder of how successful and prolific this marque was in the fifties and sixties.   Julian Wilton was dominant in his Cooper-Bristol over the two runs against a very mixed group of cars with good variety.  Good to see them all at Etretat again competing on this 1.62km hillclimb over public roads.

Fastest car in this group was the 1953 Cooper Bristol T23 Mk2 of Julian Wilton.

Second was Chris Davis in this 1961 Lotus 7.

Third was Paul Geering in the 1930/1950 Austin Seven Pigsty Special.

Fourth was this 1953 Frazer Nash Le Mans of David Knight.

Fifth was Jonathan Harmer in this 1953 Cooper Bristol Sports T24/25.

Sixth was this 1960 Cooper T56 Formula Junior of Alan Harrison.

Finally there was this 1961 TVR Grantura MkII of Ernst Luthi.

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. 

Drivers eye view of the Cooper T56.

Etretat-Bénouville Hillclimb 2018 - Period 1962 to 1979

Fastest of the 1962 to 1979 cars was this 1973 Alpine A110 of Bob Gibson.

Although the stars of the show, in my view, at Etretat are the pre-war cars, there was an interesting group of sixties and seventies cars climbing the hill up the D11 towards Bénouville.  Everything from a variety of Alpine A110s through Ford Escorts and Renault R8s to a Marcadier Can Ams and a single seater.  As well as the usual English competitors it was good to see some French drivers as well.  I was there on the Saturday when the weather was quite sunny and tried to take a few different shots than normal, which is a  challenge at Etretat.  All the cars competing are shown in this post with the fastest cars first.

Second fastest was Tony Gomis in his 1976 Marcadier Can-Am. 

Third was this 1968 MG C GT Sebring of Darren Brock.

Fourth was Mark Hobbs in this 1976 Ford Escort Mk2

Another Ford Escort, a 1973 Mk1, came fifth in the hands of Mark Linforth.

Sixth was Johnny Hulme in his 1973 Alpine Renault A110.

Dave Wheeler came seventh in this 1969 Renault R8 Gordini.

Tim Greenhill's 1965 MG B in the paddock.  It finished eighth.

Ninth was this 1972 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT driven by Duncan Richardson.

Completing the top 10 was the 1971 CG Simca 1300 of Francois Prieur.

Next up was this 1967 Hillman Imp of Jim Scott.

A French entry, Alain Marie in this Alpine Renault A110 1300S came twelfth.

Nigel Patten was competing in this 1965 Renault Gordini R8.

On one of the Saturday runs, Sheridan Bell oversteered and glanced into the barrier in his A110.

The 1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Super of Michael Deldon.

A 1963 MG B driven by Jonathan Ostle.

The unusual MEP X2 of Hubert Godefroy.

Andy Owler in his Mexican built 1971 Dinalpin A110

A 1973 Porsche 911 driven by Bill Drysdale.

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. 

Andy Owler just after crossing the finish line in his Dinalpin.

Etretat-Bénouville Hillclimb 2018 - Post Historique

Fastest "VHC" time of the weekend went to Ian Davies in this 1993 OMC-RA Susuki.

Prior to the accident on Sunday, the mood at Etretat-Bénouville had been its usual end of summer party atmosphere.  The fastest of the "VHC" cars were the Post -Historic brigade.  There were seven cars in this class ranging from a specialist hillclimb single seater, a continuation model of a sixties sports car, and some GT and touring cars.  Fastest was Ian Davies in the OMS but some way off of James Wilkinson's record.  These pictures were all taken on Saturday.

Paul Deslandes was runner-up in his 1995 Caterham 7.

Third was Tim Jeffrey is his rapid Alpine V6 GTA Turbo.

Neil Brogden in the 1987 Peugeot  205 GTi was fourth in this group.

Fifth was David Strange in the 1999 Crossle 9S.

Final classified car in the post historics was this 1996 Ginetta 27R of Anthony Williams.

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. 

Also present and running on Saturday in practice was Ryan Eamer in this 1981 MG Metro.

Course de Côte Régionale d'Etretat-Bénouville Moderne 2018

Maxime Bertrand in his Alpine A110 during his second ascent of the hill.

Motor sport has a terrible habit of reminding us from time to time that it is dangerous.  Sunday at the annual Etretat-Benouville hillclimb was one of those times.  Somehow a Renault Megane, making its second ascent of the hill, got the wrong side of the crash barriers and collided with a female marshal.  It was a terrible accident to see but the latest news is that she is out of life-threatening danger.  This obviously led to an early end to the event and as many vehicles made only one ascent, the results are irrelevant.  We all hope that the marshal makes the best possible recovery.

Below are a few pictures of the cars present on Sunday.

Bertrand Lasalle in his Dallara F307 after making the fastest of the initial runs.

Christophe Maurouard in a Peugeot 205 on the hillclimb course with Etretat as the backdrop.

Englishman John Page was present as usual in his Ralt F3.

Thomas Durand and his Peugeot 106 XSi

Fabien Ponchant and his Dallara F302.

Frederic Brot in the unusual Minarti KM02.

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. 

Queue of cars waiting to make their descent from the paddock to the start.

Le Mans Classic 2018 - Plateau Six - 1972 to 1981

The 1973 Mirage GR7  of Goethe and Hall leads the winning Toj through the Esses in their Sunday morning race.  Unfortunately, the Mirage didn't finish.

This was perhaps the plateau where I took some of my favourite pictures.  I only saw one race but it was in the golden early morning sunlight on the Sunday.  Many of these cars I saw race at Brands Hatch and other circuits in the eighties so again good reminiscences.  Those that I didn't actually see in period, were etched in my memory from photos in MotorSport magazine.  Other have become favourites from historic racing.  Particularly, nice to see Henri Pescarolo still racing the Inaltera.

The very recognizable green helmet of Henri Pescarolo in the 1976 Inaltera GTP.

It is also always nice to see the flame throwing Porsche 935s.   One of them won in 1979.

The 1977 Porsche 935 K3 throwing flames out of its exhaust.

The rest of the weekend all the photographers were fighting for the best position at the Esses but on Sunday morning there were just a few of us stalwarts who didn't mind getting up early.

Chris Mac Allister's Mirage M6 leads a 1979 Lola through the Esses on Sunday morning.

The Podium Finishers

This 1980 Porsche 935 K3.  Here it leads a group on the first green flag lap on Sunday morning.   It came in third on scratch.

This 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0L finished second in the Index of performance.

The Index of Performance winning 1972 Ford Capri 2600 RS

The scratch winning 1976 Toj SC 304 of Yves Scemema.

LOLAS AND CHEVRONS

One of the later cars, a 1981 Lola T600

A 1979 Lola-BMW T298 holds off a Porsche as other Lolas and Chevrons look on.

1972 Chevron B21-BDG leads a 1972 Lola T290-BDG.

ITALIAN MARQUES

1981 Lancia Beta GrpV leads Porsche and BMW through the Esses.

1981 Ferrari 512 BB LM. It  finished a great eighth.

Ferrari 12 cylinder boxer engine.

1977 Osella PA5-BMW.

1974 Alfa Romeo 33TT12

Alfa 33TT12 in the paddock

THE BIG BOYS

A NASCAR 1975 Ford Gran Torino.  It finished fourteenth out of a field of 69 cars!

NASCAR at Le Mans.

1976 Chevrolet Monza.

1976 Aston Martin DBS V8 leads a close knit group through the Esses.

THE REST

1975 Datsun 240Z leading Porsche and BMW through the Esses on Sunday morning.

1976 Cheetah G601 - BDG.

Cheetah exiting the Esses chased by a BMW M1 and with the Dunlop bridge in the background.

1974 Porsche 911 Carerra RSR 3.0L.

1978 Alpine Renault A443.

Mirafe being worked on in the paddock

1979 BMW M1 Gr.V.

1979 Porsche 935K3.

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. 

1974 Lola T290-FVC being worked on in the paddock.