2019 Dijon Motors Cup! CSCC Classic

David Smith in the 1965 MG Midget Lenham Le Mans lifts a wheel in front of Jon Wolfe in a 1963 Lotus Elan.

This was an overseas event open to all of the classic cars from various of the British CSCC series.  Thus, a great mixture of sixties, seventies and eighties GT and Touring cars.  I was the Saturday race at the Dijon Motors Cup meeting.  It was run over 40 minutes and there were 25 starters most of whom are featured below.  It was their second overseas event of the year but their first ever at Dijon-Prenois.  I enjoyed them being there and particularly loved seeing the Datsun 240Z, the Ford Anglia and the Ginetta G12, not to mention some spectacular driving from some of the MG and Lotus drivers.

Lotus Cortina versus BMW.

The winning 1964 Lotus Elan S2 of Jamie Keevill.

Matthew Lewis in this 1982 Marcos Mantula came second, taking the position on the final lap.

The third placed 1989 Vauxhall Astra GTE 16V comes under attack from a Porsche 944 and a BMW 1502 early in the eace.  It was driven by Hammersley and Brown.

The fourth placed 1965 Lotus Elan of Smith / Cousins leading the eventual winner early in the race.

John  Dunham and Mark Owen's 1963 Lotus Cortina Mk1 came fifth.

The sixth place 1989 Porsche 944 S2 battling with the Lotus Cortina and BMW 1502.

John  Wolfe in this 1963 Lotus Elan came seventh.

The Lotus Elan engine of the car featured above.

The eighth placed 1969 MG B GT of the Howes (101) comes under attack from an MG B Roadster (712).  Michael Didcott in the 1970 Roadster finished tenth.

David Thompson in this 1963 TVR Grantura MKIII leads an Elan and a Ginetta on his way to ninth position.

The 1976 BMW 1502 on it way to eleventh place in the hands of Ian Everett.

BMW 1502 detail.

The twelfth place 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1of Martin Reynolds comes under pressure from the Lotus Elan of Cliff Gray late in the race.

The pretty 1967 Ginetta G12 of Chris Blewett leads the 1960 Austin Healey Sebring Sprite of Simon Page.

The Ginetta in the paddock.

This 1971 Datson 240Z particularly caught my attention which ran as high as third driven by Dean Halsey.

Polishing up the Datsun in the paddock.

A sixties icon - the Williams' 1966 Ford Anglia 

The Anglia in the paddock.

Work in the paddock on nSteve Chapman's 1962 Triumph TR4.

Major work on Steve Adam's 1969 Triumph Spitfire Mk3.

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.

2019 Dijon Motors Cup! NKHTGT

The battle for the lead - 6.2 litre Chevrolet Corvette vs 2 litre Lotus Elan.  

The NK HTGT is a Dutch Historic series for GT and Touring Cars from 1947 to 1965 that races in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France. It contains a nice variety of historic GT and Touring cars and occasionally has some more exotic machinery such as Ford GT40s or Ferrari 250 LMs.  The race at Dijon was of 40 minutes plus 1 lap duration and was hard fought even to the last corner.  As the cars race on low grip tyres the racing can be quite spectacular.  Most of the top cars can be seen below including the Corvette Grand Sports powered by their massive 6.2 litre Chevrolet engines.  I saw the race on Saturday just after lunch and it was a track that was damp in places but drying after the  earlier rain.

The winning 1963 Chevrolet Corvette of Michiel Campagne leads the 1964 Ford Falcon of Bijeveld & Van.

Eventually second place went to the 1965 Lotus Elan of Alexander Schlüchter, seen here lapping the fifth placed Porsche late in the race.

Bob Stevens in a 1965 Lotus led the other Elans until late in the race when he tried to overtake the lead Corvette and lost it in the process.

The 1964 Ford Falcon eventually fell back to fourth but here is seen leading the Elans.

Dijon was the final round of the series and Erwin Van Lieshout took the championship in his Porsche 911.

The Norbert Gross 1964 4.7 litre Ford falcon finished sixth.

Seventh was this 1965 Lotus Elan S2 of Jos Stevens.

Frans Van Maarschalkerwaart in the Shelby Mustang GT350 finished eighth.

The pole position 1961 Jaguar E-Type driven by Sauter/Newall eventually fell back but recovered to ninth.  here it overtakes the eleventh placed 1965 Lotus Cortina of René Wallner.

Rob Rappenge in a 1965 Mini Cooper came tenth.

Nigel Winchester in his 1 litre 1964 Ginetta G4 beat many larger capacity cars

The 1965 Ford GT40 of Georg Nolte took part on the warm up lap but didn't start.

1959 Porsche 356A leads Austin Healey and Ford Falcon.

This 1964 Chevrolet Corvette was fast but retired.

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.

Lotus Cortina leads two MGs, a Mini cooper and a Ginetta.

Kaj Dahlbacka and team preparing the Corvette Grand Sport 

Paddock action for the 1959 Austin Healey 3000 Mk1 of Huib Mars.

The 1964 Ginetta G4 of Nigel Winchester has its wheels changed.

The other Ginetta G4, that of Brian Lambert, on the pre-grid.

2019 Dijon Motors Cup! Triumph Competition and British HTGT

A 1963 Triumph TR4 leads a1962 example.  Dennis Forell came ninth in No.44 whilst Paul Lejeune was the final finisher.

Seeing a field of cars cars like this makes you realise why continental Europe loves British sports cars of the sixties and seventies so much.  Nearly one third of the field were various Triumphs and the rest were a great mix of other British makes such as MG, Jaguar, Austin Healey, Lotus, TVR and Morgan.  There was even a Warwick!    This is actually a German Series run by the German TR Register for Historic Triumphs and other British roadsters, touring and GT cars built before 1981 but they race in a number countries including at Zandvoort and Spa.   At Dijon the earlier rain had gone and thus the track was relatively dry for this race on Saturday at the Dijon Motors Cup meeting.  The race was of 45 minutes duration and 37 cars took part.  Much of the field is shown below in my photos of the race.

Thee first lap and the leaders come past.

After 27 laps and 45 minutes of racing, Luxembourger Philippe Vermast in his 1971 TVR Vixen 2500 took victory.

Second was Swiss Urs Müller in this 1964 Lotus Elan 26R.He was the top Division 2 car.

The third placed car, a 1970 Morgan Plus 8 of British driver Paul Conway.

Fourth was this 1961 Jaguar E-Type driven by the German and British driver combination of Sautter and Newall in a very entertaining fashion.

The Dutch pairing of van de Wal and Melle came fifth in this 1972 MG B.

The sixth placed Dutch 1965 MB B of van de Wal and Albert lock their brakes in the battle with the E-Type.

The seventh placed 1972 TVR leads a large close group.   It was driven by a German trio Simon, Loosen and Görres.

Marcus Weidenbach  drover this 1975 Triumph TR6 into eighth place.

1968 Triumph TR5 driven by Ray Dwinger.  It finished eleventh.

The rare 1969 Warwick GT 350 of Detlef Walter.

A coming together between No.6 a 1969 Triumph TR6 and No.17 a 1963 MG B.

Three abreat through the corner!  MG, Lotus Cortina and Mini chasing a Triumph.

Christophe Forell in a 1963 Lotus Cortina being strongly challenged by Jordan Lejeune in a 1965 MG B.

A 1963 Triumph TR4 driven by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Fazi.

The 1963 MG B GT of Dutchman Dani Hemelrijk.

A 1958 MG A leeading an MG and a Trumph.

Visser Cor in a 1959 Austin Healey.

The twelfth place 1965 Triumph TR4 of Arnim Gleichmann.

A 1980 Triumph TR7 leads a 1965 Lotus Elan S2.

Two MGs battle it out whilst a TVR 3000M looks on.

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 cockpit of a 1959 MG A.