2020 - Historic Tour - Charade - GT Classic + Saloon Cars

The 1970 BMW 2002 Ti of Bernard Frugier in the Virage du Petit Pont at the Charade Circuit.

it is four years since I last saw the Historic Tour at Charade, so I was long overdue a return.  The first cars that greeted me this year were the GT Classic and Saloon Cars.  These cars vary in age from the sixties to the nineties but there are some gems amongst them.

I was just there for the Saturday qualifying session but it gave me a chance to admire the cars and get reacquainted with the magnificent circuit de Charade.

Fastest of the GT Classic competitors was Laurent Sabatier in this 1995 Porsche 993 GT2.

Lovely to see an 8 litre 1988 Dodge Viper in the Historic Tour.

Porsche - BMW and Audi in the Virage du petit pont.

Always great to see a 5.8 litre 1968 Chevrolet Camaro.  It was driven by the Fachinettis.

A 1967 Alfa Romeo Bertone 1,750cc driven by the Drouilleaus.

Thierry Lortal in a 1989 Caterham Superseven 

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 Camaro begins the downhill run back to the finish line.

The BMW 2002 Ti speeds past the back of the paddock.

This 1983 BMW 323i E30 took second place in the hands of Alain Derognat.  The following car was the oldest car in the race and was a Lotus Seven.

Château de Meillant - Old Cars

A 1935 Lancia 8 cylinder and other cars in the stables at Château de Meillant.

In the centre of France, in the Berry, is the beautiful Renaissance château in the town of Meillant.  If you are a car enthusiast, be sure to visit the stables and the museum of miniatures.  The Chateau itself is also worth the trip.  A very enjoyable trip out, post-confinement, even if we had to wear masks.

Château de Meillant on a rainy day.

For lovers of patina!   Nobody could accuse these cars of being over-restored, or even restored at all!  The car in the foreground is a Delehaye 135M.

1925 Peugeot type 177B

Citroën Trefle 5 CV.

Hotchkiss.

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.

Model Train.

Model of an old disused car factory.

47ème Course de Côte régionale de Tonnerre,

The fastest at Tonnerre this year was Romain Richardeau in a Dallara F397 evo F398.

This was only my second Course de Côte of 2020  because of the Covid19 crisis, but a very pleasant one and a new one for me.  Thanks to the organisers, Ecurie Vauban, for maintaining their event when so many others have cancelled.  The hill climb runs up from the fire station in Tonnere to a farm "La Ferme de Chape".  Tonnere is in the north west of the Burgundy region of France.  Parking for spectators is at the top of the hill near the farm and I must remember this for the next time I go as it is difficult to find from the centre of town.  The course is quite undulating with some downhill as well as uphill sections and  is 1.5 kilometres in length, so a fast time is just under 50 seconds for the Formula 3 cars.  96 drivers were classified and 30 of them feature in this post.  The runs which counted were on Sunday but I attended the practice runs on Saturday afternoon 15th August  to avoid the crowds.  Nevertheless, there were still a lot of us on the hill on Saturday as well on a beautifully sunny day.  Very nice to see such a good field of cars and quite a good hill for taking photographs.  A hill climb to come back to again !

One surprise of the day was seeing a Wolf racing car in the old Walter Wolf racing colours.  I hadn't realised that an Italian producer had bought the rights to the Walter Wolf Racing name and had produced a CN Prototype car in 2010.  Certainly a pleasant surprise and nice to see some variety from the host of the usual Normas of which there were relatively few of at Tonnerre.

A very well known hillclimb car in this region is the beautiful Ligier JS47 of Jean-Pierre Boucharrd.  It finished second.

Third was Gilbert Isabelle in a Dallara F399. 

Florian Serralta was fourth in a Speedcar GTR Evo 19 and won the CM class.

Fifth was the Tatuus FR2000 of Laurent Varlet which won the Formule France class.

Michael France in a Dallara F304 was sixth.

Seventh was the Dallara BAM F394 of Martial Conte.

Arnaud Pignol was eighth in a Tatuus FR2000.

Tenth was the Norma M20F of Philippe Fusillier which won the CN class.

In eleventh and fastest of the female competitors was Marion Alexandre in her Ligier JS51.

Twelfth was the Wolf GB08 of Luc Francois.

Rodolphe Simonnet was 13th in his Alpine A110 and won his class.

Fourteenth was Stephane Picault in a JPS FC.

The Porsche GT2 of Morane Cat Mackowiak was fifteenth and won its class.

Twentieth was the Renault Clio 4 RS of David Deremond.

Christian Boullanger was 21st in his Renault Clio Rs.

22nd was Pascal Simonot in a CG Simca which won its class.

The Peugeot RCZ Cup of Jean-Jacques Maurel was 23rd.

24th was the Peugeot 106 of Maxime Meyer.

The Nissan Almera of Michel Bineau was 25th.

28th was the Renault Clio Williams of Damien Kosk.

Winner of the FC/FS 1 call was this Simca Rallye 2 of Bernard Delniau.

A rather good looking Farm Tork Mitjet 1300 won the GTTS 1 class in the hands of Cedric Boureille.

Giles Berger won the F2000 1 class in his Peugeot 205 Rallye.

Winner of the FN2 class was this Honda Civic of Jerome Chardin.

Franck Jovin won the FA 1 class in this Peugeot 106 XSI.

3rd in the FC/FS 1 class was Bernard Martin in the Simca Rallye 2.

The Peugeot 405 of James Skolylas.

Second of the three lady drivers was Melanie Robert in this Peugeot 205.

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.

A Renault Clio nears the finish line at the top of the hill.

9 ème Rallye National VHC d'Autun Sud-Morvan

The Austin Healey 100 of Franck Augis and Franck Massimi that was 16th fastest of the 22 VHC cars on the first special stage.

The ninth national rally for historic and classic cars of Autun and the South of Morvan had a great field of over fifty cars.  Many of them are featured in this blog post.  These were the first cars of the day on the first special stage ES1 between Sommant and Lucenay on Saturday morning.  I stood in a field near Cussy-en-Morvan and peered over the hedges trying to get a few good pictures.  As this was a fast downhill section, this proved quite a challenge but I was glad to have brought some steps with me.  I loved seeing the Ford Escorts and the Austin Healey 100 but there was a good variety of cars entered.

This Porsche 911 was the fastest VHC on the first special stage.  Its crew was Alain and Sylvie Oreille.

This Ford Escort RS Mk2 was second fastest,  Its crew was Francois Foulon and Sébastien Mattei.

The BMW M3 of Benoit Chavet and Pascal Boyer.

The Ford Escort Mk2 of Johnny Delhez and Vincent Duchesne.

The Ford Sierra Cosworth of Patrick Hautot and Sylvain Cantrel.

The Peugeot 505 Turbo of Serge Zèle and Philippe Bouvier.

The Ford Escort Mk2 of Christian Chiaravita and Géraldine Ferret.

The BMW M3 of Michel Ducreux and Anthony Raoult.

The Talbot Samba Rallye of Jean-Paul and Monique Bouquet.

The Porsche 911 of Jean-Marc and Clémenr Niel.

Always nice to see a Ford escort Mk1.  The crew was Jean-Jacques Julien and Benoît Juif.  They were the fastest of the Classic class. 

The Renault 11 Turbo of Benoît Duchene amd Francois Bresson.

I could only just see this Alpine A110 over the hedge!  The crew was Marc Lemoine and Catherine Jamet.

A Triumph TR7 V8 crewed by Jacques Marie and Agnes Salique.

The Renault 5 GT Turbo of Pascal Jarraud and Geoffrey Bidois.

The Porsche 911 of Joël Vicaire and Nicolas Jeudy.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo of David Hugla and Pascal Gaudiau.

The Peugeot 205 GTi of Hugues and Loic Dupuy.

The Porsche 914-6 of Paul Perrot and Aline Lafont.

The Renault 5 Alpine of Claude Turpin and Jean-Marc Buchet.

Another Renault 5 Alpine, this one crewed by Reginald Gonnet and Tiziana Littera-Veira.

A Renault 5 Alpine Turbo crewed by Jérôme Targat and Laurence Lemoine.

The Alfa Romeo GT Veloce of Antoine Lanni and Francis Pion.

The DAF 66 Marathon of Pierre Jamin and René Beyers.

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 Alpine A310 of Sébastien Bouvier and XXavier Chamoux.