Historic Tour - Val de Vienne - GT Classic + Saloon Cars - 2021

 

1988 Renault Super 5 GT Turbo Maxi leads a 1992 Porsche 964 RSi.

An interesting field of  classic GT and saloon cars from the late sixties onwards were assembled for qualifying on Saturday morning at Val de Vienne during the Historic tour meeting in September.   These pictures were mainly taken from the spectator mound at the exit of the first turn.   I particularly enjoyed seeing sand hearing some big American muscle in the field.

The top 4 qualifiers are shown below:

Fastest Qualifier was this 1996 8 litre Dodge Viper RT10 driven by Julien Grent.

Second fastest was Vincent Delarche in this 1990 2 litre Cateram SuperSeven

This 1996 3.2 litre BMW M3 GTR Evo PTG driven by Sébastien Mathieu was third fastest.

The 1984 2.2 litre Audi Quattro of Fabrice Lefebvre was fourth fastest.

Other interesting cars taking part were:

This 2007 Ferrari F430 Challenge won the 200km of Val de Vienne later in the day.

1996 2 litre Lotus Elise

1969 5.7 litre Chevrolet Camaro.

1996 BMW M3 GTR 3.2 litre.

1980 BMW E21 2 litre.

1968 Alpine Renault A110 1,860cc.

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.

Camaro leads a BMW 2002 Ti.

Historic Tour - Val de Vienne - Roadster Pro Cup - 2021

 

Two 1,600cc Mazda MX5 Mk1s go into turn 1 at Val de Vienne.

The Roadster Pro Cup championship forms part of the Historic Tour in France and is a classic one-make series for Mazda MX5 Mk1s.    From memory it is the first time that I have seen this series and although I am not a big fan of one-make-series, i do have a bit of a soft spot for these Mazda roadsters.  The drivers were all French except for one Brit, Julien Howe.  Twenty nine cars started the race and all but one finished.  The photos were taken both in qualifying and the race.

The Mazdas come out of Virage Trop Tard on lao one with eventual winner Laurent Fresnais leading.

Julien Howe can be seen here in car number 3 in this battle near the back of the field.

The field goes through La Ferme.

Emmanuel Parissier.

A mid-field battle.

Jean Olivier.

Christophe Bouchet.

Mazdas in La Ferme.

Battle towards the back of the field.

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.

Mazdas exiting turn 1.

Historic Tour - Val de Vienne - ASAVE Racing 65 & 75 - 2021

The classic Val de Vienne shot - the start of the ASAVE 65 & 75 race.

Part of the Historic Tour, as the French Historic Car Circuit Racing Championship is called, ASAVE racing has two groups of cars.  One is for GT and Touring Cars (the old Groups 1, 2 ,3 and 4) that were homologated prior to 1966.  The second group is for GT and Touring Cars from 1966 to 1975 and Sports prototypes until 1970. At each meeting they either have one 60 minute race or two 45 minute races.  Each race has a pit stop and thus two pilots can take part in each car.  The groups are further divided into classes.   

This type of racing seems to attract small but interesting fields and it was the case at Val de Vienne where there were only 13 cars but lots of interest for fans of historic sports and GT racing.  The Saturday ASAVE race that I saw was my first ever race at Val de Vienne and it lasted 45 minutes which gave me plenty of time to move around various vantage points.  Many thanks to the official who helped me find some particularly good shots.

The racing was not particularly close or exciting but just seeing Lolas, 910s, 240Zs, Corvettes and Mk1 Escorts driven fast makes my day.

The early leader was the 5.8 litre 1966 Lola T70 Mk2 Spyder.  Unfortunately it retired after 8 laps. It was driven by the team of David & De Murard and took fastest lap with a time 3 seconds faster than anyone else.

The winner was José Beltramelli in this 4.7 litre 1965 TVR Griffith 400.  He was running in ASAVE 65.

This fast TVR Griffith was always the likely winner after the Lola dropped out.

In second place was this 2.4 litre 1967 Porsche 910 driven by Sylvain Regnier.  It was the top ASAVE 75 runner.

Porsche 910 at Virage Le Ferme.

In third place was this 2.8 litre 1975 Datson 240Z driven by Valinho & Mathon.  it led one lap during the pitstops and was quite close to the Porsche 910 by the end of the race.

Fourth was this 2.0 litre 1975 Ford Escort RS1600 of Olivie Dusailly. 

The Ford Escort RS1600 looked quite spectacular at times.

Pierre-Yves Dauxerre was fifth in this 3.0 litre 1975 Porsche 911 SC

Porsche 911 SC speeding past two female marshals at Virage Trop Vite.

Porsche 911 SC.

Sixth was Antoine Benne in a 1.6 litre 1965 Lotus Elan. It led one lap during the pit stops.

This 3.8 litre 1963 Jaguar E-Type came seventh driven by Bernard Wilhelm.

The Jaguar E-Type.

Gaso & Bernard came eighth in this 1.6 litre 1964 Lotus Elan, just beating the Corvette.

This wonderfully growly 6.5 litre 1969 Chevrolet Corvette came ninth driven by the Excoffiers.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette.  It was running third at the start but then fell back to fourth and later to ninth.

Tenth was Alain Lagache in this 2..0 litre 1970 Porsche 914-6 GT.

Porsche 914-6.

This 1.9 litre 1963 MG B came eleventh driven by Romain Guerardelle and finished not far behind the Porsche 914-6.

1963 MG B.

Final finisher was Benjamin Dupuy in this 2 litre 1968 Ford Escort who ran at the back all race.

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.

Lola T70 about to lap an MG B.

61ème Course de Côte du Mont-Dore / Chambon-sur-Lac 2021, Sports Prototypes E2SC, CN3 & CN+

Jonathan Dessens in a Funyo SP05 Evo which was running in CN3.

This post from the Course de Côte du Mont Dore 2021 covers all of the Sports prototype cars that we don't normally see in the Regional events as they are only eligible for the CFM National Championship rounds.  Thus specifically the E2SC, CN3 and CN+ class cars.    These cars contain some of the quicker competitors and most of the normal contenders for an outright win, plus the newer Funyo cars that are normally seen on the circuits of France rather than the mountains.  All of the cars that competed are shown below.

No surprise that the overall victor at Mont Dore was Geoffrey Schatz in a Nova Proto NP01-2 conforming to the E2SC-3A regs.

Second overall was Damien Chamberod in a Norma M20 FC also conforming to E2SC-3A regs.

In the same class and in third place overall was Fabien Bourgeon in this Revolt 3P0.

Having driven F3 cars for many years, Billy Ritchen has stepped up to E2SC Protos and is driving this Nova Proto NP01.  he was fourth overall.

In the only CN+ class car present and finishing fifth overall was Kévin Petit in this Norma M20 FC.

The only car running in E2SC - 1A was the Nova NP03 of Axel Petit that finished twelfth overall.

The pretty Osella PA 20S of Cédric Lansard.  Here he is descending the course with insert, him ascending the course in the fog.   He was the first in the CN3 class.

Ascending the course during the fog is Olivier Berreur in a CN3 Norma M20 F.

The first of the Funyo SP05 Evo running in CN3 was that of Jonathan Dessens.

The second Funyo SP05 was that of Dominique Arnoux.

fffffff

The third Funyo was that of Rémy Brouard.

The Osella PA 30T of Cyrille Frantz did not record a time outside of the practice runs.  he is seen here on the first ascent on Saturday morning.  He was running in the E2SC 3A class.

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.

Another shot of Rémy Brouard's Funyo SP05 Evo.