6ème Course de Côte d'Argenton-Bouglon, 2023

Jean-Marie Delage head up the hill towards the final corner in his Simca Rallye 2.

The red marks the route of the
Course de Côte.

The 19th August 2023 saw the sixth running of the Course de Côte de Argenton-Bouglon.   It was the third time I have attended the event.   Being in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region of France, it does not get huge fields but it is nevertheless a favourite little event.  The length of the climb is only 1,200 metres but is climbs up 75 metres in this distance which is an average slope of 6.25% which is rather steep.

Held on a Saturday in August, this year was particularly sunny and hot, which made it tough for the spectators like us to climb from the bottom of the hill to the top of the hill during the afternoon when there was little shade.

I was grateful of the company of Michael who accompanied me to a French hillclimb for the first time. We got there in time for three of the morning practice runs and the first three of the afternoon timed runs.

This regional event counted towards the local league and the Coupe de France de Montagne.  A particular feature this year was that over 10% of the runners were women and one of them finished on the podium.  I also enjoyed having a good sized FC Group of older cars.

It was no surprise that Fabrice Gallo won the event as he also won last year, in 2020 and 2018.  He didn't break his course record.  Also no surprise about second place as Romain Patacconi had finished in that position in 2022 as well.  This year 38 cars took part compared to 34 last year and 43 in 2021.

For pictures and a report on the 2022 event click here.

For pictures and a report on the 2021 event click here.

All of the runners that completed a timed run on Saturday afternoon are featured below in the order that they were classified.

The winner was Fabrice Gallo in this Norma M20 FC.  He was the only driver below 37 seconds for the 1.2 kilometres.  His best was 36.448 on his fourth run.

Second was another Norma M20FC driven by Romain Patacconi.

Preparation on Romain's Norma during the lunch break.

Third place on the podium went to Marie Cammares in this Tatuus Formula 4C.  She was the only person taking part in a single-seater this year.

The Cammares Tatuus team in the paddock.  She is an ex-rugby player who has been hillclimbing since 2015 and has been rather successful so far.

It was the first time at Argenton-Bouglon for Cédric Grosjean but he did quite well in his older Norma M20F and was fourth overall.

Fifth overall and very close in time to the third Norma was Frédéric Rousseau in this 1 litre motor cycle engined Speedcar GTR.  He was the final driver below 39 seconds.

Sixth overall was Didier Gimenez in this Fior F05.  He he is at the top of the hill in Bouglon after just passing the finishing line.

First of the Production Cars and seventh overall was Jérôme Sirgue in this nice sounding and fast Porsche 997 GT3 RS 3.8.

Eighth overall and winner of the FC Group was Jean-Louis Simorre in this fast Renault 5 Turbo.

Ninth overall and sharing the Porsche 997 GT3 RS 3.8 was Olivier Noël.

Final driver in the top ten and winner of Group A was Yves Dubrana in this BMW M3 E36.

Eleventh overall and winner of the GT Group was Michel Lamiscarre in this Porsche Cayman Cup.

Second of the GT cars by less than half a second was Christophe Carrere in this Lotus Exige Cup.

The Lotus Exige in the paddock.

Winner of the F2000 Group was this BMW 318 Compact driven by Julien Zambon.

Second in Group FC and first in class was this Talbot Rallye 3 driven by Jean-Louis Tayaud.

Claude Diaz comes over the brow in his Renault 11 Turbo.  He was second in the F2000 Group.

Second in Group A was Christophe Mazat in this Renault Clio 3 Cup.  

First in Group N was Michael Eguillon in this BMW M3 E36.

Ophelie Poitevin was the fastest lady production car driver in her Citroën Saxo VTS. 1/80th second exposure.

Third in Group FC was this Matra Bagheera driven by Florian Patacconi.

Third of the GT cars was Vincent Cadillac in this Porsche Cayman S.  Here he is in Bouglon just after the finish line.

Fourth in Group FC and second in class was Philippe Quioc in this Simca Rallye 2.

Philippe get help pushing the Simca in the paddock.

An unusual car to see on the hills is this Hyundai i20 RS rally car.  Driven by André Hiroguyen he came fourth in Group A.  

Third in the F2000 Group but winner of its class was this Peugeot 205 driven by Cyrille Chupin.

Jean-Marie Delage in his Simca Rallye 2 finished fourth in the F2000 Group.

Nathan Chupin finished fifth in the FC Group with this Simca Rallye 2.

This Citroën ZX 16v driven by Sébastien Dumas finished fifth in Group A.

Last of the Sports cars was this Funyo B4 driven by Gérard Gimenez.

The Funyo B4 and Didier and Gérard Gimenez during the lunch break.

Celia Debe finished 6th in Group A in her Renault Clio 3 Cup.

Jacques Lesaulnier (nicknamed Rambo) in his Renault Clio 3 Cup finished 7th in Group A.

Guy Philippe Patcacconi in the Matra Bagheera finished sixth in Group FC.

Pascal Fanget in this Peugeot 206 XS finished eighth in Group A.

Richard Nouvel in this Renault 5 GT Turbo finished fifth in Group 2000.

Alexandra Dupin in her Citroën Saxo VTS finished second in Group N.

René Baptiste in this Renault Clio 3 Cup finished ninth in Group A.

Jérôme Robert in this Peugeot 306 S16 finished 3rd in  Group N.

Jean-Louis Ghirardi in this Renault Clio RS finished tenth in Group A.

Franck Chaulet in this Citroën Saxo VTS was fourth of the Group N cars.

Final finisher was this Opel Astra OPC of Patrick Leveque.

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 à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

This Renault 4CV proto did a demo run during morning's practice.

This Formula Renault Martini Mk15 driven by Nicolas Delperie acted as the No.0 course car.

Another paddock shot.

34ème Rallye National de Saintonge, Moderne 2023

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The Citroën Saxo VTS of Dejeans and Nichol that retired on the seventh of eight stages.

The Rallye National de Saintonge is one of my closest rallies and thus it is always good to catch it even if I only managed one stage again this year due to other commitments.  However, I made up for that by trying to see how slow a shutter speed I could use once I got past the faster cars and was pleased to get some success at 1/50th and 1/80th.

This rally counted towards the Coupe de France des Rallyes and for the local Nouvelle Aquitaine Nord ligue.  Last year's winner, Denis Millet, took victory again this year.  The top 12 cars and most of the group and class winners can be seen below with a few of the other cars as well.   Over 100 cars took part and 66 were classified as finishers.

I watched ES1 near Bussac-sur-Charente at the first of the official spectator areas on this long 23km stage.  There were two stages each taken four times, thus eight stages in all.

Denis Millet and Aurelia Chevalier won the rally in this Volkswagen Polo GTi R5.

Runner up was another Volkswagen Polo driven by Stéphane André and Samuel Passetemps.

Third were Bruno and Laetitia Cadillon in this Peugeot 306 Maxi.  They won the National Rallye Group.

This Porsche 997 came fourth and won the GT Group in the hands of Jimmy Thibauudeau and Dimitri Pilet.

Fifth overall and winner of the FRC4 Groupe was this Renault Clio Super 1600 of Mickael and Ludovic Taudiere.

This Renault Clio came sixth overall and won its class driven by John Laroche and Ronan Choucroun.

Seventh overall and winner of its class was the Renault Clio 4 of Christopher Touvron and Orphélia Chaigne.

Eighth overall was this Peugeot 208 

Ninth overall and winner of its class was this Peugeot 208 of Sylvain and Daniel Mahier.

Rounding out the top ten was this Renault Clio of Patrice Laroche and Damien Augustin.

Eleventh and winner of their class was this BMW Compact of Yannick Lacouture and Romain Aligant.

Twelfth and winner of its class was this Peugeot 106 S16 of Cyril Guyot and Emilie Sauvaitre.

Fourteenth and winner of its class was this Renault Clio RS of Téva Gschwindemann and Théo Bonnegarde.

Sixteenth and winner of the FRC5 Groupe was this Renault Clio R5 Line of Jonathan Baron and Romuald Moine. 

Seventeenth was this Citroën Saxo Kit Car of Xavier Pencole and Audrey Rossignol.

Eighteenth and winner of the F215 class was this Peugeot 207 RC of Lucas Martin and Florentin Boutin.

This Honda Civic driven by Franck and Emmanuel Pierre won class N2.

Frédéric and Astrid Gallot won class A7S in this Peugeot 207 S2000.

Winner of class N4 was this Renault Megane 3 RS of Dylan and Yoann Contamine.

This Citroën Saxo driven by André Auger and Hervé Magnan won class F212.

The winner of class A5 was this Peugeot 105 XSi driven by Emeric Gouineau and Loic Bonneaud.

This BMW Z3 won class GT10 driven by Cédric Lassalle and Gérard Irigaray.

Tony Magot and Maxime Torlet in this Subaru Impreza WRX STi won class A8.

Winners of class A6 were Laurent and Nathalie Lepage in this Citroën Saxo VTS.

Julien and Pierre Lambert in this Renault Twingo RS won class R1.

This Peugeot 206 ZX won class N2Série in the hands of Fabien Lapeyronnie and Killan Delage.

This lovely little Autobianchi A112 Abarth won class F211 driven by Pascal and Manon Beauvais.

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 à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

This Mitsubishi Evo X didn't finish the rally.

A Renault Clio Super 1600 driven by Geoffrey Menut.

A Renault Clio RS Line at 1/50th second exposure.

This Citroën Saxo GTS was disqualified.

A Volkswagen Golf.

A Citroën C2 Evo that eventually left the road and retired.

This Honda Integra Type R retired.

This Renault Clio retired later on this stage.

Citroen AX.

Who forgot to shut the back door?   This Peugeot 106 did finish.