Rouen-les-AFX: 75

Tuesday, 7 September 2021

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.

Sunday, 8 August 2021

Course de Côte du Mont-Dore / Chambon-sur-Lac, 2021, HTCC

Almost as though it were a circuit race, a Honda Civic chases a Peugeot 505 up the hill.

There were three things that made this year's Course de Côte du Mont-Dore different to last year's edition. The first was the weather which on Saturday was very changeable and very challenging unlike the fine weather that had greeted me last year, However, looking on the bright side, it did make for some interesting photographs. Secondly, this year all the competitors and spectators needed a 'Pass Sanitaire' to show they had been vaccinated or negatively tested against Covid 19. For me this was a good thing in these difficult times. Lastly, this year a class was run for HTCC cars, which for me was a great addition to the event.

The French HTCC or Historique Tourisme Champion Car, as it is known in full, is an affordable Circuit Championship that has been integrated into La Coupe de France des Circuits since 2019. It was really great to see them on the mountain. The cars are Touring Cars from 1960 to 1992 and contain Groups 1, 2, N and A amongst others. Recently, famous 80 year old Rally Champion Jean-Claude Andruet drove a BMW in the HTCC race at Charade and was down in the program to return to Mont Dore, but alas it was not to be.

All the photos in this post were in the practice runs on Saturday when conditions were rather adverse. i have included photos of all the eleven runners. I really enjoyed some of the cars being driven quite aggressively considering the weather.

It was really quite dark when the HTCC made there first runs before 9.00am on Saturday but there was worse to come! This is the fastest runner, Steve Compain in his BMW M3.