Circuit des Remparts 2023 - Plateau Demonstration - Louis Rosier / 50's Sports Cars and Bugattis

 

My view for most of the day at Angoulême.  You can this is real street circuit.

The first of the demostration plateau at the 2023 Circuit des Remparts was in honour of the great French driver Louis Rosier ans was mainly intended for 1950s sports cars and Bugattis. Louis Rosier won the 1949 Belgian GP, the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans and a number of non-championship F1 races in the early fifties.

An interesting car in this plateau was the 1938 Lenkin GP car driven by Belgian driver Roger Troiani.  I had never heard of this car before, let alone see it.  It had the look of a home made special but it did indeed take part in a GP, the 1946 Grand Prix des Frontières at the Chimay circuit in 1946.  Apparently, the car has a Ford chassis as it's base with an Austrian 6 cylinder Steyr motor with 3 Solex carburettors, a Rosengart gearbox, a body that was meant to resemble an Italian GP car and was named after the Belgian mechanic's grandfathers nickname.   Driven by its  constructor Désiré Boudart it finished fourth in the 1946 GP which incidentally was won by Leslie Brooks in an ERA.  His wife hated motor racing so he never raced it again and it remained in a garage until the current owner bought it and restored it.  It now has a BMW motor.

The 1938 Lenkin GP car.

As this was the Louis Rosier plateau, very nice to see Laurent Schneider in a 1935 Talbot T110C special that looks rather like the Talbot Lagos that Rosier raced.

Busy at the hairpin with a 1934 Riley Ulster Imp, the Lenkin GP and a 1955 Cooper T39.

A 1959 Cooper Monaco and a 1924 Bugatti T35.

A 1924 FN 1300S leads a 1956 Jaguar C type (replica?).

This 1953 Allard J2X found it very difficult to get round this very tight hairpin.

1927 Fiat 509.

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.

1955 Elva Mk1B in the paddock.

Roger Troiani keeping cool in the paddock in his Lenkin GP.

The Plateau Rosier cars ready to go out and play.

HGPCA Races - Sport & Collection - Circuit Val de Vienne - Mid-Engined GP Cars

 

Rudi Friederichs in his 1960 2.5 litre Cooper T53 leading Max Blees in a Brabham.

One of the highlights of going to the Sport & Collection 500 Ferraris contre cancer meeting at Circuit Val de Vienne was seeing the HGPCA cars.  The Historic Grand Prix Car Association had two races, the second of which was for Pre-1966 mid-engined GP cars.   These were great fun to watch and they were some very fine cars out on track and in the paddock.  All fourteen cars that practised on Friday morning are shown here.  I also ventured into the paddock for more pictures.  So lovely to have so much access to the cars unlike at modern Grand Prix.  I hope I identified the cars and drivers correctly as there were no racing numbers in the programme and I couldn't find any results on the web - please let me know in a comment if I made a mistake.

The front engined grid appeared in my previous post.

John Emery in his 1962 ex-Bib Stillwell Brabham BT4 2,495cc.

Michael Kuiper in his 1963 2.7 litre Brabham BT4.

The Brabham BT4 (No.63) with all of its body pannels off showing the chassis and Coventry Climas engine.

Max Blees in a 1963 2.7 litre Brabham BT7A leading a Cooper.

Barry Cannell in a 1964 Brabham BT11a

Eddy Perk in his 1960 1.5 litre Heron-Alfa Romeo F1 car.  Originally a Formula Junior car it was fitted with an Alfa Romeo engine for races in Southern Africa.

Klaus Bergs in his 1960/61 ex-Camoradi Team Ian Burgess Lotus 18 Chassis 908 F1 car.

Alex Morton in his 1961 Lotus 21 (939/952)

The Coventry Climax engine in the Lotus 21.

Rudi Friederichs in his 1960 2.5 litre Cooper T53

Tony Lees in his 1960 2.5 litre Cooper T53 leading the Cooper of Rod Jolley.

A different perspective on the Cooper T53 of Tony Lees.

Will Nuthall in his 1960 2.5 litre Cooper T53.

Charlie Martin in his 1960 Cooper T51.

Coopers (Red No.64) and (Green No.53) with the body panels off in the paddock.

Justin Maeers in a 1960 Cooper T53

Olivier Huez in a Cooper T51

Huez's Cooper with the engine cover off.

Rod Jolley opposite locking his Cooper T43/51, sandwiched between the Heron and a Brabham.

Rod Jolley's Cooper being worked on in the paddock.

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.

Brabhams in the paddock.

Lotuses in the paddock.

Etretat-Bénouville Hillclimb 2018 - Period 1947 to 1961

Paul Geering in the Austin Seven Pigsty Special at speed.

Very nice to see three Coopers in this group.  A reminder of how successful and prolific this marque was in the fifties and sixties.   Julian Wilton was dominant in his Cooper-Bristol over the two runs against a very mixed group of cars with good variety.  Good to see them all at Etretat again competing on this 1.62km hillclimb over public roads.

Fastest car in this group was the 1953 Cooper Bristol T23 Mk2 of Julian Wilton.

Second was Chris Davis in this 1961 Lotus 7.

Third was Paul Geering in the 1930/1950 Austin Seven Pigsty Special.

Fourth was this 1953 Frazer Nash Le Mans of David Knight.

Fifth was Jonathan Harmer in this 1953 Cooper Bristol Sports T24/25.

Sixth was this 1960 Cooper T56 Formula Junior of Alan Harrison.

Finally there was this 1961 TVR Grantura MkII of Ernst Luthi.

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. 

Drivers eye view of the Cooper T56.

Dijon MotorsCup 2016 - Historic Formula One

On the first lap the Scarab and the Lotus 16 are already locked in battle and have broken with the following pack.

One of the key races at the Dijon Motors Cup was that for the Pre-1961 Formula 1 cars.   It was part of the championship run by the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association.  There were some nice battles throughout the field and a very close fight for the lead that lasted the whole race.

Early battle between the Ferrari, the Maseratis and a Cooper.  Guillermo Fierro won the Maserati 250F class in ncar No.31 and Sid Hoole won the rear engined Coopers class in car No.40.

It is never a proper F1 race without a Ferrari, so the entry of Tony Smith's Ferrari Dino was most welcome.  It finished in a good fourth place overall and second in class.

Paul Grant's Cooper Bristol battles with Joseph Rettenmaier's unusually nosed Maserati 250F. 

Klaus Lehr's Maserati 250F finished sixth.

The Cooper T43 of John Bussey on the limit.

The battle for the lead between Julian Bronson's Scarab Offenhauser and Philip Walker's Lotus.

Erik Staes and his Cooper-Bristol

The battle for the lead.

The Lotus-Climax 16 of Philip Walker.

Rod Jolley in his Lister Monza chased by a Cooper Bristol and an Alta.  The Cooper Bristol No19 of Paul Grant won its class beating the Alta.

The Maserati 250F of Josef Rettenmaier who finished sixth.

On lap ten, Walker in the Lotus took the lead and went on to win the 14 lap race.

There was another Formula One race for the 1961 to 1965 one and a half litre cars.  i was unable to stay for this as the programme was running late.  However, I did see in the paddock the unusual Heron-Alfa Romeo F1 car of Eddy Perk that raced in South Africa.

Alfa Romeo engined Heron F1 car.

The Heron started life as a Formula Junior car and was then re-engined with first a F1 Climax engine and then an Alfa Romeo.  It won the 1961 Rhodesian GP, a non-championship F1 race.

More from the Dijon Motors Cup if you click on the Motor Sport button at the top of this page.

All photos were taken from the spectator areas without a press pass.

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.