14eme Rallye National De Saintonge VHC, 2023

 

The Lancia Delta HF Intégrale of Carla Hayet and Laura Bohler unfortunately retired with mechanical issues before the fourth special stage.

The Rallye de Saintonge VHC 2023 was a round of the Coupe de France des Rallyes VHC.   Run towards the end of July 2023 it had a route of nearly 284km and it had 8 special stages which totalled nearly 130kms.  There were two special stages, each repeated four times.  The longest one started at Bussac-sur-Charente and I attended the first running on Saturday near the junction of the Route de Beauchall and the Chemin du Grand Fief.

There were 14 VHC runners and four classic runners, all of which can be seen below. However, it was a tough rally and only half the cars finished.   It was lovely to see three Lancia Deltas and a Ford Escort Mk1 but none of my favourites finished.

A report on the modern rally that followed the VHCs is coming soon.

Overall VHC winners were Romuald and Eva Hostein in this Honda Civic Vtec.  They also won this rally in 2022.

Second overall and winner of their Group and Class were Pierrick and Nathalie Chauvel in this Porsche 911 SC.

Third overall was this Porsche 911 Carrera 2 (964) crewed by Samuel Lostis and Baptiste Jeanneau.

Fourth overall were Daniel and Jordy Dupont in this Peugeot 205 GTi.

Winner of the Classic Group were Christophe and Céline Longe in this BMW 323i.  They had been runners up last year.

Second in the Classic Group was this Porsche 911 3L RS of Philippe Baudiniere and Maxime Vilmot.

Fifth of the VHC cars was this Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 crewed by Dominique and Hugo Tolmais.

Sixth and final finisher amongst the VHC cars were Nicolas and Jean-Claude Berard in this Peugeot 205 GTi 1.6.

Final finisher in the Classic Group was this Volkswagen GTi of Christophe Monnetreau and Bertrand Tourneux.

This BMW 323i did not finish.

This was one of a number of Lancias that did not finish - a Delta Integrale.

This Ford Escort Mk1 RS2000 did not finish.

This beautifully liveried Lancia Delta didn't finish either.  However, it was fastest on this first stage driven by Paul Paille and Johann Hayet.

Another non-finisher was this Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4.

This Ford Sierra X4Ri also didn't finish.

This Peugeot 205 Rallye left the road and retired later on this first stage.

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 Opel Kadett E GSi 16v also left the road on the first stage and retired.

Pau Classic Grand Prix 2023, Endurance Pre-1977

 

This Volkswagen Polo caught my eye.  Here it is at the Hoch chicane.

The second group of Endurance racers was for the Pre-1977 cars.   I saw these in practice of Friday but somehow missed both of their 45 minute races.  Both races were won by the Porsche 911 2.8 RSR of Meireles and Nina.  Here are some pictures I took in practice.

This Porsche 2.5 ST driven by Vincent Jiminez finished second in Saturday's race and third in Sun day's race.

This Triumph Spitfire 6 brought some relief from the many Porsches and Touring cars

This BMW 2800 CS was fast but didn't finish either race.

A number of Ford Escorts were participating including this 1300 Mk1.

BMW 2002 Tii negotiating the chicane. 

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.

Another BMW 2002 chases the Triumph Spitfire.

The Triumph Spitfire of Clot and Bernard.

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.