Tour Auto 2024, Competition Group G

The Group G winning 1970 Porsche 911 2.3l ST of Urs Beck and Christina Schaffner in Floirac.

This blogpost covers the top ten cars that competed in Group G of the competition section of the 2024 Tour Auto.   These cars are those built between 1966 and 1971 and competed in the original Tour de France Automobiles.  I followed this historic rally for nearly 3 days between Gencay and Pau.

The second placed 1966 Porsche 906 of Franck and Matthieu Izidi enterering Gencay.

The third placed 1971 BMW 2002 TI of Alain Charrier and Alain Gandon entering L'Isle Jourdain.

The fourth placed 1969 Ford GT40 of Philippe Vandromme and Frederic Vivier in Gencay.

The fifth placed 1970 Porsche 911 2.2l S of Christophe Chapon and Vincent Biancani in Floirac.

The sixth placed 1971 BMW 2002 TI of Jean-Louis and Angélique Fournier.

The seventh placed 1967 NSU 1200 TT of Olivier and Nathan Lewden in Gencay.

The eighth placed 1970 BSH Berlinette of "Segolen" and David Kerguillec in Bourpeuil.

The ninth placed 1970 BMW 2002 TI of Hugo de Sadeleer and Pascal Gruber in  Martel.

The tenth placed 1970 Porsche 2.3l ST of Franck and Pascal Dechame in Gencay.

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.

2022 Le Mans Classic - Plateau 5 - 1966 to 1971

Peter Vögele and his 1970 Porsche 917.  Essential to have a 917 in this plateau as it won in both 1970 and 1971.  In the LM Classic this year it finished eleventh.

Plateau 5 at this year's Le Mans Classic had a very representative field of the period with a Porsche 917, a Ferrari 312P, a number of Ford GT40s including two MkIVs (which won in 1967), loads of Lola T70s, a Howmet TX and of course a host of 2 litre sports cars from Chevron and Lola and GT cars from Porsche, Ferrari and Chevrolet.   OK so some of them are continuation cars or recreations  but frankly I for one don't care.  Always better to see an actual car that raced at the time but some cars have become almost too expensive to race and I would rather see a couple of continuation models than never see a particular model ever race in my life.

Just after the start of race 3 and four Lola T70s lead the way up to the Dunlop Chicane.

The 1968 Howmet TX Gas Turbine car whistles past a Ferrari Daytona.  The Howmet is a car I just love seeing at Historic events.

Two fast Chevron B19's battling it out at Tertre Rouge.  

The winner on scratch of plateau 5 was this 1967 Lola T70 MkIII driven by Nick Sleep and Alex Montgomery.

Second on scratch was this 1971 Chevron B19 driven by Henry Fletcher.

Winner of the Performance Index and third on scratch was the beautiful 1969 Ferrari 312P driven by Remo Lips and David Franklin.

Fourth was the 1971 Chevron B19 of Nelson.

Overtaking a Ferrari Daytona on its way to fifth place is another 1971 Chevron B19, that of John Emberson.

The 1970 Lola T210 of Frank Jacob and Arnold Meier ended up in sixth place.

Yet another 1971 Chevron B19!  This one of Rory Jack finished seventh.

Eighth was this 1967 Lola T70 MkIII of Christophe Gadais and Romain Belleteste.

The ninth placed 1969 Lola T70 MkIIIB of D Desantis, D Desantis and D Hinton fights off a challenge from a Lola T212.

This 1970 Chevron B16 of John Sheldon finished tenth.

The first of the Ford GT40s in this plateau came twelfth.  This 1966 car was driven by the Doncieuxs.

The 1968 Howmet TX finished thirteenth driven by Xavier Micheron.

Simon Evans finished an excellent seventeenth in this 1972 Ford Capri RS2600.

In eighteenth place was this 1975 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Competizione (Daytona).

This 1966 Porsche 906 leads a 1970 Porsche 911 2.3L ST. they finished in reverse order in 22nd and 23rd positions.

The 1966 Alpine A210 driven by Von Opernheim and Middendorf.

A 1971 Datsun 240Z driven by Crofton and Packman.

A 1968 Chevron B8.

A 1967 Ford GT40 MkIV.

Another 1967 Ford GT40 MkIV leads a midfield pack.

The third Ford GT40 MkIV present didn't 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 à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

1970 Porsche 914/6 GT.

2022 Le Mans Classic - Plateau 4 - 1962 to 1965

 

Just after the start of the third and final Plateau 4 race with the GT40s leading a great field up the hill from the first corner to the Dunlop Chicane.

Plateau 4 is always one of the highlights of the Le Mans Classic and this year in 2022 it kicked off proceedings after the Jaguar, Porsche and Group C support races.  I enjoyed watching their first and third races and pictures from those races feature below.

Plateau 4 was always going to be a battle between the Ford GT40s.

This plateau really needs a Ferrari 250LM so I was very pleased to see this Dutch recreation present and running.

Lots of variety further down the field with Lotus, Alpine, Alfa, Austin-Healey, MG and Bizzarrini.

Most of the top cars in the field and many others are shown below:

The winner on scratch was this 1965 Ford GT40 of Diogo Ferrao.

Second was another 1965 Ford GT40, this one driven by Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford.

Third was Emile Breittmayer in a 1965 Ford GT40.

This 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé driven by Michel Lecourt and Raymond Narac came fourth.

Wonderful to see a competitive Ferrari in this plateau.  This is the 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO recreation of Nicky Pastorelli.  It came fifth.  Built in the Netherlands I believe and to very high standards including hand beaten bodywork. 

Ludovic Caron's 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 came sixth.

Seventh was Frédéric Jousset's 1965 Shelby Cobra 289.

Damien Kohler in his 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 was eighth.

Ninth were Gregor Fisken and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards in their 1965 Shelby Cobra 289.

The 1965 Ford GT40 of Dominique Guenat was tenth.

Eleventh was this 1965 Ferrari 250 LM recreation of Alexander van Der Lof and Yelmer Buurman.

This 1965 Ford GT40 was twelfth driven by Jean-Francois Decaux.

One of my favourite cars, this 1964 Elva GT160 driven by Michael Birch and Gareth Burnett finished thirteenth.

Fourteenth was this Shelby Daytona Coupé driven by Neurrisse and Rouchard.

Sixteenth was this 1965 Lotus Elan 26R but it won the Performance Index for Plateau 4 driven by Simon Evans.

Tenth in the Performance Index was this 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ driven by Claudio Scalise and Manuel Elicabe.

A good Jaguar E-Type battle led by the 1963 car (No.50) of Luc-Pierre Verquin.

The 1965 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS of David Clark and Pierre Fillon.

The fast 1965 MG B of Michael Boyle.

The 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350 of L Desplaces.

The 1965 Marcos 1800 of Chris Marsh, Axel Lind and Robert Hamilton.

Malte Fromm in his 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ.

Julian Ellison in the 1966 Austin Healey Sprite Prototype.

1966 CD SP88 driven by T de Chesse and E Bruet.

1964 Alpine M64 driven by Mitch McCullough.

Christian Bouriez in his 1965 Bizzarrini 5300 GT leading a 1964 Lotus Elan 26R.

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.

1966 Marcos Mini GT driven by G. Carini, C. Gasco and J. Trousse.

One of the fastest cars was this 1965 Ford GT40 driven by Shaun Lynn but it spun out of contention in race 3.