Coupe de France des Circuits - Nogaro - 2023

One of the battles for the GT honours at Nogaro between a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup and a Mini Challenge R53 JCW.

Whilst the rest of the motor racing world was focussed on the Bahrain Grand Prix, I was at the circuit Paul Armagnac in South West France for the opening of the French tarmac circuit racing season at Nogaro.  The meeting was the first round of the Coupe de France des Circuits which is for amateur racing drivers and designed to be relatively low cost.  There are categories for Group A and Group N Touring Cars, GT Cars, single seaters and sports prototypes.  In addition there were races for Renault Twingos and Historic Touring Cars.  I was surprised by the variety and quality of the cars present.  It reinforced my love for amateur motor sport that I have had for 55 years.

The Circuit of Nogaro is also called the Circuit Paul Armagnac in honour of a local racing driver who won the Index of Performance in a DB Panhard HBR at the 1955 Tourist Trophy but was killed in the 1962 Paris 1,000kms.   The circuit is known in France as their first purpose built road race circuit ( Montlhery and Miramas were banked autodromes and other circuits ran on public roads) and had its first race in 1960 when the main race was for Formula Junior cars.  Since then it has held F1, F2, F3000, F3, F4, Sports, GT and Touring car events.  The F1 event was in 1979 and was a round Aurora British F1 Championship.

I found the Nogaro circuit to be spectator friendly, relatively good for taking photos and this meeting had some close racing.  There was a good commentary throughout the day and plenty of positions to watch the racing from.   As it was a free event they were plenty of families present.  The circuit is relatively close to both the town and autoroute.   I have published photos and written a short report on each of the races held at this meeting:

Monoplaces A - The slower single seaters

The Monoplace races are for open wheel single seaters up to 1,605 cc plus Formula Ford, Formula Three, Formula Master, Formula Renault, Formula Premium and Formula BMW.  As there are so many single seaters entered in the Coupe de France des Circuits this year they have been split between the faster Formula Renault cars and the rest.  The rest were mainly Formula Ford cars, some old Formula Renault cars, and joy of joys, a 1963 Brabham Formula Junior car.  Click here to Read More.

A 1963 Formula Junior Repco Brabham BT6 leads a number of later spec Formula Renault and Formula Ford cars.

HTCC - Historique Tourisme Champion Car

The HTCC cars are classic saloon cars such as Group 1 cars homologated up to 1981, Group N cars homlogated up to 1992, Peugeot 505s of the Coupe Antho, and Group 2 and A up to 1992,   The cars are really well turned out and are often in nostalgic liveries.  Click here to Read More.

The start of the first HTCC race of the weekend at Nogaro as the cars negotiate turns 1 and 2.

Monoplaces B - The faster single seaters.

The Monoplaces B were all similar looking 2 litre Tatuus Formula Renault and Formula Master cars and they had had a very good race. Click here to read more.

21st century Tatuus cars made up the grid for the Monoposto B races.

Groupe A - Touring Cars and Mitjets

Groupe A Touring cars  are allowed more modifications than the Groupe N cars and run with a couple of 2 litre Mitjets.   They put on a good show.   Click here to Read More.

A 2 litre Mitjet  dressed up as "Herbie, the love bug" leading two Renault Clio Cup cars who made up most of the field.

Twin' Cup - a race for Renault Twingos who are celebrating their 30th birthday.

The crowd really got perked up for the Twingo race and everyone got out their phones to take videos.  Click here to Read More.

Groupe N and GT - Touring and GT cars

The Group N cars and GT cars run together as there are not enough of them to justify two races   However they did provide good entertainment and I got some different pictures as I was at the opposite end of the circuit for this race.  Click here to Read More.

Groupe N BMWs battle it out with the GT cars.

Sports Prototype / Groupe C

The Sports Prototype race was a real cracker with a good battle between the Wolf Thunder single seaters with enclosed wheels and a CM motor cycle engined sports car.  They were very rapid for 1 litre cars.   Other slower cars of up to 1.6 litres gave some variety to the field.  Click here to Read More.

A 1 litre motor cycle engined CM sports car leads a 1 litre Wolf Thunder Proto.

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.

The 3.6 km / 2.3 mile Nogaro circuit seen from above.  Spectators watch from the gradins / bleachers / raised banks each side of the pits.  Photo courtesy of the Circuit de Nogaro website.

It is said that Nogaro was inspired by the Sebring Circuit and it is next door to a small airport and has a mixture of relatively fast straights and slow corners but doesn't have the bumps!

61ème Course de Côte du Mont Dore / Chambon-sur-Lac, Groupe A Touring Cars

Jean-Sébastien Fel in a Groupe A Peugeot 308 Cup towards the top of the climb on his way to ninth.

 Featured in this post from the 2021 Course de Côte du Mont Dore are the Group A Touring Cars.   These cars are the fastest touring cars on the hills of France.  The winning car achieved a time of 5 minutes 37 seconds which is not too far off the 5 minutes 13 seconds achieved by the exotic Audi R8 which won the GTTS group.   All the top ten in this Group are shown here with photos from the wet Saturday runs.

The winner of Groupe A was Stéphane Auriacombe in a Peugeot 308 Cup.  He was also 6th overall amongst all the Production based cars bearting many GTTS and GT cars.

Second in Groupe A was Jérôme Janny in a Seat Leon Supacopa Mk2.

Third in Groupe A was Stéphane Garcia in a Peugeot 308 Racing Cup.

Fourth was Jean-Pierre Pope in a Peugeot 308 Cup.

Nearing the top of Mont Dore is Manuel Brunet in a Peugeot 308 Cup.  He came 5th.

Geoffroy Bouhin splashes his way up the hill to sixth  in a Seat Leon Supacopa Mk2.

The 7th placed Seat Leon Supacopa Mk3 of Sarah Bernard.

The Seat Leon Supacopa Mk2 of Thierry Tierce.  He was 8th in the group.

The tenth placed Seat Leon Supacopa Mk2 of Nicolas Granier.

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.

The Nissan Almera of Michel Bineau.

The Renault Clio Cup of Jessy Schenk.

The Renault Clio Cup of Cyril Derre.

2020 Course de Côte du Mont Dore - Group A / FA Touring Cars

Noel Joubert in his Renault Megane DCi FA/4.

The Groupe A and FA are the fastest group of modern touring cars that compere in French hillclimbing.  The are allowed more modifications that Group N.  The Group A cars are those that are currently homologated whereas the FA cars are similar but are no longer homologated.   Cars such as the Seat Leon Super Copa cars are surprisingly quick and are as quick as some of the GT cars.  The classes depend on cubic capacity with the lower numbers being the smaller capacity cars.  Any positions in group or class are from the Saturday runs (August 8th, 2020)  when I was photographing these cars.  On the tricky 5.075 kilometre course at Mont-Dore Chamon-sur-Lac the fastest Group A Touring Car car recorded a time of just under 2 minutes 49 seconds on Saturday!  This was less than 12 seconds slower than the McLaren MP4 12C that won the GTTS class.

The winner of Groupe A/FA on Saturday was Francis Dosieres in a Seat leon Super Copa Mk3.  A/5.

The Renault Clio 4 Cup of Stephane Auriacombe was winner of class A/4.

Nicolas Granier in his Renault 4 Cup. A/4.

The Seat Leon Super Copa Mk3 of Abel Sahoui.. A/5.

The Peugeot 206 RC of Bastien Combelle.  FA/3.

Antoine Uny and his Seat Leon Super Copa Mk2 was runner up in the group and class A/5.

The Renault Clio 3 Cup of Philibert Michy.  A/3.

The Renault Clio 3 Cup of Maxence Passaquet.  A/3.

Bruno Milliet in a Renault Clio 4 Cup.  A/4.

The Renault Clio 4 Cup of Vivien Tonon. A/4.

Simon Richard and his Peugeot 308 Cup.  A/4.

The Peugeot 206 S16 of Patrick Marchal.  A/3.

Elodie Lafosse and her Peugeot 106 winner of FA/1.

A light touch with the barrier for the Seat Leon Super Copa of Alain Perraud.  A/5.

The Renault Clio 2 Cup of Maxime Dojat won class A/3.

Michel Bineau in his Nissan Almera.  A/3.

The Renault Clio 3 Cup of Jimmy Erhmann.  A/3.

Michel Burgunder and his Seat Leon Super Copa.  A/5.

The Renault Clio 2 Cup of Nicolas Vidon.  A/3.

Jerome Janny and his Seat Leon Super Copa was third in the group and class A/5.

The Renault Clio 3 Cup of Philibert Michy.  A/3.

Thibault Moncomble and his Peugeot Saxo VTA won class FA 2.

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.

Maxime Chebbak in his Renault Clio 4 Cup with the mountain backdrop.  A/4.

The Renault 4 Cup of Thierry Tierce.  A4.

Jean-Pierre Pope in his Renault Clio 3 Cup.  A/3.

Coupe de France des Circuits, Dijon-Prenois 2016

Dark and wet start to the day at Dijon-Prenois during the Group A race with Guillaume Margoux leading this group in a 2 litre Alfa Romeo 147.

For Easter we were due to go to the Netherlands but Jane fell down with the flu and thus Plan B came into operation which included a visit to Dijon-Prenois for me on the Sunday.  The Coupe de France des Circuits was having its second round of the year and with its mix of saloons, GT, sports racing, single seaters and karts it provided me with a good morning's entertainment and photography. There were two races for each category of car but I only stayed for the first races.  All photos published here are copyright - see the message near the bottom of this post.

Group A
Group A is for Touring Cars up to 2 litres.   They provided us a good race under rather tricky conditions.

Stéphane Charrel in a 2 litre Renault Clio Cup 3 leading a similar car.

Grégory Touzalin in a 2 litre Honda Civic R.

The difficult conditions at Dijon early on Sunday can be seen in this picture.

Hervé Cuynet leads Jean-Pierre Romain and a group of Renault Clio Cup 3 cars.

Alfa Romeo 147 and Renault Clio Cup 3.

Group C
This category caters for a wide variety of Sports Racing cars up to 2 litres.  Lots of French Normas outside of their normal hillclimb environment.

Nicolas Gallet leads a group of other Norma M20 drivers.

Close action with Norbert Sauvain in a Norma M20FC ahead of Arnaud Perrin's Norma M20.

The wet conditions continued in this race.  In this group of Normas Alerxandre in car 10 dives inside the car 23 of Quentin Bassora.

There were close battles throughout the field with most drivers in the 2 litre Normas.

Superkarts
These are 250cc karts.  Unfortunately most of the race was run under the safety car and was then red flagged.  So not many pictures.  This was a round of the Championnat de France Open de Superkart.

The Superkart 250s with front row sitter Alexandre Sebastia leading this bunch.  He finished fifth.

René Van Dyk who started from the 10th row of the grid.  He finished 11th.

A mid-field bunch of Superkarts.

Monoplaces
This category is for single seaters including Formula 3, Formula Master, Formula BMW, Formula Renault and Formula Ford Zetec.  Many cars were Tatuus Formula Renault cars but there was some variety of cars,  and a few good battles down the field.

Fabien Lavergne in his Tatuus FR20.  Obviously a Jaguar fan.

Joseph Girardeau in a Tatuus FR20 leads the Renault FR Caparo of Jean-Louis Carponcin.

Alain Chariatte in a Tatuus Master.

Conditions were better for the Monoplace race with less spray.

For a bit of variety here is a Dallara F300 driven by Jean-Luc Neri.

Michel Piroird in a Tatuus FR20 leads a group early in the race

GT
The Groupe GT includes a variety of GT cars, silhouette cars and Touring cars.  This race featured one of the best battles of the day featuring a Porsche and a Caterham Seven.

Battle for the lead early in the race between a Porsche, a 2.3 litre Cateram Seven and a 3.5 litre Renault Megane Trophy.

Further back in the field a Porsche 997 Cup leads a Ginetta G50.

The 3.7 litre Ginetta G50 of Bernard Lebaron

The winner was Dominique Laure in this Renault Megane Trophy.

The battle for second place with Francois Ader's Cateram CSR on the outside of the Porsche.

There was much variety throughout the field as evidenced by this 2.0L Audi 82.

The top three drivers and cars after the race in front of the pits.

Group N
Groupe N includes a variety of Touring Cars plus Mitjet 1300 and Legends cars!   I didn't stay for their race as I was off to Saint Romain for a Montée Historique.

The 3.2 litre BMW M3 of Louis Granjon waiting in the paddock for its first race of the weekend.  He finished seventh in the 2nd race later in the day.

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

Links

If you enjoyed these photos click on this link for my other blog site "Auto Vitesse" which a feature on one fast car each day.  Already I have nearly 150 cars featured with an alphabetical search facility.

My two blogs also have a Facebook site "Autovitessephotos", which can visit by clicking here.

If you are a fan of Dijon-Prenois, see my post on last year's GP de l'Age d'Or by clicking on this link.

Here is the official FFSA site that organises the Coupe de France des Circuits.

Here is the Dijon-Prenois official site.

For Brits a circuit where you can easily see the Coupe de France des Circuits close to the Channel ports is Croix en Ternois. Here is their site.   The event their is early September.