 |
| 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!
