51ème Course de Côte d'Abreschviller-St Quirin 2023

Along the climb after the start, one of the first views the spectators get is the cars coming towards them along a straight into the tight hairpin. 

The Course de Côte d'Abreschviller-St Quirin, in the Moselle department, is one of the shorter hill climbs included in the National Championship of France (Championnat de France de la Montagne).  Its 2.1km course climbs up through the forest along the D96 road from Lettenbach towards St Quirin.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of this hillclimb with lots of spectators packing the sides of the course and lots of fast noisy and interesting cars making the climb.

In 2023 there were in effect four different competitions going on at this hillclimb, each of which I have covered in a separate blogpost which you can access via the links below:

For the older historic and classic car competing in the Championnat de France de la Montagne VHC, click here to see cars such as the one below:

Viviane Bonnardel in her 1975 Martini Mk15 towards the top of the hill.

For the modern hillclimb cars from eight counties competing in the Trophée des Nations, click here.

Slovenian driver Patrick Zajelsnik in his Norma M20FC.

For the modern sports racing cars and single seaters competing in the Championnat de France de la Montagne "Voitures de Sport", click here.

An ex-Formula Nippon Lola competing in the French Championship.

For the modern production based cars, including two Ferraris and lots of Porsches and BMWs, competing in the Championnat de France de la Montagne "Voitures de Production", click here.

A Ferrari negotiating the tight hairpin bend.

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.

2020 Course de Côte du Mont Dore - Groupe FC

Mathieu Nouet was the fastest of Groupe FC in his over 2 litre Simca Rallye 3.

Groupe FC is for modified production cars where the homologation ran out some years ago.   It is normally a class of old Simca 1000s but with variety from other less well known French cars and the occasional foreign interloper.  One of the groups of cars that I look forward to seeing whenever i attend French hillclimbs.

The Jide Original of Geoffrey Desmereau came second and won the 2 litre FC class.  Note the understeer.

Third in the FC Groupe was Arnaud Vermersch in his Simca 1000.

Frederic Breysse was fourth in this Simca Rallye 2 and won the 1,600cc class.

Lovely to see a Fiat X1/9 in this group.  Antoine Cordonnier came fifth.

Philippe Quioc finished sixth on Saturday in the Simca Rallye 2.

The Simca Rallye 3 of Marc Le Goff lifts a wheel on its way to seventh best time on Saturday.

Florian Patacconi was eighth in his Simca Rallye 2.

Arnault Choquet came ninth in this rather newer Renault Clio V6 Trophy.

Rounding out the top ten in Saturday's Group FC runs was Maxime Chevallereau in the only Simca 1000 Rallye of under 1,300cc.

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.

Didier Thorin added extra variety in the practice run with this Scora Maxi..

2020 Course de Côte du Mont Dore - GTTS

Pierre Courroye was fastest production car and series GT car in his McLaren MP4 GT3.

One of the highlights of being at this year's Course de Côte du Mont Dore was seeing the spectacular cars in the GTTS group.  Car like the McLaren MP4, the Audi R8 and the even more unusual Renault RS01.  GTTS stands for Grand Touring et Tourisme Spéciales.  So very special and modified touring and GT cars including silhouette and super cars. Also in this class are the Mitjets and various Cup cars.  Great to see Peirre Couuoye fastest in his McLeren on Saturday and Sunday.  It would be nice to see him repeat his 2017 CFM Production title this year.

Ronald Garcès was second in his Audi R8 LMS Ultra.  On the Sunday he got very close to the McLaren's time.

Third was this Renault RS01 of Philippe Schmitter.

Steeve Compain's Porsche 997 GT2 was fourth.

Fifth was Christian Schmitter in has Porsche 997 GT3 R.

A Peugeot RCZ Cup of Jean-Jacques Maurel came sixth on Saturday.

First Mitjet 1300 home was that of Ferdinand Loton.

Second of the Mitjets was that of Jean-Marc Tissot.

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.

Marc Basseres and his Mitjet get a great view of the scenery.

Course de Côte du Mont Dore 2017, Championnat de France de la Montagne Production

The Renault Clio 4 Cup of Eric Peyrard making his ascent of Mont Dore.

The Production cars category of the French Mountain Hillclimb Championship always contains a nice selection of cars.  Everything from old sports cars of the seventies to modern Peugeots and Renaults to exotica like Lamboghinis and Porsches with a few Silhouette cars thrown in.   The Course de Cote du Mont Dore / Chambon sur Lac in August 2017 was no exception.  A number of the runners were also registered for the European Hillclimb Championship round and thus their photos can be found via the following link:

https://rouenlesafx.blogspot.fr/2017/08/fia-european-hillclimb-championship.html

Examples of the other runners can be seen below:

One of the many Mitjets making its ascent.  This is the Tork-Mitjet of Marc Basseres.

The stunning and unusual Volvo TC 10 of Pierre Beal

The Volvo TC10 Silhouette car in the paddock.

One of the first of the production cars up the course was Laurent Etie in his Peugeot 306 Maxi.

Marc Le Goff in his Simca R3 makes his first ascent on Saturday.

The Simca R3 waiting for a second run on Saturday afternoon.

Six time French Mountain Production Champion Nicolas Werver in his Porsche 997.

A Jidé waiting for its run.

Renaud Desmereau in his Jidé.  He was third in class FC3.

The Peugeot 205 Rallye of Philippe Quioc.

The Lamborghini Gallardo of Nicolas Caumon.

The top of the hill is still misty as one of the cars makes its ascent.

Anthony Dubois in his Porsche 997 Cup.

Flavian Sagot in his BMW M3

The Renault Clio 3 Cup of Laurent Lafosse.

The Mitjet of Jean-Michel Lestienne.

The Renault Clio Cup of Pascal Derre getting close to the armco.

Nice looking BMW Z3 M of Jean-Marc Tissot.

Lotus Exige returning down the hill.

The Opel Speedster of Serge Di Cioccio was second in his class.

Peugeot 205 Kit Car waiting for its Saturday afternoon run.

Laurent Etie in his Peugeot 306 Maxi just after the start.

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.

Course de Côte Nationale Production Saint-Goueno Côtes d'Armor 2017

Very spectacular driving from Romain Richardeau in his Simca Rallye III who won his class,

At the Saint-Goueno Hillclimb, after the VHC cars came the Production cars taking part in the CFM or Championnat de France de la Montagne.  This featured a variety of cars including everything from little Citroen Saxos to powerful McLarens, Porsches and Lamborghinis.  Some cars were quite new but some were as old as the VHC cars. Many different classes and categories were involved, so lots of winners.  As usual many old guys driving these cars but good to see a few young ones like Pierre Courroye in his McLaren.  He was very impressive and even got into the top ten cars overall.  Below are some of my favourite CFM production car pictures from the first Saturday afternoon runs at Saint-Goueo.

The McLaren MP4 12C finished a great ninth overall and was fastest Production car.  So McLaren may not have won at Monaco or Indy but they won at St Goueno!

The Lamborghini Gallardo of Philippe Schmitter pleases the crowd around the beer tent.  Notice the Union Jack and Irish flags.

The Porsche 997 GT2 of Christian Schmitter who finished twentieth overall.

The BMW M3 E92 of Yannick Poinsignon.

Rudy Ginard in his Lotus Exige who finished slowest of the CFM Championship runners.

The Nissan Almera KitCar of Michel Bineau.

Daniel Rault in his Renault Mégane.

The CG Simca Turbo of Christophe Poinsignon.

The rapid Scora Maxi of Geoffrey Carcreff.

The Jidé of Xavier Burgevin.

Unusual to see a Renault 8 Gordini not painted blue.  Here is the example of Rodolphe Jacquette.

For picture of the Sports and Formula cars fighting for overall victory, click on this link.

For pictures of the VHC classic racing cars at Saint Goueno, click here.

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 rear mounted engine of the fast Simca Rallye.