2016 Course de Côte d'Etretat-Bénouville

Pascal Marais, Mygale RC 2001.

Le dernier week-end d'Août est le week-end du Grand Prix de Belgique,  mais, pour les fans de sport automobile amateur c’est le week-end de la Course de Cote d’Étretat - Bénouville.   Cette année, il a été la 35ème course de côte régionale d’Etretat-Bénouville et la 18ème course de côte nationale VHC. 

The last weekend of August is the weekend of the Belgian Grand Prix, but for fans of amateur motor sport it is the weekend of the speed hill climb at Etretat-Bénouville.  Etretat is a seaside town on the Normandy coast famous for its cliffs and not far from the Le Havre ferry port.   Benouville is a pretty small village a little further along the coast.   The hillclimb runs parallel to the coastline between the two.  This year it was the 35^th running of this regional French hill climb and the 18^th running of the concurrent hill climb for historic and classic cars.

Alan Harrison in his 1960 Formula Junior Cooper T56.

Chaque course de côte est unique et différente des autres.   La longeur de piste n’est pas exceptionelle à 1620 mètres.  L'élévation moyenne n’est pas trop à 2%.  La course a une zone pour les spectateurs seulement malheureusement.  Ce qui rend Etretat-Bénouville spéciale est que d'une cinquantaine d'Anglais apporter là-bas des vieilles voitures pour la montée.

Every speed hill climb is unique and different.  The course at Etretat is not exceptionally long at 1,620 metres and the average elevation is not very much at just 2%.  Unfortunately, there is just one corner at which the spectators can watch the cars.   What makes this hill climb special is that about fifty English men and women bring over their old cars for the event.  This gives it an atmosphere quite different to most others.  The English come over as it is an easy location to reach, it is a long hill climb compared to those in England and it has developed a reputation for its end of summer party atmosphere.

Daniel Nature in his Merlin MP23

Pour ceux intéressés à la montée régionale, il allait être intéressant de voir la bataille entre Bertrand Lasalle dans son F3 Dallara qui avait gagné en 2014 et 2015 et Anthony Guedry dans un F3 Martini qui est aussi un ancien vainqueur. Il y aurait également des voitures de sport rapides pour garder un oeil sur. Avec les voitures historiques, il est surtout le plaisir de les voir conduite rapide, mais il serait également intéressant de voir si James Wilkinson pourrait battre son record terme de l'année dernière.

For those interested in the regional climb it was going to be interesting to see the battle between Bertrand Lasalle in his F3 Dallara who had won in 2014 and 2015 and Anthony Guedry in a F3 Martini who is also a previous winner.  There would also be some fast sports cars to keep an eye on.   With the historic cars it is mainly the pleasure of seeing them being driven fast but it would also be interesting to see if James Wilkinson could beat his record run of last year.

James Wilkinson in his 1993 Formula Vauxhall Reynard was again the fastest of the VHC runners.

J’espérons que vous apprécierez les photos que je prenais le week-end et il vous encourage à venir goûter l'atmosphère d'un an.

I hope you enjoy the photos I took over the weekend and it encourages you to come and sample the atmosphere one year.

Probably the strangest runner was Paul Geering's 1930/1950 Austin Seven Pigsty Special!

Thrills and Spills / Sensations fortes.

Pascal Marais get it all wrong at the exit of the corner in his Mygale.

Antoine Cordonnier oversteers his Simca 1000 at the exit of the same corner.

Whilst Laurent Devienne understeers in his Renault Super 5 Maxi.

Pre-War VSCC Cars

The classic shot of Sue Darbyshire in her 1929 Morgan Super Aero 1,260cc.  She was second fastest of the pre war cars.

There were lots of MGs this year including Chris Cadman in his 1931 MG Montlhéry.

As usual there was a good contingent of Frazer Nash drivers including Trevor Tarring in this 1923 Frazer Nash Exeter.

Rachel Holdsworth in a 1935 MG PB.

Nancy Thomas in a 1938 Morgan F4

Roger Buxton in his 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport

Adam Stacy-Marks in his 1926 Bentley Speed Model.

Richard Wyatt in his 1931 Austin Seven Special.

Robin Balmain in his 1931 Aston Martin/Riley International Special

Mark Roper in his 1929 Frazer Nash Super Sports Special was third fastest of the pre war cars.

Rob Cobden in his 1937 Riley Falcon Special was eighth fastest of the VHC cars despite his cars age.

Regional Single Seaters

Christophe Brot, Minarti KM02

Joel-Michel Maffeo, Dallara F3 who finished fifth.

John Page in his Ralt RT32 finished in a reasonable eleventh place on scratch.

Anthony Gueudry, Martini Mk80-Opel, was the runner-up.

Bertrand Lasalle, Dallara F300, who ended the winner as expected.

VHC 1962-1976

Dave Wheeler, 1969 Renault R8 Gordini.

Rodolphe Jacquette, 1968 Porsche 911S.

Alain Marie, 1968/71 Alpine Renault A110 1300S

Francois Prieur, 1971 CG Simca 1300. 

Sheridan Bell, 1973 Alpine Renauly A110

Rob Gibson, 1973 Alpine Renault A110 was third fastest overall of the VHC cars.

Ernst Luthi, 1971 Dinalpin A110

Darren Brock, 1967 MGC GT Sebring.

Tony Gomis, 1976 Marcadier Can-Am was sixteenth fastest of the VHC cars.

Liz Owler, 1976 Matra-Simca Bagheera S

Philippe Lasalle, Opel GT

Regional Sports Cars

Joel Maugy, Norma M20F

Cyril Aubert, Norma M20

Christophe Oreal, Ligier JS49

Alain Bonnet, PBR proto

Olivier Dumont, BRC CM 05 Evo

Daniel Maurouard, Jema 630GT

Claude Laurent, BRC CM05

VHC 1947 - 1961

Stephanie Wilton, 1953 Cooper-Bristol T23 Mk2 was fastest of the fifties cars.

Alan Harrison, 1960 Formula Junior Cooper T56.  His was my favourite car of the day.

Regional GT

Guy Roussel, Porsche GT3 RS

VHC Classic

Tim Jeffrey, 1987 Alpine Renault V6 GTA Turbo.

Francis Da Silva, 1990 VW Golf GTi, lifts a wheel at the entry to the turn.

Giuseppe Di Marino, 1998 Darrian Alpine Replica

David Strange, 1999 Crossle 9S was sixth fastest overall of the VHC cars.

Howard Wilkinson, 1997 Radical Prosports was fifth fastest of the VHC cars.

Regional Touring Cars

A Citroen climbs the hill in front of most of the spectators.

James Debeauvais, Seat Leon Supercopa.

Michael Levaray, Citroen Saxo VTS

Jean-Michel Leclerc, Renault Clio RS, get very close to the armco.

Maxime Bagot, BMW M3.

Click here for a link to the organiser's website.

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.

Sunday's spectators in the late afternoon sun.