61ème Course de Côte du Mont-Dore / Chambon-sur-Lac 2021, Groupe N Touring Cars

 

Fastest Groupe N car was this BMW M3 E36 of Sébastien Lemaire.

Although, the Groupe N cars are not the fastest cars at the Course de Côte du Mont Dore, the drivers still have to conquer this long mountain road in all weathers.   In this post we feature pictures of the top three in the Groupe and the class winners.

2nd in Groupe N was Pascal Cat in this Renault Mégane RS.

3rd in Groupe N was another Mégane but driven by Kévin Jarousse.

Eric Sauteur won class N3 in this Renault Clio Ragnotti.

Julien Nouveau won class N2 in this Honda Civic VTi.

Kevin Ricard won class N1 in this Peugeot 106 XSI.

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.

Guy Janny cutting the apex fine in his Peugeot 106 XSI.

Julien Faure splashing his way up the mountain in a Renault Clio 2 RS.

Mickael Desmaris in a Peugeot 106 Rallye.

Headlights on in the gloom for a BMW M3 driven by Benoit Marion.

Historic Tour - Val de Vienne - Sport Protos Cup - 2021

The Sports Proto Cup mainly caters for 3 litre Alfa Romeo engined cars from 1990 to 1994

I alway love seeing open cockpit sports prototype cars and this field of cars contained many good looking pre-1995 examples.  Most of the cars were "Coupe Alfa V6" cars from the early nineties with a sprinkling of cars from other series over the years.    There were also a couple of really historic seventies 2 litre sports cars from Lola and Grac.  The marque, Lucchini, was the one most represented and these cars were built in Italy.  Although the winner of the race was never really in doubt, there was a good tussle over second place and other positions further down the field.  These pictures and results were from the Saturday afternoon race.

First lap action with cars 5 and 7 tangling.

The winner of the race was Gianluigi Candiani in his 1994 Lucchini SP94 Alfa Romeo V6 12v 3L.

Second place went to the 1994 Lucchini SP94 Alfa Romeo V6 3L (No.12) of Stéphane Nguyen.

Third place went to Louis Kolly in this 1973 Lola T292-BMW 2L

In fourth place was Dominique Vulliez in this 1991 Bogani 91- Alfa V6 12v 3L (No.36).

Fifth place went to Pierre-Loup Boch in a 1993 Lucchini SP93-BMW 3L.

Sixth was this 1991 Merlin MP46 Alfa Romeo V6 12v 3L of Josserand De Murard.

In seventh place was this 1994 Norma M14 BMW 3L driven by Léo Columbini.

Eighth place went to a 1991 Spider 905 Martini Mk64 driven by Jean-Pierre Destombes.

In ninth place was Philippe Gandini in a 1994 Merlin MP94 Honda 1.6L.

Tenth place went to this 1990 Lucchini SP390 Alfa Romeo V5 24v 3L driven by Lionel Boch.

In eleventh place was this 1991 Lucchini SP91 Alfa Romeo V6 12v 3L.

Final classified finisher was this 1974 Grac MT20 JRD 2L driven by Bernard Garsou.

The following cars were all non-finishers:

The 1991 Epsilon Alfa Romeo V6 12v 3L of Francis Dougnac.

The pretty 1972 Grac MT14b BMW M10 of Bernard Levy.

The 1991 Merlin MP91 Alfa Romeo V6 12v 3L of Laurent Bayers.

This 1987 Arc MF15 Alfa Romeo Boxer didn't even finish the pace lap.

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 pace car lap at La Ferme.

The battle for third place.

Historic Tour - Val de Vienne - F3 Classic & FR Classic - 2021

 

The first lap battle for the lead.

A highlight of the Historic Tour is always the F3 Classic and FR Classic racing.   2021 at Val de Vienne was no exception.   A nice field of twenty cars kept us entertained with a good mixtures of marques including Martini, Ralt, March, Chevron, Reynard and Van Diemen.  A very nice end to my Saturday afternoon at this meeting.  The top cars and a good mix of the rest can be seen below:

The winning F3 March 783-Toyota of Frédéric Rouvier who took the lead on lap 11.

Matthieu Chateaux in a 1982 Ralt RT3-Alfa, the early leader had to settle for an eventual second place.

The third placed car of Brady Beltrameki, a March 813-Toyota.  Here he is leading a Ralt.

This 1984 Ralt RT3-Alfa of Laurent Vallery-Masson finished fourth.

Fifth was this 1977 Chevron B38-Toyota F3 car raced by an Italian driver, Gianluigi Candiani.

In sixth place was the well known automotive CEO, Carlos Antunes Tavares, in a 1983 F3 Ralt-RT3-Alfa Romeo.  Here he is seen following a Martini Mk54 Formula Renault Turbo driven by Jean-Paul Gobba.

First Formula Renault Turbo car home was this 1986 Martini Mk48 driven by Lionel Robert.   Some will remember Lionel racing against Jean Alesi, Eric Bernard and Yannick Dalmas in Formula Renault Turbo in the mid-eighties.

An interloper in the field was this 1993 Formula Opel Lotus Reynard driven by Belgian Georges Tomsen.

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.

A 1993 Martini Mk65 Formula Renault car driven by Alain-Jean Bouchet.

A 1990 Formula Renault Martini Mk59 driven by Didier Blanc.

Historic Tour - Val de Vienne - Youngtimers GTi cup + Maxi 1300 Series - 2021

There were lots on interesting cars in this race.  Here we have NSU vs Autobianchi and VW.

The Maxi 1300 series is a fun historic series that accepts the old Groups 1, 2, 3 & 4  to a maximum of 1,300cc up until 1976 and the modifications accepted at the time.  Thus racing with the Mini Cooper S, Alpine A110, Simca Rallye 2, Honda S800, Mini Marcos, Mini Jem etc etc. I have to say I really enjoyed seeing these cars again.

Running alongside this series is the Youngtimers GTi,  This caters for  sporting touring cars cars homologated up to 1990 in Group N or A of up to 2 litres.  Thus Honaa Civic, Volkswagen Golf, Peugeot 309 etc etc.

In the end a very varied group of cars with some close and spirited racing.

Overall winner and first Youngtimers GTi was this 1990 Honda Civic 1,6 litre driven by Damien Benjamin.

Third was another 1990 Honda Civic 1,6 litre driven by Jean-Francois Gimonet.  Here he leads a Mini and a Mini Jem GT.

Fourth overall and first of the Maxi 1300 cars was this lovely CG 548 Spider of Jean-Pierre Descombes.

Fifth overall and second of the Maxi 1300 cars was this 1960 Austin Mini with 1,275cc engine.  Behind at this stage is the CG 548 Spider.  The Mini was driven by Sébastien Calas.

The battle for sixth and seventh place.  Here Tony Gruelles in a 1970 Mini Marcos leads Adrien Harang in a 1965 Austin Mini Cooper.  They finished in this order.

The Mini on two wheels.

In Eighth place and first in its Youngtime GTi YA2 class was this 1990 Peugeot 309 GTi 1.9 litre driven by Guillaume Mathez.

Other cars racing were :

A 1967 Matra Jet 6 leads an Autobianchi..

A 1976 Fiat X1/9.

1976 Autobianchi A112.

1967 Honda S8000

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.

Yoann Hervé took second place and fastest lap in this 1990 Honda Civic.

The rear engined NSU and typical cooling trick of running with the engine cover opem.

I really enjoyed seeing the NSU 1200TT.