Tour Auto 2024, Competition Group G

The Group G winning 1970 Porsche 911 2.3l ST of Urs Beck and Christina Schaffner in Floirac.

This blogpost covers the top ten cars that competed in Group G of the competition section of the 2024 Tour Auto.   These cars are those built between 1966 and 1971 and competed in the original Tour de France Automobiles.  I followed this historic rally for nearly 3 days between Gencay and Pau.

The second placed 1966 Porsche 906 of Franck and Matthieu Izidi enterering Gencay.

The third placed 1971 BMW 2002 TI of Alain Charrier and Alain Gandon entering L'Isle Jourdain.

The fourth placed 1969 Ford GT40 of Philippe Vandromme and Frederic Vivier in Gencay.

The fifth placed 1970 Porsche 911 2.2l S of Christophe Chapon and Vincent Biancani in Floirac.

The sixth placed 1971 BMW 2002 TI of Jean-Louis and Angélique Fournier.

The seventh placed 1967 NSU 1200 TT of Olivier and Nathan Lewden in Gencay.

The eighth placed 1970 BSH Berlinette of "Segolen" and David Kerguillec in Bourpeuil.

The ninth placed 1970 BMW 2002 TI of Hugo de Sadeleer and Pascal Gruber in  Martel.

The tenth placed 1970 Porsche 2.3l ST of Franck and Pascal Dechame in Gencay.

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.

Pau Classic Grand Prix 2023, Ferdinand Cup

The first corner of the first lap of the first Ferdinand Cup race of the weekend.  Swiss driver Cédric Torres leads in his Porsche 964 RS but eventually had to settle for second place.

One of the categories racing at the Pau Classic GP was the Ferdinand Cup, a French Championship for mainly classic road going Porsches manufactured before 1997.  They race at a lot of classic circuits including Spa, Pau, Charade, Dijon and Magny-Cours.  The cars are relatively unmodified except for safety equipment and a variety of different Porsches take part in four classes depending on power.  30 cars were taking part at Pau.

A Porsche 924 enters the Virage Pont Oscar.

Christophe Terriou leads the field on the first lap of Sunday's race.
Photo taken from the Boulevard des Pyrénées. 
He won both of the weekend's races in his Porsche 911.

Gillian Garret in his Porsche 964 RSR takes a tight line at the Hoch chicane..  He was to take a second and fourth place in the weekend's two Ferdinand cup races.

Damien Kohler in his Porsche 911 3.0 RS heads into the chicane.  He came third in both races.

Porsche 911 SC in the chicane.

Christophe Terriou chases Laurent Girardier through the Hoch Chicane.

A Porsche 968 CS leads a Porsche 924S through Parc Beaumont.

A Porsche 944 Turbo entering Virage Pont Oscar.

A nice view from the Boulevard des Pyrénées as a Porsche races past.

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.

Another classic Pau view as the cars descend through the park back towards the start finish line.

A Porsche exiting Pont Oscar.

A view from the top of the small stands at the exit of Pont Oscar.

2022 Le Mans Classic - Porsche Classic Race

A group of cars led by the famous Toblerone sponsored 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0 that finished sixth driven by Didier Denat.

Sixty three cars completed at least one lap of a Porsche race that didn't have as interesting a field as in 2018 when there were a 908, 906 and 550 racing.  However, there were still some cars of interest most of which can be seen in this post.

 

The winners were Massimo and Marco Guerra in this 1981 Porsche 935 K3. 

Second were Guido Dumarey and Philipp Brunn in this 1974 Porsche 911 RSR Turbo 2.1 litre.

Third were Henrique Gemperle and Marc de Siebenthal in this 1978 Porsche 935.

This 1967 Porsche 910 driven by Jürgen Rudolph finished fifth.

The 1964 Porsche 904/6 Carrera GTS of Afschin Fatemi finished eleventh.

Gerard Larrousse shared the driving of this 1972 Porsche 911 2.5 ST with Oliver Bryant.  They finished tenth. 

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 fastest of the Porsche 914s was this 1970 914/6 driven by Pascal Lebeau and Benoit Bourgoin.

An entertaining midfield dice with a 1972 Porsche 911 ST leading the battle.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI - PCA Scholar-Friedman Cup

John Seidell in a 1997 Porsche Boxster leads a 911 at the Corkscrew.

The Porsche Club of America (PCA) is the largest single marque racing series in the World with 2000 licensed racers and 32 sanctioned races a year.  This is amateur club racing but forms one of the seven races at the Rennsport Reunion.  At this meeting they race for the Scholar Friedman Cup, which is named after two of PCA's founders who started the racing series in the early nineties.  One of those founders, Alan Friedman, was actually racing.  As you will see below a large variety of cars take part.

Alan Friedman racing a 1973 Porsche RSR.

The Porsche Rennsport Reunion is a unique event, that is held once every three or four years, dedicated just to classic and more modern racing Porsches, their drivers and the men and women who made it all possible.    Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI held over four days in September 2018 was again located at Laguna Seca like the last one in 2015.  No surprise as Laguna Seca is in California, which also happens to be the biggest market for Porsche.   This year the event was subtitled The Marque of Champions - a name that speaks for itself.  The event was also part of Porsche's 70th birthday celebrations.

A large variety of cars take part.  Here a fairly standard Porsche 944 is overtaken by a RileyDaytona prototype.

On the wonderful 2.238 mile Laguna Seca road course, seven groups of Porsche cars raced over the weekend.  The PCA Scholar-Friedman Cup event was for the amateur club racers of the PCA.  Fifty cars started the race.

The lead cars on their pac e lap at the Corkscrew.

The Race
What was nice about this race was that we saw a number of cars that we hadn't seen race all weekend.  It was also nice to see the fastest car have to fight for victory.  Great club racing.

Eventual winner was this 2008 Riley Daytona Prototype driven by Pierce Marshall.

The early leader was Robb Todd in a 2018 Porsche GT3 Cup car.  He eventually came second.

Third place went to a 2015 Porsche GT3 Cup driven by Jesse Menczer.  He won his class.

In sixth place came a 2016 Porsche GT4 CS driven by Chris Bellomo.

This 2012 Porsche Cayman R came ninth driven by Geoff Isringhausen.

Rich Polk finished tenth in this 1973 Porsche 911

A 2000 Porsche Boxster driven Jan Sussman finished thirteenth.

Claudio Kaempf came seventeenth in this 1970 Porsche 911.

A very popular car was this 2000 Boxster S in Highway Patrol colors driven by Chris Murray.  It finished nineteenth.

Twentieth was this 1981 Porsche 911 driven by Sean Neal.

A 1986 Porsche 911 driven by Evan Close  came 35th.

A spin for this 1972 Porsche 911 RSR in qualifying.

A beautiful 1981 Porsche 911

For my recent Motor Sport blogposts 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. 

A 1998 Porsche Boxster driven by Trygve Isaacson.