 |
| Gareth shoots the driver of the GT40! |
It was a bright and unusually warm spring morning last Tuesday and I found myself in the company of two fellow car-mad Brits and a hangover in the pretty Burgundy village of Égleny. The hangover was courtesy of too much wine at my birthday dinner the night before but it was soon forgotten because of the good company of Gareth and Peter and the sight of a GT40!
This was the first leg of this year's Tour Auto Optic 2000 and we were just in time to see the big bangers take on the first of the special stages. They had just driven from the Chateau de Courances and whilst most of the drivers were taking it easy so early in the week, others were obviously here to take an early lead.
There were beautiful classic Touring, Grand Touring and Sports cars wherever you looked. Piston Head heaven!
 |
| A car slightly older than me - a 1953 Porsche 356 - at Égleny |
 |
| The 1972 Lancia Fulvia 1.3HF of Dominique Vuillaume and Eric Bertrand also in the queue. |
The stage was now well set and we were about to see these cars take on the course and try to set a good time.
 |
| The 1961 Ferrari 212 Touring Berlinetta driven by Martin Halusa gets his final instructions before the start. |
 |
| The 1966 Ferrari 275GTB/C of Arnold Meier starts the stage. |
We were eager to see some real action and were soon off into the woods to see these cars at speed.
 |
| The 1962 Triumph TR2 of Mark Rachet exits the first turn of the Égleny special stage |
 |
| The 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900CSS of Adrien Cathiard makes its way through the woods |
 |
| Last year's winner Shaun Lynn was really flying in this 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 |
 |
| Another fast 1963 Shelby Cobra 289, this time of Andrew Beverley |
 |
| Then what we had been waiting for, the 1966 Ford GT40 of Richard Meins. He was classified 19th on this stage. |
 |
| Mark Freeman set equal fastest time on this special stage in his Shelby Cobra. |
 |
| The Bussolini 1964 Porsche 904 GTS set a good 4th fastest time on this stage |
 |
| This 1965 Lotus Elan of Damien Kohler looked fast and was! It equalled the fastest time of the day. |
 |
| This 1961 Jaguar E Type of David Hall was a little too fast out of this corner and briefly got onto the grass. Nevertheless, he recovered to be 22nd fastest. |
 |
| Another E Type at the same corner, driven by Serge Cozzolino |
 |
| The very pretty 1963 Alfa Romeo TZ of Jean Laurent-Bellue |
 |
| Fastest Alfa on this stage in eighth place was this 1965 1600GTA of Jurgen End |
 |
| My favourite sighting of the day was this Cosworth DFV engined 1975 Ligier JS2 of Mr John of B and Sibel |
 |
| Driving through the woods are Claudio Roddard and Jurgen Barth in their 1973 Porsche 911 RSR 2.8.... |
 |
| .....as was this rather smoky 1973 De Tomasco Pantera Gr IV of the Sirgues. |
 |
| Another Porsche 911 RSR, this time driven by George Saier |
 |
| 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL driven by Florent Jean |
 |
| The 1970 Porsche 914/6 of Christophe Barthe just after the start |
 |
| The 1974 Ford Escort of Philippe Ancelin |
 |
| The 1974 Lancia Stratos Grp IV of Nicolas Leroy-Fleuriot |
 |
| To round off the photos from this stage, a 1974 Alpine Renault A110 1,800 GrIV |
More photos to come soon as we also covered parts of the road section and the race at Magny Cours. All in a day's day-off-work!
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.
