Le Bouchon de Pons, 2024

Le Bouchons de Pons 2024 with a Renault Ondine at the head of the queue.

During the sixties and seventies in France, traffic jams on the way to your vacation destination were common place.  In Pons there was no bi-pass of the town centre (by the N137) until 1969 and thus "bouchons" or traffic jams were common there in the summer months.  Now they celebrate the nostalgia of these traffic jams by recreating them each year on the last Saturday in July!

We went to Pons for the fifth "Bouchon de Pons" this year and saw all the wonderful pre-1976 classic cars and people dressed up sixties and seventies style.  A great little event.

"Flower power" Citroën 2CV.

1965 MG Midget MkII.

Alfa Romeo 1600 Spyder.

Peugeot 204

Renault 4 complete with vacation luggage.

"Get me to the Church on time" Citroen 2CV.

Renault Frégate & trailer.

VW Camper Van win the Donjon de Pons in the background.

The Gendarme checking up on this Renault 17 TS.

Citroen DS Convertible.

Austin Healey 3000 MkIII

Renault R8 Major.

Peugeot van.

Peugeot Camper.

Oldsmobile Dynamic 88.

1967 Panhard 24BT, 850cc.

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.

Ford Anglia deluxe estate.

Pooch in a Peugeot.

The Pooch's Peugeot 204.

Motorised tricycle.

Porsche 914.

Renault Caravelle.

3ème Rallye Régional Val de Boutonne VHC - 2024

This Lancia Delta Integrale was leading the VHC rally early on but eventually retired.

 March 24th 2024 saw the 3rd running of the Rallye Régional Val de Boutonne and as in the previous editions it included a rally for VHC / Classic rally cars.  I watched two of the six stages (ES2 and ES3) which were near Lussant and Moragne. Blessed by relatively good weather after the recent rain, there were plenty of spectators at both stages I attended.   

The rally was based at the Cooperative Agricole at Tonnay-Boutonne.

All of the cars that competed on the VHC / Classic section of the rally are shown in this blogpost in the order that they finished.

The winners of the VHC rally were Bruno and Rémy Mainguet in the Alpine Renault A310 2700 VA.

Second and winner of their group were Romauld Hostein and thierry Brillaud in this Honda Civic.

This BMW 323i won the Classic section of the VHC rally and was third overall driven by Alain and Antoine Kieffer.

Fourth position overall went to this Peugeot 205 rallye driven by Benoît Charron and Romain Huesca.

Fifth position went to Anthony Lleu and Mathilde Lleu-Brossard in this Honda Civic Vtec. 

Sixth position and group winners were Anthony Raud and Cyril Lhomet in this Peugeot 205 GTi.

Seventh was this Opel Kadett GSI 16V of Eddy Allard and Bryan Derosier.

Eighth and group winner was this Talbot Sunbeam Lotus of Sébastien Sullam and Jean-Philippe Le Cam.

Ninth were Daniel and Enzo Dupont in this Peugeot 205 GTi.

Tenth was this Ford Sierra XR4i of Samuel Charron and Sylvie Dufau.

Eleventh overall was this BMW 323i of Christian and Céline Longe.

Twelfth was this Peugeot 205 GTi of Nicolas and jean-Claude Berard.

Thirteenth was this Ford Fiesta XR2i of Michael Robin and Thomas Rochefort.

Final classified finisher was this lovely Renault 5 Alpine GR2 of Jean-Luc Giraudeau and Johan Rateaud.

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.

This Porsche 911SC didn't finish.

This Alpine A310 didn't finish.

This Ford Sierra 4x4 didn't finish.

9éme Rallye Bordeaux Aquitaine Classic VHC - 2024

 

The Porsche 911 SC of Pierre Chauvin and Kevin Peccolo.  Nice looking colour scheme rather reminiscent of the 1970 LM24 winner but this one didn't finish the rally.

For lovers of historic rally cars, the great thing about the Bordeaux Aquitaine Classic is that it sports a large field of VHC cars (Vehicules Historique Competition).   In 2024 there were 19 cars at the start of which 9 finished the rally.  Perhaps, the entry wasn't as good as in 2022 when 25 cars started of which two were Lancia-Abarth 037s, but a good entry nonetheless.  Originally expected to have 12 stages of approximately 130km competitive time driving, the event was cut short at the end of the ninth stage due to bad weather.   A national rally they also had a permit for foreign drivers to take part and thus there was one Belgian entry - always nice to see a Ford Escort Mk1. 

The VHC cars waiting for the depart of the rally in Castillon-la-Bataille.

Our day started seeing most of the VHC cars getting ready to start the rally in Castillon-la-Bataille and then we saw them all again on Special Stage 3.   All of the cars are shown in this blogpost, either above or below.   The special stage sran through the Bordeaux vineyards.

Early leaders of the VHC rally were Alain Lemonnier and Eric Bentolila in this lovely Lancia Delta Integrale 16S.

The winning Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4 of Vincent Esteve and Anne Pointet.  They led from Special Stage 4 onwards.

In second place was this Citroën Visa 1000 Pistes of Mathieu Herran and Fabien Janssens.

Final place on the podium went to this lovely looking BMW M3 E30 of José and Jean-Philippe Lamic.

Fourth were Bruno and Karine Chaudet in this Porsche 911 SC.  They were the first of the Classic as opposed to VHC cars.

Fifth were Michel Beziat and Bastien Girard in this Ford Sierra 4x4.

Sixth was this Peugeot 205 Rallye Louis Quetier and Dimitri Pilet.

Seventh was this Porsche 2.8 RSR driven by Joël Vicaire and Michel Perrin.

Eighth were a team frm Belgium, Angelo Desaeyer and Marc Sevrin in this Ford Escort RS1600 Mk1.

Final finisher was this VW Golf GTi 1 1600.  It had crashed on one special stage on day 1.

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.

We saw this Mazda 323 Turbo 4WD depart onto the rally but unfortunately it crashed on the first stage.

This Lancia Delta Integrale 16S retired with mechanical problems on Day 1 having led after the first three special stages.

This Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4 retired with mechanical problems, rejoined the rally and then retired again.

This Opel Ascona B 1921cc didn't start the second day of the rally.

This BMW 323i didn't finish the rally.

This Volkswagen Golf didn't finish the rally.

This Lancia Delta Integrale had mechanical issues on Day 2.

This Lancia Delta HF crashed on Special Stage 9.

This Porsche 911 SC left Parc Fermé and thus wasn't classified,