5ème Course de Côte d'Argenton-Bouglon, 2022

 

Speeding past the fields of gold is the winning Norma M20 FC of Fabrice Gallo.

The 2022 Course de Côte d'Argenton-Bouglon had a small but quality field.   Despite there being just 34 competitors, I thoroughly enjoyed this hillclimb, which I had also attended last year.  For amateur photographers like myself there is great access to most of the course and lots of opportunities to take some good shots.  All of the competitors that took part in the Saturday August 20th hillclimb cab be seen below in a variety of shots from different parts of the hill.  Located in the Lot and Garonne department in South West France, this was the fifth time that  Argenton and Bouglon had held a hillclimb on the road between the two villages.  Long may they continue to do so.  This was a regional hillclimb qualifying for the Coupe de France de la Montagne 2022 and the Nouvelle Aquitaine Sud league.

Fabrice Gallo in his Norma M20 FC comes over the rise on the D106 from Argenton to turn up the 

D147 to Bouglon.  He was fastest with a time of 35.774 seconds up the 1.2km hill.  Fabrice won also in 2018 and 2020.

Second place went to Romain Patacconi in his Norma M20 FC.   The Norma seems to be the car to have on this hill as it has won in different hands the last two years and took the two top places on the podium this year.

Romain and his Norma arrive in Bouglon just after the end of his third run.

Third place and first of the single seaters went to Vincent Rannou in this Dallara D301 Opel

Another shot of Vincent in his Dallara.

Fourth was Jérôme Bris in his Tatuus Formula Master single seater.  Rare to see these cars in the regional climbs.

Jérôme exits the corner in  his Tatuus and heads up the steep hill to Bouglon.

Frédéric Rouseau was fifth fastest and the first of the motor cycle engined sports cars in his Speedcar GTR.

Frédéric looked fast all day and here he gets slightly crossed up towards the top of the hill on his first practice run.

Sixth was Nicloas Filiatre in his Dallara F392.

Nicolas and his F3 Dallara at speed on a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon.

The only other car to beat the 40 second barrier was the TracKing RC01B of Marc-Antoine Blanchemain.

The striking "DTM BMW" look of Marc-Antoine's TracKing RC01B which came seventh.

Eighth was this Fior F05 driven by Didier Gimenez.

Didier in the rare Fior 05.

Ninth was Guy-Philippe Patacconi in the Martini Mk69 BMW.

Guy-Philippe's Martini-BMW is sometimes described as a Formula 2 car but this is a hillclimb category and not the old European F2 series of old.

Fastest of the tin tops, winner of the FC/FS group and with an impressive tenth place was Jean-Louis Simorre in the Renault 5 Turbo.

The Renault 5 Turbo comes over the crest on the D106 out of Argenton.

Eleventh was the Speedcar GTR of Fabrice Ousset.

Fabrice and his Speedcar head up the hill through the corn fields.

In an impressive twelfth place and first of the Group N/FN production cars was Loic Larquey in this Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10.   

Rear view of the Mitsubishi Lancer as it climbs the hill.

In thirteenth place was Xavier Deschamps in this Speedcar GTR.

In fourteenth place and first of the Simcas was Philippe Quioc in this Simca Rallye 2.

Fifteenth was the Lotus Exige of Christophe Carrere.

Sixteenth was Christophe Mazet in this Renault Clio 3 Cup.  He was fast of the Group A/FA cars.

Seventeenth was the Matra-Simca Bagheera of Florian Patacconi.  Another rare car to see in the FC/FS class on French hillclimbs.

Eighteenth was this Simca Rallye 3 of Maxime Chevallereau.

An impressive drive into nineteenth place for Geoffrey Georgevitch in this Renault Clio 3 who won the F2000 Group.

Twentieth position went to the Funyo B4 of Gérard Gimenez.

In 21st position was the Renault Clio 4 RS of Thomas Vergines.

On the first run the Mitjet 2L of Romain Vassal had the handicap of a flapping passnger door.  He finished 22nd.

23rd was the Simca Rallye 2 of Jean-Marie Delage.

24th was Jacques "Rambo" Lesaulnier in this Renault Clio 3 Cup.

25th was Christophe Bernard in a Peugeot 206 RC.

26th was the Citroën ZX 16v of Sébastien Dumas.

27th was Pascal Fanget in a Peugeot 206 XS.

28th was the Citroën Saxo VTS of Alexandra Dupin.  She was the only female driver competing.

29th was Francis Lagarrue in this Renault 5 GT Turbo.

Locking up under braking is Bruno Guillon in an Alfa Romeo 75 V6 that finished 30th.

31st was Jérôme Robert in a Peugeot 306 S16.

32nd was Jean-Louis Ghirardi in a Renault Clio RS.

33rd was Charles Putun-Harriet in a Peugeot 306 S16.

34th was the Renault Megane Cup of Jose Rios.

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.

Formula Master Tatuus.

Mitjet just after leaving the start line in Argenton.

Mitjet just after crossing the finishing line just under 50 seconds later in Bouglon.

4ème Course de Côte d'Argenton-Bouglon, 2021

Doing demo runs all day was this great little Honda engined Mini driven by Arnaud Crasset.  It, unfortunately, is not homologated for competition in France.

Organised by the Club Automobile Marmandais, this was the fourth running of this regional hillclimb and it took place on Saturday 21st August 2021.   The course runs for 1,200 metres and six turns with an average slope of about 8%,  first up the D106 and then for the longest part up the D147, between Argenton and Bouglon in the Lot et Garonne (47) department in the southwestern part of France.  A rather short course the action is frenetic as there is only a short gap in time between each car.  It was free for spectators to get in and there were about six well sign-posted areas for spectators to get an excellent view of the cars.   I found it very well organised, with an excellent commentary throughout  the day, and certainly hope I can come here again.  On the Sunday was a slalom up the same course (that I was unable to attend) so it makes for a good sporting weekend during the vacation if you are ever in the area.

The lower part of the course in Argenton with a Renault 5 GT Turbo starting its ascent.

This year, as there were in 2020, there were just over 40 participants with a lot of variety in the type of cars as you can see below.   The winner in 2020 and 2018, Fabrice Gallo, was not present, but there was an exciting battle for the win between the top three competitors.  For some of the competitors this was their first hillclimb and for others they were competing whilst visiting the region on vacation.   All in all a great day for fans of grass-root motor sport away from the armco and safety fencing of modern circuits!

1st - Sébastien Jacqmin - Norma M20 FC - No.5 - Overall winner

The winning Norma exits the penultimate corner in the morning practice.

Sébastien was only in second place after three runs but then was the only person to dip below 37 seconds to finally take then win.

2nd - Benoît Taviaux - Dallara F305 Opel - No.2 - Group winner

The fastest of the single-seaters on its first timed run.

Benoit provided a strong challenge all day but finally had to settle for second and thus was unable to repeat his 2019 victory. He was also runner up in Sunday's Slalom event.

3rd - Michael France - Dallara F304 - No.3 - Class winner

The final podium position went to this pretty Dallara F3 car.

This second Dallara also got below 38 seconds twice and was only 2 hundredths of a second off of second place.

4th - Fabrice Gallo - BRC B49 - No.14 - Class winner

This BRC was fastest of the motor-cycle engined sports cars.

5th - Frédéric Rousseau - Speedcar GTR - No.11

The fastest of the Speedcars passes a marshal as he ascends the hill.

6th - Marc-Antoine Blanchemain - Speedcar GTR - No,15

Another Speedcar.

7th - Alain Volbart - Speedcar GTR - No.16

8th - Didier Giminez - Fior F 05 - No.8

A car that I not seen before.  I believe the car has a 2 litre Honda engine and was built in Nogaro in around 2005 by Fabien Fior.

The spectators can get close to the cars.

9th - Jean-Louis Simorre - Renault 5 GT Turbo - No.72 - Group winner

10th - Florian Patacconi - Simca Rallye 2 - No.76 - Class winner

11th - Philippe Quioc - Simca Rallye 2 - No.79

12th - Nicolas Delpierre - Simca Rallye 2 - No.74

13th - Julien Zambon - Peugeot 306 - No.54 - Group winner

14th - Guy-Philippe Patacconi - Martini Mk69 - No.1 - Class winner

15th - Fabrice Ousset - Speedcar GTR - No.10

16th - Vincent Rannou - Renault Clio 2 Cup - No.24 - Class winner

17th - Alain Jauvat - Honda Civic VTEC - No.61 - Class winner

18th - Loîc Larquey - Renault Clio 3 RS - No.53 - Group winner

19th - Nicolas Ammeloot - Renault 11 Turbo - No.51

20th - Jose-Marie Lara - Ford Sierra Cosworth - No.20 - Class winner

Nostalgic to see a Ford Sierra Cosworth competing!   Their main successes were over thirty years ago.

A wider angled view of the penultimate corner.

21st - Tony Doimo - Renault Clio - No.52 

22nd - Ophélie Poitevin - Citroën Saxo VTS - No.30 - Fastest female competitor

Ophélie did well and beat the other three women racing up the hill despite not having the fastest car.

23rd - Romain Vassal - Mitjet 2L - No.18 -Group winner

These funny looking cars are often prese nt in French hillclimbs and compete in the GTTS category.

25th - Jean-Marie Delage - Simca Rallye 2 - No.66 - Class winner

26th - Guy Calbet - Porsche Cayman Cup - No.19 - Group winner

Top GT car present was this Porsche Cayman.

The marshals look on as this good looking Porsche speeds by.

28th -  Loïc Ammeloot -  Renault 11 Turbo - No.151

29th - Mickaël Mansencal - Renault Clio Williams - No.26

33rd - Bruno Guillon - Alfa Romeo 75 V6 - No.21 

34th - Francis Lagarrue - Renault 5 GT Turbo - No.35 - Class winner

35th - Jacques Lesaulnier - Renault Clio 3 Cup - No.25

38th - Marie Volbart - Speedcar GTR - No.116

40th - Patrick Leveque - Opel Astra OPC - No.42

41st - William Mercadier - Citroën Saxo VTS - No.59

The Citroën Saxo heads into the final curve near the top of the hill.

43rd - Christophe Bourgeon - Peugeot 106 GTi - No.33 - Class Winner

Final place of those classified went to this Peugeot.

NC - Christian Serre - Renault 5 GT Turbo - No.155

This Renault only appeared in the practice runs

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.

Another view of the demo run Mini.

The village of Bouglon at the top of the hill.