3ème Rallye Régional Val de Boutonne - Moderne 2024

A Peugeot 106 Rallye attacking the ES3 stage at Moragne driven by Mickael Guinot and Grégory Jeanneau.  They finished 50th overall.

March 24th saw the third running of the Rallye Val de Boutonne.  A qualifying round of the Coupe de France des Rallyes, it is organised by l'ASA Richelieu and takes place in the Charente Maritime Department.  A French regional rally it is run over six stages (two different stages each run three times over one day) with a total timed competition running of 40km and a total kilometrage of 123km.

A good field of 102 cars started the rally.   I watched them on both ES2 the Lussant-Cabariot stage and ES3 the Moragne - St Coutant stage.   With relatively reasonable weather a good crowd came out to see the rally cars on the stages and in Tonnay-Boutonne.

The Favouites:

Cédric De Sousa, a French driver from a well known rallying family, won the Rally Val de Boutonne in 2023.  He drives a Volkswagen Polo.

Bruno Longepe is a 53 old French rally driver who won the Coupe de France des Rallyes in 2014.  He won the first edition of the Rallye Val de Boutonne in 2022 and is a regular winner in his Volkswagen Polo.

Jimmy Thibaudeau is a 45 year old French rally driver and was runner up in last year's Rallye Val de Boutonne.  He drives a beautiful sounding Porsche 997.

Mathias De Sousa, a cousin of Cédric, is a 32 year old French rally driver, who earlier this month finished second in the Rallye de la Vienne.  He drives a Citroën C3.

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

All of the top ten finishers and group winners plus a fair selection of the rest are shown below:

The rally winners were Bruno Longepe and Ronan Choucroun in this Volkswagen Polo.  They won five of the six stages.

A close second were Cédric De Sousa and Emmanuel Brissiaud, also in a Volkswagen Polo.  Here they are on stage 2 which they won to take a brief lead in the rally.

Third on the podium in this Citroen C3 were Mathias De Sousa and Baptiste Langlois.

Fourth overall and winner of the FRGT group was this Porsche 997 driven by Jimmy Thibaudeau and Dimitri Pilet.

Fifth overall and winner of FRNAT group were Gary Guerin and Jordan Jecomte in this Subaru Impreza WRC STI.

Sixth overall was this Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X of Johnann Hayet and Kévin Boisson.

Seventh overall and winner of the FRC4 group was this Renault Clio 5 of Thierry Landais and Morgan Lefebvre.

Eighth overall and winners of the R3 class were Aurélien Pion and Maëva Perrinaud in this Renault Clio.

Ninth overall in this Renault Clio were Joris and Christophe Decou.

Tenth overall was this Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 of Aurélien and Julie Brillaud.

Tenth overall and winner of the FRC5 group were Noelic Solnais and Paul Beneteaud 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 à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

Always good to see this Simca Rallye 3 which finished an excellent 24th driven by Michael Etie and Nicolas Brugier.

Peugeot 106 XSI.

Peugeot 106 XSI

Citroën Saxo Kit Car.

Citroën AX.

Peugeot 106 XSI.

Skoda Fabia R5.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8.

Citroën Saxo VTS.

Peugeot 205 Rallye.

Peugeot 106 XSI.

Citroën Saxo.

Peugeot 306.

For the VHC / Classic rally cars in this year's Rallye Val de Boutonne VHC - click here.

I love seeing modern Porsches competing in rallys.

Salon RétroMobile, Paris, 2024

One of the unusual cars at RetroMobile 2024 that took my attention was this recreation of a 1959 Skoda 1100 OHC Coupé.  It was capable of 200kph, was designed for endurance racing and only two were made and both destroyed on the track whilst racing.  Thus nice to see a recreation.

 I haven't been to Rétromobile since 2020, so it was a pleasure to go back after a three year gap.  As usual there was more than you could see in a single afternoon and I am sure I missed a few gems, but what I did see made it worthwhile.

Below are my photos of a what made RétroMobile worthwhile for me in 2024.  I couldn't include everything but perhaps these were my favourites.

1. The Famous Drivers

Jacky Ickx, Romain Dumas and Sébastien Loeb were all present at RetroMobile 2024

It was good to see some drivers present at RetroMobile this year.  On the Wednesday afternoon Sébastien loeb gave a long interview and answered questions from the public whilst Jacky Ickx and Romain Dumas were on autograph duty.

2. Club Teuf Teuf Demos

Demos by the Club Teuf Teuf outside the Exhibition Hall.

3. Le Rallye Dakar

Peugeot 405 T16 (Ari Vatanen), 1986 Porsche 959 (René Metge), Citroën DS Proto and Nissan X Trail (as driven by Johnny Halliday) rally raid cars that competed on the Dakar.  The top 2 cars both winners of the Paris-Dakar Rally.

4. 100 Years of MG

Record Breakers, race cars, rally cars and the very first MG.

This cross section of a 1965 MGB GT created a lot of interest.  The other half was also on display.

5. 100 Years of the Linas-Montlhéry Autodrome

Simca 101C, map of the circuit, Geirge Eyston's Hotchkiss record breaker and 1934/39 SEFAC GP car

1927 Voisin record breaking car.

6. Trucks and Vans

Renault Faugonnettes and Camions.  The Ecurie Ecosse Transporter + C-Type.

7. Ferrari

1968/69 Ferrari Dino Tasman, 1967 Ferrari Dino 206 S Spider, 1962 John Combes Ferrari 250 GTO as driven by Graham Hill and others, 1970 Ferrari 512M

8. Model Dioramas

9. Lesser Known Marques and oddities

This recreation of the 1957 Brütch Mopetta microcar with its 54cc motor and 3 speed gearbox is reputably the smallest car in the world.  With its Belgian papers it could be yours for Euro 22,000.

Guidobaldi Guidomobile monoplace.  See story below.

A resident of Antibes in the South of France, Francois Guidobaldi designed and built this monoplace starting in 1939.  It featured rubber pendulum suspension and a 1.3 litre 2 stroke engine he entirely built from scratch except for the spark plugs. The engine was in mid-engine position behind the driver.  He never fully completed the car before his death in 1971, but the body work was added later based on his Auto Union GP car like design.

G.A.R.  Voiturette 1100cc Type Bol 'd'Or 1927.  Joseph Gardahaut was a constructor of small capacity cars in the late twenties and early thirties.  This car competed in the 1927 Bol d'Or a 24 hour race for a single driver. 

1975 Puma 1800 GTE Tubarão.  A VW engined car from Brazil.

1957 Bandini Sport Internazionale Saponetta 1000cc.  It took part in the 1957 Mille Miglia.

10. Old Favourites

The 1964 Monte Carlo Rally winning Mini driven by paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon..  A 1963 Morris Mini Cooper 1,071 S.   It also won the 1964 Tour de France Automobile on handicap.

1956 works Aston Martin DB3S/9 driven by Stirling Moss and Peter Collins.

The ex-David Piper 1969 Lola T70 Mk3B.

The 1969 Brabham-Cosworth BT26A of Jacky Ickx that won the Canadian GP.   The previous year this chassis had been driven by Jochen Rindt with a Repco engine.

1973 Ligier JS2.

1972 Alfa Romeo T33 TT/3 that had podiums at the Targa Florio and Nurburgring and was 4th at Le Mans in 1972.

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 Renault stand of record breakers including the 1956 Etoile Filante and the Caudron Renault C460 aircraft racer.

My pick of the lower price classic cars on sale was this Autobianchi Cabriolet

Mitsubishi PX33 that competed in the 1991 Rallye Paris-Dakar.  It evokes a vehicle built by Mitsubishi in the thirties.

There were lots of motor cycles as well and these two Indians took my eye.