17ème Course de Côte de Bournezeau, 2023

The Course de Côte de Bournezeau runs through a cutting up the D7 and thus spectators can see the cars safely from high up a bank.   The car is a Speed Car GTR.

Romain Letouzé in a F2 LRJ Garance

The Course de Côte de Bournezeau is a regional hillclimb run in the Vendée (85) department of France.  Although this is the seventeenth running organised by the Bournezeau Sports Méchanique it is the 52nd edition overall and has quite a history.  Early winners included Yves Martin driving the ex-Jody Scheckter F2 McLaren M21 in 1974, Yves Courage driving a F2 Surtees TS15 in 1977 and Hervé Bayard driving a Ralt RT1 in 1978.

The course runs up the D7 public road towards the small town of Bournezeau and is 1,360 metres long with a course record of just under 34 seconds set in 2022.   It is a very well run hillclimb and obviously popular with the locals who pack the sides of the course and fill up the beer tents on Easter Sunday.  This was my first visit but I hope to be back in the future.  The entry is restricted to 80 drivers but there is a strong contingent of sports cars and single seaters and old Simcas to give the event some interest.   This is a regions with few hills and there are no other hillclimbs in this department. Entry fee was seven euros on the Sunday but you got a free programme with a list of the runners.

Spectators are allowed into a single area in the middle of the hill but one can get close to the cars safely from the high banks that line the course.  The only bad thing about the hill is that the paddock is a long way from the spectator area but otherwise a very nice hillclimb with an excellent commentary easily heard along the course.

This is a hill that favours the Norma sports cars but a F3 car did beat them in 2017.  Last year's winner Anthony Le Beller did not come back to defend his title and hill record of 33.78 seconds.  However, there were a few of the French National Championship runners present.

All of the top ten finishers plus the Group and Class winners plus a few other of the more interesting cars can be seen below:

Overall winner was Fabrice Gallo in his Norma M20 FC in a time of 34.5 seconds.  It was his first win in this event.

Second overall was the Norma M20 FC of Julien Bost. He was 0.63 seconds slower.  He had won here in a F3 car back in 2012.

3rd overall and first of the single-seaters was Benoît Taviaux in  Dallara F305 evo 307.  Here he is seen on his fastest run of 36.03 seconds.

Fourth overall was Dallara F301 of Vincent Rannou.

Fifth overall was Sylvain Moyon in his Norma FC Honda.

Sixth overall was Julien Petit in a Dallara F399.

John Nicol was seventh overall and won his class in this Dallara F392.

Eighth overall and winner of its class was this Dallara F304 driven by Michaël France.

Ninth overall and fastest lady driver was Pauline Berton in this Norma M20 FC.

Tenth overall was Sébastien Tourillon in his Norma M20 Fc.

Eleventh fastest in the same Norma M20 FC was Robert Tourillon.

Twelfth fastest overall and a class winner was Bruno Beauvoir in a Tatuus.

Winner of the CM class for motor cycle engined sports cars was Frédéric Rousseau in a Speed Car GTR.

Second in the CM class was this good looking TracKing RC01B driven by Marc-Antoine Blanchemain.  

Stéphanie Tordeux was second fastest lady of the weekend in her Tatuus Formula Renault.

Winner of the FC Group was this very fast Simca Rallye 3 driven by Romain Richardeau.

Second in its class was this good looking Reynard "F2" driven by Sébastien Frémont.  F2 is an old French hillclimb category.  I assume this is an ex-F3 car from the early nineties or thereabouts.

Second in the FC Group and winner of its class was this Simca S 1000 Turbo driven by Patrick Ramus.

Winner of its class was this Dynatmo PHC 3 Evo driven by Yann Marchand.

Winner of the important Group A/FA was Jean-Jacques Maurel in this Peugeot 308 Racing Cup.

Winner of Group F2000 was this Honda Civic Type R driven by Ferdinand Loton.

Winner of its class A3 was this Renault Clio 3 Cup driven by Jimmy Rousseau.

Winner of the GT Group was this Lotus Exige Cup 260 driven by Bernard Morilleau.

Winner of the F2000/2 class was this Honda Civic driven by Cédric Bouffeteau.

Winner of its class A/2 was this Citroën Saxo VTS driven by Jacques Tkatchenko.

Winner of the Group N was Olivier Hronik in this Renault Clio Williams.

Winner of class FC/2 was this Simca Rallye 2 driven by Maxime Chevallereau.

Winner of class N/2 was this Citroën Saxo of Frédéric Michaud.

Winner of the GTTS Group was this Tork Mitjet 1300.

Winner of class A/1 was this Citroën Ax GTi driven by Adrien Barranger.

Winner of class N2S was this Citroën Saxo GTS driven by Sébastien Peninou.

This Talbot Samba was the last classified finisher but won its class FC/3 driven by Lionel Rataud.

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.

Other Runners

This Porsche 996 GT3 Cup was disappointingly slow.

This Simca Rallye 2 had interesting aerodynamics.

This artisanal single seater called a F2 LRJ Garance was disqualified.

Tony Pasteau's Speed Car GTR was also disqualified.

This Simca Rallye 3, seen here in practice, left the course on its first run and lost a wheel.

A BMW drift car driven by Swiss driver Marc Fleury gave exhibition runs all day to keep the crowd entertained.

Also giving demo runs all day were these "voiturettes en folie" which can be translated as crazy karts.

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.