Paris, 20th of April 2015
Finally the rally season starts in Europe with the first big driving
event in April, the annual Tour Auto. Again more than 230 cars
were lined up this morning at the Grand Palais for the
scrutineering in the French Capital. Over the last years this first
day became a fixed date for car enthusiasts as one could see by
the amount of people standing in line in front of the historic
building early in the morning on a working day. Sorted by marque
the cars could be enjoyed in their diversity ranging from small
touring cars like the Austin Mini or BMW 2002 to the brutish
Ligier or Pantera in Group 4 configuration. Again 5 different groups
will take the 1905 Kilometre through the French countryside along
spectacular scenery to visit several Chateau for the lunch stops, 4
different race tracks and numerous special stages to play on, be
it to “race” against the clock in the regularity or against others in
the competition.
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Over the last years the entry field certainly changed a lot due to
the massive value of some of the entered cars and like other
driving events the exotic machinery gets less and less. But still
the TA could set up an impressive field with 3 Ferrari 250 GT
SWB and even again a 250 GTO to centre stage the display in
Paris. Surrounded by a few Dinos and less 275 GTB than
previously (“only” 8) but also an early 212 Export Berlinetta and a
225 S to follow last year’s Breadvan as one of the stars of this
year’s event. Another Ferrari could be seen in the regularity group
as part of the featured Barchetta cars, a 500 Mondial alongside
the Maserati 200 S and a Porsche 550 A Spyder.
Although they are the public favourites most likely other cars will
be in the focus over the next days for the class and overall
victories. Again several AC Cobras are present to challenge the
title defending Cobra of Shaun Lynn who just added a victory at
the Goodwood Members Meeting to his preparations for the event.
Most likely the fast Jaguar E-Types in race trim will be again
chasing the snakes on the way to Biarritz and apart from pure
speed the reliability will be most important again.
The route this year will again lead to the south-west with the final
destination in Biarritz that was also the finish in 2011 for the last
time. Way points will be Vichy, Clermont-Ferrand, Toulouse and
Pau, the race tracks range from the modern Magny Cours Circuit
to the historic Charade and Pau-Arnos with Albi in between.
Tomorrow morning will see the neutralized start from the Grand
Palais at 6am to the Chateau de Courances to avoid the
unpredictable traffic in the capitol on the way out.
After almost 140 km in the morning the first special stage will be
held at Egleny to get the drivers and navigators into competition
early on. After another 160 km the first race will be held at Magny
Cours, the location of the last French GP on a very modern
layout. Finally the convoy will arrive at Vichy after the longest
stage of the week with a total of 499 kilometres.
Although the week is long one could expect the first challenges
for the mechanics tomorrow both at the parc fermée at the track
and at the final in Vichy. As the working time on the cars is very
restricted technical defects can shuffle the classification on any
day and most likely the first have to reset their goals for the week
early on.
We are planning to accompany the Tour on every single mile from
start to finish to keep you up-to-date on the days to come with
small galleries and reports on every race day before we
summarize the event in a follow-up next week.
Images & report … Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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