Lohéac, November 1, 2001
Located near Rennes in Brittany, the litle village of Loheac is home to the car collection
of Michel Hommell, the Manoir de l'Automobile. His name is well known in French
motoring circles, both as the head of a big press group (their motoring magazines
include Echappement and Auto Passion), and also as the instigator with Gilles Dupré
(the ideas man) of the Berlinette Echappement considered by many to be the new
"berlinette Alpine".
The concept of the Berlinette Echappement evolved from a technical and philosophical
questionnaire to the readers of the magazine Echappement, to determine the
attributes that they deemed of importance in fulfilling the requirements of their dream
car. Incidentally the word Echappement is French for "exhaust system", from the verb
"echapper" to escape from.
The Manoir de l'Automobile is a true automobile complex, with 3 circuits, an asphalt
track, rough ground track for rallycross, and a karting circuit. There is also a race
driving school andl and a museum of 14 000 m2, that has about 300 cars and 5000
model cars on display.
The highlight of the collection for many visitors is the F1 area, with a grid of around 18
F1 cars, including Ferrari, McLaren and French F1 cars like Matra, Ligier and AGS. Also
very interesting is the rally Group B space, with Audi, Lancia S4 and 037 and Peugeot
205 Turbo 16 amongst the exhibits.
There is also a fine selection of ex 24 Hours Le Mans cars like the Courage C36 (LM
1997 with Mario Andretti/Michael Andretti/O.Grouillard), plus the 2 cars entered by Mr
Hommell under his own banner, the Bugatti EB 110S (Cudini/Boullion/Hélary) in 94
and the Aston Martin DB7 LM in the 95 edition.
This museum is of interest to any motoring enthusiast because of the diversity of cars
on display, from everyday examples like Peugeot and Citroen, through a wide selection
of Alpine Renault models, supercars like Lamborghini, Maserati, Ferrari, and pre-war
cars, to the competition cars already mentioned.
If you visit this museum don't forget to go to the boutique and the bookshop, and of
course don't forget a drink of the local beverage in the Cidre bar.
Admission
Adults 38FF / Children (10-16) 28FF
Children under 10yrs Free
Groups of 25+ adults 32FF per person
Free Parking
These rates are applicable during 2001
Opening Times
Open daily 10am to 1pm - 2pm to 7pm
Closed monday*
* Open every days during July & August.
How to find it
Situated close to the D177 road, the museum is about 30 kms from Rennes and 380
kms from Paris.
Manoir de l'automobile
Route de Lieuron
35550 Loheac, France
Contact@manoir-automobile.fr
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