Paris-Marseille, 7th-12th of April
Two weeks ago this year’s Tour Auto finished in Marseille after a
total distance of almost 2000 km through France, back then we
reported on a daily basis from the event ( see Scrutineering, Day
1 , Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5 ), now with some distance of
time it’s about looking back at the participating cars.
The first Tour de France (later with the affix “Auto” to differ from
the bicycle race with the same name) was held in 1899 as a long
distance race through France to demonstrate the reliability of the
automobiles of this era, later it became a race on different stages
with additional races on circuits. After the war the TdF became
one of the most important annual races for sports cars, especially
when the Mille Miglia disappeared. When the famous Italian road
race became too dangerous for the sports race cars the TdF
already switched to GT and Touring car racing and just like at the
Mille Miglia Ferrari became dominant. With their 250 GT series
the prancing horse won no less than eight successive editions
and the first victory of this series in 1956 even gave the nickname
TdF to the long wheelbase variation of the 3 litre GT car, followed
by successes of the 250 GT SWB and later the 250 GTO.
At the end of the 1960s another big change was made as the TdF
was opened to the sports prototypes like the Ford GT40, Porsche
906, Matra MS650, Lancia Stratos or Ligier LS2. Apart from the
Targa Florio this was the rare opportunity to see these pure race
cars on the open road.
The final curtain fell in 1986 with the 50th and last TdF as the
event did not attract enough sponsors anymore and did not meet
the safety standards of the time.
Just six years later the Tour Auto was introduced as a
retrospective for the historic cars of the era and just from the
beginning the TA was very popular. In the 1990s numerous Ferrari
250 GTO, SWB and TdF were regular entrants in this event
making the grid one of the best of its time. Certainly with the
changing market with increasing prices today’s entry list can not
match with this time but it is still a very interesting mix of the cars
of this era.
Eligible are cars of the type originally raced in the TdF separated
in five different groups, two in the regularity class and three in the
competition sorted by age. Competing for the overall victory are
those of the pre-1965 era in the GT and Touring Car class, the
newer prototypes are competing in their own categories.
The early competition cars start in the post-war era with the small
Touring and GT Cars and race number 150 in group 3 of about 50
cars. The first three cars leaving Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte on
Tuesday morning were a trio of Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing
in race preparation by German Gullwing specialist HK
Engineering. In recent years the Gullwing became a high value
collectors item seen on many concours, shows and rallies like
the Mille Miglia or in Kitzbühel but few of them are seriously
racing so it is a welcome relief to see them raced in anger. The
drivers certainly had also fun aside from the circuits as most of
the days they could be seen in low flying formation on the road.
Further cars in that group were a few of the very reliable Porsche
356 and many British cars like the Austin Healey 100, MG A/B
and Jaguar XK. New this year was the fact that the fast Alfa GTA
was put in the second group rather than the first one. In the last
years this group was dominated by an ever increasing number of
GTAs but this year they had to face the competition of the larger
displacement favourites for the overall victory in Grid 4.
As mentioned earlier the first Tour Auto were playground for the
Ferrari owners in their 3 litre GT cars but today only few of these
could be seen. Not surprisingly none of the GTOs found their way
to Paris this year, closest this year was the 250 GT SWB
“Breadvan” that was constructed under the supervision of Giotto
Bizzarrini on a 250 GT SWB for the Scuderia Serenissima to
compete against the GTO at Le Mans. This car was raced in
recent years in historic races and after being sold the new owner
had the car at Goodwood for the 72nd Members Meeting just
prior to the Tour Auto. Breadvan was one of the stars of the event
and as soon as it appeared it was surrounded by spectators and
countless images were taken during the week. But this was not
the only 250 GT SWB in the competition category as two
“normal” versions could be seen as well. Although less in focus
being a regular entrant chassis 2129GT (No.241) is no less than a
genuine overall winner of the 1960 TdF in the hands of Willy
Mairesse and Georges Berger making this maybe the most
important car of the event. Originally bodied in steel as a road
version was the second SWB (2221GT) with some British race
history in club races and hill climbs, a third SWB was driven in
the regularity. In the same category was also one of the
opponents of the 1960s, the Aston Martin DB4 GT. Just as the
Ferrari the DB4 Gts value increased very much over the last years
so a single car in the competition class might be a low,
fortunately two more examples could be seen in the regularity,
both of them in new colour. Chassis DB4GT/0136/R (No.90) was
red for the last 15 years and seen several time on the TA, now the
owner thought it was about time to get it back in the original light
blue livery.
But certainly these were no contenders for the overall victory that
was the expected duel between the Shelby Cobras and the
lightweight Jaguar E-Types. No less than nine Cobras with
hardtop were lined up in the Grand Palais competing against ten
Jaguar E-types and right from the beginning together they took
the first ten places. In grids that even it was clear that reliability
and small mistakes would decide at the end of the week. During
the first three days the Cobra of Ludovic Caron (third last year) led
the Jaguar of Jean-Pierre Lajournade (second last year) and the
Cobra of Shaun Lynn, the second to last day finally mixed up the
order and brought the decision. Day 4 leading from Aix-les-Bains
to Valence was the only day without track racing but with three
special stages, a sharp left bend on the second special became
fate for several cars. On slippery road with decreasing radius not
just the leader Caron crashed but several more cars to follow, with
the loss of time he dropped back to third, Lajournade on the other
side lost a minute because of a penalty for traffic offence. As the
Tour Auto has to share the road with public traffic the organizers
have to make sure that the competitors respect the rules to get
future permission by the authority so every now and then they
have own speed traps roadside. In a long penalty scale traffic
offence is one of the most common reasons for a penalty together
with late arrival at the checkpoints or to long repair during the
night. So at the end of day 4 Shaun Lynn took over the lead and
finally won by just over half a minute in the Willment Cobra
CSX2130.
Also in this group was the Ford GT40 of Chris Wilson that
became the first car behind the Cobra/Jaguar armada on an
eighth overall. Wilson was always among the fastest but lost all
the chances for an overall victory on day 1 by retarding on the
second checkpoint.
As mentioned before the Alfa Romeo GTA had to race in the
same group this year and against the cars with more than double
the capacity the agile GTAs had no chance. In recent years the
GTA became one of entrants favourites as it gives maximum
driving pleasure compared to the value and it seems that the TA
is nowadays more enjoyable in a GTA than in a GTO as two GTO
owners drove one again this year. Ten GTA were competing for
the victory in the touring car category and at the end it was again
Bernd Hahne and Hermann von Wildenburg in the black-green
example (No.224) in front of the duo of silver cars entered by the
couple Ellerbrock with the better end for Daniela Ellerbrock as her
husband became victim of the same corner as Caron.
Although the third competition group is not eligible for the overall
victory the sports and prototypes of the late 1960s and 1970s are
certainly one of the highlights of the TA. Where else could one
see a Porsche 906 or a brutal DeTomaso Pantera Group 4 in the
mountains? After being featured car last year the Porsche
Prototypes were represented by three Porsche 906, all of them
regular entrants at the TA, two of them in the competition class
and one in the regularity. Romain Rocher/Jean Francois Penillard
finally won the category G in front of the Ford GT40 of last year’s
winner Phillipe Vanromme/Frederic Vivier, the winning 906
(Chassis 107) has an continuous history in France.
Class H with some of the fastest cars was playground for the
most prominent drivers apart from 5 times Le Mans winner
Emanuele Pirro in an earlier Alfa Romeo TZ. Porsche was very
well presented with several 911 RSR, the Martini livered example
(No.275) was driven by Jürgen Barth, former works driver and Le
Mans winner to a fourth place, the category was won by a 2.7 RS
in front of an 3.0 RS.
After former F1 driver Erik Comas winning the category H (cars
between 1971-75) last year in the Lancia Stratos Group 4 he
came back to defend his title but just as German Rally ace Armin
Schwarz (also on Stratos) he had to retire already on the first
day. Both set the best time on the first special stage of the TA
but Comas just completed 2 laps in Dijon-Prenois where Schwarz
did not even start anymore. Together with another Stratos in the
competition class and three more examples in the regularity the
Stratos made a strong appearance in the entry list but as just one
of them finished the tour unfortunately a less successful. Being
featured car the BMW 3.0 CSL (No.279) could break into the
Porsche phalanx to take the third place on the podium.
Class I finally was again a battle of four Ferrari 308 Gr.IV
Michelotto, Olivier Panis had to content with a third place behind
Grenier/Puget and Latham/Baud.
But as mentioned before the Tour Auto is not just about the
competition classes as the other half of the entrants are
competing in the regularity class against the clock. Before the
Tour they could choose between a high, middle and low average
they have to achieve on the special stages and the race tracks,
the mix in the regularity class is about the same as in the
competition classes apart from some of the pure race prepared
cars like the Cobras or GT40s. As usual a significant amount of
Alpine A110 and Ferrari 275 GTB could be seen although their
number seemed to be also lower than in previous years, one has
to keep in mind that the GTB/4s are already in the region of 3 Mio
$. Five more Ferrari and several Dino were entered, the oldest one
a 212 Inter with Vignale Berlinetta body (0205EL). The small Inter
survived for several years as a rolling chassis before it was given
the Vignale body of a 340 America during its restoration. The 250
GT series was represented by another SWB (3143GT), a Lusso
and a Boano (0661GT). Its TA debuted was made by the 365
GTB/4 Competizione (13367), the car was converted from a street
car in 1973 to be raced in Sebring, Daytona and Le Mans where it
will return later this year for the classic edition also organized by
TA inventor Patrick Peter.
Finally the regularity class was won by a duo of Alpines of
Maylen/Stervinou in front of Ragues/Ragues.
But when looking at the galleries one (hopefully) could see that
one does not have to be on top of the classification to enjoy the
Tour Auto. As the special stages and the races are just a small
(but important) part of the event one has plenty of time to enjoy
the French scenery along the road. While crossing France one
could see very different landscapes ranging from the wide rape
fields at the beginning near Paris, the vineyards during the second
day, the canyons of the Vercors with its small tunnels and
overhanging rocks or the final Col de l´Espigoulier on its way to
Marseille.
As the Tour changes its route every year the itinerary for next
year is not released until the end of the year but most certain it
will be as interesting as the previous editions and one could be
curious about the development of the entry list in the years to
come.
Report&images: Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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