This year journey will lead them to Besancon, Megève, Avignon, and Aix-en-Provence before arriving at the
Cote d´Azure on Saturday for the final. The circuits of Dijon, Bresse, Ledenon and the modern Paul Ricard
track that will host the French GP at Le Castellet. Together with the numerous special stages this will
challenge the drivers and their co-pilots to the fullest over more than 2100 km though lovely countryside
including the mountains of the Haute Savoie.
The entry list read very much like the usual suspects from the previous year when team Cottingham/Smith will
again have to face the competition of the fast Cobras and the Jaguars on a very even levelled field. As usual
the number of Porsche seems to explode over the last year and more and more competitors take a classic
911 or 356 in more or less hot racing versions over the cars they drove in the past. But not only shifts the
amount of cars in between the marques but especially at Ferrari one can see a trend from the earlier cars to
the late Ferrari 308 GTB Group 4 models that appear in larger numbers now leaving the usual strong field of
275 GTBs to just over a hand full. One does not expect a Ferrari 250 GTO any more but there is also only one
250 GT SWB running although this certainly is a special one having won the original event back in 1961. The
oldest and also the most interesting Ferrari present is the 250 MM coming all the way from Argentina for its
first outing at the TA replacing the owners SWB from previous editions.
A sole example of the Competition Daytona is present in the 40th anniversary year of the last front engined
GT V12 of the 1960s.
Being one of the main sponsors BWM is very well represented not only with a range of 2002 models but also
the famous 3.0 CSL Batmobiles from a time when advertising beer and cigarettes seemed normal in sports.
Featured this year are a number of less common Italian brands like OSCA, Autobianchi, Siata or De Tomaso
bringing some color into the field.
Tomorrow morning the cars will leave early into the traffic of the capitol to the official start at the Chateau des
Courances. In after a special stage in the morning the cars will arrive at Dijon for the first race of the week
before finalizing the day at Besancon for the first of the short nights to come. The mechanics will be busy
again after the first challenges to sort out the numerous gremlins that might occur after the first real shake
down of the season.
Report & images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
Related Material
... Download ... Tour Auto 2018 Entry List V2with Chassis Numbers >>>
|
