Saturday 24 October 2015

Circuit Des Remparts 2015 - Angouleme- Day 3 The races!

The Friday car elegance show and the Saturday rally  were a quieter prelude to the Sunday RACES! The city's organisation must have worked 24/7!;  clearing out all the parked cars, "corralling" all the residents into their flats and closing the roads forming the inner city road racing circuit. By the time we arrived at 08h00 on the Sunday morning, everything was set up and running smoothly - the pits, metal fencing and barriers, grandstands, food stalls, toilets, marshals, commentators, ambulances, breakdown crews, the lot! It all seemed to me to be much like a miniature version of the Monaco GP! They have been running this event EVERY year since 1939, interrupted only by WW2, so they should know what they are doing! Famous names like Fangio, Ferrari and Gordini made some of their first appearances here, on this short 1.3 kilometre (0.8 mile) circuit.
Angouleme - a bird's eye view of part of the circuit, showing the steep inclines and curves to be negotiated by the competitors.The cathedral spire is top left.
A Bugatti type 35 (I think!!) getting familiar with the roads during the morning practice runs.

More Bugattis - some drivers removed their headlamps, or never had them!

A Bugatti type 37 from 1929. Could be worth €400,000 and he's racing it around the streets!

Mini Cooper S, ideally suited to this short, narrow, winding circuit.

Alfa Romeo, I'm guessing it's the valuable 2300cc model 8C from the early 1930's, being scooped up after a mechanical malfunction.

An Allard K2 roadster from 1951 - very rare (only 120 made), beautifully prepared and powered by an American V8 engine. Sidney Allard was an English motor engineer who designed and built racing cars in that era.

Here it is again, in the races, catching up with an Alfa Romeo Guilia saloon, a Golf and a Renault 5 Turbo. It has huge power in a straight line, but is not as nimble around the twisty bits as the smaller cars! It was raced with gusto, and the crowd loudly applauded the driver's enthusiasm!

A 1970's Porsche 914-6 chasing a 1950's Jaguar XK120 past the Cathedral public grandstand

 Citroen MEP from the early 1970's. M.E.P are the initials of a Citroen franchise holder who designed the car for racing, in response to the French public's enthusiasm for single-seaters. It uses an 1100cc Citroen engine.

The same car driven in anger to win its class. The safety fencing wasn't conducive to taking clear photos!

Breathe in... small 848cc two stroke Panhard Sports  and a huge 1954 16 feet long Studebaker Champion lean on either side of a poor little Austin A35 at the back of the field. You can see the Allard again, up ahead in the distance.

1953 Panhard Fairchild Special, pirouetting gracefully on three wheels, before.....

having a confrontation with someone's garden wall!! This was a photo of the big viewing screen opposite our stand, hence the blurring.

1965 Porsche 911 smoking its rear tyres in an effort to escape a Ford RS1600 and another 911. The Ford retired, leaving the white car to a comfortable race win.

A  French registered and immaculate Jaguar SS100 seemingly "just parked" for people to admire.

An extremely rare Jowett Jupiter from the 1950's, and all the way from England!

An afternoon of 10 races made up the packed and very entertaining programme, each race being of 20 laps or about 25 minutes. The fastest lap of the day was made at an average speed of 80 kph (50mph), which doesn't sound very fast, but the circuit is very restricted, as you can see, and there is also the matter of lapping slower cars, so I think a bit of bravery is needed to achieve such times. As in the previous events, the organisers had to be thankful for support from  UK entrants to achieve respectable numbers. All in all, a great weekend's experience and we counted our blessings with Sunday's very warm sunny September weather!

Thanks again to Nigel for all his research and the write up.  I might recognise a few models but not many!



See also my daily Photo Diary Here


My Life Before Charente   - New post 24/10/2015

58 comments:

  1. I can't wait to show this to my husband. He will most definitely go "car crazy" when he sees it. How fabulous.
    Sam

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    1. LOL hope your husband enjoyed the photos Sam, there were some pretty impressive cars there. Hope you are both well Diane

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  2. Nice to read from you again, Dianne. Stunning scenic photo. I've never heard of this race before but I love all the old vintage cars. It looks like fun and I would agree that after the long running event they must certainly know what they are doing!

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    1. Penny Angouleme is a beautiful town and very photogenic from certain places. The cars are amazing and very much loved, some are worth a small fortune. Keep well and keep up all your good work Diane

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  3. Comme ça c'est beau Angoulême! Not very fond of car races, I'm sure I would enjoy such a show with those incredible cars, I wish I can visit Angoulême some day, I have read so much about it, there's a lot of History there, well, as there is in most of French cities. Take care dear friend!

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    1. Pamela this is just a fun day out and so much more interesting than professional car racing. Yes the town is steeped in history, but as you say so is much of France. I hope you are well, take care Diane

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  4. I was going to say you know a lot about cars as well as horses but Nigel helped. It must have been an exciting day.

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    1. Diane because my Dad was in the car business I probably know more about cars than the average woman, but when it comes to the very old models they are not easily recognisable to me, and especially most of the French cars which I have never heard of before! It was a really fun day. T'other Diane

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  5. Love the picture of the A35. It was my first car and did good service for a few years. Looks like a great event. C

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    1. Hi Colin and Elizabeth good to hear from you. We had an A 30 for many years, a great little car but it did let us down on a few occasions! It was a lovely weekend out and luckily race day was sunny. Hope you are both well Diane

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  6. Wow! How fun to see such beautiful roadsters, lovingly restored and put back on the road for all to admire.

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    1. Thanks Rosaria, so much love and expense goes into keeping these cars in good condition but it iw worth it for all of us to see the results. Take care Diane

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  7. Oh wow. All those amazing vintage cars. Thanks so much for sharing your photos. X

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    1. Hi Maggie, glad you enjoyed this post. It was a great 3 days out I must say. Hope all is well Diane

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  8. Hi Diane. Angouleme and racing..what a fab trip.. that would be to do. It does look very challenging And those cars ..fabulous. compared to todays.. well you cannot compare ..all so different. . . And to think this has been going for 76 years. It certainly does look like a minature version of the Monaco grand prix. ..looks amazing .Now this I would love to see 😊..As you say, the organizing it takes to hold a "Street circuit" race is unbelievable . And you had the sun 🌞 . What more could you want. Thanks for sharing.. Love it. Take care xox Anne.

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    1. Ha ha Anne, yes you are right, so different to F1. It seems to be as popular as ever so hopefully it will be going for a number of years yet. Lucky to have the sun after the two previous days, in fact it was almost too hot sitting on the stands I had to keep making my way to a shady spot at the back to cool off! Glad you enjoyed this post, take care Diane xox

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  9. Must say I do love these older cars - but of a guilty pleasure to see them. Got to love that mini!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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    1. I agree Stewart we also love the mini, it has such a character. Thanks for the comment, Cheers Diane

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  10. It appears you had quite a grand day!! Seeing the old cars race must have been very exciting! Wishing you well!

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    1. Cathy it was lot of fun and we enjoyed having friends with us as well. Keep well Diane

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  11. Merhabalar, bloğunuz çok güzel çok beğendim. Resimler birbirinden güzel.

    Saygılar.

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    1. Yorumun için teşekkür ederim. Çok takdir. Iyi günler. Diane

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  12. What fun to see these races. The cars are fantastic and I can only imagine how exciting it must have been to watch.

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    1. It was great fun Denise and good weather which made a huge difference to the first two days. Hope you are well Diane

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  13. Comme si on y était. Très belles voitures. Toujours très agréable de te suivre dans tes ballades.
    A bientôt

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    1. Merci Nadji, ce fut une bonne journée. Bon weekend Diane

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  14. My husband and son would absolutely be thrilled seeing those classic and cool rides!

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    1. I hope that you showed them the pictures Rose. Have a good weekend Diane

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  15. You sure know your cars and there's some real beauties here. The only one I recognize is the 70s Porche, I had an orange one like that.

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    1. We had an orange 70's one as well. Sadly we sold it to have the money to buy our house in France! Keep well Diane

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  16. Those vintage cars are pretty awesome! Especially the Allard K2 roadster and that Jowett Jupiter. The red is outstanding, like a polished gem!

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    1. There we some magnificent cars there, I would have been afraid to race many of them. Hope you are both well Diane

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    1. Thanks Rebbecca, I cannot comment on your blog it will just not let me type anything as I am not on plus!!!!! Take care Diane

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  18. You had a wonderful time, I imagine ! Those cars are amazing ! I've never been to Angoulème but it seems to be a very pretty town !

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    1. Thanks Helene, it is a lovely town, the comic strip capital with lots of wall paintings. Have a good week. Diane

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  19. Hi Diane - photos are great ... especially inventive taking one of the big screen! I wouldn't recognise the cars - unless the label was on the outside ... Alfa Romeo ... glad Nigel's around to help! It looks a fun day out and the Jaguar is very impressive as too the Rowett Jupiter - a brand I've never heard of ... cheers Hilary

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    1. Many thanks Hilary for the comment, I recognise some of the English cars but the continental ones are beyond me! Have a good week Diane

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  20. Wow how amazing.... have never heard of it before but it looks like a brilliant event!!

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    1. It is a real fun event, thanks so much for the comment. If you are ever this way I recommend it as a great weekend out. Diane

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  21. It must be fun to see all of those cars. Looks like a pretty town and a fun day at the races.

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    1. It is a pretty town Marjie and also lots of wall paintings. Hope you are all well Diane

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  22. Thank you dear Diane for your kind words,
    I feel still so devastated and only time can heal such a loss.
    I won't be into real blogging for a while yet. As you say, it takes up too much of my mental strength.
    Great cars, it must have been quite something to be there!
    Take good care of the both of you

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    1. Noushka I agree it is going to take time but memories will be there for ever. Something so sudden is hard to understand. Just take care and we will all be there for you when you have the inclination to return to blogging. Thinking of you often Diane x

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  23. The cars are super cool and I love the city perspective on top.

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    1. José that top photo was a lucky one, I had not realised when I took it what a great shot it was of Angouleme :-) Diane

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  24. Diane - you have taken me back to my childhood with this wonderful series. I can remember that I had a brief childhood sweetheart in a girl who lived just round the corner from us and who's father owned one of those Allards, which he used to leave parked on the street. The length of the bonnet alone was longer than our car. The sound of the engine was amazing! They also had a couple of Afghan hounds. Their house, however, was extremely modest! I can even remember his name - it was Dick Canever, and his daughter was Judy!

    Thank you for unlocking those memories for me - - - - Richard

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    1. It was a pleasure Richard and it sounds like they were good memories. The Allard is an interesting car and certainly not one you see too often. Have a great weekend Diane

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  25. What fun! My husband and son would really enjoy watching the races and seeing all the cool cars.

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    1. Pam it was a great 3 days and we were lucky to have wonderful weather on the third day, race day. It is a fun town to walk around as well looking at all the wall paintings. Diane

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  26. That looks great fun - and one my hubby would love too! I love the way you so make the most of your days in France xxx

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    1. Hi Diane good to hear from you. It is easy to be busy retired in France - we wonder now how we ever had time to go to work!!! Enjoy your weekend t'other Diane

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  27. I, as well as my husband, have enjoyed your post about the Circuit Des Remparts. We both love old cars and used to go to lots of car events.

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    1. We used to go to many car events in South Africa but recently not so many. Time to get back into them as we had a great time :-) Diane

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  28. Ah now I see why it was such a shame you were unable to view my recent car video on Travel Tales. Sorry I have not called by to comment before now but I have also been having internet and computer problems! Hopefully these are now behind me and I can get back to regular bogging. Enjoyed my catch up.

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    1. The internet here drives us both nuts, it seems to get slower by the day. We are back to speeds we used to have on dial up !! There is talk about speeding things up but as we are well and truly in the country it could take years before they get to us!!! Hope you are well Diane x

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  29. Hi Diane,
    Thank you for your kind words, they mean much to me.
    At times it seems I am slowly recovering but then I get so blue and depressed again.
    It is so difficult.
    Keep well and enjoy the coming week

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    1. Thanks Noushka, for taking the time to keep in touch. I know how difficult it must be for you at the moment, as I said before I wish we lived a little closer to give you more support. Take care and look after yourself. Diane x

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