A l’aube d’une très belle matinée le 14 octobre 2007.  Pendant la  visite en France de  Bill Hunter (du site Motormarques ) et moi-même, nous partons  pour Dangé Saint Romain,Vienne. Parallèlement à cette rencontre, a également eu lieu des expos de vielles motos, de véhicules militaires anciens, de voitures de collection, avec la participation des membres du Teuf Teuf Club, 86140 Scorbé Clairvaux, et plein d’autres clubs de la région. A notre arrivée, nous avons été accueillis par les membres de l’association.

A few days before Autumn one of the best historic race events in the world takes place in Belgium at the Francorchamps circuit near Spa. This year 15th edition was one of the best ever, the weather was outstanding and the race classes were better then ever especially for the touring car enthusiasts.Some 600 cars took part in 11 different races over the weekend, with over 1000 drivers. For the Formula One 2007 Grand Prix the track layout of Spa-Francorchamps was  changed. The renovation started in November 2006 and finished in May 2007, costing around 8,85 million Euros.  The Bus Stop chicane was re-designed again and it has been returned into a right hander and left hander including the pit lane entrance. The new entrance has drawn criticism for being too tight for the entry speed drivers will likely approach it at.The La Source hairpin is much wider now, allowing more space for the new pit/paddock complex and the new layout gives the bonus of higher cornering speed. To many of the drivers the new circuit layout feld marginally slower than before but the track still demonstrates the importance of driving skills more than any other in the world. 

De J-P Bush et des amis de Beaumont en Véron Une musée très remarquable en France se trouve dans la Touraine, nommée L’Univers Fabuleux de Maurice Dufresne’.1,100,000 visiteurs y sont allés depuis l’ouverture en 1983, y inclus des équipes de ciné et de télé à la recherche de props etde l’atmosphère. L’endroit est plein d’histoire ancienne et moderne.

The normally quiet backroads that lead to Linas Montlhery, in the southern districts of Paris, were uncharacteristically busy over the weekend of October 6th and 7th this year. The traffic was unusual too in that a fair amount of it consisted of classic Citroens dating back to the 1920s. The occasion was an anniversary celebration of outstanding speed and distance records set by the marque in the early 1930s.

From Martin Stubbs ©

From Martin Stubbs

Supplied by VSCC - August 2007

Bill Hunter presents photos, video, and list of starters at VSCC Hillclimb

During the drive from my bed and breakfast address to the circuit  on Friday-morning at nine there were plenty of reasons to be cautious about the day ahead. There was a thick fog (in some parts there was only 30 metres visibility) in the whole area.  The cars ready for practice for the Historic 400 kilometres Marathon on the Nordschleife were queued up for hours but unfortunately had to be driven back to the parking lot at 12.00 h. when the organisation decided that the 400 kilometres race was cancelled and two hours later also the practices on the Grand Prix track were cancelled until further notice.  Finally the complete day’s program was cancelled. A big disappointment for all drivers but an understandable reaction from the organiser. A new timetable for Saturday and Sunday was announced at 17.00h.