Photos and story by Hugues Vanhoolandt
For the second time, the Grand Palais in Paris, near the Champs-Elysées Avenue, was home for the 230 cars that took part in the 2008 Tour Auto. The cars would then head south to Marseille for more than 1100 miles through the winding roads of France.
The Grand Palais was the perfect starting point as it was also where the Salon de Paris took place under its impressive transparent roof from 1901 to 1961.