His dad Pierre took third place at Le Mans in the 60s with a Ferrari SWB; now Gregory Noblet races this 275GTB. Noblet is a VeloceToday reader, of course!
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
Probably most people reading this have never heard of Patrick Peter, but he is one of those race organizers who always comes up with some good ideas. He tried out one of them last weekend at his huge Dix Mille Tours historic meeting in the sunshine of Paul Ricard in the South of France.
He was rewarded with no fewer than six 333SPs, five F40s and a 360. Why didn’t someone think of that before? Remember all those 355 racers that are around! I think he might have a full field of cars for a real race next year, but bravo for giving it space in the programme.
Apart from that, he pulled together an entry of great cars with some great racing. I leave you with some of the pictures from the event to relish.
Close racing saw Bob Earl's Alfa Romeo T33/3 being hotly challenged by Peter Vogele's ex-factory Porsche 910.
Michael Elrich surprised everyone with his Bizzarini 5300GT by leading Carlos Monteverde's 250LM, but a mistake meant that Monteverde would get the win.
One of the six 333SP's at the meeting was this famous one, the Risi Racing car campaigned by Allan McNish and David Brabham in the USA.
The French are crazy about American car culture. This owner parked his U.S.-style police car outside the paddock and was mobbed by fans.
So where did Frenchman Jacques Alvergnas pick up this '76 Ford Torino that was battling against the Porsche 908s?
Normally seen racing pre-war Alfa Romeos, Robert Fink was roped in to drive the ex-Rolf Stommelen 908/2 with Max Werner.
If you wanted to see some rare Porsches in action how about Jean Guikas's Porsche 908/4?
Or Carlos Monteverde's '77 Porsche 936 Longtail.
Or even Monteverde's 917.
Ultra rare Morgan-SLR owned by Bill Wykham.
I had a surprise when this Chevron B16 driven by Charlie Remnant turned up. I photographed the car forty two years ago before its first ever race at Ingliston in Scotland...
...kneeling proudly beside the B16 in 1970 is Graham Birrell, who was the first driver for Denys Dobbie's DART racing team.
Paul Ricard; is there a more spectacular setting anywhere?
Graham
Great commentary and photographs. But would not have expected less.
Thank you
robin
Graham.
I have many fond memories of the Paul Ricard circuit and still hope one day they can get the Grand Prix back there, although I am now based in Australia so may not get there too often. Fabulous location and it was always a pleasure to stay at Bandol. That place has a unique smell of it’s own and that last photo brought it back.
Thanks,
Chris M.
Nice shot of the circuit with the mountain behind.. best I have seen on the net… use a long lens? Would like to add it to my ‘book’ (pdf at the moment) if possible.
Robin, it is about time you got yourself another race car and came out to play again. Graham
I was a young boy these cars were running. Although I never got to see them run the pictures above will always be what comes to mind when I think of what a racing car “should” look like. I need to make an effort to get to more historics.
The Ford Torino is the car fielded at LeMans in the 70’s by Junie Donlevey of Richmond Virginia. It was sponsored by Truxmore who built garbage truck bodies.I believe the car was found in an ad on E Bay in the form an old local stock car in N.J., if I remember correctly. It has appparently undergone a full restoration since then. It is a most significant car in Le Mans history.
The Bizzarrini should read 5300 not 3500 327 engine is 5.3 litre
Thanks Mike…one way to see if you are reading VT!! Mistake was a typo on my part, not Grahams. Tis fixed.
Enjoyed the photos but especially Graham’s 1970 image of Graham Birrell +B16 taken at Inglestone. I was there that day so the memories came flooding back…