Images of Tour Auto 2010



Concerning speed, the horse was the favored comparison measurement for thousands of years. This did not change until the invention of the railways and already some pessimists feared that those extraordinary speeds of 30 or 40 kilometers (20 or 25 miles) per hour could damage the human body deliberately if not kill people. Nowadays, we of course know that not the speed itself kills people but rather the human incapability to handle it.

The invention of the motorcar resulted in another huge step forward in development. Although the first motorcars weren't very fast, the 100 km/h mark was reached for the first time already in April 1899 with 105.88 km/h (66 mph). Remarkable this was done with an electric driven vehicle.

Speed seems to have an irresistible attraction to certain human beings and thus it is no surprise that already in July 1899 the first automobile race in France took place - the "Tour de France Automobile" – at a time when most present-day auto manufacturers didn't even exist. The starters were 8 Panhard & Levasseur, Amédée-Bollée-Fils und Mors each with 4 cars as well as one Georges-Ricard and one Bolide and Vallée – names, which are almost forgotten nowadays besides Panhard may be. Of the 19 participants, 9 reached the finish line which is quite remarkable after a distance of 2216 km (1377 miles) in 7 stages and a minimum time of 44:43:39 hours. All this on unpaved roads of course.

The Tour de France Automobile took place regularly if the political situation permitted it, like from 1906 to 1914 and from 1922 to 1937. After World War II it understandably took a few years before motor sport was practiced again. The Mille Miglia was on again in 1947, the Targa Florio in 1948, the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1949, the Formula 1 in 1950 and finally in 1951 the Tour de France Automobile. At this race of 5239 km (3255 miles) in 6 stages three Ferrari 212 Export came in first, second and third. There even was a female team and Panhard was still amongst the competitors.

From 1953 sport and touring cars started in separate classes. For the first time, two Alfa Romeo 1900s came in third and forth with the touring cars and in 1957 Alfa Romeo won the first four places with two 1900s and two Giuliettas. In the following years Alfa Romeo was always present in the front positioning also in the sports class. The race was done on public roads with varying routes of about 5000 km (3107 miles) including special stages on roads and race tracks. With some interruptions the "Tour" existed until 1986. Finally, objections concerning the safety and lacking sponsoring money caused the discontinuation of the event.

Starting in 1992, the Tour was revitalized by English and French automobile enthusiasts as "Tour Auto" for historical vehicles (the title "Tour de France" was pocketed by the bicyclists exclusively in 1998). Generally speaking, the new "Tour" resembles the former profile, however, on public roads there is no more rally driving possible or allowed. The Tour starts with the technical scrutinizing in Paris, mainly at very illustrious places like the Trocadéro, the Palais Royal or the Jardin des Tuileries.

The participants are mainly French and English, however all other Europeans are well represented and also the one or other crew from overseas appears frequently in the starting field. Consistently prominent names show up like Jean Ragnotti, Jean-Claude Andruet, Michèle Mouton or Sir Stirling Moss, who came in second in 1956 and forth in 1957 and participated again in 2008, not long before he finally stopped driving at all.

About 100 cars start in the regularity class and further 150 in the competition class. The route leads some 2000 km (1243 miles) throughout France and changes every year. The final destination is usually a port town at the Mediterranean or the Atlantic Ocean. On public roads they drive at predetermined times (by abidance of the French Road Code!) and there are also special stages on closed road sections and on race courses. That variety makes the Tour so attractive and along the roads you get to know the divers landscapes of the French countryside in case your eyes are not fixed onto roads, maps or road books.
In former years, the Tour often used smaller and older race courses like Nogaro, Ledenon or the Circuit de Vienne while recently it was more the bigger and more modern courses like Le Mans, Magny Cours or Paul Ricard (Le Castellet). Charade in the Auvergne Mountains is one of the most favorite race courses and almost always on the program. Stirling Moss called it "the little green hell". The nearby town of Vichy was a stage destination in 1899 and is it still nowadays quite often.

We have been following the Tour Auto for many years and continued to ride along shorter or longer parts of the route – although only as spectators. Our best assistant in doing so was always our Giulia Super Nuova of 1977, who has been part of our family for 23 years and is – like ourselves – a great fan of French country roads. We treat her like a formidable Italian Lady which she certainly is. In 2008 and 2010 we covered the complete Tour Auto with her as free-lance press people.

The 2010 the Tour Auto took place from April 19th to 24th and led us from Paris to Vichy, Lyon, Megève and Aix en Provence. After a week and some 2000 km (1243 miles) throughout France plus 800 km (500 miles) journey from Munich to Paris we however skipped the last stage to the final destination in Nice and instead moved into a wonderful holiday house North of Aix where driver, co-driver and vehicle could enjoy their well earned relaxation. The Giulia was badly worn (meaning dirty) but otherwise in good condition and in a fancy mood.

Already on the way to Paris close to Stuttgart we were passed by a 1962 Porsche 356 B Carrera 2 from Munich and to our surprise we met it again in the Tuileries Gardens with the start number 55. You honestly can say that all those Ferraris, Porsches, Jaguars, Aston Martins and so on create an impressive sight but somehow the number of Alfa Romeos on our photos is always well above average. No matter how nice the others are – an Alfa Romeo is always nicer, isn’t it ?

Most of the participating vehicles have a value which is way over our own possibilities. The dearest models were two Ferraris 250 GTO of 1962 and 1963 which resemble a few million Euros each. But you must not think that such cars are moved with great caution during the Tour even if they "only" run in the regularity class – that only means that they are moved with regular high speed. Even such valuables want to be raced on a race course.

In 2010 24 Alfa Romeos were in the starter field. Regularity: 1900 CSS 1956/57, Giulia 1600 Spider 1962, SZ 1960, Giulietta SV 1960, 2000 GTV 1971/72, 1600 GTA 1965, Giulia Sprint GT 1965. Competition Class: 1600 GTA 1965, 1600 GT 1966, 2600 Sprint, Giulia 1300 GT Junior 1968, Giulia SS 1964, Giulia Super 1975, 1900 Ti Super, TZ 1964/65, 1750 GTAm 1970/71.

First Leg: 438 km (272 miles) from Paris via Magny Cours to Vichy. On April 20th all participants were escorted by the police out of Paris very early at 6:30 am (who knows the commuter traffic in Paris, knows why). The official start was then some 50 km (31 miles) out of town at the Fontainebleau Castle – with a line up in the Castle's garden in front of a royal setting. Unfortunately the builders of Fontainebleau more had high wheeled carriages in mind than low-lying bolides and therefore some very profane appliances like planks had to be used in order to master the entrance to the Castle without damage. Afterwards we proceeded across Burgundy to Magny Cours and then further South to Vichy.

Usually the start of a stage begins at 7 o’clock in the morning and can last up to 3 hours until 230 vehicle are all on their way. The first teams arrive sometimes at 7 in the evening while the last ones can take up to 10 at night or even later before they reach the destination. That continues for 5 days – that is strenuous! But if you are, like us, only a spectator and not an official participant, you of course have the advantage that you can do shortcuts, omit stages or overtake others. After all, you have to check into your hotel at a decent time. Breakfast is skipped during the Tour (even as press representative you have to collect the days road book at 7 am at the latest), for lunch you quickly buy something at a bakery but in the evening a decent dinner is a must - after all you are in France and on "holiday".

Second Leg: 378 km (235 miles) from Vichy via Charade and through the Auvergne mountains to Lyon. As mentioned before, Charade is always a highlight – after passing the Puy de Dome you reach the race course which wonderfully winds its way through the volcanic cones of the Auvergne and has some impressive descents and ascents. Unfortunately the only Giulia Super in the field didn't survive the course and had to quit because of a technical problem.

Like often at the Tour Auto, a very special place was provided for the drivers lunch break - the Chateau de Vollore. Many of the thousands of castles in France are still privately owned and such a castle must be maintained – therefore they often serve as venues for events or workshops. Or as a decent framework for the regalement of the Tour Auto participants.

Third Leg: 457 km (284 miles) from Lyon via Bresse to Megève. A stage with a brand new race course, the Circuit de Bresse which however doesn't offer very good conditions for spectators and therefore we quickly continued to the Chateau de Rosay were the lunch break was planned. On the way we had a heavy shock – a BMW Z1 Cabrio lay upside down in the trench. The accident must have happened shortly before and we helped to roll over the car – with the fear the passengers might be injured or even dead. But they had a huge piece of luck: the car had overturned in a meadow without hitting something hard, the passengers were unhurt apart from bagatelles but the car was a total loss. Later in Rosay we talked to a former German teacher (who used to have the same Giulia like ours) and he told us that the Tour Auto sponsor had supplied the brand new Cabrios for some exclusive VIPs including the crashed car. We wondered who was going to pay for the damage …

Further on, there was quite a long stretch on the motorway to Lac Leman. You could think that the participants would be glad not to drive on windy roads for some time, but far wrong. The driver of one of the Jaguar E Type we met at the petrol station complained heavily about the long motorway stretch and we suspected that the organization was also confronted with that complaint. Anyhow, shortly afterwards there was a very nice stretch with a special stage which may have provided some reconciliation. And the following drive to Megève was very impressive with the brilliantly white Mont Blanc in the background.

Forth Leg: 543 km (338 miles) from Megève via the Vercors mountains to Aix en Provence. The longest stage. However, the same phenomenon occurs all the time: after the third day you are pretty worn already, the nights are very short and for the participants even shorter sometimes. The Porsche drivers from Munich had reached the hotel in Megève shortly before midnight and we met them before 7 in the morning in the Parc Fermé. But then there is a special stage on the Chamrousse (near Grenoble) – where you still have snow but you almost can "smell" the Provence and suddenly unknown energies emerge. The lunch break at the ruins of the "Convent des Carmes" was already very relaxed and the following stage across the Vercors ist absolutely beautiful and ends with the intriguing Col de Rousset on which base you finally have arrived in the "South".

The E-Type driver we met yesterday sure has enjoyed all those curves. One more special stage supplied even more curves and bends and also the rest of the stage leading further South can surly not be described as "straight". Unfortunately the driver of the Alfa Romeo 1900 CSS from 1957 (the most beautiful car in our opinion) made a fatal mistake which ended in a sidewise turn over causing severe damages. As we learned on the next day, he had planned to restore the car anyhow but the sight of the car was really saddening. Nevertheless he continued the race since "only" the car body had been harmed. They really made robust vehicles in the 50s.

Fifth and last Leg: 279 km (174 miles) from Aix en Provence via Le Castellet to Nice. The light rain during the night and in the morning didn't harm the good mood. By all means, the weather had been very good on that year's Tour – in some other years we had had quite different experiences. Meter high snow on Mont Revard in 1994 or a stage of more than 500 km (310 miles)in pouring rain in 2008. The first special stage of this day at the Massif de Sainte Baume led us over one the most beautiful roads in France and the sun came out as well. Shortly later, in the small village of Cuges before Le Catellet the local Classic Car Club always displays their cars and cheers to the competitors on their final stage. And of course the line of vehicles consisted mainly of Alfa Romeos!

It is about time to say a word about the audience: It is always astounding how many people line the roads and sometimes hold out for hours in every kind of weather. There are whole school classes waving from the school yard or the village youth standing at the speed bumps making a "La Ola" wave for every passing vehicle. 10 people in the pouring rain enjoy themselves under a large parasol and others line up their classic cars along the road. Sometimes you don't even need a road book because there are a number of people at each junction indicating the way. We sometimes cause confusion among the audience when we deviate from the intended route as non-competitors.

The Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet is not in the Formula 1 calendar anymore but it is nevertheless one of the most modern race courses in Europe. The surrounding landscape is sparse but very beautiful and somehow the color of the sky is a more intense blue than elsewhere.

For us, Le Castellet was the end of the Tour Auto 2010 while the participants proceeded as far as Beaulieu near Nice. The winner was a Ferrari 275 GTB in the regularity class and a Lotus Elan in the competition class.

Actually, we don't care much who wins because it is the event itself, the people, the landscapes and in general, the wonderful atmosphere which we enjoy so much. Even as we participate only in the margin as spectators, we feel like being part of it - well no, it's not us but our Giulia who is part of the show. Without her it would not be half the fun and we desperately hope that she will accompany us on many "Tours" to come.

And by the way: in 2010 there was again a Panhard taking part.