RALLYE DE PARIS – March 2004
A TOPS
mini-tour started proceedings for this year’s Rallye de Paris, with most of
those involved congregating at the picturesque Château de Barive, an
interesting Château north of Reims with great accommodation, fab food and a
surprisingly laid back approach to serving wine at any speed. Richard &
Trisha Pilkington, Chris & Sandy Wilson, John & Vicki Duncan, myself (Donald
Duncan) & Katie were joined just prior to dinner by Adrian & Joanna Van
der Kroft just as news broke that the Kirk and Alannah Rylands had suffered a
broken leaf spring on the XK140 whilst on the way to the ferry, and had managed
to find and fit a replacement! Bets were taken as to the first words muttered
by Kirk on his very late arrival, sadly all but a cognac serving night porter
had retired by then.
Friday
offered a chance to visit the old Reims circuit with photo opportunities with
the TOPS cars; all participated except the Rylands and myself who took the
scenic route, got lost (green cars!) and proceeded to the second port of call,
the Maison Moët et Chandon and Dom Perignon in Epernay, where Trisha had
arranged for us to experience the Champagne makers art at first hand and then
sample a good vintage in a private room, well you need a drink after the 18
miles of dusty cellars. Onward to Paris to the Rally HQ adjacent to the Eiffel
Tower.
Dinner
in Paris was a search and rescue affair with Richard and Jenny Wills arriving
with assistance after the BMW 507 got a bit warm in the rush hour traffic, and
Nick Duncan & Dan Waller in the Ace Bristol, arriving at 10pm having spent
3 ½ hours creating a map of Paris from
telephone instructions on to a blank sheet of paper!
Rally
proper started Saturday at the unfamiliar time of 0730 with a drivers’ briefing
that never happened, but cars started to leave for the 137 mile road route down
to Le Mans at 0800, most smoothly but one red AC had to be bump started over
the start line! Locals appeared excited by the sight of the cars, waving their
arms about as we went through the villages, we later found out they were trying
to hail Richard’s Alfa Romeo 164 which had ‘Celebrity’ on it in large
letters!
One
entrant was outstanding in his field having narrowly missed a tractor on a
right hander and taken to the brown stuff in his BMW Mini; although well rolled
and modified, all occupants appeared OK. Mechanical failure saw another vehicle
out as Dad’s Aceca Bristol broke a rear stub axle short of Le Mans, the second
consecutive ‘early bath’ for Dad on this event (last year it was a head
gasket). Better luck next year!
Circuit
Bugatti has been recently re-surfaced and provided a super smooth experience
and very enjoyable track time, interesting selection of driving skills,
sniggered to see a 275 GTB spin early on a right hander only to have the smirk
wiped off my face 2 laps later when I did the same in the Stratos, only pride
damaged. Good lunch and wine provided at the circuit followed by chronic
indigestion during the 112 mile road route down to the theme town of
Futuroscope for the evening.
The main social of the Rally proper was the Saturday
night Dinner in the Clarion Hotel; all 217 entrants were accommodated in the
one hotel, and one dining room. Thanks to the TOPS wine waiters the wine flowed
in sufficient quantities so as to make up for the Thursday evening drought.
Sunday morning arrived all too fast and before we knew it we were back on the
road to circuit Val de Vienne, only 40 miles, hardly enough to clear the head!
Regularity trial followed on the circuit, which appeared crowded after the Le
Mans experience, but found myself following Chris and Sandy around in almost
clear conditions. Chris decided to go for petrol pre-lunch and I followed, huge
mistake by the ‘Stra-tossers’ as we ended up driving back to Futuroscope before
we found a petrol station open, a round trip of 60 odd miles!
The
prize giving lunch was a TOPS benefit as Kirk took the XK140 to 3rd
place in class 1 and Chris took 2nd place in class 4 in the Stratos.
During a short but moving ceremony, Richard and Trisha were presented with a
delightful large format print, depicting a child and an American car for TOPS’
continued support of the event. It was just as well Richard had brought the
family saloon along as the print wouldn’t have fitted into anything else and it
would have been a shame to leave it there!
Trisha
had a suggested scenic route to our last port of call on the tour, the Château
de Beaulieu in Tours, a delightful establishment almost hidden in the busy area
of Joué-Les-Tours, a perfect resting place to end our tour.
Monday
morning, much like other Monday mornings, started with a panic, leave and drive
too fast cross country chasing Chris and Sandy to Calais, got news that Dad,
bored having not broken a car in 36 hours had lost 1st and 2nd
gear in his hire car and left it at Le Mans.
As
last year, the event was exciting, very enjoyable, and with the addition of the
early TOPS mini tour it made for a great long weekend. Once again the
organization goes to prove that Trisha Offers
Perfect Satisfaction.
D.D.