As the historic racing season drew to a close, Richard and Trisha Pilkington's TOPS historic racing car club masterminded an 'end of term' October tour culminating in a Grand Prix car demonstration at the Albi historic meeting. This was prefaced by a period of tyre-testing with the new range of Michelin-produced Englebert historic racing tyres, and a private familiarisation session at the splendid new Charade circuit at Clermont Ferrand, the quieter interludes being filled with some good-spirited socialising and cultural activities along the way.

On the Wednesday, proceedings commenced at Michelin's test facility at Ladoux, just outside Clermont Ferrand in the heart of the Auvergne, where the tyre giant's manufacturing enterprise is based, with seven cars selected to test the latest developments of the Englebert competition tyre which has been developed by Michelin for use in historic racing, under the enthusiastic guidance of division director, Jacques Rouffet. The group of testers included the 308C of Paul Grist, the ERAs of Martin Morris and Sir John Venables-Llewelyn, the Talbot Lagos of Richard Pilkington and Belgian Baron, François d'Huart, Kirk Rylands' HWM and Trisha Pilkington's Alfa Romeo Monza.

For some it was their first sampling of the new tyre, while others had been involved from the outset when the TOPS group were selected by Michelin to undertake a test programme in conjunction with the relaunch of the Englebert name. The general reaction was favourable, and in particular comment heard was that the tyres offered progressive breakaway and recovery characteristics. Wet-weather testing continued the following morning for all except the Grist Alfa which developed a fuel leak from the bottom union of its bag tank; this was ultimately rectified in time to proceed to Albi.

Thursday afternoon was spent at the 'new' Charade circuit, which incorporates the southern section of the former Grand Prix circuit, part of which still remains a public road, with the two extreme points connected by a new link section. Although facilities are in their early stages of development, the only permanent building being a grandstand, the circuit capitalises on the undulating geography with considerable rise and fall within its 4km lap. Here the tyre-test group was augmented by a further seven cars and of these, Ted Rollason in the only disc-braked car, Tony Smith's B-type Connaught, was ecstatic in praise of the circuit. It places a high premium on braking and lacking a straight of any consequence tends to favour more modern cars, the older and heavier drum-braked cars suffering from severe brake-fade. The circuit occupies a most magnificent setting, and although, in length, now a shadow of the original Grand Prix circuit, the new track retains echoes of the 8km road circuit where Clark won in commanding style at its first GP in 1965, and where Stewart won in 1969 and 1972, when Kiwi here Chris Amon left the outright lap record standing at 166.751 kph after nearly winning with the V12 Matra. It was also the circuit where the switchbacks made Jochen Rindt physically ill in the Lotus 49B in 1969, when he dispensed with his full-face helmet and raced in an old open-faced version borrowed from close friend Piers Courage, but was still unable to complete the distance. These men are all heroes of the enthusiastic circuit director, Patrice Besquet, who had generously arranged for the road to be closed and the circuit marshalled for the afternoon to allow the TOPS group some familiarisation time, and to allow for some local publicity.

The following day was spent by most of the group in taking in some of the splendid scenery in the immediate vicinity, the main features of the landscape having been formed as the result of volcanic activity, with lunch being taken at the top of the highest of these, the spectacular Puy de Dome, with diversion taking the form of a group of parascending locals above the restaurant terrace.

By various routes, the participants wound their way the next 300 kms further south to Albi on the Saturday where a gala dinner was the prelude to Sunday's meeting. For the first time during the trip the weather had taken on a decidedly unwelcoming look and for the morning session the track was very wet, although the worst of the rain had abated. The meeting was typical of French historic events which are run, in the main, as demonstrations and feature fairly diverse categories, with a couple of motorcycle classes thrown in for good measure and is the brainchild of circuit owner, collector and sometime historic race René Mauries, who wielded the tricoleur and chequered flag throughout the day in a style reminiscent of the late Toto Roche. The circuit itself is the airfield perimeter track used for the post-war F2 races, and still in use for French national events such as F3 and touring cars, and was much to the liking of the TOPS contingent, the only chicane being of the 'bus-stop' variety and with some decent straights, although flag-marshalling left a good deal of the imagination. In the first session, the two ERAs, the Grist Alfa, Pilkington's Talbot-Lago and Ted Rollason's Connaught put on a spirited display in the damp conditions at the head of the field with Ryland's HWM and Graham Burrows' Cooper-Bristol indulging in a close scrap, and 'Spike' Milligan's A-type Connaught slicing through the field after trouble with his first gear off the line. After lunch, the track had dried and the rain held off and the lead battle developed, once again, between the ERAs, the Alfa which Paul had very sideways on a number of occasions, the Talbot-Lago, and briefly Burrows' Cooper-Bristol, having lost Ted Rollason when the de Dion tube sheared leaving the rear wheels at odds with each other. The leaders held the crowd's interest while other dices down the field kept them well entertained and appreciative of the effort involved in assembling a group of cars of a type rarely seen in this part of France, and in return the French hosts had made the group most welcome, rounding off an excellent itinerary in which the participants (and their wives) had had some fun and hopefully entertained a few people along the way, which should augur well for expanding interest in the world of historic racing. (First published in Motor Sport)

A.S.D.C.

En février, lors du Salon Rétromobile se déroulant à Parisk, Jacques Rouffet, responsible du secteur du pneu ancien chez Michelin, a présenté le nouveau pneumatique conçu par ses services pur équiper les Formule 1 historiques. Ce pneu testé en mars par l'équipe britannique TOPS sur les pistes Michelin de Ladoux, s'est révélé immédiatement très compétiif.

Cependant, les propriétaires de Formule 1 historiques lui faisaient un reproche: avoir un dessin et une sculpture non historiques, puisqu'à l'époque Michelin ne réalisait pas de pneus pour les Formule 1. Afin de remédier à ce problème et dans le cadre d'accords avec Continental, Michelin a négocié avec ce dernier la possibilité de réutiliser le dessin et les sculptures des pneus belges Englebert (qui équipaient dans les années cinquante les voitures de F1 Ferrari et Gordini).

Grâce à cela, Michelin a pu sortir un nouveau pneu, baptisé Englebert by Michelin, qui a été présenté en première mondiale lors du plus important meeting historique européen, organisé fin juilet à Silverstone. C'est l'écurie britannique TOPS qui avait organisé cette présentation.

En octobre dernier, la même équipe TOPS est venue à Ladoux et à Charade pour tester le pneumatique dans sa nouvelle configuation.

Les résultats de ces tests sont très prometteurs et Michelin a d'ores et déjà entrepris auprès de la Fédération internationale de l'automobile le processus d'homologation de ce nouveau pneu, qui viendra concurrencer le Dunlop (pour le moment, seul pneu homologué en F1 historique). Histoire à suivre, donc ………. (ACA)