heading south - and got apprehended for speeding. We caught up with the Tour at Lédenon circuit 25km north of Nimes. Lédenon is a slightly unusual track, in that its lap is run anti-clockwise like the former Aintree and present-day Austin and Adelaide. Once on a lap, this is of little consequence, and it was the onset of rain that diluted the drivers’ experiences on the myriad ‘Micky Mouse’ bends. World rally star Ari Vatanen and François Chatriot rose to the occasion in their BMW M5, executing masterful crowd-pleasing broadside drifts through the turns. Ari said ‘my car is a BMW M5 CS with 635bhp: it’s fast and furious, and not everybody can do this on the fabulous Tour Auto.’ Leader of the regularity grid after this fourth stage was the Ferrari 275 GTB of Brocades Zaalberg / Drapeau, while the first three cars in the competition category were the glorious-sounding Matra MS650, the Porsche 911 2.3 ST of Beck / Schaffer, and the media duo Pernaut / Cohen in their Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAm – all three completely different in respect of powertrain locations. Overnight destination was Nîmes, with crowded parc fermé adjacent to the arcaded Roman amphitheatre. Highlight of the final day was the visit to the legendary Paul-Ricard circuit at Le Castellet. Scene of countless heroic episodes, here was the opportunity for Tour Auto contestants to fully exploit the performance
of their cars on the 3.8 km blacktop. Linked to the equally spectacular Route Napoleon, the final stretch took the retinue past the perched villages of the Var region, including Fayence, motoring down to Nice on the Mediterranean for the final pass beneath the Tour’s inflatable arch on the Promenade des Anglais. Winners in the Competition class were Christophe Van Riet and Eric Werner in their Shelby Cobra 289, ahead of the Jaguar E-type of Sébastien Berchon and Sébastien Bordier and the Shelby Cobra of Damien Kohler and Sylvie Laboisne. In fourth in their Porsche 904 Carrera GTS were Claudio Siriani, Jean-Marc and Patricia Bussolini, while GP star Thierry Boutsen piloted a 2.0-litre 911 to fifth. Marc and Thomas Jay in their Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF headed the Regularity section, followed by Jean-François and François Nicoules in their Mercedes-Benz ‘Gullwing’ 300 SL and, notably, Jean-Luc George and Jennifer Hugo placing 6th in their Lotus Cortina. It was more about the taking part than achieving high placings: as Porsche 911 racer Gaby von Oppenheim remarked ‘We arrived at the finish okay and we ran a lot in between, and we didn’t achieve a particularly high placement. But who cares? The Tour Auto is always an incredible experience, and the main thing is that it was a lot of fun.’ It was time for us to spin the Boxster around and embark on the long haul back to Blighty.
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