In order to keep everyone up to date of goings on in the world of the Grand Touring Club please keep checking my blog site. It will keep you updated with reports on all our events and news of upcoming tours.
I hope you enjoy reading and do send feedback, questions and enquiries to me at thomas@grandstandmotorsports.co.uk
Part 1 | Part 2
2009 so far.....
The group set off to France with a great sense of expectations for the event in Pau this year. Namely because new organiser Peter Auto (of Le Mans Classic fame) had taken on the event and had a lot of hard work to rebuild the reputation of it. There were also high expectations of some good weather for it, the last three years had seen torrential rain (see my race report in 2007)
The group met at Portsmouth for the evening boat to St Malo and an interesting mix of cars formed in the special loading lines on the dock. Of particular note were a host of Triumphs models not one but 2 x TR3A’s, a TR5 and a Stag. A potent Healy which had been widened by an inch to accommodate small block chevy V8! An MGB GT, a beautiful series 1 E-Type and modern sportscars being represented by an SL Mercedes Benz, a Bentley GT, Maserati 3200GT and Ferrari 360 Spider.
Whenever the Brittany Ferries night boat to St Malo is used on one of our tours we rarely pass up the opportunity to eat in the excellent Les Abers restaurant. Always a pleasant way to set the tone for the tour. As a younger lad (many years ago) whilst travelling with my Father (Nick) helping out on the tours I would usually end up in the bar above the restaurant on the boat watching some rather dubious cabaret act resulting in not being quite the full compliment when it came to disembarkation! I have found of late whilst in the more responsible position of leading the tours I can forgo the Abba tribute act or whatever it happens to be on that crossing and retire to the cabin straight after dinner.
As far as I’m concerned all roads from St Malo lead to the Manoir de l’Automobile at Loheac, a genuinely impressive private collection of 400 cars, and yes i did say private - one man’s collection! I visit the museum at least twice a year and I will still take the time to have another look around each time. The girls at the museum offer a welcome coffee and croissant to fuel us until lunch.
Interestingly I found myself leading an all single occupant vehicle train which seemed to settle into a good pace on the D-Roads to a simple lunch in a pleasant French square. It was then a pretty country route into La Rochelle for our first evenings stay. Having had time to freshen up the group strolled round to another firm favourite Brasserie Andre on the quay in the ‘vieux port’. The starter of Fruits de Mer made an impressive sight on the table. The meal continued to a similalrly high standard.
The following morning we set off to Rochefort for a visit to the ‘Cordorie Royale’ and the ‘Hermione’ the rope factory and a recreation of a XVII century naval frigate, I had been to see this impressive ship two years previous and struggled to note a huge amount of progress. Perhaps budget constraints were hindering the progress of the workforce as all work was being carried out by hand.
From here we toured along the Atlantic coast via the fortifications at Talmont then onto lunch at the the ‘cite des huitres’ at Marennes where a very pleasant al fresco lunch took place of oysters and very fresh fish. The group then took the opportunity to race the remote control boats and take in the rather serial holograms teaching oyster farming techniques.
From here we had a great drive along the Gironde estuary into Bordeaux country. Our second nights hotel overlooked the Gironde at Blaye. The hotel was very simple in a beautiful setting and with a great restaurant offering some fantastic wines.
As we prepared to leave the hotel this morning the drivers did their pre flight checks. The Father and son Gifford team discovered that the one of the tyres on their TR3A had worn all the tread off one half of the offside front! So the rest of the group continued along the route whilst I aided the Giffords at a very helpful local tyre garage who not only had a replacement tyre but some accurate tracking equipment to get the wheels re-aligned.
It was then a pleasant drive to our lunch stop on a farm in the heart of Gascony. With some spirited driving both myself and the Gifford’s were in time to join the group for the excellent meal. By this point Brimblecombe senior had joined the party and was able to host the lunch and joined us for the rest of the weekend in Pau.
Arriving in Pau, I went straight to the circuit to obtain race tickets from my contact at the Peter Auto organisation Gautier Rossignol. Having discussed the various the arrangements for our group I rejoined the group back at the hotel for a beer! With tickets in hand we lead the group to the Palais Beaumont for the competitors Gala dinner. This was a fine affair and we took Champagne on the terrace overlooking the circuit amongst all the drivers and teams. Dinner was very pleasant and we were welcomed by Patrick Peter who runs the Peter Auto Organisation stating his intentions for the event having taken it on from previous organisation.
Saturday morning, my Father and I took position at the front and attempted to lead the group from the hotel to the circuit....by car. Like any city both one way streets, traffic lights and traffic made this reasonably taxing, however we all got there. The reason for driving to the circuit was to take our position in the central paddock parking area we had been given. Getting here involved crossing the circuit between the practice sessions taking place. Once installed it was an excellent spot and a great base for us.
From here we went off to explore the paddock and watch the qualifying whilst having the instruction to return to the cars by midday for the parade laps! Gautier had instructed me that my Father and I should be the pace car in the e-Type he had bought down for the event. With everyone back at the cars in good time the excitement was building somewhat. From the Paddock we filtered down the pit lane and were held there behind some locally registered exotica in the form of a brand new Ferrari California, F430 spider and Audi R8! Not sure we had any concerns that they might hold us up! So with Brimblecombe senior at the controls we lead off. Having raced at the circuit before I could shout out some pace notes and I was genuinely impressed with the old man’s pace! With the supercars ahead out of sight we could settle into a reasonable pace, in fact I think the high speed kink on main straight a certain amount of mid corner adjustment was needed to our line. The laps were thoroughly enjoyable and I am certain over 5 laps were notched before we were called in. However the fun did not stop there! For those that were keen they could take sponsors out for a few more laps. With brakes well and truly cooked we took position back in our parking area, everyone seemingly pleased with our foray onto the circuit. From here we were in perfect time to lead everyone to lunch that we had organised in the paddock restaurant. After a pleasant three course lunch with local wines we could enjoy the comfort of the grandstands and some relaxed spectating.
Saturday was a free evening and before my ‘Pau ritual’ dinner of steak and Bearnaise sauce in a favourite Bistro I had to have a driving lesson! Good friend Martin Overington who was campaigning his Bugatti Type 35B in the weekends racing also had his Vintage ‘Blower’ Bentley at the event. Keen to drive the Blower on the Parade laps on Sunday he asked me if I would mind driving the Bentley to the Circuit on Sunday morning, who am I to refuse such an offer? Having not driven anything that old/special/valuable before it was advisable for Martin to take me out for a familiarisation session. I had to get used to centre throttle, very tricky gear box and non existent brakes but seemingly I must have passed the test. On Sunday morning I would be driving the car for real without the owner by my side giving instruction!
The time had arrived and I set about readying the car for the off, fortunately Martin had texted me the start up procedure which was not straight forward and I still managed to forget the fuel pumps on delaying the start procedure somewhat! However once moving things seemed to go well the gearbox being the most difficult aspect with double declutching required but remembering not to blip the throttle on the up shifts! The attention that the beast created from the locals was almost embarrassing; this is not a car for shy retiring types! I was almost gob smacked when we were nearly denied entry to the circuit for not having the correct pass! Oh well jobs for the boys and all that we managed to gain access.
The rest of the group mainly left their cars at the hotel today with it being just a ten-minute walk to the circuit from the hotel. The grids at Pau this year were more of quality than quantity with entries being quite low. However the organisation was infinitely better than the last three years and with the event now biennial I am positive that spectators and competitors alike were left feeling that it was a great event and will continue to improve.
Interest for our group was aided by a great showing by Martin Overington in his 35B with a third and a fourth place beaten only by an extremely quick ERA and another Bugatti running on methanol. Our friend Paul Chase Gardner was sharing his Aston Martin DB2/4 and Jaguar XK140 with his friend David Allen running in formation during the Trophée Phil Hill hour endurance race.
With event over on Monday morning those that had joined us for the three nights in Pau and our driving tour group went our separate ways. I stayed with the classic cars and drove over to Santander for the afternoon cruise ferry back to Portsmouth. After a farewell dinner on the boat we disembarqued and I headed back to the Midlands in preparation for the next event.
I hope you enjoy reading and do send feedback, questions and enquiries to me at thomas@grandstandmotorsports.co.uk
Part 1 | Part 2
2009 so far.....
Grand Prix de Pau Historique
8 - 26 May
The group set off to France with a great sense of expectations for the event in Pau this year. Namely because new organiser Peter Auto (of Le Mans Classic fame) had taken on the event and had a lot of hard work to rebuild the reputation of it. There were also high expectations of some good weather for it, the last three years had seen torrential rain (see my race report in 2007)
The group met at Portsmouth for the evening boat to St Malo and an interesting mix of cars formed in the special loading lines on the dock. Of particular note were a host of Triumphs models not one but 2 x TR3A’s, a TR5 and a Stag. A potent Healy which had been widened by an inch to accommodate small block chevy V8! An MGB GT, a beautiful series 1 E-Type and modern sportscars being represented by an SL Mercedes Benz, a Bentley GT, Maserati 3200GT and Ferrari 360 Spider.
Whenever the Brittany Ferries night boat to St Malo is used on one of our tours we rarely pass up the opportunity to eat in the excellent Les Abers restaurant. Always a pleasant way to set the tone for the tour. As a younger lad (many years ago) whilst travelling with my Father (Nick) helping out on the tours I would usually end up in the bar above the restaurant on the boat watching some rather dubious cabaret act resulting in not being quite the full compliment when it came to disembarkation! I have found of late whilst in the more responsible position of leading the tours I can forgo the Abba tribute act or whatever it happens to be on that crossing and retire to the cabin straight after dinner.
As far as I’m concerned all roads from St Malo lead to the Manoir de l’Automobile at Loheac, a genuinely impressive private collection of 400 cars, and yes i did say private - one man’s collection! I visit the museum at least twice a year and I will still take the time to have another look around each time. The girls at the museum offer a welcome coffee and croissant to fuel us until lunch.
Interestingly I found myself leading an all single occupant vehicle train which seemed to settle into a good pace on the D-Roads to a simple lunch in a pleasant French square. It was then a pretty country route into La Rochelle for our first evenings stay. Having had time to freshen up the group strolled round to another firm favourite Brasserie Andre on the quay in the ‘vieux port’. The starter of Fruits de Mer made an impressive sight on the table. The meal continued to a similalrly high standard.
The following morning we set off to Rochefort for a visit to the ‘Cordorie Royale’ and the ‘Hermione’ the rope factory and a recreation of a XVII century naval frigate, I had been to see this impressive ship two years previous and struggled to note a huge amount of progress. Perhaps budget constraints were hindering the progress of the workforce as all work was being carried out by hand.
From here we toured along the Atlantic coast via the fortifications at Talmont then onto lunch at the the ‘cite des huitres’ at Marennes where a very pleasant al fresco lunch took place of oysters and very fresh fish. The group then took the opportunity to race the remote control boats and take in the rather serial holograms teaching oyster farming techniques.
From here we had a great drive along the Gironde estuary into Bordeaux country. Our second nights hotel overlooked the Gironde at Blaye. The hotel was very simple in a beautiful setting and with a great restaurant offering some fantastic wines.
As we prepared to leave the hotel this morning the drivers did their pre flight checks. The Father and son Gifford team discovered that the one of the tyres on their TR3A had worn all the tread off one half of the offside front! So the rest of the group continued along the route whilst I aided the Giffords at a very helpful local tyre garage who not only had a replacement tyre but some accurate tracking equipment to get the wheels re-aligned.
It was then a pleasant drive to our lunch stop on a farm in the heart of Gascony. With some spirited driving both myself and the Gifford’s were in time to join the group for the excellent meal. By this point Brimblecombe senior had joined the party and was able to host the lunch and joined us for the rest of the weekend in Pau.
Arriving in Pau, I went straight to the circuit to obtain race tickets from my contact at the Peter Auto organisation Gautier Rossignol. Having discussed the various the arrangements for our group I rejoined the group back at the hotel for a beer! With tickets in hand we lead the group to the Palais Beaumont for the competitors Gala dinner. This was a fine affair and we took Champagne on the terrace overlooking the circuit amongst all the drivers and teams. Dinner was very pleasant and we were welcomed by Patrick Peter who runs the Peter Auto Organisation stating his intentions for the event having taken it on from previous organisation.
Saturday morning, my Father and I took position at the front and attempted to lead the group from the hotel to the circuit....by car. Like any city both one way streets, traffic lights and traffic made this reasonably taxing, however we all got there. The reason for driving to the circuit was to take our position in the central paddock parking area we had been given. Getting here involved crossing the circuit between the practice sessions taking place. Once installed it was an excellent spot and a great base for us.
From here we went off to explore the paddock and watch the qualifying whilst having the instruction to return to the cars by midday for the parade laps! Gautier had instructed me that my Father and I should be the pace car in the e-Type he had bought down for the event. With everyone back at the cars in good time the excitement was building somewhat. From the Paddock we filtered down the pit lane and were held there behind some locally registered exotica in the form of a brand new Ferrari California, F430 spider and Audi R8! Not sure we had any concerns that they might hold us up! So with Brimblecombe senior at the controls we lead off. Having raced at the circuit before I could shout out some pace notes and I was genuinely impressed with the old man’s pace! With the supercars ahead out of sight we could settle into a reasonable pace, in fact I think the high speed kink on main straight a certain amount of mid corner adjustment was needed to our line. The laps were thoroughly enjoyable and I am certain over 5 laps were notched before we were called in. However the fun did not stop there! For those that were keen they could take sponsors out for a few more laps. With brakes well and truly cooked we took position back in our parking area, everyone seemingly pleased with our foray onto the circuit. From here we were in perfect time to lead everyone to lunch that we had organised in the paddock restaurant. After a pleasant three course lunch with local wines we could enjoy the comfort of the grandstands and some relaxed spectating.
Saturday was a free evening and before my ‘Pau ritual’ dinner of steak and Bearnaise sauce in a favourite Bistro I had to have a driving lesson! Good friend Martin Overington who was campaigning his Bugatti Type 35B in the weekends racing also had his Vintage ‘Blower’ Bentley at the event. Keen to drive the Blower on the Parade laps on Sunday he asked me if I would mind driving the Bentley to the Circuit on Sunday morning, who am I to refuse such an offer? Having not driven anything that old/special/valuable before it was advisable for Martin to take me out for a familiarisation session. I had to get used to centre throttle, very tricky gear box and non existent brakes but seemingly I must have passed the test. On Sunday morning I would be driving the car for real without the owner by my side giving instruction!
The time had arrived and I set about readying the car for the off, fortunately Martin had texted me the start up procedure which was not straight forward and I still managed to forget the fuel pumps on delaying the start procedure somewhat! However once moving things seemed to go well the gearbox being the most difficult aspect with double declutching required but remembering not to blip the throttle on the up shifts! The attention that the beast created from the locals was almost embarrassing; this is not a car for shy retiring types! I was almost gob smacked when we were nearly denied entry to the circuit for not having the correct pass! Oh well jobs for the boys and all that we managed to gain access.
The rest of the group mainly left their cars at the hotel today with it being just a ten-minute walk to the circuit from the hotel. The grids at Pau this year were more of quality than quantity with entries being quite low. However the organisation was infinitely better than the last three years and with the event now biennial I am positive that spectators and competitors alike were left feeling that it was a great event and will continue to improve.
Interest for our group was aided by a great showing by Martin Overington in his 35B with a third and a fourth place beaten only by an extremely quick ERA and another Bugatti running on methanol. Our friend Paul Chase Gardner was sharing his Aston Martin DB2/4 and Jaguar XK140 with his friend David Allen running in formation during the Trophée Phil Hill hour endurance race.
With event over on Monday morning those that had joined us for the three nights in Pau and our driving tour group went our separate ways. I stayed with the classic cars and drove over to Santander for the afternoon cruise ferry back to Portsmouth. After a farewell dinner on the boat we disembarqued and I headed back to the Midlands in preparation for the next event.
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