Motor racing in France 2006.
Dear Drivers,
Well it's that time of year again. It's the wintertime and our thoughts are turning towards what we will be doing next year. Certainly I hope this will include some hill climbing in France. Next year it is planned to take groups of drivers to at least five separate French events. At least three of them will be two day events and as per normal, super value for money. Once again Condor Ltd are offering us a great deal on the ferry crossing. There will be a limited number of those places available at each event. So book early!
The first of the three main events chosen, is to take place in the tiny village of Hebecrevon. The nearest town to the course is St Lo. This is located in Western Normandy and is about 78 miles from St Malo.
Hebecrevon is one you may not know, but for those of you who came to La Pommeraye in '05, it is a similar course. It is a round of the French National Championship ( Division 2 ) There will be the usual big French teams there with the Formula 3000 cars as well as the BMW 3 litre sports cars. The course is very challenging, there are some tight sections followed by some very fast and exciting parts. I am still in the process of arranging the insurances etc but I will soon need to know how many local drivers are interested. Next on the list is La Pommeraye. After the success of last years event we have a few plans to improve the social part of this years hill climb. Finally there is St Goueno. This is just a short hop from St Malo at only 55 miles “Door to Door”. This is a fabulous event that we are sure you will all enjoy. The event in 2005 involved about 55 kilometres driving over the two days.
The dates for this years events are as follows. ( Please note that if there are changes I will contact everyone in good time.)
Hebecrevon 15th and 16th of April 2006 La Pommeraye 13th and 14th of May 2006.
St Goueno 26th and 27th of August 2006.
The situation regarding Double Drives.
Firstly it's important to clear up the situation on double drives. At La Pommeraye last year we tried to run double driven cars. There were some problems caused by the language situation and time delay in turning the cars round at the end of each run. La Pommeraye is a round of the Championship of France and is a very slick operation when the runs are on.The French motor sport federation have heavily criticised the organiser of La Pommeraye for the delays in 2005 and threatened to revoke the venues license if British double drives are accepted for 2006. So unfortunately No double drives will be accepted for La Pommeraye. This will also be the case for Hebecrevon. I'm sorry if this comes as a blow, but the only event we have permission to run double drives at will be St Goueno.
Ferry Travel.
The format of the ferry travel will be slightly different this year so as to guarantee that there is enough space on the ferry. Condor Ltd have asked if we could avoid everyone travelling on the same sailing. They have put an operational limit on the ferry for vehicles towing trailers at four per sailing. There is a limit on the car carrying lorries as well, at six. This means that we will be operating a first come, first served policy on the ferry travel. There will only be a limited number of places available due to the simple logistics of getting to the event. It will simply be a case of whoever fills out the forms correctly and pays for the ferry first, will be on the trip.
Ferry Booking.
As with last year, I Have negotiated a price for the ferry crossing. Once you have registered with us for the event, you will receive a special registration form for the crossings. If you use the form you will receive a discount on the crossing to France. You may wish to go to an event a day or so early. This has a number of advantages. You can make a little holiday of the trip and if you avoid the weekends you will more often than not have a lot less congestion on the ferry. Hebecrevon is an event that it is best to arrive early at. The pits area is a private housing estate and space is limited. The earlier you get there, the better your spot will be.
Driving to, and staying at the events.
This year you will be responsible for getting yourself from St Malo to the event and for sorting out your own accommodation. France is a country full of places to stay and each town has it's own tourist board. The Internet is a very good place to start. I will endeavour to contact the organisers in advance to get a list of local hotels but unfortunately I will be unable to call them on your behalf. If all else fails there are travel agents in Guernsey who can do the job for you.
French Scrutineering.
All of the events we will be going to in 2006 will be National events, this means that safety equipment will have to be up to National Status standards. Three inch wide seatbelts and plumbed in Fire Extinguishers are mandatory. It is also mandatory that you have at least one rear view mirror and a rearward facing red lamp which is the high visibility fog lamp type. Please check that you have all of these as the French scrutineers are sure to! If you have not been to France before, check with either Colin Le Maitre, ( Local Scrutineer. ) or myself as to the requirements.
Fuel tanks.
I have noted that a number of the chaps who came to France last year were still running very small fuel tanks. Panic set in when they realised they were expected to make two runs on a five mile round trip without filling up. Again this is something that caused problems for the French organisers and at my meeting with them after La Pommeraye last year, they demanded that the British competitors have a minimum on five litres capacity. Please remember that at St Goueno one run equals seven kilometres driving. If you get red flagged you may well have to drive fourteen kilometres without filling up. Again please remember that gaining these permissions to allow you to run has taken a fair bit of negotiation on my part and I don't enjoy finding excuses when you have simply run out of petrol.
Self starting.
I am sure that those who came last year will see the wisdom of my suggestion that your cars have batteries capable of self starting the cars. Hebecrevon is an event which is heavy on batteries. In 2003 I went there by myself and didn't have a crew. I counted the number of starts on the Saturday when there were several accidents in practice. On one run I made seven starts, If I had not been able to start myself, there was no-one there to help me and I would have been stuck.
Tyres.
For those of you who haven't been before, please rest assured that none of the events, is very hard on tyres so you will not need to buy a set especially for France.
French translation service.
This year I will be putting a small charge onto the entries as racing in France is to become a part time job for me. I will be pleased to sort out all of the administration and paperwork prior to the trip. I will help organise the ferry trip and help a little, on tips for driving to the event. Once at the event paddock, I will help with the signing on, the scrutineering and the drivers briefing . I will be available to sort out and local difficulties and hopefully assist with any mechanical ones too. I will have a fact sheet available for every driver. This will list in detail everything important for you to know about taking part in French events.
Anglo-French Championship.
Finally, I will be running a Championship open to all RAC licence holders. There will be cash prizes at the final event. More information on the Championship will be available in December when my web site is active.
So if you fancy having a go for the first time or you came last year and you want to come again, please e-mail me at guilleracing@cwgsy.net to register your interest.
Greg Guille.