Starting off chilly but revving up with more sun every hour. The cyclecar, edwardian and vintage sports car plus 'moto' crowd had trailered in the best of their materials. Did we say trailer? Lots of them came on own wheels. Most courageous our friends of The Automobile who crossed the Channel with the very much unrestored Ford Woodie and a fine Peugeot that after visiting the banks of Montlhéry needed elaborate clutch maintenance. They were not the only ones who experienced hardship. The Citroën Tank couldn't race due to magneto issues. The vast majority however went out without too many issues. A not so environmental friendly Deguignand. Lots of oddball machinery, by example the brakeless, clutchless 1915 Chater Lea Special. The only(?) surviving blown d'Yrsan. The Morgan and Villard tricycle pick-up . The Tsjech designed and now recreated V4 Torpedo. And when did you last see a Mieusset. We can go on forever going down this track, but let's stay focussed. Let's not overlook the fleet of fabulous Voisins, brought together by Thierry Auffret. The countless rows of Bugattis. Or the 10 Amilcar C6s, nearly 25% of the total production! And the unbelievable 1911 Delage Coupe de l'Auto, believed to be the first car with fifth gear overdrive (for going faster downhill). The aerocar flown in by the Lane Motor Museum. The very last constructed but only recently finished BNC. The incountable number of Amilcars, Bugattis, Salmsons, Morgans, Sandfords and more. There were even two tandem Bedelias. Demo racing in classes from early in the morning till late in the afternoon. The atmosphere is hard to describe with a handfull of photos and words. It was magic. The machines were talking and we all were mere spectators. That's what we like to express with the small video. On the warm Sunday afternoon PreWarCar had the task to point out a few exquisite examples, possibly slightly more exquisite than all. Basically an impossible task, but what the heck. Helped by several scouts we chose the Sandford Club ATF for the Club Esprit Award, here presented to Remy Rucheton. The Amilcar C6 flown in from Japan by retired Formula I engineer Mr. Kawamoto received the Spirit of the Event Award. The prize for the most original motorbike went to a 1915 Indian oval racer( no brakes, no gears, no clutch, no paint). And finally the prize for the most original car handed over by organiser Vincent Chamont to Bernard Vaireaux for the most impressive 1922 GP Roland Pillain 8C, presented and raced by the Musée Henri Malarte from Lyon. An unforgettable weekend. See you all at Vintage Revival Montlhéry 2015!
↧