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For the second consecutive year, Vincent Lanthony and myself Herve Valette
took part in the last race of the Trophy Alain Fabre 2005, with a Renault
8 Gordini 1100 ex-Max Soleil.
 
Renault 8 Gordini 1100 Lanthony-Valette
Remeber the principle of this challenge of regularity: After 4 hours
of tests in the morning, the teams provide each one to the organization
their time of reference. During the 4 hours of race, the best crews will
be those which will have best approached their time of reference on the
60 best lathes among 100 entered turns. No system of timing is authorized
in the car. This one is the responsibility of a team-member on the edge
of the track.
 
Pace-car et Alpine A110 1600SC Merlin-Merlin
 
Simca 1000 Rallye Todeschini-Grand. - Porsche 911 2.7 Piette-Beudin
Recording Friday afternoon:
Year by year, the park car seems to change : Alfa Romea, BMW and Porsche.
Some professional teams like Polybaie to take part in this challenge!
We note the same Alpine A310 of the Faucheux-Faucheux crew, winner very
often of the Trophy and Alpine A110 SC of the Merlin-Merlin crew. However,
let us note a park car always also varied, from Chrevolet Corvette to
Citroen 2CV!
 
Chevrolet Corvette Allard-Allard - Citroën 2CV - Austin Mini
Tests saturdays morning:
Fog... Vincent engages the first tests. After 4 or 5 laps of grindings,
on the lathe of exit, it takes a stone which will be fatal with the
windshield! It is necessary for us to find a windshield emergency in
order to produce some turns to be qualified.
The mutual aid between conccurents was formidable. Mr. Idrac contacted
for us a friend having a garage at Manciet not far away of Nogaro. A
windshield was recovered of Renault 10 and was quickly re-installed
on our Renault 8. That allowed us to produce some turns of tests and
to validate a time of 2' 32! A relatively modest time, Vincent turns
regularly in 2' 20! But this choice appeared very judicious!
 
We peak-screw on the pit-lane whereas all others around us work !
Our strategy? One hour old relays, with a supply at the
end of 2 a.m
Race after midday:
After the lunch, we positioned the cars on the track for
a start like Le Mans, under the sun.
 
Start in ht order of the numbers
The windshield stays Ok !
The relays occur very well. In spite of sometimes the obstruction of
the track, we endeavour to hold our 2' 32 with each lap. The third relay
is disturbed during 5 laps by the entry of the pace car because, because
of an important oil trace at the end of the straight line, before the
corner of l'écolel.
 
BMW 2002 Ti Idrac-Muraciolle-Dareaou - Renault 8 Gordini 1100
With the last relay, Vincent takes the wheel and the
rain until we waited arrives! Our modestly powered car, equipped with
Michelin XAS tyres, makes it possible to Vincent to maintain our time
of 2' 32! It will not be the case of the majority of the conccurents.
 
Change of the tires for the ones, change of behaviour for the time clerks!
We then gain almost a place per lap! At 18:00, under a
returned sun, we are classified the 12th! Many other crews, left in
slick, will have to change tires before the end of the race.
For the general classification, the Faucheux-Faucheux crew
on Alpine A310 is classified 1st, the Enard-Sebe crew on Alfa Bertone
2L 2nd and Vigreux-Blatter 3rd. The Merlin-Merlin crew on Alpine A110
1600SC is classified 18th.
Here you can find the official general classification :
 
Alpine A310 Faucheux-Faucheux - Renault 8 Gordini 1100 Lanthony-Valette
We hold, Vincent and myself to thank Christine and Nicolas
for timing, the petrol supply and the intendance. We also thank Mr. Idrac,
pilot highly skilled of a BMW 2002 Ti without which, without windshield,
we could not have taken part!
Lastly, we invite you to visit the official site of the Trophée
Alain Fabre.
The Trophy Alain Fabre is the last financially accessible challenge today,
atmosphere between conccurents and organizers is superb. Once again, for
us, an excellent souvenir!
2005-10-16 - AlpineRenault.com
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