Tour Auto Presents Again Its Journey Across France
As in every year, the Tour Auto, the revival of the famous Tour de France Automobile, crossed France by way of small back roads and the most popular race tracks, all in a struggle against the clock. The Peter Auto organization once again did a superb job of arranging this outstanding journey over several days from April 29 to May 4.
On presentation day, all the cars and crews gathered in the Grand Palais in Paris for preparation and scrutineering. From Paris, the 240 crews took the start on Thursday morning and headed out on a long journey through the most picturesque parts of France, with stops at Dijon, Lyon, Vichy and Tours before joining the finish line at Deauville on Saturday night.
On the road, there were lots of special road tests and also competitions on the race tracks of Dijon-Prenois, Magny Cours, Charade and Le Mans, all to determinate the future winner.
Two class were available. First was Competition, where there were four 308 GTB Group 4/B cars, with a serious chance for first place in GHI group, like the ex-Pozzi Team s/n 31135 or the Gr.B s/n 18869 (third at the Rallye di Sicilia - Targa Florio 1984 with Zanini).
Second was Regularity, where eight Ferrari were entered. The oldest was the 250 GT Boano, s/n 0661 GT, which had a race history in Belgium with Robert Crevits in hill climbs (See Cavallino 227).
By the way, the opening presentation of the Tour Auto at the Grand Palais was the opportunity for Ferrari to unveil for the first time in France the new F8 Tributo.
Information and images from Arnaud Meunier, Julien Hergault and Mathieu Bonnevie.
A full report of the 2019 Tour Auto, with more images and a complete list of Ferrari entrants and chassis numbers, will be in Cavallino 232. Subscribe today to follow the historic Ferraris.
