Ideal ‘long-weekend’ event for classic car enthusiasts in SW France!

If you are into street car racing or classic cars you would have loved today’s event… the streets of the ancient city of Angoulême were closed off to normal traffic today to allow hundreds of classic cars owners the chance to rev their engines, don their racing gear and hit the streets with their mean machines trying to win a place in history at the CIRCUIT DES REMPARTS IN ANGOULEME.

Classic car

It’s actually a weekend long event held every 3rd weekend in September and this year was the 70th Anniversary.  Thousands of spectators from all over the world came to see the spectacle.  The programme of events runs from the Friday when all the cars are exhibited in the stands around the city.  On the Saturday there is the ‘Rallye International de Charente‘ starting fromm 8.30am and departing from the Géant Casino (Supermarket) in the North of Angoulême and finishing at 5.30pm at the place Victor Hugo Square. There is also the ‘Présentation du Championnat de monde des Rallyes 1973 : Alpine A1100 Gr 4‘ – this starts at 3pm at the Esplanade du Champ de Mars.  These events are all free!  Then on the Sunday you have the main street racing events…

Spectators at Circuit des Remparts

There were ancient Bugatti, Morgan’s, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and dozens more actually racing.  The roar was incredible as they raced through the streets, taking the hairpin bends at break-neck speeds and  thundering towards the finish lines.  The crowds were loving it even the rain couldn’t dampen our spirits and the when the sun came out everyone cheered.

Spectators on the remparts

The city of Angoulême (the capital of the Charente Department) is, at any time pretty spectacular… with it’s Beautiful cathedral, churches, ancient fortifications (known as the ‘remparts’) encircling the city and so much more to offer visitors, that this most unusual weekend event only adds to it’s many attractions.

There were numerous ticket offices about were you could purchase entrance tickets for 13 euros each which allowed you to enter the remparts for excellent viewing or an armband was available for 26 euros each which included entrance to the remparts, the seated viewing area’s and the paddocks.  Not sure what the prices were for children – sorry!

There was also a very good Programme available from the ticket offices.  Here’s all 48 of the photo’s that I took on the day as well as a few scanned snaps of the Programme pages…

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So, if you fancy joining in all the fun next year why not book yourself in to our lovley gites here at La Treille which are only an hour away from all the action!