Grand Prix de Pau Historique 2009(And other possible events)

[Samoan Attorney]

This came up on the Goodwood thread and I though as no one else had mentioned it I would post the news.

Grand Prix de Pau Historique 2009
Tuesday, September 30. 2008 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Grand Prix Historique de Pau The Grand Prix de Pau Historique takes a fresh start. Actually, an agreement was signed between the ASA Basco Béarnais (local Automobile Club) and historic events well known organiser Patrick Peter (Le Mans Classic, Tour Auto, Ronde du Ventoux, Classic Endurance Racing ….- for a new look Grand Prix de Pau Historique.

The quality and the fame of this magic town circuit –same as Monaco-, combined with Peter Auto's know how and experience should allow the Grand Prix de Pau Historique to join the "must do" exclusive club in worldwide historic motor racing field.

The Grand Prix de Pau Historique should take place every other year, giving the owners of major cars the promise of a high level event by turn with the Le Mans Classic and the Grand Prix Historique of Monaco.

Next event: 23 & 24 May 2009.

Pau is not a place for the faint of heart...........but could be a fantastic weekend.

John Brooks

[henk4]

so definitively not a good idea to move the Silverstone classic to the May Bank Holiday weekend.....

The Mont Ventoux Hillclimb revival is also done by Peter. Possibly at a date when the snow has disappeared. Will it bring out the Shelsley Walsh cars? It will be the long stretch from Bedoin to the top, 19 km...(I did it once on a bicycle)

[john ruston]

We are talking about UK based teams and there is an end of May gap in their calenders although I think Masters have one of their meetings on the same date as Pau.The Pau meeting lost money for some of the organisers this year.Pau made sense when it was one week after Monaco.Less Uk Teams will want to visit Europe so cater to their needs at home.I am still not convienced about Classic Endurance as its just one race for one car.Many owners want at least two races for two cars should one go wrong.This is why the Motor Racing Legends series are expanding.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by john ruston

We are talking about UK based teams and there is an end of May gap in their calenders although I think Masters have one of their meetings on the same date as Pau.The Pau meeting lost money for some of the organisers this year.Pau made sense when it was one week after Monaco.Less Uk Teams will want to visit Europe so cater to their needs at home.I am still not convienced about Classic Endurance as its just one race for one car.Many owners want at least two races for two cars should one go wrong.This is why the Motor Racing Legends series are expanding.

CER allows more cars by one owner (see for instance Claude Nahum, who brings his GT40 and his Lola T70, and his GT40 went wrong at the last race in Silverstone)

Does the Pau event concentrate on open wheelers like Monaco or will there be a more mixed field?

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by henk4

The Mont Ventoux Hillclimb revival is also done by Peter. Possibly at a date when the snow has disappeared. Will it bring out the Shelsley Walsh cars? It will be the long stretch from Bedoin to the top, 19 km...(I did it once on a bicycle)

Not too sure that these events will cater to the same people. I realise that originally hillclimbs (of this type) attracted racing cars from all areas of motorsport but these days the cars are very different for each discipline. With the exception of the pre war cars its unlikely to atttract the pre 65 GP cars and of course the tin tops too.

(Thread title amended slightly).

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Not too sure that these events will cater to the same people. I realise that originally hillclimbs (of this type) attracted racing cars from all areas of motorsport but these days the cars are very different for each discipline. With the exception of the pre war cars its unlikely to atttract the pre 65 GP cars and of course the tin tops too.

(Thread title amended slightly).

Well I am hoping to see some of the "small tank capacity" specialities coming out of hibernation. The last time I saw the unique Ferrari 212E in action was at the FoS in 2002. May be we can see some of the Klausen cars as well.

[john ruston]

The Ventoux Hillclimb can cater for all cars .Its superb.
Pau can be expensive with no run off areas
Classic Endurance Weekends-Pieter,In my opinion it would be better if there were two Historic races catering for seperate types of car.Not two cars for one race.Last week at Spa we had three cars in four seperate races.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by john ruston

The Ventoux Hillclimb can cater for all cars .Its superb.
Pau can be expensive with no run off areas
Classic Endurance Weekends-Pieter,In my opinion it would be better if there were two Historic races catering for seperate types of car.Not two cars for one race.Last week at Spa we had three cars in four seperate races.

I agree with you about the limited time offered for the CER, but it is only a supporting programme to the main LMS race. We can start to try to convince Guillaume that one race on Saturday and one race on Sunday morning would be more attractive.
Ventoux will indeed be superb (also from a photographers point of view ) Logistics would be a bit of problem, but it is planned to accommodate everybody in Gap.

[Peter Mallett]

Perhaps I should clarify. I meant that I doubt if the same owners/drivers would be attracted to a hillclimb as those who race. And yes I realise 19km is more than a normal hill.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Perhaps I should clarify. I meant that I doubt if the same owners/drivers would be attracted to a hillclimb as those who race. And yes I realise 19km is more than a normal hill.

well it may lure out racers who hardly get an opportunity to race at all. Don't want to sound blase, but another event for the usual suspects would be less interesting for me...

[simon drabble]

there is a similar thread on the other place - as has been said before next year is going to be tough and I predict that most "clubbies" will concentrate on domestic rounds. Given that Pau has relied so much on Brits historically it could suffer. I haven't been since the old mayor pegged it but I gather it has lost a lot of its original charm....

[henk4]

Originally Posted by simon drabble

there is a similar thread on the other place - as has been said before next year is going to be tough and I predict that most "clubbies" will concentrate on domestic rounds. Given that Pau has relied so much on Brits historically it could suffer. I haven't been since the old mayor pegged it but I gather it has lost a lot of its original charm....

maybe the Peter organisation is confident that they can attract more entrants than only Brits. There are historic racers in other countries too

[Peter Mallett]

henk,

You may well have a point re the usual suspects but then again who else is there?

I also think the economic climate may well mitigate against the bigger events, especially those that rely to a greater extent upon corporate funding.

Off topic comment alert I have to type this or my brain will explode! With the nationlisation of banks throughout the world, the rules for expenditure of companies will necessarily be changed and if it don't contribute to the bills, there may be restrictions applied. It may therefore come down to those of us who fund our own racing and indeed enter events where the spectators don't affect the viability of the event (closed meetings) to keep the club/historic racing scene going. All of which means the major festivals may well suffer in the near to medium term. Thanks for reading, you've been a wonderful audience. Don't forget to try the veal and tip your waitress. We now return you to the topic

I trust my feelings are wrong.

[simon drabble]

Originally Posted by henk4

maybe the Peter organisation is confident that they can attract more entrants than only Brits. There are historic racers in other countries too

strip all the Brits out of the Pau meeting and it would be a thin card.... same as Spa 6 Hour meeting. That is not me talking up the British historic racing scene merely a point of fact. Mind you the problems that we are experiencing are hardly limit to us so I think the Euro's and Americans will possibly think twice before venturing over to us....

[john ruston]

Ventoux is worth saving the pennies for(or rials)Four or Five runs really sort men from boys

[rogerwills]

Originally Posted by simon drabble

strip all the Brits out of the Pau meeting and it would be a thin card.... same as Spa 6 Hour meeting. That is not me talking up the British historic racing scene merely a point of fact. Mind you the problems that we are experiencing are hardly limit to us so I think the Euro's and Americans will possibly think twice before venturing over to us....

To be honest, very few made it to Pau this year. So any improvement on that will be for the good, whether brits or whoever.....

[simon drabble]

it clashed this year with something didn't it - was it Brands Super Prix? With the possible rationalization of racers the various clubs should concentrate more than ever before to ensure no big name event clashes next year

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

henk,

You may well have a point re the usual suspects but then again who else is there?

I also think the economic climate may well mitigate against the bigger events, especially those that rely to a greater extent upon corporate funding.



I trust my feelings are wrong.

Peter, yes at this time we should see the whole development of historic racing in the context of the economic circumstances. And to be honest when I listened to the rather subdued speech of Lord March on Sunday afternoon at the Goodwood Revival I got an itchy feeling that he knew a little more about the future than we do now.

On the other hand, there is still many historic racers in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Spain and Portugal that might want to venture out for a prime historic event, such as Mont Ventoux etc. But could it not be that the most competitive cars (and drivers) are in the UK, which almost automatically makes entry from people from other countries less attractive.
What btw was the share of British participation at the Nuerburgring venue in early August? They seem to have their fields quite filled up, but I never go there anymore because it clashes with the Pebble Beach/Laguna Seca related events.
Also the share of British participation in the CER is not that big, which lots of Germans and French cars being entered.

I am absolutely not saying that I do not like to see the Brits out.....but I also think if they stayed away, it would not be the end of historic racing as we know it now.

[john ruston]

Brits made up a great percentage of the field at Oldtimers .If the Brits stay away from Europe it would not be the end of Historic Racing but it would certainly be different.Tour Auto and Tour Espania have less British entries due to costs and I would presume both Ventoux and Pau will be short of Brits due to Euro and Money in general.I can see entry fees at Goodwood and less meetings overall.Bravest man in racing is probably Ron Madden who has a tremendous job in front of him to keep his organisation afloat.Even I was impressed by their set up at Spa,
The face of Historic Racing is due for a major change

[henk4]

Originally Posted by john ruston

Brits made up a great percentage of the field at Oldtimers .If the Brits stay away from Europe it would not be the end of Historic Racing but it would certainly be different.Tour Auto and Tour Espania have less British entries due to costs and I would presume both Ventoux and Pau will be short of Brits due to Euro and Money in general.I can see entry fees at Goodwood and less meetings overall.Bravest man in racing is probably Ron Madden who has a tremendous job in front of him to keep his organisation afloat.Even I was impressed by their set up at Spa,
The face of Historic Racing is due for a major change

Ron Maydon?

And yes, but not only historic racing might be facing some changes, modern racing as well (but that could only be an improvement )

[Henrik Pedersen]

Off topic: The economic cricis is not the end of the world.
I think of it like this: I have been on the ride up. Now the level of stocks are what it was 4-5 years ago. Whose with common sense knew it would come.
No, the real cricis comes in 3-4 years, when the Peak-oil situation occurs.

I think racing mostly and for some parts historic racing will be effected. People will be more aware of f.ex. entryfee, they have gone up at alarming rate lately. We will watch carefully what we get for our money.

And perhaps some peoples driving style will be effected ??
Perhaps we will see less aggessive driving with less bodydamage?

[john ruston]

It's not the end of the World as we know it but you can see the end from where we are now.Of course it will effect Historic Racing although many expensive cars have been changing hands in the past two weeks ,a total change from previous two months

[simon drabble]

Have we started seeing distressed sales yet? I cant think we are far off it (having said that my wife clearly still thinks that the Merlyn pension fund is safe as money in the bank.... ah)

[henk4]

Originally Posted by john ruston

It's not the end of the World as we know it but you can see the end from where we are now.Of course it will effect Historic Racing although many expensive cars have been changing hands in the past two weeks ,a total change from previous two months

also under a condition of global crisis some people manage to accumulate more money.......will these sales result in (most of) the cars continuing to race?

[john ruston]

It is now thanks to your mates!