Just thought that I'd give a little feedback on a classic car event in Bordeaux that we attended on Sunday and may, hopefully, be of interest both to people who are in France as well as people looking at things to do whilst visiting these parts. The event was the 1re Traversée Estivale which started and finished in the centre of Bordeaux and, unfortunately, clashed with the racing in Angoulême. Despite the clash, my son and I decided that this year we would prefer to participate rather than spectate and opted to give it a go. As it was the first summer event, we were a bit unsure exactly what was likely to be happening but presumed that it would be the usual sort of drive around the pretty bits, stop for a glass of something, find a few more pretty bits and stop for another glass of something. To a large extent that was pretty much it. As I said, it started in Bordeaux centre, Place des Quinconces, with the assembly coming together from 8:00 am for a 9:00 am start. There was around twenty cars there when we arrived and that number increased to sixty or so by the start, nothing pre-war but a good range from 1946 to mid/late-70s, covering Frogeye, XK120, a particularly sprightly Alpine, a very successful Marcos, a handful of Ferraris and the usual ott Lamborghini together with around a dozen bikes from the 30's to 70's. As our Alvis is still in the process of long-term maintenance we went in our Triumph TR4a, Ludo, who was pleased to be seen with a couple of other Triumphs, particularly a very nice series 1 Spitfire. After the usual registration formalities and coffee the event pretty much set off on time and in perfect weather conditions. The road book was well detailed and thrown out of the window after about a kilometre, as different groups opted for a tour of some of the attractive and more difficult to access streets of Bordeaux. Within 15 minutes we had no idea where we were but it didn't matter; where we where was very nice and clearly at least one of the group of four/five vehicles that we'd become attached to at least knew where they were going! As we worked our way back towards the river, it was clear that not knowing the route was no problem as the event organisers had wisely co-opted assistance from the local Bentley and Audi main dealers so they had some very smart new metal running around collecting stragglers and making sure that everyone left Bordeaux over the right bridge and in the right direction. Once out of Bordeaux, route navigation was much easier and the groups of vehicles came together again more or less on the right roads ending up at a fairly smart Bordelaise chateau for early degustation and canapés before setting off again. The next stop was somewhat more worthy, being the ancestral home of François Mauriac, Nobel literature laureate, which, whilst extremely attractive, was perhaps not quite to our tastes (our son, having finished his French Bac does not want exposure to more French literature/philosophy - and I can understand where he's coming from!). Off on the road again. High above the Garonne with sweeping views over the region sauternais before stopping for dejeuner sur l'herbe at Clos Jean, in Loupiac. This was a stop that we were looking forward to having coincidentally visited the same place at the end of February this year when we took the Alvis down to the Sauternes region for a few days. The man who owns Clos Jean is extremely amiable as well as being a bit of a classic car buff. Whilst his main passion is the fine wine that he produces (and that I can thoroughly recommend!), he is also very proud of his Triumph TR250 which is in regular use. He was also very quick to remember our earlier visit in the Alvis. After lunch and degustation it was back to Bordeaux in one hit, mainly south of the river. Once at Bordeaux we were joined by twenty/thirty other cars before we were all sensibly arranged in the Place des Quinconces for the admiration of a good crowd of spectators to the accompaniment of live music and more 'refreshments' for those who wished. Ludo proved particularly popular with people showing good taste by asking to be photographed in her! For those of you with plenty of stamina and good organisation, you could participate in the Rallye de Charente, Angoulême, on Saturday before heading down to Bordeaux for the following morning. Like us of course, you would then miss the Sunday racing. Whilst in no way exciting I would finish by saying that the event was extremely well organised and managed. Fellow participants were, by and large, friendly and welcoming. Most were from the 'bassin' but some from further afield, the XK120 coming from Côte d'Azure and a smart Facel from near Monaco. For our part it was a 6:30 am start and a 120 km cross-country drive finished by a blast down the motorway into Bordeaux. The next similar event in this area is a similar trip in February followed by run around the Medoc region in June. I for one am looking forward to both. For more info: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://aocom.jimdo.com/">http://aocom.jimdo.com/</a><!-- m --> <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.agence-creacom.fr/">http://www.agence-creacom.fr/</a><!-- m --> Posted by TonyO 19/09/2012 16:14:29
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