Hillclimbing in France... Options

[KSCarrera]

Just returned from St Gouéno Masters hillclimb... If you'd told me two years ago that I would be competing in an event in Brittany, France, I'd never have believed you. But here we are, just back from one of the most amazing experiences of my life. If you've never been to, competed in or spectated at a French motorsport event, then you're missing out. In a previous life, I drag raced in France on a few occasions, and always came away amazed at how enthusiastic everyone is, spectators and officials alike. St Gouéno Masters is a Brit/Irish event run by a British team led by John Lloyd, and piggybacks on the back of a round of the French hillclimb championship. Essentially, as long as you held a British race licence, and your car and safety gears meets UK standards, then you're good to go.

We (wife Sarah and I) drove the 914 to Plymouth to catch the overnight ferry to Roscoff, joining a whole hoard of Brits heading out to the event in a variety of vehicles, including about a dozen Triumph TRs going out to support one of their own. There were five other Porsches in our group, including a friend in his monster GT3 Cup car, who went on to win his class.

Signing on and tech inspection were casual, jovial affairs, on Friday afternoon, followed by an evening's entertainment and food in the local village – all laid on by the organisers. There were also 'navettes' (shuttle buses) laid on to take you back to your chosen accommodation (again, organised on your behalf by the team) – to summon your shuttle, just post on a closed WhatsApp group and a few minutes later along came the minibus.

The startline was a two mile drive from the paddock, so each group was called to a 'pre-grill' where cars were lined in order and then led to the start by the course car. There followed a lengthy wait while the previous group finished running, and then it was our turn, cars being set off at 30 second intervals. The video gives you a good idea of what the course is like and, at 3.2 kilometres, is three times the length of many (most?) UK hillclimb courses. The road surface was superb (the event is run on closed public roads...), narrow in parts, twisty but with fast sections that saw me get into fourth gear for the first time ever on an event!

Being a newbie, it was pretty much impossible to memorise the course in its entirety – I did drive on a recce with a friend on Friday evening, which was useful as he's done the event three times before and is blessed with an amazing memory for braking points, lines through bends etc. Sadly I forgot most of his advice, although I did remember the flags and the third tree on the left on one long bend, markers as where to start applying the power.

https://youtu.be/FtQnDbpf5cQ

I won't go through each run as they were all much of a muchness, apart from the first one on Saturday, which was messy as I tried to find my way up the hill, and the first run Sunday when I was, er, hungover from the festivities the night before... :drunken:

I managed to knock eight seconds off my time by the end of the weekend, good enough to mean that I didn't finish last in class but over 20 seconds slower than the class winner... Oh well.

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The car behaved itself other than a sticky throttle which made it difficult to apply throttle in a more progressive way when exiting several of the long bends. The brakes are superb, considering they are stock other than a 19mm master cylinder and a set of RC6 pads all round. Yes, I could do with more power to be competitive (currently 185bhp) but overall the 914 acquitted itself reasonably well. It was the only one at the event and seemed to attract interest among the local spectators, many of whom were very knowledgeable. What I did enjoy was being able to drive the car far enough and in such conditions that I could get the tyres hot – the level of grip offered by the Toyo R888Rs is very impressive, and I was able to drive the car harder than I expected, enjoying the feedback as the tyres began to reach their limits of adhesion.

Sunday evening's wind down buffet was fairly riotous and I tried my best not to over indulge... :drunken:

Overall it was a fantastic event, and a great weekend break – it would have been even more enjoyable had we not got news as we were about to leave that Sarah's 90 year old mother fell and broke her hip, necessitating a trip to hospital and a lengthy op. :cry:

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[SirAndy]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[mlindner]

That looks like so much fun. Would love to have them in the states (Wisconsin)

[lalee914]

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

[bkrantz]

Thanks for sharing. Brittany is a fabulous place, and I was fortunate to live there for a year in the late 80s. You are right about how enthusiastic the locals can get about motorsports and cars in general. At the time I was very active as a corner worker in US club and pro racing, and I flagged a couple of club races in France. Next thing I knew I was invited to flag at the Lemans 24 Hours. I was part of a French-British-Canadian-American team, at the flag post at the kink on the Mulsanne straight, in the last year before the chicanes. The fastest prototypes went past us at well over 200 mph. One of the Sauber Mercedes hit 248 mph at the speed trap just before our "corner".

[76-914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) Brilliant!

[Montreal914]

Super cool! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Thank you for sharing! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[Vysoc]

Nice story and great pictures!!!

Le Mans Week also!!!

Thank you for sharing!!!

Vysoc (IMG:style_emoticons/default/flag.gif)

[Shivers]

These hill climb posts are always entertaining. Car looks great

[mlindner]

keith, tell us a little more about your car. Short gears?

[Cairo94507]

Thanks for sharing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[DRPHIL914]

oops duplicate post

[DRPHIL914]

WOW so much fun and what a great experience! So sorry to hear of your mother-in-laws injury hope she recovers well, thats hard at 90, my 84 year old mother fell last week and broke her shoulder, so dealing with similar issues.

How hard would it be to bring a car over from the states and run in this event? I think i need to add it to my bucket list for taking the car over to drive in Germany etc!

Phil

[bahnzai]

Keith,
Very cool, and thanks for sharing (although you are making us envious!!)
I really love the car and the wheels. Are the wheels Group4Wheels - LMZ aluminum “steelies”? If so, what size and how do you like them?
I have been looking at those…
Thanks again!

[KSCarrera]

Keith,
Very cool, and thanks for sharing (although you are making us envious!!)
I really love the car and the wheels. Are the wheels Group4Wheels - LMZ aluminum “steelies”? If so, what size and how do you like them?
I have been looking at those…
Thanks again!

Yes, they're Group 4 LMZ, 6 x 15, with 195/55x15 Toyo R888R tyres (sorry, 'tires'!). They are slightly lighter than factory steels, or even Fuchs, and are being used a lot by people who race early 911s or as replacements for the originals on 904s when raced.

The quality is very good - you need to look closely to realise they're not the genuine article. they're also being made (and proving very popular) in 16in diameter, too...

[KSCarrera]

WOW so much fun and what a great experience! So sorry to hear of your mother-in-laws injury hope she recovers well, thats hard at 90, my 84 year old mother fell last week and broke her shoulder, so dealing with similar issues.

How hard would it be to bring a car over from the states and run in this event? I think i need to add it to my bucket list for taking the car over to drive in Germany etc!

Phil

Hi Phil, not entirely sure, other than the obvious costs/hassle of shipping a car there. The organiser is John Lloyd and his e-mail is info@hillclimbfrance.co.uk

Equipment-wise, my car had to meet MSUK (that's the British motorsport council) regs, and I had to have an MSUK race licence. Helmet and race suit needed to meet MSUK spec, too. Not sure what the ramifications are of that in terms of US safety gear.

On the Friday, there is a 'Historic' event, that is free to all cars over 30 years old, and looks to be less demanding in terms of equipment. It uses the same hill and there is the opportunity to drive the hill multiple times. That may be an option. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)