For years, Ralph Parker has been giving me earache about how good the Bordeaux event is and this year, with my own personal interest in “retro” increasing year on year, I finally cracked and decided to make the pilgrimage. Being paranoid about entrusting my kit to the wonders of modern technology and cut price airlines, the decision was made to drive, and along with sidekick Graeme Stephenson we set off from Newcastle for sunnier climbs on the Friday morning at 00.15 in time to get a ferry at Dover at 7.30.
989 Miles later and around 7pm on Friday evening we arrived in Bordeaux. It has to be said that the French Road system worked great with the exception of “Paris” (If the guy who designed the ring road hasn’t been Guillotined yet, then maybe he should be). Much amusement was had on arrival when Ralph Parker announced that the entire “Brummy” contingent had all their baggage left on the tarmac at Birmingham airport because BMI decided they couldn’t be bothered to refuel their plane! So their baggage didn’t arrive until 1am on the following morning (so much for a quick bit of practice on the Friday evening!

The event is for 1/32 and 1/24 cars of genuine vintage retro heritage and the “Car” theme changes every year. For 05 the theme was Grand Touring and GT sports cars, coupe or convertible 1948-70.
Both races are run on “clean tracks” with rubber or silicon tyres and no tyre additives.
There is an emphasis on Concours and the points scoring system works by adding finish positions in both Concours and racing, Hence if one was lucky or skillful enough to win Concours you got 1 point for that, then if your race finish position was say 10th, you final points would be 11. The racer with the lowest combined points is the winner. Concours is judged out of 20 points, individually, by all competitors and an average score calculated. This system is great as it gives the competitors a number of different ways to approach preparation for the event. The weekend also features a Drag race run by Fred Bathelemy, which many racers enjoy, the strip being a 1/24 scale ¼ mile. This years event was won by Brit, Phil Smith.

Saturday is Practice day on both tracks and a chance for all competitors to perfect their cars, glue bits back on and come to terms with the challenges of the two very different tracks, 1/32 being run on Carrara track, 1/24 on the great, almost “vintage” 8 laner which is in superb condition. The weekend also combines a swap meet for vintage racers.
Organisers Samy Beraha and Don Siegel have to be congratulated on running this weekend with what can only be described as flair and original style, creating a weekend which is friendly, social, competitive and real fun. Not to mention the Racer’s Dinner on the Saturday evening!
This year, due to the large entry (58 racers) the first couple of races for 1/32 were run on Saturday evening (which was very welcome as this gave yours truly a lay in on Sunday morning!)

Right;- “Team UK” with Honorary “Brit” Joel Thura (winner of 1/32 concourse) display the trophy haul for the weekend. All racers also received a bottle of wine and a very nice T shirt commemorating the event.

Below;- 1/24th Concours winner Bruno Novarese, Cobra
Left;- Top Brit Concourse Andy Brown-Searle (3rd), Purple People Eater Corvette. Below right;- Ralph Klose models the AB Slotsport Shirt! (Obviously a man of taste!)

BRIT Top 12 (final finish) RESULTS
1/32
Derek Cooper - 2nd o/a. 1st (race), 7th Conc.
Phil Smith - 9th o/a. 21st (race), 5th Conc.
Ralph Parker - 11th o/a. 13th (race), 15th Conc.

1/24
Derek Cooper - 5th o/a. 6th (race), 13th Conc.
James Cooper - 6th o/a. 12th (race), 10th Conc
Andy Brown-Searle - 8th o/a. 20th (race), 3rd Conc.
Phil Smith - 9th o/a. 11th (race), 14th Conc.
Ralph Parker 10th o/a. 25th (race) 8th Conc.

Sandy Parker top Lady !!?

Phil Smith - Drag Race 1st.

Due to time constraints during the weekend I did not manage to get a whole pile of photos, so anyone reading this, if you have pics of the top 8 Concourse cars in each class, please e-mail me with them at abslotsport@aol.com and I will add a further page.
I will also publish the full results in excel format when these arrive so keep coming back!

In conclusion, a really superb weekend, great organisation, great tracks, great venue, great sociables, great prizes, trophies, tee shirts and wine and a chance to meet new and old friends. Many thanks go to Samy, Don, Fred and all their helpers.
THE BRITS WILL RETURN next year for “Sports cars raced in America”!