Words:
Simon Coss, AFP
Pictures:
Jean-Francois Monier, AFP
Le Mans, France - Veteran and vintage car enthusiasts from all over the world gathered in the western French city of Le Mans on Sunday to celebrate a very special 100th birthday.
A century ago, around a circuit created from dusty, badly surfaced, rural French roads near what is now the famous Sarthe circuit where the Le Mans 24-Hour will be run next weekend, the modern-day "Grand Prix" was born.
The competition, officially the first to bear the Grand Prix title, put Le Mans for ever on the motor-racing map. It also paved the way for the historic Le Mans 24-Hour competition that has been a mainstay on the international motor racing calendar since 1923.
Sunday's centenary celebrations saw drivers of around 100 veteran cars, all built before 1914, follow the same winding route between villages as that followed by their illustrious predecessors a century earlier.
There was little doubt that the star of the show was a 1906 Darracq 4B that took part in the original race. It seemed to outrun the other participants - even if the Sunday drive was memorial circuit, not a race.
The car's current owner, New Zealander Anne Thomson, said: "This is a very sentimental day for me. It felt fantastic being on the same roads that this car drove along all those years ago."
Thomson's husband and co-driver Wallace McNair explained that the couple had made the journey especially from New Zealand to take part in the race.
"The organisers helped paid part of the cost of transporting the car over here but we had to find most of the money for the trip ourselves," he said. He estimated it had cost about $50 000 - about R340 000.
"But this is a very special occasion. The car will never be 100 years old again," a white jump-suited McNair said during a sun-drenched rest stop in the picturesque Sarthe village of Bouloire.
"We can't really afford to be here but we couldn't stay at home," Thomson added, laughing.
When pushed, however, the sprightly sixtysomethings said their pride and joy had in fact undergone several major refits since 1906. A British navy officer took the car to New Zealand soon after the First World War.
"The idea was to use the engine to power a speedboat but in the end it was used as an electricity generator at a newspaper office," McNair said.
In the 1960's a used-car enthusiast bought the engine and partly rebuilt the car using parts from other Darracqs. McNair completed the job after Thomson bought the unfinished vehicle in 2003.
'They've been a bit naughty'
Some other competitors good-naturedly suggested that fact that the Thomson-McNair Darracq had undergone such a major series of renovations called into question the owners' claim that it really was the same car that took part in the 1906 race.
"They have been a bit naughty with the Darracq. They have done, shall we say, a slight re-organisation," joked Mark Walker, a British car enthusiast in his early 40's who came to Le Mans with his pride and joy - an original 1908 French Panhard-Levassor which he modestly described as "the best car ever built".
"It really is a most beautiful car to drive," a happily oil-smudged Walker added. "The only thing is it doesn't have brakes; you have to plan a stop well in advance."
Warm, early-summer weather helped draw crowds to watch Sunday's ride, eager to catch a glimpse of motoring history.
"It's magnificent. We're very proud that everything started here," said locals Pierrette and Martine, who had come to watch the festivities with Martine's three-year-old grand-daughter Oriane.
'It's a great car to drive'
Local car-building company Leon and Amedee Bollee, which began making automobiles in the late 19th century, were also represented. Daniel Convers, 54, took part in the run on a 1896 Leon Bollee three-wheeler.
"It's a great car to drive. People always wave at you and I always try to give them a blast on the horn," he said. "But it does need quite a lot of maintenance, even when you're driving."
Other participants tried, with varying degrees of success, to argue that owning a very old car was not a rich person's hobby.
"You can give yourself a treat for the price of a second-hand car," insisted 53-year-old management consultant Philippe Vercruysse, who came to Le Mans from his native Belgium with his 1900 Nagant Gobron-Brille.
Many of the cars will stay in Le Mans for this year's 24-Hour race next weekend. - AFP