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Angouleme Circuit des Remparts


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Yes it is! Have been three times. The weather is normally fantastic and even if you do not like motorcars (like my mum) even she enjoyed it albeit rather noisy for someone who is over 80. Best day is Sunday unless you are a real engine head like OH. Like a mini Monaco...yes we have been there! Plenty of restaurants open and bars on the day. Price is very reasonable something like 15 euros for the entrance. About 15th of September.
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This year it is the weekend of 18/19/20th September - cars arrive throughout the week with big Concorse d'Elegance on Friday evening, the classic car rally to Cognac & back from Geant car park is Saturday & race day is all day Sunday - practice circuits in morning, races in afteroon.  If you have never been then make the effort to go at least once - it is great fun, fantastic atmosphere & yes the weather is usually glorious for the race day...a few years back the Friday evening & Saturday were a washout, but all was fine for the Sunday.
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Hello,

Just to add to the previous comments. My husband has raced in the Circuit De Remparts 2 years ago and then we did the touristique run around the countryside last year and the weather was wonderful on both occasions. The race day was packed from very early on and some people didn't get there early enough to get their paddock passes as they sold out about midday. Howver, the bars are all open and you can get a good view from just about anywhere on the circuit. Parking can be a problem for the spectators due to the thousands attending. Even us as competitors have to park our backup vehicles some way out of town.We have taken part in many French rallies and this is certainly one of the most exciting and even better we have a house 45 mins away so don't have to pay for a hotel!

We would thoroughly recommend the whole weekend.

Debi

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Circuit des Remparts, September 19-20

The Good news is that it promises to be a good one, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the event, organisers plan to recreate the grid of vintage cars witnessed at the first race through Angoulême's narrow, medieval streets in 1939.[:)]  The bad news is that it could be extra busy since the Telegraph has included it in recommended Motorsport holidays.

http://www.telegraph. Motorsport-holidays-Angouleme

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Have now booked my flights for this.  (4 returns via Poitiers for £8 total cost - thank you MO'L.)

To anyone who has been previously, what is the day actually like - does one just wander round, get allocated seats or take chairs?  Can I buy tickets in advance - whats the difference in prices reflective of and are car parks allocated?  Presumably the bars and restaurants are set up to cater for the crowds.

Sorry but I cant find any of this practical stuff online.

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No Need to buy tickets in advance, unless you are an entrant, for Fri, Sat or Sun (Too late for that now!)
Since the event is held in town most of the car parks are as usual though some are taken over for the entrants and block booked Hotel visitors; the street parking is also pretty much as previous, and the car park around the Market Hall is sometimes reserved and other times free to classic car parking; the majority of the circuit was a free walkway but lots of security barriers, the Pits and Grandstands entry are by wristband entry obtainable from an official stall by Pit entrance, together with other memorabilia, programme, posters etc. In all cases it gets really busy and you can't arrive too soon! Last year I think the inclusive wristband for pits and grandstands was e15 or e20 (seats are first come ) so maybe more this year
Lots of Restaurants, cafe's, bars etc, arrive Friday late morn at Black Cat Cafe, Rue de Chat for people watching, Place des Halles, then work over to Place Francis Louvel and around for lunch, Offer your seat and une pression to any Gentleman with a white beard![8-|]

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  • 1 month later...
I went to the event today (Saturday) and had a great time however I have a few complaints

  1. None of the posters gave any timings or the route the cars would take and I later found this reading the Charante Libre on the Saturday

  2. When we tried to buy tickets for tomorrow the sellers tried to sell us 23Euro tickets for Saturday and Sunday and I read in the paper that tomorrows races are only 13Euros (we were not too bothered about viewing the cars in parc ferme.
Apart from that I found it much better than the Rally du Porceline in Limoges.

At least this time they've organised a motor event which is not on the same weekend as F1.

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She was a sad old girl to see when she arrived to take up residence reside in my barn a couple of years ago. We had to lift her off the trailer when she arrived as it was impossible to even roll her. I believe about the only major components salvaged have been the engine and gearbox, everything else was bent or broken, chassis, axles, wheels, you name it,  he was lucky to escape with his life and has been left with a permanent weakness in his right hand/wrist, not sufficient to stop him driving in the spirit of the car though, judge for yourself if/when you see him !

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Not the best I've been to for several reasons, the crowd on sunday was higher than I experienced in the last 5/6 years, lots of complaints in the stand we were in, about too many people blocking views of those seated; secondly the 13e was just for entry to what was previously free, ie the outer circuit, while the higher price 23e was for paddock and stands I believe. Unfortunately the weather was awful too and having decided to stay til the last race I got wetter than a wet rat and that's quite wet through, just a brolly didn't keep me dry.

However the cars and People were brilliant as usual, especially the Bentleys, as a friend of mine said ''when you can't decide which to play with, a racing car or a tractor, combine the two and get a Bentley, agriculturally very quick!

Looking forward to next year already![8-|]

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[quote user="AnOther"]If you spot this MG it's my friend and the car is fresh from a complete rebuild in UK after having written off in the Rally of Tunis about 3 years ago.

[IMG]http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p123/biskitboyo/MG-1.jpg[/IMG]
[/quote]

Beautiful car - which one was it? A friend of mine has a K3 replica (contemporary). I can't get enough of the smell of castrol R. Reminds me of my childhood watching the cars a Brands Hatch.

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Are you asking which model it is or which one it was at Angloume ?

I don't know the exact model (some sort of Q type midget) nor was I at the meeting so can't tell you if it had a roundel on it or not. Were there that many similar ones that you couldn't tell ?

It has got a French registration number as you can see unless he was using the original UK one which I know he does put on sometimes for events ?

The photo is from the workshop in UK where the rebuild was done so I haven't seen it in it's glory myself yet but looking forward to it. Don't know if it will take up residence in my barn or whether he will displace one of his other cars from his own garage to make space for it there.

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