Motor Racing

[Andymr]

Hi I'm new to the forums and we're moving to the Dordogne in Feb. My passion are hillclimbs and sprints, I drive a peugeot 205 in National B events. (Club level) looking for the nearest club to Le Bugue Department 24 and any other info you can offer.

Cheers Andy

[Dick Smith]

Afraid I can't really help - some quite serious searching didn't bring anything up a year or so ago, so probably the best thing to do is to contact the local Automobile Clubs, wherever they may be. Not much info on-line in France, it seems.

But the best of luck to you, happy racing/climbing.

[Anton Redman]

There are definitely an active road rallying and hill climbing scene in France. Rallye of the Haute Vienne is now in its sixth year. Le Clerc in Periguex has a display of clubmans road and rally cars at least once a year.

[Richard-R]

There is a good range of magazines in France for all kinds of motor sport. Have a look in the local newsagents.

[pigiron]

Hello Andy,

I can help you out here...... my name is John Lloyd and I have been compeeting in French national and regional hillclimbs for a couple of years now. There is a very active hillclimb scene here known as course de cote, sprints do exist but are a bit mikey mouse and are usually held on hyper market car parks.

Things are done slighty differently compared with what you are used to in the UK, for example your comp license is issued by an association and not as you would expect ie the governing body the FFSA. As you are a UK citizen you will have to get in touch with the MSA and ask them to contact the FFSA license department to inform them that you no longer hold one for the UK ( you cant hold one in more than one country), unfortunatley this is not free an costs about £24 , they will require to see a copy of proof that you are resident in France eg a utillity bill and you will need to do this every year! Then you will have to send your application form to you regional association with the following: a copy of your passport a cheque for club membership and your license (in 2005 a national was 315 €, dearer then the MSA but it includes accident insurance. A recognised sports doctor will have to sign your form after giving you a medical, this is for insurance purposes, the fee is a very reasonable 30€ or so which surprisingly you can claim back on your carte vitlal, on cosecutive years your familly doctor can conduct the examination.

You will need to get the FFSA equivalent of of the MSA log book called a paseport technique, this is done by visiting your local scuteneer after obtaing a blank copy form your association. This will probably require a bit of work on the car as classes are very different here, assuming your car is not FIA group A or N you will have to run it in Groupe F2000 which is subdiveded int to classes acording to engine size. Basicaly it is a clubmans class that caters for cars which have either run out of FIA homologation or do not comply. The main points are that the car must have an engine that was origionally offered by the manufacturer but mods are free, maximum wheel diameter of 18", FIA cage extinguisher etc are obligatory. Gear box is free, body work must remain standard unless is has a kit as offered my the factory eg kit car and maxi. You will see many 205's with the 16 valve motor which is totaly legal as it was sold in Germany of a short period, they tend to be very well pepared with sequential boxes and hoge brakes etc!

Fortunatley the FFSA has a wonderfull web site with all the info you need, you can down load your application form as well all the tech regs etc in PDF format see link below.

I compete in the national hillclimb championship better know as the Championat de France de la Montagne, unfortunatley I had an enormous off last August which destroyed a brand new carbon chassied single seater and put me in hospital of seven weeks with a broken hip. But I will be back out again this season with a new car, lots of people say I'm mad.... they are probably right.... but there is nothing like blatting up a French mountain road at 250 kph for up to 10 k's......... you either get it or you dont!!

If you dont hold an FFSA lisence or you car does not comply most clubs will welcome you as a demonstration runner.

'The' motor magazine is Echappement monthly available in all news agents.

I hope all this of use, please call me for a chat on 02 96 29 92 06.

Sportivement

John    (Cote de Armor 22)

National championship .........    http://www.chevallier-competition.com/php/index.htm

My profile...............http://www.chevallier-competition.com/php/fichepilote.php?id=75

FFSA ............http://ffsa.turbo.m6.fr/index.php

[virginia.c]

Hello John

This request for info is not quite on target but I can't find anything else on the forum (it's my first visit) related to the subject I need to research.  In brief my partner is a very enthusiastic motorbiker.  He has a fireblade and a KTM which is an off road trail bike, sometimes known as a dirt bike.  It's pretty powerful and he and his friends go off to Wales regularly where they will cover 100 miles a day off road, on green lanes etc.  We are coming to France end April to stay with friends near Brantome and I was wondering if you could advise how to go about finding out if such a sport exists in France (I'm sure it does) and whether there are any clubs in that area.  Like I said originally, my request isnt really related to your sport except for the love of speed!

 

Any ideas?  Many thanks

Virginia

[Dog]

My son has a KTM525 and a CRF450 and we are close by. I have sent you an email.