Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or Dijon-Prenois 18-20 June 2010

I had been to visit the Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or for a couple of times when it was still held at the Monthlery track near Paris. I had great memories as it was one of the first venues I went to in my Lotus Europa (and didn't get there in it that first time). For the rest I held great memories of the race and especially the gathering of French Automobile Clubs. When I heard that my friends of the French Formule Ford Kent were driving there and all the uncertainty of the CFFC I enrolled for the event when I met Gaïdic Deléger, la secretaire du club, in Monaco where we were both the guest of Gilbert Cristini. An added bonus to the event was that the NKHTGT (the Dutch Championship for Historic Touring Cars and GTs were also driving there which mend that some of my friends and acquaintances were also there.

Free Practice and Qualifying

As there was only one qualification on Friday at 9:00 AM, I hoped to do a free practice on Thursday. Therefore I left Delft already on Wednesday evening. I arrived in Dijon round midday. It had been drizzling ever since I got underway that morning. I installed my camper next to Klaus-Dieter Haeckel. As the weather deteriorated into a pretty bad rain I wondered whether to go out at all for practice. However the rain subsided and I thought it might be useful to check the track in wet conditions as the weekend would not be dry according to the weather forecast.

I set up my car exactly like in Spa and it was just as great to drive as it was then. Only at the end of the session the clutch would disengage anymore. The other memorable thing about the free practice was that there was a F1 Ferrari 156 Sharkno track. I passed it and how many people can say that they passed a Ferrari Sharknose.

I chose not to fix the clutch and just bit the bullet during qualification. The car was pretty drivable without clutch and I would have the whole day to fix the problem. So I did the qualification without clutch on a dry track. The hardest thing was to drive the car to the assembly area and to get started from there although I got some help there. The qualification was not brilliant as is usually the case in Dijon where I have to find how fast you can go through the various bends. However the 1:32.0 was good for a sixth position in a field of almost 30 Formula Ford 1600s. The Formule Ford Kent has three classes Pre-93, Pre-87 and GHI (Pre-82). I was in the oldest car in the Pre-93 class. All the cars in front of me on the grid were 90ties cars with Haeckel on pole.

Race 1

Wet race, Second

Chasing the leader

Staying ahead of the pack

Race 2

Fourth

Terrible start which leaves me 5th after a quarter lap

Worked my way up to 3rd

Photos by Gaïdic Deléger, Club Formule Kent