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#1
04-30-2007, 06:51 AM
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Tour Auto Lissac 2007 - write up and (many!) pics :)
Well, what can I say - those were probably a few of the best days in my life! Auto Tour Lissac was an amazing experience, words just CAN'T describe what its like to someone who hasn't seen an event like this themselves. Now - a few words on how it went down..
It all started off with fellow FChatter mat getting press accreditation for Tour Auto Lissac from a Polish car magazine. Problem was though that he didn't have a car or any drivers (doesn't have a license himself... yet  ), so he turned to me and for a few days we maniacally tried to lock down (and I'm not even sure in what order) a second driver and car. Unfortunately my Seicento, even if eager for the job, is in a state that would see it probably return in bits if it were to do the 4500km that we did. In the end, just 24h before leaving, I managed to convince my friend Tomek to come with us, which also provided our transport for the trip - his Skoda Fabia. Mat came down to Poznań at 10.30PM on Wednesday, we picked him up and after some packing/preparations set off just before midnight. Our destination was Albi where we were to 'intercept' the Tour and drive along with it for the rest of the event (Albi -> Vichy -> Evian). The trip took us some 24/25h altogether counting in stops and the 2-3h sleep that we got on one of them, so we ended up in Albi at about midnight on Thursday. Problem was we didn't have any accommodation organized, so we started looking for a place to sleep  About time, eh? :P As we were on a very tight budget expensive hotels were out of the question, so drove about checking the ones mat had written down. Unfortunately due to Lissac being in town they were all full! So after some 2h of looking we finally gave up and decided to spend the night in the car (again), next to the Albi track, were the Tour was stopped. After a (very) late supper and some ever so relaxing beer we went to sleep to wake up just before 7AM and catch the Tour preparing to leave Albi. Thankfully one of the hotels allowed us to at least make use of a vacated room's bathroom so we were now tired but clean Entering the Tour car lot just blew my mind (even though some of the cars had already left). A sea of revving engines and beautifully crafted bodies met our sight and we just didn't know where to look or point the camera  I had NEVER seen anything like it... combined with the smell of fuel and exhausts filling the air it was just paradise for car maniac like me and a beautiful compensation for the tiresome trip that we had behind us. We left Albi just at the same moment as an F50 and 365 Daytona Competizione, so followed them for some kilometres out of town... just to be caught up by a Ford GT40!! The Albi-Vichy stage had 3 stopovers (Estaing, lunch at Chateau d'Auzers (which me missed) and Cirquit de Charade) and a length of some 450km. Here I have to say I just fell in love with these parts of France. The region is... well, beautiful would be a major understatement! We had the Tour roadbook so we were doing exactly the same route as the Tour and I have to give it to the organizers; they sure knew which roads to take. The views were stunning and combined with the sight of such exotica and the sound of wailing engines bouncing off hillsides all around I felt like I could spend the rest of my life there It was like a drug. Unfortunately by the time we got to Charade a hefty storm had formed so we were soaked and couldn't really enjoy that part to the full extent. I can't imagine what these conditions must have been like for the drivers (DeTomaso Pantera Gr IV in the rain? No thank you!  ). All the time we were surrounded by the contestants, either being passed on the road or passing them as they stood on the roadside, so it was nonstop emotions for us. Imitating the roars of those beasts, chasing them down twisty mountain roads, hanging out of windows taking pics/shooting vids and taking in all the views - we had a blast We finally got to Vichy in the evening, about 7-8PM and first of all decided to get some accommodation to avoid spending the night in the car for a third time and to finally get some proper sleep. We thought it would be much easier than in Albi, as Vichy is a much larger city, so didn't worry much... unfortunately though aside from Lissac also the French Rowing Championships were to take place the next day so again all the hotels said everything is booked!  It began to look exaclty as in Albi so we started to panic and maniacally look for a place to stay. In the end managed to find a small and cheap hotel some 150m from the Parc Ferme though... phew! We strolled down to the Parc and again admired all the cars that were there and the ones that were still arriving. After a quick night out on town (some 3 beers had got us nicely done due to our exhaustion since Wednesday) we finally retired for the night. Unfortunately a short night again, as we woke up 5.30AM in order to catch the Competition group leave... which turned out unnecessary as contrary to the previous day, they were IIRC some of the last to leave.The Vichy-Evian stage was more or less a copy of the previous day. Again - beautiful cars, beautiful sights, beautiful sounds, challenging roads (Tomek's brakes and tyres took a very solid beating over the 2stages) and huge grins on our faces. We left Vichy trailing behind a 308GTB Group IV and finished in Evian only to meet probably the highlight of the trip at the Parc Ferme - a 250GTO Could I wish for anything more?! (apart from and F40 :P) Just wonderful...On our way back we met up with another FChatter, Pav, in Geneva. Went to Starbucks, strolled around the city and had a nice chat It was getting late and we wanted to be on our way, so unfortunately we didn't spend as much time as we would have liked and our rendez vous with Pav (and his lovely girlfriend ) was quite short... and we headed of for Singen Unfortunately it was just a quick night time (2-3AM) stopover there to take a look at the beauties in Auto Salon and Ferrari Gohm. As they were closed on Sunday there was no point in staying the night there so off we went with just a small taste of all that is to be seen there We stopped over in the vicinity of Stuttgart for a quick 3h nap again (3rd night in the car ) and continued back home to Poznań, where we arrived about 7PM VERY TIRED but also VERY HAPPY What a trip....PS And now the pics - be patient while I load them up, there's quite a few And I hope you don't mind there's a quite a lot non-Ferrari ones..
Last edited by menoy; 04-30-2007 at 07:15 AM. 
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#3
04-30-2007, 07:03 AM
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#10
04-30-2007, 07:31 AM
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#12
04-30-2007, 07:34 AM
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Great pics and review!
Thanks for taking the time for filling us in and uploading all the pics! Much appreciated! GT
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#13
04-30-2007, 07:38 AM
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Quote:
11 and counting
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#14
04-30-2007, 07:40 AM
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Track pics aren't too good - the cars were just too fast! The first one is IIRC an Alfa GTA spinning out - in my head I saw this guy hitting the wall already, but somehow he managed to save it in the end.. nice
Last edited by menoy; 04-30-2007 at 07:43 AM.
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#15
04-30-2007, 07:43 AM
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Very nice! That's the first Lancia Stratos I've ever seen outside of car show and museum pics.
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#18
04-30-2007, 07:50 AM
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Quote:
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#20
04-30-2007, 07:55 AM
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