French Estate with racetrack ! Need help !

Surely not Mas-du-Clos

 

Contact GTC in Marseille.

 

Sorry Can't remember the name but Classic and Sportscar also did a feature there driving a Maserati Ghibli Spider, maybe worth contacting the magazine itself.

 

Could it have been estate of Jack Setton?

 

There are/were three private tracks in France:

Le Mas du Clos in St Avit de Tardes in La Creuse, central France. A very nice course laid out in order not to strain brakes too much, a good idea considering older Ferrari brakes. This remains in the Bardinon family and is on the grounds of their chateau.

The private track of Jacky Setton, which I visited in the late 1980's is/was about 30 minutes west of Paris beyond Versailles Satory. It was also on the grounds of a castle, a very impressive one. Near the track was the barn which contained what was a fabulous collection including the one off 212E Montagna, one of my favorites.

This collection was shown in a number of articles and was the subject of a book.

Setton then decided to sell everything to sail the world in a fabulous specially made sailboat.
The reason why I write is/was is that if you find his chateau on google earth (which I did one day by instinct knowing that area fairly well) the track has been covered by grass but the image is unclear: actual covering of the tarmac or is it just photoshopped?

The third track, which is the one you are referring to is in the southern half of the country, not by the riviera but somewhere near Avignon and is called le circuit du grand Sambuc

http://www.pilotedudimanche.net/circuit-automobile-grand-sambuc.html

 

It is near aix en Provence actually.

If you want to locate it on via michelin.com and then get a satelite view (haven't had time to try)


Enter this address

Chemin départemental 11
13126 Vauvenargues

in

www.viamichelin.com

You can choose English as the language if you wish.

best regards,

Marc

 

Hah! Max! I had not even paid attention to who was asking: Ich hoffe das hilft dich! Yep I should stick to English, let me know if you need more info.

best regards,

Marc

 

I rember the ad pretty well, not 100% sure but I think the agent was EMILE GARCIN,
I should have a look in my old magazines, hope this help.
Cheers.

 

there is a new edition of classic and sportscar - a summary of the italian car tests from the last years. included is a report of a maserati ghibli with pics from the french estate/track. i think the magazine is still available. i bought mine at goodwood FOS 2008. will have a look, if i can find out, who was selling the estate.

 

The Circuit in the article is Le Grand Sambuc and the agent was Emile Garcin.

http://www.circuit-sambuc-auto.com/index-gb.htm

 

The estate is for sale for 10 years now.

It's owned by a very wellknown family downthere : the Fraissinet.

If it could be of any SERIOUS ONLY help, I can put you in touch with the owner.

I'm regularly on this track that is only 18 km from me.

But a question, did you hear about the price ?

 

For Jacky Setton Castle, see here : http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=fr&geocode=&q=Wideville&sll=48.876683,2.067146&sspn=0.160993,0.439453&ie=UTF8&ll=48.874044,1.932628&spn=0.010063,0.027466&t=h&z=16

 

http://www.circuit-sambuc-auto.com/

All direct info is there: contact the owner directly: cheaper that way

 

Intersting thank you: the circuit used ot be on the grass in the meadow amidst the trees upper right. In the photo I saw last year you could se the contour of the track even though it was all green: as I wrote, it was perhaps photoshopeed. Now it appears that the circuit is genuinely gone, as with the old long Hockenheim for example.

If you want a google earth challenge try to find the Bamford estate in Staffordhire UK: the one with the circuit aroind the lake on which Alain de Cadenet did much of those videos: hard to find but very interesting!

 

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=52.986283,-1.862247&spn=0.005981,0.021887&t=k&z=16

Paul M

 

Seriously, you guys are the duck's nuts. Wow.

 

?!?!?

 

Well done: really a remote area; that real estate is quite impressive too.

Now can you find Charlize Theron tanning by her pool?

 

There is one other trackestate and one of the most important collections of great Ferrari's,there as well. But would need 60-70 million U.S.

 

The same limitations that closed down the Mas-du-Clos must also apply to these other private circuits, hence they must be unusable.

 

Donald H: you can only be referring to the Mas du Clos of Pierre Bardinon which has been discussed here already.

Stratos: on the topic of Mas du Clos here is the petition which can only help. If any of you are interested but don't speak French it is simply a petition of support for the reopening of the circuit, you can fill in your name at the bottom and click on the icon: it means you are signing in your own name.

http://www.pilotedudimanche.net/petition-mas-du-clos.html

Regarding le Grand Sambuc: one of the reasons it may not have sold for 10 years is that the terrain being what it is (rocky and steep) they have only been able to make a very small short tight and uninteresting track: it would have to be expanded but that would be very costly.

 

Thanks for that link. Signed the petition, it is actually quite absurd.

 

Well done Jack!