September 2010 44 Pages Draft.pdf - Renault Owners Club Forum

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E V E N T R E p o RT sthrough – the footpath is right above theseafront with waves crashing below, and astiff sea breeze blowing in, you don’t getany impression of this watching the raceon TV with the sound of F1cars roaringby.We then headed North to Reims to take inthe ROC’s ”Rallye to Reims” as part ofour 2010 Scenic tour travelling anticlockwise right around France. Our lastROC event was the Club’s 50thanniversary at Beaulieu in 2002, so it wasgood fortune to be able to attend anotherevent, in this case one that offered notonly good company, interesting locationsand Renaults, but French champagne aswell!Leaving Nice for our first full day on theroad, we easily completed 600km,allowing a more leisurely second day withsightseeing and quite a few stops, then aneasy run into Reims on the Saturdaymorning. After just 4 days in the newScenic, mostly on the highway, the rathersmall lift to the underground car park atthe Reims Holiday Inn was a good test ofmanoeuvrability for man and machine,before joining Mike Fawke and the happyROC crew that had driven down fromCalais.This event has already been well reportedin the last RENOTES, suffice to say weenjoyed it very much, the arrangementsand company were first class, and afterchecking out the old circuit at Reims wesaid our farewells and headed toNormandy where we had bookedaccommodation at a farmhouse very closeto Monet’s garden.This allowed us to be amongst the veryfirst visitors to arrive at the gardens on theMonday morning, where we were able totake in the beauty of this famous place,admire the new Spring growth and enjoythe surroundings. This was to be a themeof out journey over the coming weeks –being in advance of the tourist seasonmeant that there was little problem withqueuing or finding accommodation – andthe new blossoms and green grass wastruly impressive compared to the drynessthat prevails in many parts of Australia.Further South we visited the ChambordChateau in the Loire Valley and thentravelled down to Limoges from where weembarked on a discovery tourof many historical villages(www.lesplusbeauxvillagesdefrance.org )all the way down to Carcassonne,including a stop at Millau to see thewonderful road viaduct. Here Deirdrepurchased a high quality leather handbagfrom one of the many local makers to addto our shopping tally.The weather in the South was as good asthe Spring growth, day after day wassunny with temperatures ranging from 18to 23 degrees, perfect for motoringholidays. Village markets offeredmagnificent produce including all mannerof meat products, cheeses, nougat andmagnificent macaroons. One of ourfriendly hoteliers assured us April andMay was one of the best times to visit aswe would not like it down there in theMt. Ventouxmiddle of July and August because it wasfar too hot and the place was overrun withtourists!Apart from the occasional very narrowvillage street with barely room to passoncoming traffic, all was going well andthe new Scenic was performingeffortlessly and recording a constant6.9kl/100km, very acceptable for a mix ofbrisk driving and lots of tourist stops witha boot load of luggage.As well as checking out a huge variety ofcafes and restaurants, a month on the roadprovided a great variety of hotels andB&B’s of all shapes and sizes, some ofour favourites included severalcharacterful farmhouses, La ResidenceHotel in Limoges and the wonderfulSafari Hotel and L’Hibiscus Restaurant atCarpentras, close to Mt Ventoux.Here the weather was warmer, and aftervisiting a colourful Sunday morningvillage market featuring a vintage tractordisplay we were able to drive up to thesnow at the summit of Mt Ventoux inperfect sunshine, and then back down fora dip at the pool back at the hotel where itwas 27 degrees (www.safarihotel.fr )making it all a most memorable day.Our last days on the road were the reverseof this year’s “Tour de France “cyclingevent, through North East France intoBelgium for the Renault “World Series” atSpa, then on to Brussels via the newHerge Museum, and then on toRotterdam.At our last night’s accommodation,booked on the internet, we found our IBISHotel was adjacent to the large DorzoRenault dealership at Vlaardingen, anexcellent set up that displayed a 4CV and1966 “round eye” R10 inside the frontentrance of their large showroom, whichalso featured an Avantime as well as allthe new Renault and Dacia range.The next day, after 5 weeks and 6,100kmof incident free motoring we reluctantlyleft “our” new Scenic at Amsterdam forthe next part of our holiday.My thanks go to Deirdre for her excellentnavigation, keeping us on track for thetrip and also finding some of the mostbeautiful villages in France tocomplement my motoring and technicalagenda. And indeed to the ROC for anenjoyable weekend and showing us thatthe Club really gets out and about andvisits interesting places - bring on moreFrench events!8 R E N o T E s m A G A Z I N ER E N O T E S M A G A Z I N E
E V E N T R E p o RT sTrevor WiseRenault 4 International Rally.17th - 18th July 2010Following our foray on to French soil inApril, with the Rally to Reims in ourRenault 4 GTL, the little car had got ataste for the continental journeys. Sowhen I got news of the Renault 4International gathering at Thenay in theLoire region of France, plans were drawnand the scenery was at its best. I wish nowthat I had lingered a bit longer and takenin more of the views, as I thought it was abeautiful place.After checking in at the venue and payingfor my pitch, I set up camp and met andchatted as best I could with other Renault4 owners. My French is not good but Imanaged somehow. My neighbour wasItalian, so that added to my confusion, butwhat a car he had, it was built for transcontinentalexpeditions and a tribute toHistoire and Collection had brought alongsome of the famous expedition cars of the60s as seen on Renault TV (Sky 883).It was for me a complete eye-opener, as Ihad no idea of the following the Renault4L, known as “La Quatrelle” by its manyfans on the continent, has, and I nowup.My partner Rita didn’t wish to go thistime, must be my driving, but that wasOK, it might be fun navigating my wayaround France solo. I planned to camp, soall the kit was gathered together andtickets for the ferry were bought.The rally was on the weekend of 17th –18th July but I reckoned it would take mea couple of days to get there and get back,so I left Plymouth for Roscoff on theWednesday afternoon ferry.I cheated a bit here and booked into asmall hotel for the night in Roscoff as theferry didn’t get in until 10:00pm. After agood night’s sleep and a nice breakfast, Iwas on my way.The Renault 4 is quite happy at around60mph, it’s amazing how much groundyou can cover at a nice steady speed, andafter a bit of motorway and a lot of Droads, some of then arrow straight, Iarrived at my overnight stop at La Flèche(The Arrow).The next day was spent driving along theLoire valley from Saumur through Toursto my destination at Thenay. The daystarted a bit damp but, the further east Itravelled, the better the weather was, andas I passed through Tours, the sun was outhis skills.The a fellow Brit arrived, SimonLethbridge from Salisbury in his mideightiesR4-F6 van, we hadn’t met beforebut hit it off from the start, and he spokegood French, useful. Next morning, thearrival of R4s seemed endless, such avariety of them, it was so much to take in.I then spotted a very modified, brightorange, Renault 12, I wonder who thatmight be, a certain Mr Flavell. It was niceto meet up with Derek and his family. Ithink Becky was pleased to see her old 4again and their kids were great.The Renault 12 was in good company, as,over the weekend quite a lot of early carsturned up at the event, a 4CV, a Frégate,6s, 8s, 10s and some very sporty jobs too.Saturday was spent just looking at thefantastic array of cars, some in originalcondition, some very much concours andothers, well very modified. The Renaultknow what an icon this little car is.We spent some time at the auto-jumble,all those hard to find parts in the UK,right under our noses. One or two bitswere bought. I got a couple of 1-43rdscale models for my collection. We met ayoung couple from Exeter, Brendon andAmanda, pity they weren’t in a 4, but itwas nice to meet them and also agentleman called Tony Latchford. His 4Lwas also at home at his holiday pad southof Thenay. He needed a replacementstarter motor for it which he managed toget.The highlight of the weekend was a lineup of all the 4s for the Guinness Book ofRecords. As far as I can remember I thinkthe number of cars was 574, what a sight,wall to wall Renault 4s.The evening was spent enjoying a fewbeers, kindly supplied by Tony, watchingthe fireworks, a huge bonfire and listeningto a French rock band killing some songs.Next morning, after a damn good fry up, arun was organised to go and visit themushroom caves, but it all went a bitwrong, even the French were getting lost,what hope for us. So back to the event, toR E N o T E s m A G A Z I N E95
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