The winning combination: timed stages & scenic roads
The retrospective of the Tour de France Automobile is a sharp combination of tourism and motor racing. Since 1992, the rally follows the French scenic secondary roads along a handpicked itinerary which changes every year.
The route is dotted with Special Stages, meaning timed sessions –on closed roads or circuits- which determine the final classification. Always starting from Paris, it covers about 2,000km split into five legs.
To participate in the rally, which is now is now one of the historic events that no amateur would miss, there is a first requirement to meet: to present an eligible car, that is to say a car, or the sister car, which has participated in the Tour de France Automobile between 1951 and 1973.
Then, two categories, Competition or Regularity, are proposed for the entry. The car equipment and the documents required, for both the latter and her crew, are different according to the selected section.