Grand Palais

Checks and Scrutineering

This Tour Auto Lissac 2007 will start from a prestigious location, culturally linked to the history of : Le Grand Palais, the birthplace of the famed Salon de l'Auto.

Built for the 1900 World Exhibition, the Grand Palais has been home for the first Salon de l'Auto and this until the year 1961.

For the second time the Timepiece manufacturing company Audemars Piguet is official timekeeper for the rally. Also Audemars Piguet is entering five cars in the rally, in partnership with Comas Historic Racing.

This year, Mitsubishi Motors is giving a new impulse to his partnership with Tour Auto Lissac. The leading car manufacturer in rallye and raid racing will present the brand new Outlander

The race:

4 races on 4 circuits (Le Mans, Le Vigeant, Albi and Charade) and 7 special road stages, kept confidential until the morning of the leg will decide on the winner of this years' Tour Auto Lissac .

In the Competition category, the whole 2006 podium 2006 is here, for races that promise to be exciting. Hans Hugenholtz will defend his title, on his Lotus Elan GT

Jean Ragnotti is back, with Francis Mercier and will try to finish first in scratch, as he did last year. In Group G, Jean-Marc Luco, who was out of luck in 2005 and 2006 on his Porsche 910 will have to face a strong group of Porsches.

Bernard Consten, 5 time winner of the Tour de France Automobile between 1958 and 1963 in Touring car category, on an Alfa Romeo Giuletta and four times in a row at the steering wheel of the legendary Jaguar Mk II "feline", will open this edition of the Tour Auto Lissac. He will be driving a 1954 Mercedes Benz 300 SL.

THE FERRARI 250 TdF

In the fifties, there has been a feeling that Ferrari had been neglecting the GT category. When Armando Zampiero won the italian sport cars championship with a Mercedes 300 SL Ferrari decide to step more aggressively ntothe GT category.

Success was not late to come, when Olivier Gendebien won two times in a row, in 1957 and in 1958, the Reims 12 hours race, with his friend and countryman Paul Frère. But more, he won also, the Tour de France Automobile three times in a row, in 1957, 1958 and 1959 with Lucien Bianchi as codriver.

The Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta TdF has a V12 Colombo engine, of 2953 cm3 together with 3 Weber 36 DCZ 3 carburators . It delivers a maximum power of 230 to 260 hp according to its configuration, and reaches a top speed of 244 kmh. 84 250GT Berlinetta have been built between 1956 and 1959. 50 years later, the 250 TdF remains a marvel of design, which we owe to Pinin Farina, and of engineering, by Scaglietti, from Modean.

In the Tour Auto 2006, a superb Ferrari 250 GT TdF 1956, team Masterson/Walter # 25, participated in regularity. In 2005 there were 2 of them. The 2007 edition of the Tour Auto Lissac will host 6 250 TdF in the regularity category, and one car (1959) in the competiton category, driven by the team WILDENBURG / HAHNE . Bernd Hahne, has been a key performing driver in the past years, with a beuatiful, and powerful, Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA 1965, and he will certainly not disappoint the spectators of this Tour Auto Lissac !

THE ROMEO GUILETTA

This car is built around a 1,3 liter ( then 1,6 liter) engine all in aluminium. It has a double overhead camshaft and hemis^herical combustion chambers, for up to 7 000 revs / minute. Between 1954 et 1962, Alfa Romeo built 160 000 Giulietta including around 25 000 Sprint. The Giulia comes into production in 1962, a larger and more powerdul car ( 1,6 liters and 92hp). The Giulietta SZ (Sprint Zagato) is rare (only 210 built, from 1960). With a 100 hp engine, a shoirt body and a weight of only 750 kg, it can reach a top speed of 215 km/h. This year we will see 3 1957 Giuliettas, for a total of more than 30 Alfa Romeos in the Tour, a real Alfa year ! The eligible models for the Tour Auto Lissac are : Giulietta SV (1956), Giulietta TI (1957), 1900 TI Super (1957), Giulietta SVZ (1958), 1900 SSZ (1958) Giulietta SS (1960), Giulietta SZ (1960) - Giulia TI (1963), 2600 Sprint (1963), Giulia TI Super (1963), Giulia TZ (1963)

In the past years of the Tour Auto Lissac, Alfa Romeo has been on the podiums in 2005 et 2006, with : Bob and Ann LINWOOD, in regularity category, winners in é06, second in 2005 on their ALFA ROMEO Giulia 1600 1968 The team END/END, first at the performance index in 2005 on a Giulia and the team VERQUIN/RICOUR 3rd at the performance index, on a 1600 GTA coupe.