Trocadéro

CHECKS AND SCRUTINEERING

The Trocadero gardens and fountains will welcome the cars and their teams on Monday for final checks.This is also an opportunity to meet all friends, because many teams keep participating year after year in this event.

The diversity of the Tour Auto Lissac 2006 grid is a sign of the upcoming battles between competitorsWith a selection of outstanding cars such as the Ferrari 250 GTO, Maserati AGCS, Ford GT40 the race is expecting to be particularly aggressive in the Competition category John Sheldon, winner of the Tour Auto Lissac 2005 and runner up of the Tour de España 2005, and his Lotus Elan GT will be defending his title against such competitors as Hans Hugenholtz, laso on a Lotus Elan GT and Frank Sytner on an AC Cobra 1963. As well, drivers like Jean-Pierre Lafourcade (Lotus Elan) and Frédéric Puren will be putting the pressure on the 3 favourites

Bernard Consten, 5 times winner of the Tour de France Automobile, driving a 1954 Mercedes 300 SL and François Chatriot, winner in 1986, driving his Renault R5 turbo Maxi, will open the road for the 230 automobiles participating in this Tour Auto Lissac 2006.

BERNARD CONSTEN AND TOUR AUTO

Bernard Consten was 5 times winner of the Tour de France Automobile in Tourism category. First in 1958 and then 4 times in a row, from 1960 to 1963 driving a mythic car : the Jaguar MK II "Feline". Jaguar had won 5 times the Le Mans 24 hours race (from 1951 to 1957) and from this unique experience was born the famous XK 3.8L engine, delivering 220 HP.

To the already impressive records of Bernard Consten, one should also add the titles of champion de France des rallyes 1958, 1961, 1962 et 1967, and victories in races such as Lyon-Charbonnières 1959, Mont-Blanc 1959, Bandama 1975.

THE MERCEDES 300 SL

(from Daimler-Chrysler Press Release) Eternal youth is a miracle bestowed on only a small number of cars, and the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL coupe is one of this elite group. The Stuttgart-based brand unveiled its new sports car in February 1954 at the International Motor Sports Show in New York, and in so doing lit the fuse for an icon of the automotive world. With its flat, graceful body, the 300 SL had lost nothing of its freshness even as the millennium drew to a close and was voted “Sports car of the Century” in 1999. “Gullwing” doors provided that essential touch of inspiration, opening up towards the sky to reveal a tightly sculptured interior. The history of the 300 SL is inextricably linked with the life of an influential admirer. American importer Maximilian E. Hoffman it was who urged Mercedes-Benz to build a road car in the image of its racing coupe, the start of production in 1954 providing a sweet fruit for his endeavors.

The assembly lines may have waved goodbye to the last of the only 1,400 units of the 300 SL coupe ever made in 1957, but the spirit of this extraordinary car most certainly lives on.