It was the Grand Prix l’Age d’Or meeting – a great racing Festival, with many Classic Car clubs gathering as well.
Formula Junior were all in good spirits and great racing ensued. A grid capacity of 34 starters, brought an overfull entry, but the two Caravelle’s are still having troubles with the new Charlie Smith built Renault gearboxes, and, sadly, family bereavements kept both Justin Fleming (Elva 100) and Philipp Buhofer (Lola Mk 5A) away. Further depletion occurred when poor Paul Alquier heard that his home had been burgled overnight, necessitating a hasty return with his Lotus 20, while qualifying practice left Bruno Proton de la Chappelle in the ex-Ian Scott Elva 100 stranded on the hairpin with only 2 gears; Eric Justesen’s U2 with stripped oil pump gear hardly getting down the pit lane, and Steve Russell (Lotus 18), more used to the disc brakes on his Cooper-Maserati, ending in the wall round the sweeping downhill lefthander. In fact with Bruno and Steve stranded, Robin Longdon (Lola Mk2) stopped on the circuit to fix (and he did) an electrical problem and John Fyda (Lotus 22) in the kitty litter, the session was briefly red flagged to clear the mess!
Christoph Burckhardt (Lotus 22) was again showing the superiority of youth, with John Fyda next up – and Pierre Tonetti the last of the lead bunch in his BT6 – Duncan was glad to be back in the Alexis after a two month layoff, and much attention to its body and engine from Stuart Roach. At least it was dry, albeit very cold, unlike Thursday, where ‘free’ practice had been pouring rain – but nothing like Draguignan which had been flooded to two metre depth with over 20 people killed: our French Steward hailed from there, and had only just made it.
Race 1 was not until Saturday afternoon, allowing those staying in the picturesque down of Dijon some sightseeing – last year’s winner Edwin Jowsey, who had finally arrived after ferry and traffic problems with his Lotus 22, was at the back, but Urs Muller got his times wrong, albeit not helped by at least 10 changes of timetable and arrived at the gate as the cars were already on the grid, fortunately being allowed to start from the pit lane. After a sluggish start, Christoph was soon off into the distance as the train of 8 cars behind him, headed by Tonetti, fought their own battle. Tonetti spun and the battle split into groups, with Jowsey, having caught up the pack from the back, taking Eberhardt (Lotus 27) and heading after Burckhardt, but 25 mins is too short, and despite lapping ½ second faster than Christoph’s best, there was still 8 secs in it after the 25 min flag. The ‘Italians’ had a great dice together, but for Salodini, clearly fastest, a spin at 2/3 distance must have flooded the carbs, for as he got going again, there was a burst of flame, and he came to rest away from the marshal’s post, which left considerable damage under the bonnet. Jan Biekens (Stanguellini) and Michael Ashley-Brown (Volpini) were having a battle together, with Carlo Del Conte (Wainer) in train, but he spun too, and Duncan (Alexis) got back into action in the final laps as Michael slowed, allowing Duncan to overtake, with Carlo still behind. Further up Class C leader, John Delane, just flown in (and back) from the USA for the race, and Class B leader, Robin Longdon (Mk2) were having a good race together.
Race over, and there was a publicity opportunity for the three FJ U2’s to line up with two FF Mk 9sfor a Mallock photo shoot – Eric Justesen and Brian Mitcham (ex David Stevenson) having the two FJ Mk 2’s, Chris Chilcott borrowing John Fyda’s Mk 3, originally built by Martin Carter in 1963, while the Mk 9s were racing in the later FF race, Mk9.19 for Julien Naveau and Mk9.27 for Felix Haas.
Sunday was a little brighter, but still cold. Edwin was at the back again, and made slower progress through the back markers up behind the race long battle of Tonetti, and the two Urs’ - Müller and Eberhardt, before an accelerator pedal snapped, so he glided into the pits – meanwhile ahead Burckhardt led comfortably from a distant Fyda, and equally distant Stephane Rey delighted to be in a podium position ahead of the bunch. Robin Longdon took the front engine lead until his mysterious electrical problems resurfaced, and he pitted, while Mitcham’s points again brought him to a half, so Duncan took the class, ahead of all the “Italians” and the Wainer of Alessandro Ripamonti, which had pitted. This time Erwin Van Gelder (Lotus 20/22) held onto the track for a deserved 4th, clear of the Urs x 2/Tonetti fight, with Müller just ahead of Tonetti as they both dived for the line, with Eberhardt a whole second behind – but intact! It was a close call between Delane and Sid Hoole, and an excellent race for Richard Smeeton, back in his own Lotus 22, only a fraction behind.

DCPR