I often say; “you should have been there”, but this time it really was a must – blazing sunshine right into the evening; a modern circuit with 50 years of history situated in the middle of “fois gras” country; two great parties and plenty of other socialising; and a nail biting climax to the FIA Lurani Trophy, and Class E settled only be a 0.017s victory in the 2nd race!

It’s been a long season, and it is perceived to be a long way – in fact only 8 hours easy drive from St Malo after a very comfortable night and waitress service dinner on board the “Brittany Princess” from Portsmouth – but it was still a shame that only twelve cars made the trip Overall Championship contenders John Delane (Lotus 18) and series organiser Duncan Rabagliati (Alexis HF1) were ready for battle – well, metaphorically anyway! John had only to complete 50% race distance and be classified - Duncan had to do the same, but only if John didn’t! – and with the Hall and Hall (second) army in place
(the First Battalion were at Donington Park), nothing was being left to fortune.

But the real excitement would be at the front – If Christoph Burckhardt (Lotus 22) beat Pierre Tonetti (Brabham BT6), then the former would win Class E Lurani - but add local Doctor, Stephane Rey (Lola MK5A), Philipp Buhofer (Lola MK5A) and Chris Drake (Brabham BT6) to the equation and you had a real thriller in prospect, and so it was to prove. John Dowson (Brabham BT2), Alessandro Ripamonti (Wainer) and the Lotus 20’s of Steven Tonneman and Paul Alquier made up the faster runners, with period racer Jeremy Bouckley, tended by Peter Denty himself, in the latter’s Cooper T56 the sole Class D runner.

There were several free practices on Thursday and Friday morning mixed with F2 and FF Historique before qualifying got under way in the late afternoon. Rey was showing his local knowledge ahead of Tonetti and Buhofer, with a misfiring Burckhardt four seconds adrift of the poleman, while Chris Drake, just flown in (almost) direct from Monterey where his B.A.T 1 had won an award at Pebble Beach, was adding wrong gear selection to his existing jet lag problems. Both Delane and Rabagliati had satisfactory runs, the latter happy to be 11 seconds faster than his practice in 2000, his last visit to Nogaro.

Friday night was the Organisers Dinner hosted by Circuit owner André Diviès at the “Bonne Auberge” in Manciet where we were joined by Jean-Pierre Beltoise, fondly recalling National Service spent dreaming of driving a Formula Junior, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, who learnt his single seater skills in a Lotus 18 FJ @ JRRDS, and Henri Pescarolo.

Fortunately our races were later in the day! – plenty of time for Chris toph to cure his electrical problems – the usual way : change everything! And what a race – it was a three car train of Tonetti, Burckhardt, Rey with Buhofer right behind (with camera car!), the unfortunate Drake having spun on the first lap, recovering to join the end of the second ‘train’ of Ripamonti, going exceptionally well, Dowson and Alquier, while Tonneman and Delane were having their own battle behind. Duncan took advantage of Jeremy’s slow start, but the long straight put paid to any heroics, although another 3 secs came off the lap time.
Back up front, Rey was watching every opportunity, and the chance came a lap from the end which he held to the flag, 1.5 secs ahead of Tonetti and Burckhardt: A very happy Rey heard "La Marseillaise” on the podium!!

Saturday night was the grand 50th Anniversary Dinner – 400 guests sat down to a splendid repast - more fois gras of course! Aperitifs on the open roof, a consumable prize for every driver attending, a presentation of “The Historic drivers”, now joined by Bruno Basini, who had driven the Formula Junior Rainieri –Lancia to victory at the first ever event at Nogaro – so perhaps not surprising that the main course was not served until 11.30pm! - and there were still two more courses to go!

Another sleep in! Well actually not, as we were staying next to an (almost) Cathedral in Eauze and the church bells start at 8am! The Formula Junior climax was not until late afternoon, and sadly Ripamonti had had to rush back to Milan for personal reasons, but the remainder of the grid were in place for another humdinger of a race, In fact that track was already slippery with oil from previous races, but after 4 laps, it was a rink again as Alquier managed nearly a complete lap laying an oil trail from his Lotus 20, with both Tonetti and Rey spinning, after turns 3 and 6 respectively, poor Rey having trouble restarting. This left Burckhardt now 100 metres ahead, but Tonetti was determined to win his Lurani Trophy, and by the last lap was right up with Burckhardt, taking the flag just 0.017s ahead, with Rey also catching up, but not quite passing Buhofer. This time Drake kept all his wheels on the track, to a lonely 5th, while Tonneman and Delane battled again, Tonneman remaining 0.6s ahead. Duncan blew a head gasket in the penultimate lap, but finished nonetheless, albeit waterless.

A delighted Tonetti headed the podium, with Burckhardt and Buhofer, and joined by John Delane as worthy overall FIA Lurani Trophy Champion for 2010.

DCPR