Many locals will tell you that during the month of May, Pau is prone to wet weather, but despite this the town actively embraces the annual motor racing festival, this year organised by Patrick Peter in a relaxed manner which is the hallmark of this event.
Many drivers will tell you that they prefer racing here than at Monaco, summing it up by explaining that Pau is a town street race whereas Monaco is a race circuit in a town.
Be that as it may Pau is a very well to do town, quite posh in fact and popularised by British tourists in Victorian times and nestling under the lee of the Pyrenees which can of course cause wet weather at times.
Those who have raced GP cars here since the inaugural event in 1933 include the very greatest such as ~ Nuvolari, Caraccoila and Fangio. In 1939 Mercedes-Benz utterly dominated with V12 470hp W163 cars in the hands of Lang and von Brauchitsch and the spectacle of these fearsome machines shrieking up the steep & narrow inclines, round the tight bends and through the town’s formal squares before plunging down again for 160 miles race duration must have been amazing.
Not that in modern times the spectacle is any less and as usual Formula Junior did what it does best ~~ grids of fine cars, hard raced but considerately driven on this demanding course which remains effectively unchanged since inception.

Free (gratis) practice and qualifying were both declared wet, although for qualifying the track was mostly dryish.
Whereas Nathan Kinch’s Lotus 22 showed the way in free practice it was Callum Macleod who qualified as pole sitter in Richard Utley’s Class D2 Caravelle Mk2 ~ this race not being an FJHRA organised race, and unaffected by the penalties imposed after Donington Historic Festival.
However poor Richard Utley himself was taken to hospital on Friday suffering from pneumonia so his Caravelle Mk1 sadly sat unused in the paddock shelter for the weekend, but thankfully his condition improved, although it was not until the following weekend that he was to have been flown home. Unfortunately Iain Rowley’s guest Lotus 22 drive fizzled out when fluctuating oil pressure caused him to withdraw.

Martin Walford’s Class E Lotus 22 was 2nd fastest and Anthony Binnington’s Cooper T67, in Class H as his correct ERSA gearbox was still giving trouble, 7th.
A small number of F3 1 litre cars were invited to join the grid, all running on Dunlop tyres, and  led by Michel Renavand’s Tecno, occupied the middle places but they were split by George Cooper’s Class H Cooper T59 and Alex Morton’s Ausper T3 leading Class D2.
John Dowson’s Elva 200 was ahead in Class C2 and of the three Italian Class A cars it was Michael Ashley-Brown who got his Volpini round best.
Justin Fleming’s adventurous weekend began when just as he was lining up for free practice his Elva 100 throttle cable snagged & stuck ~ it was the consensus opinion that he was very, very, lucky that this didn’t happen whilst out on track. He replaced the cable and qualified as the only representative for Class B2 but his luck didn’t hold, of which more anon.

Macleod’s luck also deserted him when he crashed head on into the Armco on the opening lap of race 1, despite a rolling start on a dry track and with mandatory precautionary yellow flags on corners 2 & 3 for the first lap. Thankfully he was not injured but the poor Caravelle’s bodywork was stuffed right back to the radiator and there was also some steering derangement, we were told.
So that left 24 cars in the 12 lap race though these were abruptly reduced when Jens Rauschen crashed his Lotus 22 after 2 laps, although without major damage.
Walford passed and kept ahead of Nathan Kinch for 3 laps but Kinch retook and maintained the place right through to the flag, with Stephan Rey’s Lola 5A a close 3rd.
Unfortunately there were further retirements and next to fall were Larry Kinch and the luckless Fleming who in a ‘last of the late brakers’ endeavour climbed his Elva over the back of Larry Kinch’s Lotus 20/22 and the Elva overturning but fortuitously landing on its wheels ‘though right against the Armco.
Meanwhile Morton was moving his Ausper quietly up through the ranks to finish 9th overall and class D winner.
The F3 Tecno of Philippe Bonny dropped out on lap 5 with gearbox problems followed by MA-B on lap 6, suffering from driver sickness.  Binnington’s Cooper T67 called into the pits complaining of smoke from the front but a quick check by his mechanic Dick revealed nothing amiss so Anthony shot out to rejoin the fray. However he was soon back again with the same problem and this time it was seen that oil was freely escaping from under the rocker cover, so the car was withdrawn.
During all this excitement John Dowson had secured Class C in his Elva 200 and Mauro Poponcini closed his lovely Cooper T76 F3 up behind Tupper Robinson’s Mallock U2. Renavand took Class F3 and Jan Bieken’s Stanguellini lost out to “Mr John of B” (alias Jean Guittard)’s similar model for Class A honours.

Race 2 started from the same qualifying grid which surprisingly did not sit well with some competitors who felt that their efforts in race 1 were somewhat nullified, even though each race was an individual event, and this is standard Formula Junior practice.

This time the retirements were fewer, save for Nathan Kinch’s big impact into the barriers on the 1st lap with serious damage to the car, and Morton’s Ausper suffered a drive shaft failure on the rush down to the start.
While Matt King of Motor Racing Medics was checking over Larry Kinch’s Lotus between the two races, luckily two friends of Justin’s had also appeared to work on his Elva. The Elva looked really bad at first glance, but actually only had one bent corner after its roll. They managed to straighten it out and luckily Justin had a spare wheel. A lot of gaffa tape and with a deep breath he put himself at the back of the grid and started. The car felt okay after 3 laps so he continued to the end and finished 15th! It’s doubtful if anyone put money on them getting the car out again, but once repaired, Grant wisely gave it a real going over before signing them off. Justin even had to borrow a helmet as his had run along the tarmac; true FJ persistence and never give up !!

After Nathan Kinch dropped out, Walford, in determined mood, led the entire race with Rey again very close and Philipp Buhofer’s Lola 5A a little way back in 3rd place. Very exciting racing on this street circuit!!
Christian Traber’s Lotus 22 finished 4th and well ahead of Class F3 winner, this time Michael Gendre in his Brabham BT21.
Venerable George Cooper did exceptionally well in this race, finishing 7th overall ahead of Klaus Rauschen’s Brabham BT2 and the French commentator sharing duties with Marcus Pye delightfully pronounced old George’s name in a very Gaelic accent.
Larry Kinch finished midfield in his Lotus 22 to restore family honours, and of the Class A contenders, Biekens, Guittard and MA-B ran close until MA-B retired again feeling unwell, leaving Biekens to have it this time. Mike Gregory’s de Tomaso Isis was circulating carefully, although it sounded very well, behind Luc Deneve’s Lotus 18. Binnington’s rocker cover lifted again and he retired to the pits on the last lap wreathed in oil smoke and quite unable to safely see ahead, but he was classified as a finisher. With ever growing confidence Futter made up good places and finished a fine 10th overall.

Grant and Penny Wilson were in charge of everything for Formula Junior, from conducting scrutineering to making awards and Penny did very well to avoid being sprayed with F1 style Champagne on the elevated podium as she graciously made the official presentations.

This year only the competing cars plus a few on display were allowed in the paddock, all other vehicles being located in the station car park opposite.
This was fine but unfortunately the pedestrian bridge across the track was quite some distance away, which meant a lengthy walk.
Alternatively a large corps of French manned WW2 Jeeps + trailers operated a very efficient shuttle service across the track between races and this was really useful for moving heavy toolboxes, fuel cans & even engines, plus of course many people.
A great event, very stylish and comfortably organised. Recommended.

Peter Jackson, The Cooper Cockpit Correspondent.  May 31st 2011