On April 23, some two hundred crews will stop at Nîmes, on the Esplanade, after having made a detour via the Lédenon circuit to participate in a timed event.
Fans of beautiful bodywork and noble mechanics will appreciate the news: the Tour Auto will stop in Nîmes on April 23. Its organizer, Patrick Peter, has just announced it by unveiling the main lines of the upcoming anniversary edition, the thirtieth of a series started in 1992. At the time, it was a question of being part of the legacy of what was the famous Tour de France automobile, born in… 1899 but this time through a rally exclusively reserved for so-called historic racing cars.
Three decades later, the Tour Auto remains faithful to this principle by welcoming the only vehicle models seen at the time (before 1974) on the Tour de France and continues to crisscross France once a year, taking on a real rolling museum.
A caravan, however, subject to a very sporty regime with, for five days, a succession of timed events on the road and on circuits, to be faced as in the best days.
Vintage cars
The aura of this Tour Auto is such that the 200 or so crews who usually run it come from all over Europe and even from across the Atlantic, some taking the risk of submitting to the throes of the competition genuine vintage cars. at invaluable value. The Tour Auto is unique in this.
Before stopping off in Nîmes on the evening of April 23, this thirtieth edition, which will start from Paris three days earlier, will make a detour via the Lédenon circuit. This was already the case last year. On the other hand, we have to go back to 2012 to find the city of Antonins among the stopover towns. As in that year, the podium and the end-of-stage park will be located on the Esplanade, a stone’s throw from the arenas. A sort of respected tradition if we remember that the Tour de France automobile itself had, in its time, the opportunity to make stops in Nîmes.
On the morning of April 24, the competitors will take to the road again towards the Paul-Ricard circuit and then to Nice, where the finish will be judged the same day.
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