The 16th Grand Prix Retro was held on the 28th and 29th July in Le Puy Notre Dame, a normally quiet village 15 miles south west of Saumur or about 350 miles south west of Calais.

 Le Puy Notre Dame - July 2012

Here are some of Mike Guess’ memories of the weekend:

“The entry for this year’s event included 48 tricyclecars (of which more than half were MTWC members). 

The weekend started on the Friday evening with a local bar opening up especially for the MTWC and attracting over 50 members and supporters for an hour or so of chatting and supping. 

Saturday morning saw us heading out for “elevenses” at the massive Gratien et Meyer winery overlooking Saumur followed by a 115 kilometre run out to Azay le Rideau and back for lunch in a restaurant underground in the caves. The cool was a welcome relief from the increasing sunshine. Back to LPND and another meal prior to the night time ‘demonstration’ circuits of the village. This latter was repeated in the daylight on Sunday subject to the usual, very French, 2 hour break for lunch, again provided. 

Special memories? Pete Thompson driving there and back in his 1928 Aero Anzani. Gordon Naisby doing likewise in a 1939 SuperSports. What’s special about that? Well Gordon joined the Club in 1947  –  you work it out.”

 

Thanks as usual to Dennis Rushton for the photos he took. To view the photo gallery, click on any of the photos to bring up a larger version. You can scroll forwards and backwards using the [,] and [.] keys. Press [ESC] or click on the image to Exit.