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That offers some peace of mind as we make a pact to remember to religiously top up the tank twice a day.Ī 1977 Morgan 4/4 drives past Château de la Roche Hervé, near Guérande © Claire Gaby The rally’s €8,300 entrance fee covers breakdown assistance (as well as daily luggage transport, by the way). You don’t have to be au fait with automobile mechanics to participate in the rally – indeed some 10 per cent of the cars are rented. Two hours into the race, on a dirt road tucked away in a lush forest somewhere between the majestic Château de Chantilly and the half-timber houses of Carville, Heike and I realise something is amiss with our fuel gauge – at once showing half full, a bump later jumping to empty. Leaving that morning, caught up in the buzz of the start, classic cars revving their engines, fuelling up was the last thing on our minds.
#Art of rally sign in driver#
The co-pilot plays a crucial role – some say even more than the driver – and it’s vital to remain in sync with each other to succeed.Īmanda Mille (left) and French racing driver and TV presenter Margot Laffite © Claire Gaby
#Art of rally sign in plus#
In a classic car rally, Google Maps and Waze are banned, replaced by the 191-page road book – plus a stopwatch and GPS Tripmaster – where specific kilometres and road markers become navigation points. We set off from Place Vendôme, Heike the driver and I the navigator – or pilot and co-pilot in rally speak – and roles that we keep up throughout.
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Heike Blümner, a writer from Berlin, and I are driving a Porsche 356 supplied by Richard Mille. The race started at Paris’s Place Vendôme © Claire Gaby “You go quick, you lose,” Amanda Mille, brand and partnerships director at Richard Mille, the rally’s title sponsor, says during our training session. There are double penalty points for driving too fast versus too slow. Staged on the open roads for some 300km per day, the Rallye des Princesses is not a speed rally but a regularity one, where average speeds and times must be respected (in this case speeds between 40-50km/h, depending on your vehicle’s age). Ming Liu and Heike Blümner in Place Vendôme © Claire Gaby But just like the mix of participants, it’s not only about the crème de la crème: there was also a 1957 Pontiac Super Chief, a boat-like honker in electric blue, the ultra-sweet and miniature 1969 Fiat 5 Innocenti Mini Cooper, and no less than four Triumph TR models from the 1960s and 1970s. Spectators admired the bullet-like shapes and low-slung rockets, gathering around car #1, a 1958 BMW 507 that’s valued at around $2.5mn, a 1985 Ferrari 308 GTB Quattrovalvole and a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. Google Maps and Waze are banned, replaced by the 191‑page road bookĬars entering the rally must date from between 1946 to 1985: all 78 vehicles convened last month at Paris’s Place Vendôme for a “scrutineering”.