Stars honour Angoulême

The 70th anniversary of the first race on the Angoulême street circuit in France was marked by the annual Circuit des Remparts meeting in September. With a special focus on Matra, famous names at Angoulême included French superstars Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Henri Pescarolo, Jean-Pierre Jarier and Jean-Pierre Jabouille. Sir Jackie Stewart also attended.

The tight and twisty circuit in the heart of the historic walled city delivered a fine programme of races, the highlight being the pre-war event run in memory of Maurice Trintignant. It turned into a fierce contest between the Bugatti 35B of Jean-Marc Laffont and Dougal Cawley, whose hard-charging style in his Frazer Nash/GN ‘Piglet’ won the hearts of the spectators. After 16 laps, Laffont won by 1.5sec.

Eleven Alpine A110s had a race to themselves, won by Michel Closier, while Laffont also won the Bugatti race, a traditional highlight of the weekend.