Classic Racing: "Les Suisses" in top form 🎥

GRAND PRIX DE L'AGE D'OR For the Swiss, the traditional event in Burgundy was almost like a home game. Accordingly, they put in a strong performance over Whitsun at the Circuit de Dijon-Prenois. The third event of the racing series for historic vehicles organized by the French agency Peter Auto took place there, where in 1985 [...]

Editorial - June 15, 2019

Family affair: Yves Scemama leads ahead of his brother Philippe, the Frenchman Lafargue and the eventual two-liter winner Beat Eggimann (photos: Peter Wyss).

The third event of the racing series for historic vehicles organized by the French agency Peter Auto took place where the last Swiss Grand Prix was held in 1985. In addition, the Circuit de Dijon-Prenois was also the venue of several Swiss championship races as long as circuit racing still existed.

In Historic Racing, little Switzerland is a power, which was reflected in numerous victories and podium finishes at the 55th staging of the Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or.

Scemama brothers demonstration
In Classic Endurance Racing 2, the field for sports cars from the 1970s to the early 1980s, they occupied the podium completely after the one-hour race. Thereby was with Maxime Guenat after problems in the training with the Lola T286-DFV one of the strongest Swiss not at the start at all. And the fastest in training Yves Scemama had to park his TOJ SC206 with three-liter V8 engine after seven leading laps with declining oil pressure. The chestnuts were fetched by his younger brother Philippe Scemama from the fire, who then lapped lonely at the front in the Chevy V8-powered Lola T600 and celebrated his second CER2 victory after the Spa Classic.

Swiss overall winners' podium in CER2 (from left): Beat Eggimann, Philippe Scemama and Philipp Brühwiler. On the bottom right, Guy Peeters was also allowed to be in the picture as third in the two-liter.

Swiss victory in the Swiss sports car
In the two-liter class, too, the fastest competitor, Frenchman Patrice Lafargue in a Lola T298 BMW, retired early. After that, the driver who had started next to him from the second row Beat Eggimann ahead, giving the defending champion his first win of the season at the wheel of his Ford-BDG-powered Cheetah G601 (a Chuck Graemiger design). Philipp Brühwiler completed the overall winners' podium in the Chevron B31-BDG.

Advance of Toni Seiler
To the legendary time of Jo Siffert or Herbert miller The lap-long duel for victory was won by Monegasque Claudio Roddaro in a Porsche 917, ahead of Carlos Monteverde and Gary Pearson in a Ferrari 512 M - a visual and acoustic treat!

A treat that can only be found at a few historic races: Porsche 917 in front of Ferrari 512 M in the duel for victory.

Of the Swiss, the following came out on top Toni Seiler best in scene, although this was not to be expected. In practice, the 5.7-liter V8 engine in the rear of the 1968 Lola T70 MkIII caused concern. The crew of Seiler and Eggimann made the provisional repair so well that Seiler was able to finish from 15th on the grid in 7th place and as the best Lola driver in third place in the class over three liters behind the two high-flyers already mentioned on the podium. 54 seconds behind him crossed Peter Vögele crossed the finish line in tenth place overall with his Porsche 908/3.

Toni Seiler (right) and Alfred Moser, who drove Seiler's second Lola T70, are happy after the CER1 race, which was a success for both of them.

As in the prime of the group 2
Shortly after Nico Müller drove to his second career victory in the DTM at Misano, three other Swiss drivers demonstrated magnificent motorsport in France with Group 2 touring cars from the early days of the German Racing Championship and the European Touring Car Championship. Okay, they are true-to-the-original replicas, but they are all the more robust and at least as attractive as they were back then.

Touring car racing at its best, with faithful rebuilds: Michael Erlich brakes on the last groove, Maxime Guenat put him under pressure for laps and Christian Traber was the laughing third in the white BMW at the end.

The two at MK Motorsport BMW 3.0 CSL built in Worb by Michael Erlich and Christian Trotter took the first row of the grid, but right at the start of the race they were made to feel uncomfortable by the Maxime Guenat in the Ford Capri 3100 RS disputed the lead.

What Erlich (with smoking brakes at the entrance to the Bretelle-S) and the Frenchman performed in their duel was worth the trip to Dijon alone. Traber stayed within striking distance and was obviously a little more careful with his material. After 23 laps, Erlich retired with drive damage, whereupon Traber took command in his identical four-valve coupe ahead of Guenat, who had already fallen back slightly. On the last lap of the one-hour chase, the latter's Capri also stopped.

Thus Christian Traber won relatively clearly ahead of two other BMW CSL with two-valve engines and the one driven by Yves Scemama in the Capri 2600 RS led Ford pack.

Except for one, Philipp Oettli (starting number 88) kept all Cobra, Jaguar and other opponents with 60cc cars behind him in his race.

Only one Jaguar E before Philipp Oettli
With 60 cars from the 60s, the Sixties' Trophy reached its capacity limit on the 3.8-kilometer hill-and-dale course. This two-hour race saw a first, with Briton Jon Minshaw in an optimal and superbly piloted Jaguar E taking down the entire Shelby Cobra armada for the first time since this field was introduced (2015).

Not the fastest, but in the end the best snake tamer was Philipp Oettli, who finished second overall by 21 seconds to win the GT5 class. Henri Moser turned the second fastest Cobra lap after a Frenchman and came with Gentleman Charles Firmenich finished fifth, one lap behind Oettli.

Bruno Weibel had to drive at the limit in the red 1962 Lotus 22 to stay ahead in the large field of Formula Junior race cars.

Second Formula Junior victory for Bruno Weibel
As a guest series, the FIA Lurani Trophy for Formula Junior racing cars was allowed to start its races within the framework of the Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or. On Saturday, the Bruno Weibel in the Lotus 22 after a great three-way battle with two British Brabham drivers.

On Sunday, the Schaffner Racing owner came out of the slipstream of Mark Shaw's BT6 a little too late after the finish bend, so that he missed the double by 18 thousandths. On balance, however, the defending champion was not to be denied his second win of the season after the Hockenheim Historic and the full ten points for the European Championship.

Review with video magazine
What else was going on on and off the racetrack in Burgundy during the three days of the event is shown in the following 16-minute magazine: