04 -2016 The 2016 season of the French National Historic Hillclimb Championship began at Bagnols-Sabran. Organised by the ASA Rhone-Ceze, this 3.1 km climb is a favourite of many drivers, with fast stretches followed by series of bends and hard braking, snaking between armco and stone walls.
There were 39 entrants, comprising a variety of cars which represented the rich traditions of motor sport , bringing back happy memories of their youth to many spectators.
Two Marcadier barquettes were entered: Pascal Ferretti's 1600 and Gilles Coursoux's 1300. Pascal was entered for the National Championship, whilst Gilles, who had had a splendid win at Lugny over the Easter weekend, was not.
Overcast weather for practice saw Pascal in second place behind the very quick Martini single-seater of Eric Bady, whilst Gilles was in fifth place. Sunday's race was punctuated by showers, with streams of water on the road for the second timed runs, with the result that the fastest times were those done in the first timed runs.
To nobody's surprise, Bady was top of the podium, followed by Pascal in second place and Gilles, who had a 'moment' in his very wet second timed run, in third. Sadly all this was put into perspective by the fatal accident suffered by Steve Cabelo, in a Mitsubishi Lancer.
The event was terminated after his accident, the first fatality in the 46-year history of this event. The dangers of motor sport are brought home by such tragedies.
