Legendary pre-war ace René Dreyfus died on this day in 1993. In 1937 he scored arguably his greatest victory, winning the 'Million-Franc Race' at Montlhery – then one of motor sport's most formidable tracks. In today's Great Read, Matthew Franey compares Montlhéry's dramatic past with its working present
It was what the French call 'Un été de la Saint-Martin"— an Indian Summer. Across continental Europe the weather had been hot, oppressive. During our night time run into France from the east — Cologne via Luxembourg, then Reims and Paris — the air had crackled with expectancy, flurries of lightning bursting on the horizon of the rolling plains in the north.
By the morning the clouds had cleared but the heat remained as we cruised the final few miles south of Paris. There, nestled on a hill above two quintessentially French villages was our destination, the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry — for a brief but glorious inter-war period the focal point of the country's motor racing industry.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario