Vintage Revival Montlhery, 11-12 May 2019

A group of Three Wheelers (two recent ones and a 1934 Supersports piloted by our capable leader Ian Parkinson) made their way through northern France to the Vintage Revival in Montlhery just south of Paris. Think Goodwood Revival with a Gallic twist. 

Meeting up in Laon, with its notable cathedral,

we made our way to Compiegne, north east of Paris, for three days of sightseeing. Trips to Coucy Castle

blown up by the retreating Germans in WW1 to prevent its use as an Observation Post...

The Armistice Carriage (actually a replacement from the same train - the Germans blew up the original of that one too) with its impressive museum

and the Chateau de Pierrefonds,

restored from a ruin in the 19th century and now used as a repository for neo-Gothic artefacts, were followed by a trip into Paris for an all too rapid flit around the sights. We were struck by the near-absence of smoke damage to the exterior of Notre Dame.

Our convoy grew to four with the addition of another M3W from Cologne.

And then it was off to Montlhery, in a long semicircle westward around Paris via Giverny, where we just had to visit Monet's gardens. They are not exactly as the artist left them: there was no detailed planting plan, and after his death in 1926 and a gradual decline into near dereliction, the beds were recreated in the 1950s (largely thanks to American funding) from Monet's paintings and descriptions in contemporary articles. 

  

As you can see, the famous waterlilies were not yet in flower.

Much of the planting did not impress in close-up, but in long shot the effect of a blur of colour from the artist's palette was impressive. 

And so to the main event, a biennial riot of 300 crazy

and beautiful

pre-War vehicles. This film gives a rather more professional impression of the event than my photos (and here are some more). And one of our group took this film of a lap as Ian's passenger. It was impressive to see Three Wheelers from the '20s and '30s in racing trim shooting round the track and hugging the highest lane of the banking with ease.




A pleasant quirk is the opening of the track to pre-War bicycles during the lunch interval.

To close the event, vehicles of all vintages were able to take to the track for three laps, and off we went.
 

That banking is a lot steeper than the images suggest - pretty much a half pipe at the top - and with so many trying to get round I did not have the bottle or the space to get more than half way up; but even there the pull downhill, the feeling that those skinny tyres would not hold the slope, was pronounced.


A pleasant journey back to the Tunnel on country roads and we were home. 800 miles covered without mishap. Will we pay next month for such good fortune?