To Angoulême by Alvis 12/50 - Day 1

Brighton to Portsmouth docks

Le Circuit des Remparts d’Angoulême is a series of races for old cars around the castle ramparts of Angoulême, which is a lovely town about two thirds of the way down France on the left hand side. It's 30 miles inland from Cognac and 75 miles north of Bordeaux. 

I’ve heard it said that Le Circuit des Remparts d’Angoulême is similar to what the Goodwood Revival once was before the organisers discovered that the Sussex Downs were paved with gold. 

I was lucky enough to get to both the Festival of Speed and the Revival in the very early days before it became a part of the social scene; it was all pretty relaxed and you could buy your tickets on the gate before it all went online and retro. 

The easiest way of getting the Alvis to Angoulême was to take the Brittany Ferries ship from Portsmouth to Saint Malo and then drive 300 miles over the next two days whilst sampling plenty of petit déjeuners, déjeuners et cafés. 

I did book the Angoulême tickets online as I wanted to ensure we got some seats rather than just wandering around and looking over people's shoulders, besides they'd already sold out of the Cathedral grandstand seats when I started booking in August so it was pretty popular. 

The seats were not expensive; €25 each for entry to the paddock for both days and €10  each for the grandstand seats for both days. If you use my sort of logic, what you save on Goodwood pays for the ferry...sort of.

I'd cobbled the carburettion together on the Alvis but was still without the all important 120 Solex jet which my engine seems to need now to combat the Ethanol in petrol that tends to make the mixture leaner. On the afternoon of Wednesday 12th September we met up with our friends’ Bugatti on the Brighton seafront before we headed off to Portsmouth for the overnight voyage to Saint Malo. 

The traffic through Arundel wasn't kind to us and the Alvis popped and spat back through the carburettor which was ominous...