Playing Charade

Marc Sonnery discovered a challenging timewarp track experience hidden away in the mountains of France

- Marc Sonnery

HIDDEN WITHIN FRANCE’S Auvergne volcano country is a school like no other: a racing school at which you drive only historic cars. It’s the brainchild of Julien Chaffard, a competitive skier who grew up in the Alps region and studied engineering. He had an epiphany while a trainee at what was left of the AGS Formula 1 team, which ran a few F1 and F3 cars for thrill-seeking pupils. While sorting out the gearbox synchros on a Prost AP02, Chaffard needed a pro driver to assess it - but the school suggested he test it himself, and so he suddenly found himself driving an F1 car. In a corner of the workshop were a Lotus 51 and 69 and a Dulon: junior single-seaters gathering dust. Surely they would be appropriate for a racing school? They certainly helped germinate his idea...

The quest began with schoolfriend Morgan Pezzo, and research led the pair to Crosslé, the single-seater manufacturer based near Belfast in Northern Ireland. Realising the company could still build the period Formula Fords required, they made an appointment, visited, placed an order - then went home to sell the idea to investor sponsors. Some of the initial backing came from a man with a Matra Le Mans racer, a Daytona Group 4, 512BB LM and others... it turned out to be 'Mister John of B', alias the successful historic racer. From there it snowballed, more cars were ordered and Classic Racing School was born.

Another question arose, however: where to establish it? Perched 850m up in the volcanic hills above Clermont-Ferrand, the host of four French Grands Prix between 1965 and 1972 and a very challenging course, Charade had preserved its bygone-era look after being shortened to 4km and was under-exploited. And so a deal was made to rent garages in which to store the cars and to create space for guests in which to learn the craft and relax between stints. Dark wooden walls and clubby couches would set a suitably period mood.