FRENCH CONNECTION

The 296 GTB will form the basis of Ferrari's GT effort at Le Mans next year. Cue a road trip to La Sarthe

- STUART GALLAGHER

FAST BLAST TO LE MANS IS A MEMORY for those of a certain age. Deserted autoroutes, quiet N-roads, gendarmes without the means to record your speed and present a chip-and-pin machine for you to insert your debit card... How different it is today. A cynic would suggest they need the fines to pay for the fuel being burnt by their helicopter keeping an eagle eye on the traveling Brits. Not that speeding should ever be glamorized, but there are more than a few moments on the way to La Sarthe that would create some wonderful new memories if only we were able to let the 296 GTB off its leash and cut a 200mph wedge through the warm French evening air. But expenses limits aren't what they used to be and car manufacturers take a dim view of their press cars being impounded.

So a cruise it is, but cross-country and away from the stifling boredom of an autoroute. First to Rouen, because if you're going to sit in a traffic jam you might as well do so on the same piece of tarmac that Maurice Trintignant took the triple crown (pole, fastest lap, race win) at the 1954 Grand Prix in a Ferrari 625. Then on to Le Mans, where Ferrari has troubled the scorers more frequently over the years, with nine overall victories - the last in 1965 with the elegant 250 LM and 35 class wins, the most recent in 2021. From 2023 it plans to be competing for the outright win once again with its new hypercar while continuing its GT success with a new 296 GT3 car. For this year, though, there's the small matter of the current 488 GTE Evo's Le Mans swansong.