Salon Rétromobile was back to its brilliant best in the French capital from 1-5 February as it returned to the larger, pre-pandemic layout for its 47th edition, with a special focus on the Le Mans 24 Hours to mark the legendary enduro's centenary year. And visitors were back out in force, too, with a total of 125,000 through the turnstiles across the event's five days - the second-highest attendance since the show's inception in 1976.
Among the 500 exhibitors the Le Mans theme was adopted by clubs, manufacturers and specialists alike, but was most prominent in a pair of curated displays by the organisers. 'A century of innovations' featured pioneering racers, from the front-wheel-drive 1927 Tracta Type 4 'Géphi' via the 1968 Howmet TX turbine car and 1981 Lola T600, hydrogenground-effect to the experimental, powered LMPH2G from 2018.
More impressive was a set of Gallic racers celebrating 'When the French shine'. A chronological timeline went from 1926 LorraineDietrich B3-6 Sport and 1936 Simca-Gordini Type 5 via famous names such as DB Panhard, Alpine-Renault, Matra-Simca, Rondeau, Courage and Pescarolo to Peugeot's 1992 V10-powered 905 and its latest 9X8 hypercar.
There was further Le Mans heritage on show in the clubs hall - not least with Club Salmson, which brought along the actual Rudge-Whitworth Coupe Biennale trophy awarded to the marque at the 1927 race, along with an intriguing Motto-bodied 1954 2300S barquette. Entered in the tragic 1955 enduro, this pretty sports-racer features a 2.3-litre, 105bhp four-cylinder engine mated to a Cotal electromagnetic preselector gearbox, operated by a tiny shifter on the side of the dash binnacle which forced drivers to be extra vigilant at the sprint start to avoid damaging the fragile transmission.
This story is from the April 2023 edition of Classic & Sports Car.
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This story is from the April 2023 edition of Classic & Sports Car.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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