Tour Auto - Participating in the "Rally of a Lifetime"

Tour Auto is undoubtedly one of the most exotic events on the European classic car calendar. We speak to Leon Potgieter who participated this year as a navigator in a very special 1973 Porsche 911 2.8 RSR.

Words: Wilhelm Lutjeharms

Pictures: Leon Potgieter

If you visit Tour Auto’s website, this year’s event is described as follows: “The 32nd edition of the Tour Auto, which took place from 17 to 22 April 2023, offered our 236 participating teams a competition combining sport, tourism and heritage. This journey through the most beautiful roads of France revealed a variety of landscapes, between the Côte d’Or, the Puy-de-Dôme, the Drôme, the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes.”

Those seem to be "flowery" words, but after speaking to South African Leon Potgieter who joined the owner of an original Le Mans-competing 1973 Porsche 911 2.8 RSR as the navigator, it quickly became vividly clear that this was one of those European bucket-list events. 

To be able to take part in the rally, you must drive a car that took part in the Tour de France Automobile back in the day, between 1951 and 1973 – however, there are a few exceptions. “Some of the highlights in this group were two BMW M1 Procars from 1979 and 1981 and five Ferrari 308 Group IV racing cars dating from 1978 to 1983 by Facetti and Michelotto,” says Potgieter.

Starting in Paris, the route heads south towards the coastal town of Cannes. During this 2 000 km+ rally, there are several special stages and visits to a number of race tracks. This gives the rally a unique competition format. Also keep in mind that 236 cars took part, most of them being very special and highly collectible classics.

“The cars are divided up into five different “plateau” groups. Groups 3 to 5 are for cars taking part in the competition category, and 1 and 2 are in the regularity segments. We were number 140 in the latter.

"If you consider the administration and numbers of the event, it is truly impressive. I would guess that more than half of these cars had a dedicated crew attending to the car during the course of the day while servicing and in some instances semi-rebuilds were taking place at night. So, we are talking about shifting around a thousand people every day," Potgieter explains.

“With the competition cars, they are competing in a performance index as well as how fast they are on the special stages. At the tracks, they will do a qualifying session, and then a full race. Then once you are back on the road, you have to stick to the laws of the road.

“In the regularity category it works differently. There are fast, medium and slow groups. Then on a special stage you need to keep to a given average speed. On the track you get four to five laps to practice. The French flag is then shown and the time you set for that lap you need to match for four laps!”

“The cars in the competition category are fitted with FIA-approved roll cages and seats for example, their gear is inspected and the drivers essentially spent the full day in their racing suits. During the races on the circuits the navigator must get out.

"In the regularity event you need to wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, closed shoes and a helmet on the track and the special stages – the navigator can also join the driver on track. The result is that these two categories require two very different approaches to the event. Most of the competition cars that are very loud inside, are equipped with headsets so that the driver and navigator can communicate with one another.”

Browsing through the list of competing machines there are some truly expensive and special cars. The beauty of this event is that the public can view the cars on several occasions, including during the races at the circuits. 

“You get two road books for the event, and they are nearly as thick as the Bible. These road books provide, nearly on a kilometre-by-kilometre basis, the route you need to take, from traffic lights, turning points, speed bumps etc. You need to be awake and pay attention when it comes to navigating, because you are nearly never on a highway and only drive on back roads.”

“Cars that stood out for me were two 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWBs and a very early 1953 Ferrari 250 MM. The thing is, you don’t see cars like these, maybe in a museum, but nowhere else. Now you are taking part in a rally with cars like these, and often we would sit in each other’s cars and discuss the cars with the owners.

"There was for example also a 1965 Porsche 904 and a 1966 Porsche 906. Other cars that were often around us were Renault Alpine A110s and A310s as well as a couple of Porsche 356 Speedsters. It is just such a highlight to see these cars in action. There are obviously no replicas, so if you see a Cobra or a Ford GT40, you know it is the real deal.”

In total, participants are busy for a week. All days are filled with driving and at the beginning and the end of the rally there are social events. 

This competition 2.8 RSR didn’t only complete the rally, but was driven from Switzerland to Paris for the event, completed the Tour Auto and was driven back again to Switzerland afterwards - a grand total of over 3 000 km! Needless to say, Leon and the driver completed this trip completely without any support. “In the evenings we checked the oil and in the mornings I washed the RSR’s windows!”

Watch the film of the 2023 event below and there are also more pictures on the event's Instagram account.