RALLYE DE PARIS 2012
Teamspeed.com member event recap!

Hey guys! Here's a little write-up about the 2012 Rallye de Paris. With some photos, videos, and screenshots! Hope you enjoy the writing, looking at the pictures and watching the videos (remember: always in 1080p with headphones, much much better)!

So last week-end, I was lucky enough to attend the 2012 Rallye de Paris, thanks to EAP (Emotion Auto Prestige). EAP is an association of GT & supercar owners, and some of its members took part in the Rallye with their cars (458 italia, 599 GTB, Gumpert Apollo S, Lamborghini Aventador... & others). I was kindly offered an opporunity to follow the Rallye during the whole week-end.

But first things first: what exactly is the Rallye de Paris? It's an event organized by RallyStory every year around march. As 1st official "big event" of the year, many owners decide to start off the season at that time, including a group of russians with pretty nice cars (Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari 612, Ferrari 599 GTB... etc). The general idea of the event is to drive from race track to race track during the week-end, while following the roadbook that takes the cars throughout beautiful french countryside scenery (as you will see in the videos and pictures). Luckily enough, the weather wasn't that bad. It was rather warm, we had sun on saturday. Sunday was a bit rainy from time to time, but that didn't stop us from having lots of fun and enjoying.

The cars first started arriving in Paris on friday, during the day. Participants arrived at the Trocadéro to sign-up and pick-up their roadbooks and stickers for the cars. Some parked there the whole day for exhibition purposes, whereas some cars arrived and left. Needless to say, it was an incredible atmosphere to see all these cars out there, so close to the Eiffel Tower. Here's a short list of some of the cars present during the day: Lamborghini Aventador with italian stripes, Ford GT Heritage (Gulf livery), Ferrari 430 Scuderia, McLaren MP4-12C, Ferrari California, Ferrari FF, Lamborghini LP560, Lamborghini Murciélago, Maserati GranCabrio, Ferrari 458 italia & 458 spider, Porsche GT3RS, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Caterham... And funny enough to be mentioned, there also was the 100% electric french car, Exagon Furtive e-GT. And many many more as well!









After a very small night, we left Saturday, early in the morning to reach Magny-Cours around 11 AM. As soon as we reached the highway, we really started enjoying the show and would often be driving side by side with a beautiful car. We decided to meet the other members of the EAP team at a predetermined gas station to rest a bit and catch-up. Lucky us, there were other participants at the gas station as well, including Mercedes McLaren SLR, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. And as we were talking, we see a red dot.

That was the Ferrari F40 supposed to take part in the rally, but didn't show up in Paris. Seeing one unexpectedly arrive at the gas station, out of the blue, was a pretty awesome experience. There was a group of kids that were very excited because of all the cars there, but when the F40 arrived, they just went crazy. I was a bit scared because lots of them were touching the car with their hands... sure, it's something to expect when driving such a beautiful car, especially with children, but then again, I always feel uncomfortable when other people touch the car. Luckily the owner was very kind and didn't told them off (I might've gotten really angry haha). We were able to make a few pictures of the car without the kids around.





We talked a bit to the guys and asked them if we could make some pictures / videos of the car as it was driving on the highway, and they happily agreed. So off we left to Magny-Cours, following the Mercedes SLR, which left us behind very very easily as soon as we hit the highway again(the sound of the engine when accelerating is pure dementia, in my opinion). As we drove a bit other cars of the rally were passing by us. And then we saw a pretty cool convoy: 458 italia, SLS, F40, FF, Maserati GranTurismo... It was a nice moment to take some pictures. The car we were in had a back window that could be opened, which was very useful for that kind of thing. Probably one of my best motion shots ever: filming an F40 in a rather steady way, as it is driving behind us on the highway (it's one of the first scenes of VIDEO 1). After the toll, every car disappeared.

Rally de Paris 2012 - DAY1 - YouTube

We stopped one last time, and that made us miss the Aventador! All good fun! Finally, we arrived at Magny-Cours, after missing an exit and going the wrong way for a few minutes. That made us miss driving shots of the Porsche Carrera GT and Ford GT Gulf! But then again, we would see plenty of them over the week-end!

The cars started to gather around the parking areas of the Magny-Cours race track. After a small announcement to welcome the participants, as well as explaining the basic rules of driving on the track, the cars started to get ready for the track. It was quite a lovely sight to see so many great cars parked next to each other: Ultima GTR, Gumpert Apollo S, white Ferrari 458 italia, lots of 458 spiders, F40, 430 scuderia and so many more! Needless to say, I walked like a child in the parking lot, looking at cars, snapping pics, talking with friends here and there. We then decided to head by car to some of the stands, to get nice pictures and videos. The cars had already started driving on the track in different groups.









We went from one place to another to try and get different angles and point of views. I thought the track is quite nice when empty, with all its colorful seats (even the black & white ones in front of the paddock area). Seeing such cars having fun on the track is always a good experience. For the first time of my life, I tried doing some moving shots of the cars on the track, and I think the results aren't that bad. DEFINITELY not as good as real photographers, but still, make up for a nice little souvenir. The Porsche Carrera GT had a very impressive sound, but I felt like I didn't get to enjoy the V10 at its full extent: I know the CGT can scream much much louder than it did!





You could hear the engines quite well despite being rather far. But once you got near the paddocks, in front of the straight line, the show got even better. Engine sounds were even louder, you could really get a glimpse of the high speeds. Some owners even brought their Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Ferrari 458 Challenge, and seeing them compete on the asphalt was impressive. The Morgan made an incredible sound, and was by far the car that amazed me the most sound-wise, mostly because I wasn't expecting it. I was happily surprised with the Gumpert Apollo S, considering I didn't really like its engine sound back when I first saw it, at the 2011 Sport & Collection event. But as my ears heard it fly by me, it definitely was very different: louder, meaner, a big GROWL. Maybe it's because the owner had just received the car last year? Who knows, as long as I enjoyed it a lot! Many other people were in the pits, taking pictures and enjoying the moment under a beautiful sun: perfect weather.

We then left in the afternoon to wait up for the cars, on the way to the final step of the day = the hotel. Every car left at different times, considering some were still on the track, whereas some had already finished. The roadbook took the cars to incredible french countryside sceneries, which I really appreciated and I hope you will to (they start at 8 minutes on the video of DAY 1). The beautiful weather helped a lot and made it all even better. We waited in some place we judged nice enough to make good pictures, waited for a few cars to pass by, then we would leave to get to another place and wait, and so on. That gave us lots of different angles, all in good fun. The participants were very kind, often flashing their lights at us, waving, and sometimes even slowing down to facilitate the pictures. All in all, that afternoon was pretty awesome: great cars in beautiful scenery.









By the end of the day, as the night was slowly falling, we event witnessed some pretty cool things, such as the exhaust of the Aventador, red from the heat, and then even shooting flames! Sadly, I was a bit too far to get a better image, but you can still see it on the video of DAY 1, starting at 12:59. But I think the master moment of the day was when lightning striked as a few Porsche GT3RS and the Gumpert Apollo S were passing by (at the 13:08 mark). This is just one of those "you had to be there" moments. Pretty intense.



We then left to go to the hotel, as it now was full night. We got behind the Gumpert Apollo S, and followed it for a while, instead of following the roadbook, thinking to ourselves they probably knew what they were doing. Well we were wrong, we got lost in the middle of nowhere, on small unpaved roads leading to vinyards, with a +700hp blue monster, with GT3RS and GT2RS.



Luckily, we weren't that far after all, and we easily found our hotels. After leaving the bags, freshing up a bit, we left the hotel to dine at a french château, which was quite awesome. Then back to the hotel, post a quick picture and BAM, off to sleep. Exhausted as I was after this first day, needless to say I didn't have trouble to sleep like a baby in less than 15 minutes!

 

7 AM, we wake up. It's raining outside, but fear not for there is always a silver lining. When opening our door, we were face to face with some of the cars, including the F40 and a 430 challenge. As well as Nissan GTR, Ferrari 599 GTB, McLaren MP4-12C... Always a good view to wake up to, despite the rain. After a magnificent breakfast, we're already on the road to wait for the cars on their way to the Dijon-Prennois race track. This time, there is less road. And LOTS of rain, which makes things harder (wouldn't want to mess up our equipment now, would we?).

But the rain eventually stopped, just as we discovered a pretty cool pathway up the mountains. The road was like a snake, with 3 hairpins, as it was going up: it was very peaceful and we could even hear the birds. But that was before the cars got there. It really was a pleasure to film in there. After a while we decided to go to the track... although we were still waiting for the F40 to pass, as well as the Gumpert. The F40 passed by us when we weren't expecting it! Sadly, there was a van behind it... We were still waiting for the Apollo to show up. But we waited in vain considering we learned afterwards it had gone back to Paris!









So we arrive at the Dijon-Prennois race track. It was my first time there, and as my friend said, the route really looks like someone giving the finger. Compared to Magny-Cours, Dijon-Prennois is a really small track (at least it looks that way): not as many bleachers, the structure itself is smaller, more intimate. But it does have a HUGE straight-line (ligne droite de la Fouine), as you will see in my video (track scenes start at 6:40), where the accelerations can be quite intense! The low fog and little rain gave it a very mean look, especially when filming the backs of the cars as they were going up the straight line then braking. The sensation of speed were almost as impressive as when I saw the FXX and 599XX at Spa-Francorchamps, to be really honest (although they couldn't compare sound-wise)!

Rally de Paris 2012 - DAY2 - YouTube

As usual, the parking lot is a pretty cool place to hang out.









The Nissan GTR seemed to do a small drift at pretty much every corner. Sadly, a red Ferrari 355 went off-road and hit the wall, resulting in a little wreck. Luckily no one was injured, and there was just some small damages to the car. But that was enough to raise the red flag and stop the session, which would re-start 15/20 minutes later. I really loved Dijon-Prennois because of the angles you can get, especially the 3rd turn: l'angle Gauche de la Bretelle, where the cars arrive from above, than go down to the 4th turn, la Parabolique.





After a while, I joined my friends to eat something as I was really starting to get hungry. As I was filming on the track, it started to rain. I'm pretty sure it only took a few seconds for the F40 owners to decide to stop driving under the rain, and wait for the next round! Afterwards, the organization team from Rallystory gathered the participants to give them the prizes and honors (such as "best time", "best regularity" etc). But that's the moment the rain decided to pour down on us, again. Shorty after it stopped, and the sun was up again. Very odd. Most vehicles started leaving to go back home, but there were still some free runs, for those who wanted to keep having fun.

As for me, I decided to stay on the parking lot a bit and take pictures of the cars there. Which gave me some rather nice pictures, especially that Murciélago with its doors open, and the F40, also with its doors open.

After talking a little bit to everyone, saying our goodbyes, we decided it was time to go back to Paris. After a 2h30 ride, getting overtaken by the Porsche Carrera GT and some of the other russian cars from the rally (that were also going back to Paris), lots of laughs in the car, a rainbow, a traffic jam, we arrived safely around 7PM. Very tired but also very satisfied with this incredible week-end.

Thanks to RallyStory and EAP.
Hope you enjoyed reading!

 

Thanks for the write-up, here are the photos that needed to be re-sized, cheers!

 

Thanks man! I couldn't edit / delete the posts I made!
Sorry for the inconvenience, will make them smaller next time!

 

Great write-up! Looks like a fantastic time! Thanks for sharing.

 

Amazing event!

 

Hello Guys,

I contribute too with my video of the Rallye de Paris, that include also some images of Alexmolik with his kindness courtesy !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?​featur...8203;iVBEJhLcn