Miguel Sánchez
With five days of driving from Paris to Nice the Auto Tour has just reached its 34th edition, with up to 240 vehicles registered. This reaffirms its exceptional status within the European classic car scene, making it one of the must-see events for those who want to move beyond static displays to the thrill of hearing the roar of these historic machines in motion.
Also, in The Escudería We have once again counted on the coverage of Unai Ona, with whose images we have been able to review the most interesting - and curious - of all the participants in a test where high-displacement models coexist perfectly with other much lighter and more experimental ones.
In this sense, Italy was not the only reference point when it came to creating handcrafted sports units based on popular models such as the 1100. Far from it, various French trainers made obvious displays of ingenuity during the XNUMXs, manufacturing small and efficient "tray"installing parts of Renault, Citroën or Panhard on rigid and light tubular chassis created by themselves.
Thanks to this, our focus on Tour Auto 2025 will not be on the recurring ones. Ferrari 250 -in whose saga we find a model dedicated to celebrating the brand's successes in the classic era of this competition- but on other options that are much less seen and, from the perspective of quasi-artisanal and intuitive engineering, much more instructive.
DB, AT THE FOREFRONT OF LIGHTNESS
Within the endurance races there was a contrast also seen in the F1 of the 1950s. We're talking about the one caused by a series of manufacturers with extensive resources and technical teams, as opposed to a whole series of small brands and teams characterized by the inability to create their own mechanics.
Thus, while the former relied practically all the potential of the car on the pure performance of the engine, the latter made a virtue out of necessity, compensating with enormous inventiveness in chassis, weight, aerodynamics or cornering, the relatively limited possibilities of its engine block extracted from the large series.
Starting from these coordinates, from the first design of Alpine to other creations clearly more directed to the circuits, those trainers demonstrated the enormous ingenuity accumulated in the French sports scene, in which the "tray"just as in post-war Italy the"barchettas".
Moreover, in this sense the workshop stood out DB (Deutsch-Bonnet) and active from 1937 to 1962. Focused on creations of lightweight engineering, this was not only a pioneer in the use of central beam chassis - later applied with such success in Alpine and Lotus - but also in the use of fiberglass and front-wheel drive in the field of competition.
A BARQUETTE FOR LE MANS 1957
It goes without saying the fantastic array of models gathered at the Tour Auto 2025. A set where sixties GTs like the E-Type combine perfectly with less seen models like the By Tomaso Mangusta or Porsche 908.
However, despite the fascination of these models, it is obvious to say how these are perfectly recognized by the fans, who can regularly consult materials about these models. reference designs, by known sources not always sufficiently analyzed.
That said, our focus will be on the only survivor of the three "tray” DB HBR prepared for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1957. Striking for its small volumes finished in the typical blue tone intended for French sports cars, this one mounts a mechanics with only 750 cc and two cylinders from Panhard.
Ideal for winning in the performance index just like the ingenious Alpine M63, M64 and M65 did so during the following decade, thus demonstrating how, beyond raw power, the multiple sections valued to give victory in said index could well represent the best average, the best relationship, between performance and mechanical base for it.
THE FRUITS OF THE HARVEST
The work sown during the 1950s by DB and other similar manufacturers did not fall on deaf ears. Not at all. In fact, thanks to it, a French brand was able to return to the top of the podium at Le Mans after the reign of Ferrari, Ford and Porsche.
We are talking about Matra, which reigned in the legendary test from 1972 to 1974 with the Matra MS650 and MS650B, represented at the 2025 Tour Auto with a unit plate WW-803-BZ.
Equipped with a scale weight of 740 kilosThis Group 6 sports prototype features a 12-liter, 60-degree V3. Without a doubt, one of the best mechanical pieces seen at this edition, where we once again witnessed a veritable museum on wheels, just as we expect for next year.
Images: Unai Ona
