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CLARET & CLASSICS |
With events outside the UK in Europe now so common as to be positively commonplace, spare a passing thought for the event that can almost be said to have started them all - whatever fanciful reports you may read elsewhere. Way back in 1984, when the world was still young and Roger Deeley's hair wasn't white (though admittedly it was still quite disgracefully long), Claret & Classics was the first of this particular style of event, the happy mixture of easy-to-grasp competition allied to pretty serious socialising (as I always say, it's hell, but someone has to do it), which can appeal to novice as much as to expert. And although the event has been much copied, shamelessly cloned even, for most people the original had the flair that beat all the opposition. But for those who have always kept saying that they were "really going to do it one day", honest, mister, honest.....well, sorry, you had your chance and you blew it. Because:
The original idea with this last rally was to emulate the first one by going from Bordeaux to Bristol, but this proved not to be possible, circumstances had changed too much. However, some intensive thinking produced other ideas, and in the end we had something that turned out to be better than the original scheme. The last-ever Claret & Classics did not so much re-create the first rally as re-visit several places that had proved popular in the past on various events, as a sort of homage to all of them.
The choice of start venue was an example of this. On one of my rallies in the past we finished in Biarritz, and included a stay at the excellent (if HUGELY expensive) Hotel du Palais, the former summer palace of Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie. "Could we possibly go back there?" several people asked me, grovelling at my feet in sackcloth and ashes and murmuring pretty-please over and over in undertones - and who was I to thwart the wishes of my competitors? Previous competitors also remembered a few years back that the rally visited a small family vineyard in the St Emilion/Lussac area where the entire village turned out for us, and where we had a long and delicious lunch out among the vines. Well, we went there again. In the Armagnac region we visited the Chateau de Ravignan, deep in the heart of the Landes, which produces that rarity nowadays, true vintage Armagnac, all from one year, while in the Cognac region too, we didn't go to the obvious, the ordinary tourist-trail big houses, interesting though they are (I'm always partial to a bit of Hennessy myself), but to a small family-run cognac and pineau house in the countryside. And finally, for the final final, what the French call the "der des ders", the "dernier des derniers", we ended up in Saumur on the Loire, once again as guests of the wine firm of Bouvet-Ladubay, for a last-ever dinner and dance in their cellars.
Now after 25 years, Claret & Classics had run its course, but for now at least it might be nice to preserve for a time a list of the last-ever award winners:
I'm not in any way saying Deeley Classics events have finished, as the other pages on this website illustrate, but this was definitely the last ever C&C, take that as final. The end of an era, as I said.
I was always being asked about who the winners were for this long-standing event over the years, so I thought they really ought to be immortalised for posterity here in cyberspace, now there will be no more.
SECOND OVERALL: Mike Sanders/Julie Sanders (1958 Jaguar Mk 1)
FIRST IN CLASS ONE: Chris Hunt Cooke/Jane Hunt Cooke (1954 M.G.TF)
FIRST IN CLASS TWO: Gerald Westcott/Carol Westcott (1968 Austin Healey 3000)
FIRST IN CLASS THREE: Barrie Joyce/Tina Joyce (1982 Porsche 911)
DAILY WINNER PRACTICE DAY: Pete Upton/Clem Upton (1985 Jaguar XJ-S)
DAILY WINNER DAY ONE: Roger Adams/Maggie Adams (1925 Sunbeam Super Sports)
DAILY WINNER DAY TWO: Duncan Hopkinson/Kay Hopkinson (1959 Jaguar Mk 1)
DAILY WINNER DAY THREE: Karen Betts/Dave Hemingway (1990 Ferrari 348)
DAILY WINNER DAY FOUR: David Steel/Judy Steel (1965 Jaguar Mk 2)
DAILY WINNER DAY FIVE: Peter Attenburrow/Annie Attenburrow (1958 Jaguar XK150)
MIDWAY AWARD: Rob Brown/Carole Brown (1953 Jaguar XK120)
LAST OVERALL FINISHER AWARD: Jan Heftye Blehr/Elly Rouwendal (1972 Mercedes)
KNOCKOUT AWARD: Tony Arnold/Dave Hughes (1965 M.G.B)
TEAM AWARD: Duncan & Kay Hopkinson (1959 Jaguar); Mike & Julie Sanders (1958 Jaguar); Peter & Annie Attenburrow (1958 Jaguar); Linda Orme & Richard Dix (1965 M.G.B.)
and last but far from least
SPIRIT OF THE RALLY AWARD: Monica Carter (navigator 1972 M.G.B.)
especially apt as Monica had been on the first-ever C&C back in 1984.
All I can do is quote the words of General Douglas MacArthur,
spoken on the deck of the U.S.S.Missouri in Tokyo Bay in 1945
as he took the Japanese surrender:
"THESE PROCEEDINGS ARE NOW CLOSED."
CLARET & CLASSICS WINNERS:
1984: Gerald Burridge/Trish Burridge (1936 Riley Lynx)
1985: Malcolm Jeary/Alison Jeary (1952 Aston Martin DB2/4)
1986: John Hopwood/Phil Simister (1952 Triumph TR2)
1987: Graham Young/Gillian Lane (1936 Riley Lynx)
1988: Mike Street/Brian Wood (1961 Daimler SP250)
1989: Bob Daykin/Jayne Cooch (1958 Austin Healey Sprite)
1990: Norman Brewitt/Roy Dixon (1953 M.G.TD)
1991: Bob Daykin/Jayne Cooch (1960 Turner)
1992: Geoff Clamp/Liz Clamp (1963 Beardmore Taxi)
1993: Ian Charnock/Eunice Lemon (1955 M.G.A)
1994: Mike Hopkins/Rupert Bravery (1935 Bentley 3½)
1995: Colin Francis/Tony Davies (1954 Austin Healey 100M)
1996: David Cooke/Rupert Bravery (1960 Jaguar XK150)
1997: Val Francis/Colin Francis (1954 Austin Healey 100M)
1998: Keith Harrap/Peter Rushforth (1963 Austin A40)
1999: John Venables/Lisa Venables (1954 M.G.TF)
2000: Derek Skinner/Peter Rushforth (1959 Austin Healey Sprite)
2001: John Ball/Margaret Ball (1934 Bentley 3½ Tourer)
2002: Michael Sanders/Hannah Sanders (1960 Bentley Continental)
2003: Michael Sanders/Julie Sanders (1960 Bentley Continental)
2004: John Ball/Margaret Ball (1934 Bentley 3½ Tourer)
2005: John Ball/Margaret Ball (1934 Bentley 3½ Tourer)
2006: Chris Hunt Cooke/Jane Hunt Cooke (1954 M.G. TF)
2007: John Ball/Margaret Ball (1934 Bentley 3½ Tourer)
2008: Took the year off, so that in 2009 it would be the 25th event also on the 25th year (work it out)
2009: John Ball/Margaret Ball (1934 Bentley 3½ Tourer)
(The above, if you're interested in such arcane and esoteric things, spells out 1 win each for assorted marques like Aston Martin, Triumph, Daimler, Turner, Jaguar, Austin and even a London Taxi, 2 wins for Riley, 4 wins each for Austin-Healey and M.G., but a mighty 8 wins for Bentley.)
"Claret & Classics has now been voted the second best game for consenting adults ever invented."
Ron Stuart (1955 Triumph TR2)
"God, you're a devious bastard!"
Anonymous Jaguar driver
"This event is all for general jollification, and is all about touring some of the best bits of France on empty roads."
Tony Mason - BBC Top Gear
Deeley Classics
50 Uphill Way
Uphill
Weston - super - Mare
Somerset BS23 4TN
England
Tel: +44 (0)1934 626136
Fax: +44 (0) 1934 626146
E mail: deeley.classics@virgin.net
©2001 Deeley Classics Designed by Chris Shrapnel of Momentai
Revised 23/9/01