Classic circuit – Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry

Culture

image: Laurent Nivalle

There’s something about old European race circuits. They reek of history, panache and culture.

And none is more redolent of these things than the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry. The circuit, just a little bit to the south of Paris, was opened in 1924 with those killer banks set in the forest. Later a road circuit was added and the place became firmly lodged in the Pantheon of motorsport – and hosted the Grands Prix of France throughout the thirties.

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Tragically the place seems to have had a very checkered history since the second world war – and doesn’t seem to have been used in officially sanctioned anger at all these last few decades.

Lovely to see, then, that a bunch of bikers decided to hold a Cafe Racer festival there recently.

Not sure how we missed this. Next time.

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