Ventoux - not just a climb for cyclists

[Reynard]

Was chatting about cycling climbs the other night with a mate who, like me, is a motor racing nerd. Turns out that Mont Ventoux was used as a famous hillclimb course pre-war. He's just flagged up this for me - a clip of Pathe footage from 1932 featuring Rudolf Caracciola.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8jszhFhGCY

 

[carpiste]

Definitely my preferred way up Ventoux!

 

[I like Skol]

Unfortunately I like cycling up hills so motor hill climbing up an iconic cycling climb is not for me. However, I do have petrolhead tendancies so might slightly appreciate the achievement of racing up such a climb....

 

[Reynard]

It's actually kind of interesting really. The mate who flagged up the clip actually competes in trials and hillclimbs and he's also a motor racing historian / archivist. He tells me that a lot of the famous cycling climbs (including ones in the UK) were used in the early days of motoring in competitive events. Back in the day, they would have been a real test for a veteran or vintage car.

 

[I like Skol]

When it snowed yesterday I got a little warm glow from driving my Landrover up some of our local steep hills in a 4 wheel drift while chuckling at the Merc/BMW vehicles that had left the road and collided with each other....

 

[Reynard]

We don't have hills here, I'm afraid. Well, maybe Dutch ones...

 

[DCBassman]

We don't have hills here, I'm afraid. Well, maybe Dutch ones...

You can have Dartmoor for Christmas! Now, where's that Sellotape...

 

[Reynard]

You can have Dartmoor for Christmas! Now, where's that Sellotape...

Hmm... Any ideas how to package a howling Fen gale?