A busy weekend in the Bourgogne
The undulating Circuit Dijon-Prenois in the French Burgundy or Bourgogne area is a set fixture on the Peter Auto roster through the annual Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or. First held in 1966, it is one of oldest historic race meetings in the world. Originally a support event for the French Grand Prix, the 2024 edition was reserved for sports racers and touring cars only. Compared to the frenetic Spa Classic three weeks earlier, the schedule was not quite as packed with seven race groups, headlined by the two Classic Endurance Racing grids. The rest of the grids were also packed with the newly created Gentlemen Challenge split in two with separate races for the earlier and later cars. The Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or always attracts a large number of clubs and, this year, the Face Vega club was out in force with a parade of dozens of examples from the French manufacturer. Just like at Spa a month earlier, weather played a part in the event but, fortunately, the rain only affected the running on Saturday afternoon.
Our photographers were at the former home of the French Grand Prix throughout the weekend and have returned with this class-by-class, 160-shot gallery.

1950s and 1960s sports racers
The first race of the weekend was for the 2.0L Cup, which is reserved for early, short wheelbase Porsche 911s. Pole position was for Andrew Smith, beating his old team-mate Oliver Bryant who shared a 911 with Kyle Tilley. After briefly dropping to second, Smith lead the charge during the first half the race. Sadly, he had to retire with a mechanical issue. This allowed Bryant and Tilley to grab the victory in the 90-minute race.
The first of the Gentlemen Challenge races was up next. Race 1 was won by Fred Wakeman and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards in a Jaguar engined Cooper. The second race, on Sunday, saw James Thorpe win a similarly engined Lister. The two races for the second Gentlemen Challenge groups were both won by Yves Vögele in the family collection's Porsche 904/6.
Concluding the action on Saturday was the two-hour Sixties' Endurance race, which was run under very wet conditions. As a result, it was a messy race with several incidents requiring full-course yellows and safety car periods. Olivier Galant managed to steer clear from trouble to head an all-Cobra Daytona podium. Second was for Erwin France and the final place was for Jeremy Cottingham and Harvey Stanley after a great charge up the order by Stanley in the last laps of the race.

Touring Cars
A new addition to the roster this year is the Classic Touring Challenge for pre-1966 tin-tops. With 33 cars participating in qualifying, it was the largest grid to date. Pole position was for Phil Keen and James Thorpe in the latter's Ford Mustang. Coming off the outright win in the Nürburgring 24 Hours just a week earlier, Frank Stippler was also entered in the race but a mechanical issue caught his Alfa Romeo GTA outing qualifying. Instead, the main opposition to the Mustang came from the Banks brothers Andrew and Max with their Alfaholics prepared GTA. Having already won the Mugello and Spa rounds, they made it three victories out of three starts at Dijon.
The later, 1970s and 1980s touring cars have already been well represented during the Peter Auto weekends for a long time with the Heritage Touring Cup. In recent years, the one-hour races have become a battle between four-cam Ford Capris and BWM 3.0 CSLs. At Dijon, they filled the first nine spots on the grid, which was headed by the 3.0 CSL of Michael Kammermann and Sebastian Glaser. These two experienced drivers dominated the race but were sadly penalised 45 seconds due to track limit infractions. This elevated Yves Scemama with his Equipe Europe prepared Ford Capri to the top sport of the podium, where he was joined by Armand Mille who had crossed the line in third with a sister Capri.

Classic Endurance Racing
The most evocative grid of the weekend was for the Classic Endurance Racing 1, which had a field of over 50 sports racers from the 1960s and early 1970s. In qualifying, Henrique Gemperle and Marc de Siebenthal proved fastest of all with their Martini-liveried Porsche 908/03. Originally built specifically for the Nürburgring 1000 km and the Targa Florio, it proved perfectly suited to the undulating circuit. Porsche specialist de Siebenthal took an early lead and built up a sizeable lead over the McLaren M6B shared by the Banks brothers. During the second half of the race, the Porsche was gradually reeled in but the race proved one lap too short for the McLaren. It was nevertheless a well deserved victory for the flat-eight engined Porsche racer.
The next generation sports racers and GT cars were out in the CER2 grid. Qualifying was curtailed by the rain that started to fall during the second half of the 45-minute session. At that point, Yves Scemama had set the fastest time of all in his three-litre engined TOJ. The Equipe Europe fielded car finally also had a trouble free race, allowing Scemama to score his second win of the weekend. Dominique Guenat was second in another TOJ, while John Emberson and Nigel Greensall were third overall and first in the two-litre class with their Chevron B26.

Final thoughts
While it was unusual to see no single seater racers go to the track, it was another great edition of the Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or. The 2024 event saw some great racing during changeable conditions. Thanks to the many clubs in attendance, there was also plenty to see off the track. All this and much more has been captured in our exclusive 160-shot gallery.