Photographing the Dix Mille Tours at Circuit Paul Ricard

Historic Racing in Europe

Peter Auto have developed a reputation for organising some of the best historic racing events in Europe. You can find our report on the Le Mans Classic here.

The Dix Mille Tours (literally ten thousand laps) in 2010 at Paul Ricard was Peter Auto’s first historic meeting and has been on this photographer’s bucket list for some time.

It is a compelling prospect with eleven races over seven categories encompassing some classic eras of motorsport. Then add in an open paddock, the Mediterranean light and racing after sunset to complete the package.

The Paul Ricard circuit

The circuit was built in 1969 near Le Castellet, inland from Marseille, by pastis magnate Paul Ricard and has been used for the French GP intermittently since then. The major feature is the long Mistral Straight which leads into Courbe de Signes corner.

Following the death of Ricard, the track was bought by Bernie Ecclestone who created the distinctive coloured bands of red and blue tarmac which have differing levels of grip. Not to everyone’s taste, but the absence of extensive beige gravel traps works for this photographer.

Spectator access

For the Dix Mille Tours, spectator access on the outside of the track was limited to the outside of the track from from Signes (T10) to the pedestrian paddock bridge just before S de la Verriere (T1) around 40% of the full track length.

The spectator viewing area – pale green (1) and yellow (5) zones below – had no charge for viewing or parking. The yellow area does include covered seating, a cafe and toilets overlooking Virage du Lac (T14) and Virage du Pont (T15) and for the large part allows for fence free photography – impressive for a more recent Grand Prix track.

The open paddock was accessible for the modest cost of €30 for the weekend and included the rooftop terrace above the pits providing shots of start / finish if the drivers kept to the left and pitlane. Access is by the pedestrian bridge just before the first corner. There is a view of the Mistral straight and, if it is being used, Chicane Nord at T8 and T9 from the back of the paddock.

Time for Action

The weekend programme starts on Friday with practice and some qualifying which concludes on Saturday morning. That time is great for wandering through the paddock – most races were lined up together under awnings. There are some good opportunities for shots as the cars move around the paddock.

The entry lists were available to peruse before the weekend and left a healthy sense of anticipation. There is no doubt that Peter Auto and the events at Paul Ricard, Dijon, Spa, Barcelona, Estoril and Imola plus the now annual Le Mans Classic are able to draw in the cars that historic racing fans want to see.

You can find full coverage of both days action with English commentary on Peter Auto’s YouTube channel.

Photography locations at Paul Ricard

I started Saturday in the paddock and on the terrace above the pits with much glorious machinery to shoot and savour before spending the rest of the day on the outside of the circuit.

Turn 14 and 15

The primary viewing area by the covered seating with a range of shots.

Turn 13 and 12

Viewed from raised banking.

Turn 11

At track level shooting through fence, but over the fence on the raised banking

Turn 10 and the Mistral Straight

Raised banking looking back down the Mistral Straight or towards T11

A Special Spot

The open tribune seating that faces the pits and starting grid have, as might be expected, safety fences between them and the track although, if the drivers keep to the right, there is just a clean over the fence shot. It is also possible to get a shot of the podium, this time including Phil Keen recently featured in a Donington test day report.

At the pit in end of the tribune, there is a bonus – a shot of the cars with no fence – marked by the green arrow below. Time for some slow speed panning – producing some shots perhaps more marmite than others !

Sunset on Saturday

A major attraction of the meeting was the race into the dark on Saturday evening. Having seen GT World Challenge races at Ricard,  I did know that there was the chance of a sunset over the west end of the circuit. The sunset did not disappoint, but there was a red flag at the wrong moment so little in the way of cars to enhance the shot.

Summary for spectators

Historic racing in the UK can be a little hit and miss with grid sizes and, to be fair, there were a couple of grids with low numbers at Dix Mille Tours. However, the majority of races had good entries – multiple BMW CSLs, Capris, Cobras, etc, etc were superb, but strangely only one BMW M3 – whereas at Donington we had lots of them.

For a weekend, there is sufficient access to the track and paddock to keep you occupied but it would be good to see if further areas are opened up for other race meetings.

Paul Ricard also hosts the Bol D’or 24 hour motorbike race – there’s images in the cafe.

Summary for photographers

I was presently surprised by just how much fence free access was available and the area by the grandstand at Virage du Pont gives a good range of shots. I got the sense that there were less spectator photographers per head than at a similar meeting in the UK.

Care is required with the strong sunshine which was often in the “wrong” place and leading to deep shadows to be lifted in post processing. The early evening light was, quite simply, gorgeous leading into racing in the dark !

Around the paddock a short zoom would be fine and out on track the 70-200 zoom supplemented by a 1.7x teleconverter proved to be generally sufficient.

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