A night race of 500 kilometers is it really reasonable? We verified it on the ring of the Rhine, answer at the end of the article! Text and Photos: Thomas Z. ©
During the 34th Festival Bugatti we discover the ‘500 nocturnes’. If you are fluent in French, the name speaks for itself: 500 for 500 kilometers and ‘nocturne’ for night. The purpose is simple, the first car which accumulates 500 kilometers and passes the finishing line wins.
The Racetrack
The ring of the Rhine (L’anneau du Rhin in French) is located in the South of Alsace (France), near Biltzheim. The racetrack’s length is of 3.7 kilometers and have a dozen of turns. The winner should therefore make at least 135 laps to win the race.
Besides the race
The 500 nocturnes is not only a race of endurance, numerous shows and concerts are organized during the evening to entertain the numerous spectators. Such as several fashion shows, jazz and pop concerts, dance shows and also a speech of Caroline Bugatti. The presence of Bugatti also allowed to hold the audience until the beginning of the night, with race between every models, GP’s race and demonstration of the Bugatti Chiron.
The Race
A big variety of model was present during this race. The categories GT3, GT4, GT5 as well as T1 and T2 were present. As for the endurance races of the WEC, it gives some ‘traffic ‘ with multiple overtaking, which makes the race more pleasant. For the weather, the rain was rather frequent, which made the race last longer.
It is the Renault RS.01 of the team AB Sport Auto that took the first place, this phenomenal car offered the victory to its team with a big lead. It did not seem to have of competitors during the race, so much its performance level (and driving skills of the pilots) was high. On the second place we find a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of the team Pegasus Racing and on the last place of the podium another RS.01 Renault, the one of the team CRP racing.
In brief, glitter and racing cars, that would summarizes well the 500 nocturnes of this year.
