Unusual. “A first in Seine-Maritime”: a lawn tractor race near Le Havre

The machine is ready and patiently waiting for its driver. “I was given a tractor, it was no longer working, I restarted the engine, installed the foot accelerator, reinforcements at the front, on the sides to protect the legs and then at the back, to protect the tires”, explains without bitterness Pascal Loisnel.

Health reasons forced him to withdraw. THE Saturday June 29 and Sunday June 30, 2024 in Gonfreville-Caillot (Seine-Maritime), “it’s a friend” who will take the wheel of his racing car at the lawn tractor demonstrations and events. A first in Seine-Maritimeorganized by theGonfreville leisure clubin a meadow, on the outskirts of the town, towards Saint-Maclou.

A lawn tractor race primarily “for fun”

Deprived of racing, the fifty-something, son of an agricultural mechanic, will have spent more time tinkering than walking the dirt fields this year. “The time to study the thing, I stayed on it for a month,” confides the regular of fun car races.

Completed, the machine does not exceed less than 20 km/h. The machine, which only looks like a lawn mower, is parked in front of the garage, not very far from the platform which he and his son, Guillaume, usually use to transport their tubular Clio 2 to competitions. regional.

The old tractor, good for scrap metal, inspired more than one in the neighborhood. “I gave it more acceleration, we’ll see if next year we change the pulleys to go faster,” he reflects.

The seat is original. “You can put a car seat but there is no shock absorber, the holes, the bumps, it’s the back that takes.” The one who has accumulated original races since he was a teenager: kart cross, 2 CV cross, and other transformed 4L GP 4, remains convinced: ” It is mainly the piloting that will play a role.«

The risk of breakage remains, however, “we have modified engines with machines not designed for that at the start”, analyses the person responsible for registrations and the organisation of the race. But beware, if, according to his wife, Pascal Loisnel easily becomes “a bitch” as soon as motorised equipment is mentioned, it is something else to ride. “Racing is for having fun.”

This is in line with the spirit of the event imagined by Gilles Lethuillier. The president of the association sought to replace the annual stock car competitionstopped since the pandemic. “Everyone in the association was up for it. Some of our registrants come from far away for the event. They are die-hards,” admires the president. The youngest is 16 and comes with his father “from Oise, they race in the French championship.”

The program of demonstrations and tests over two days

On Saturday, the program starts from 15 hours by technical checks : absence of sharp angles, presence of brakes, foot accelerator… for the main controls. A first individual speed test is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on a circuit of 600 to 700 meters long and about 4 meters wide, with bends. “A course that can be found in a real championship,” slips the president.

The event continues from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.in semi-nocturne, pair a 3-hour endurance test“The teams will be made up of a maximum of three drivers per tractor and the objective is to complete the greatest number of laps in the allotted time,” explains Gilles Lethuillier.

Sunday somewhat follows the pattern of the day before. At 10:30 a.m.the association offers a new individual timed event until 12:30 p.m.then again three hours of endurance from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.“On Saturday, we race in one direction and on Sunday in another, to put the drivers in difficulty,” explains Gilles Lethuillier.

Around twenty teams are expected for the competition which brings together three categories of lawn tractors, taken into account in the final ranking: reformed lawn tractors, reinforced original models like that of Pascal Loisnel, and without a cutting deck; original appearance tractors with engine and gearbox modifications; and the prototypes, finally, which have no limits in their modifications. “Some look more like go-karts and go up to 80 km/h,” laughs Pascal Loisnel.

Demonstrations/tests of cross mower tractors, route de Saint-Maclou, in Gonfreville-Caillot, Saturday June 29 and Sunday June 30. On-site catering, craft market and exhibition of old tractors all weekend.

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