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Renaults restored for Goodwood

The winner of a vintage car restoration project featuring two Renault classics will be announced this weekend at the Goodwood Revival meeting in southern England.

Groupe CAT, an automotive logistics company, commissioned two of its expert teams to bring a Renault 4CV and Caravelle to the annual event at one of the world’s most magical circuits from September 14-16. Goodwood Revival is widely regarded as the biggest and best historic motor racing party of the year and the only event of its kind to be staged entirely in the nostalgic time capsule from 1940-70.

CLASSICS COMPETING

As part of the show, the Renault 4CV (1954) and Renault Caravelle (1968) will be up against a BMW 1800Ti (1964) and VW Beetle 1300 (1970) in a competition between Groupe CAT’s re-marketing technical centres across the UK and Europe.

The 4CV was the first French car to sell more than a million and has been brought back to peak performance in Teesport, north-east England. Once the most popular car in France, and known affectionately as the ‘quatre pattes’ (four paws), it was also easily modified and used extensively as a race car, winning both the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Mille Miglia.

At the other end of the country, a team in Southampton have been working on the 1960's classic Caravelle roadster which continues to turn heads at auto shows.

The vehicles will be open to serious offers from collectors and enthusiasts on the day but, ultimately, will be sold with the net proceeds going to the centres’ nominated charities.

CAT business unit director Stuart Warren said: “The team spirit which has developed for all of the centres taking part has been truly invaluable and judging an outright winner from such quality entries will be a very difficult task indeed.

'INNOVATION AND ABILITY'

“The competition has brought an additional sense of community to each team, providing excellent opportunities for our apprentices and other technicians to further develop and enhance skills, methods and techniques needed in every-day operations.”

The competition was devised to challenge the competing teams on their innovation and ability, their attention to detail, overall cost management and team-effectiveness. The journey has been one of constant evolution with all four vehicles needing to be mechanically sound, roadworthy, and MOT (or equivalent European standard) certificated by the end of the project.

And, with the cars now all in pristine condition, the results are set to be revealed at Revival, which offers visitors the opportunity to step back in time to join racing luminaries including Sir Stirling Moss, Richard Attwood, John Surtees and Derek Bell in a celebration of vintage motoring.
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