Coupes Moto Légende 2017

As regular readers will know, I went to the Coupes Moto Légende back in 2012. It was probably the best, and certainly the biggest, motorbike event I’ve ever been to.

For those that don’t know, it’s a huge classic bike event held every year at the Dijon-Prenoir circuit, just outside Dijon in France. There are lots of trade and club stands, old bikes being taken out on the track, stands selling all sorts of spares and accessories, as well as former racers taking bikes out for demonstration laps. They usually get about 30, 000 visitors so there’s plenty to see.

I’ve been meaning to return and as next year’s is the 25^th event, they might put on something special. There’s nothing on their website yet, but I saw this reply on their Facebook page:

(Note: it automatically translates 'coupes' as 'cuts'.)

Now that the date’s been set I can start planning my trip. I haven’t been for a proper holiday for a number of years, but I’m a bit more financially stable, have a nice Bonneville I want to go on, and my current job is very generous with holidays.

I’m intending going for 2 to 3 weeks taking in the Coupes and anything else that takes my fancy. There’s going to be an MZ rally at Ballacolla in Ireland round about that time. I’ve been previously and have been meaning to return for years, ironically on the first non-MZ I’ve had on the road in 28 years!

A previous Ballacolla Rally - you don't often get that many Skorpions together!

I had planned that if the MZ rally is the weekend before the Coupes, I could get the ferry from Rosslare (Ireland) to Cherbourg (France), ride around France for a week, go to the Coupes, then make my way home. However, I discovered an interesting car racing event in Pau (France) that is usually held the weekend before the Coupes.

Poster for this year's event

Cars are raced on a circuit laid out on the streets through the centre of Pau. I rather fancy the Historic Grand Prix, as there are classes for 60s and 70s sports cars, Minis, etc.

As you can see from this video, lots of interesting cars.

So the plan has been hatched – if everything works out and the events are on consecutive weekends, I will go to the MZ rally in Ireland, get the ferry to France, ride about for a week then go to Pau, followed by another week of riding about then going to the Coupes.  After that it’ll be an easy ride to Zeebrugge (Belgium) for the ferry home.

1. Ballacolla, 2. Rosslare, 3. Cherbourg, 4. Pau, 5. Dijon, 6. Zeebrugge, 7. Hull.

OK, the events might not work out as planned, some could clash and I’ll end up only going to two, the Pound could collapse more against the Euro and I’ll have to ‘trim’ the trip a bit, But you’ve got to start planning somewhere! If anyone else is going to any of these events, come up and say 'hello'!

 

Useful stuff:

Coupes website here.
Coupes Facebook page here.
Grand Prix de Pau website here.
Grand Prix de Pau Facebook page here.

My visit in 2012 here.