In the early summer 2007, I was advised by Derek Flavell (owner of the Renospeed garage in London and sender of these pictures) of an unexpected event in the R4 calendar. On the weekend 6-7 October, a special Gordini Revival would bring together a collection of Gordini-based Renaults and their owners at the Lohéac circuit in France. By way of celebration of the '45th' anniversary of the Renault 4, all Quatrelles would also be welcome to come along. This seemed a rather extraordinary invitation and it was being made by Renault themselves, from their HQ in Billancourt, France (birthplace of the R4 in 1961).

Some of you may already have spotted the slight anomaly there. With the Renault 4 being born in 1961, the car was in fact celebrating its 46th year come August 3rd 2007, so this event was a bit belated. Nonetheless, Derek with his history of Gordini-engine R4s was keen to take up the offer, in the end being the only British 4 to cross the Channel. These photos provide an overview of events, including the opportunity afforded to owners of taking their vehicles around the Lohéac track.

The above owner is clearly getting into the spirit of all things Gallic (and rustic). The car might be described more as 'chick' or 'cheek' than 'chic'.

Derek's Gordini conversion (above) is standard on the outside but attracts a lot of attention to what's under the bonnet.

Derek adds:

'Lohéac was really good and we were very lucky with the weather too. I was the only British R4 but there were some R8s etc from the UK. The French people loved my car and the bonnet was up on it for 2 days. They are not allowed to modify cars in France unless it is a homologated factory version, so my Groupe 2 Gordini conversion was much admired, especially as it looks standard externally. We did a half hour set of parade laps on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon with a large crowd watching us.'