It is some sort of coincidence that during our stay in France and now in Italy, much to my joy, we have chanced across three hill climbs where 'boys with their toys', or more accurately pensioners who can afford it, drive historic cars up hill on twisty roads at unsafe speeds. This particular hillclimb starts in the little town of Camucia and finishes at the entrance of Cortona, a spectacular and large medieval walled town on the hill.

The cars are released at 30 second intervals and it is up to the driver to reach the finish faster than other cars. In order to make it fair, as a 1965 Fiat 500 is never going to beat a 1976 Porsche 911, the cars are split into groups or classes and there are winners for each class. There is no overtaking unless one of the cars breaks down, so at least this element of risk is removed - car and driver against himself to wring out a best time

While in France, inevitably mainly French cars populated the event, especially in the junior classes and as one might expect, here we saw some rare and not so rare Italian models. 

Roads were closed, so getting to a good vantage point, meant my long suffering wife and dog and I (obviously much keener) finding a side road onto the route of the hill climb and we were fortunate to find a bend in the road, where the driver and car could be seen straining to keep themselves from going off. We missed the morning session, but were in time to see the cars returning to the start in convoy. It is quite a special sight too see so many rare cars in one place at one time. After lunch, the afternoon session started and the cars came racing up again. We later made our way to the start line to see that last batch of cars start their final session.

Thanks to wife and dog for their patience