FIM Rally

12-13-14 July 1956

Chateau life with good wines and good food

Photographic documents relating to the FIM rallies of yesteryear, more precisely concerning those of the meetings which took place in the period between 1936 and the beginning of the 1960s, are extremely rare.

If you are lucky enough, as happened to me very recently, to be able to get your hands on a few shots taken from one of them, the pleasure and satisfaction of the find is immeasurable.

We know that after Berlin in 1936, the following year it was the turn of the capital of the country of France to receive the delegations of rallyists who came to represent their respective countries for the 1937 meeting.

After Paris, the first French city in the history of the FIM Rally to assume its role as host, France had to wait exactly 19 years for the rally to return for a second time on its soil, this time in the city of Tours, capital of this beautiful region of Touraine, so dear to the writer François Rabelais who was born there, and famous for its numerous monuments forming part of the illustrious Châteaux of the Loire, heritage of the kings of France.

Tours 1956 – In the background, view of the machines of the British delegation which came in good numbers on this occasion

Moto-Club de Touraine in brief

An important event such as an FIM Rally implies that its organization, although under the aegis of the FFM (French Motorcycling Federation), requires the assistance of all clubs for its implementation and smooth running. premises in the region affiliated with it; the local Moto-Club de Touraine, founded in Tours on October 1, 1925, and affiliated with the FFM since March 12, 1934, being then one of the main links in the organization.

Two of the various souvenirs produced to commemorate the 1956 FIM rally:
Left, the official badge of the event. Right, that produced by the Italian federation

A treat for the eyes and palate

Thanks to this 1956 FIM rally, the participants from all these different nations present at the Tours meeting were lucky enough to have the opportunity to discover the most beautiful landscapes and monuments of this region as well as its local culinary specialties. Isn't it moreover, still to this day, and apart from the encounters and memories accumulated on the road leading them to the goal of their journey, one of the attractions and rewards that these FIM rallies organized each year in various countries, seem offer to all those who participate?

On the way to Tours, two rallyists from the British delegation crossing a bridge somewhere in France; this photo taken by an English motorcyclist is one of 3 slides taken in July 1956 and which I miraculously found recently

Not only did they have the opportunity to discover in the saddle the unrivaled landscapes of the Loire Valley where stand the medieval fortresses of Chinon, Loches, Montbazon, or even the royal domain of Amboise, or even the numerous tuffeau stone castles of Azay-le-Rideau, Chenonceau, and Villandry; but they also had the opportunity to taste and enjoy the culinary specialties of the region.

Because Touraine, and in particular Tours, its capital labeled 'International City of Gastronomy', an epicurean land par excellence, has managed to preserve over the centuries the ancestral tradition of eating well promoted by Rabelais, by perpetuating the production of its traditional specialties.

Two members of the British delegation posing for a souvenir photo in the Tours region. Note their participant armband and their summer motorcycling outfit in this period of the 50s. The trend for leather or wax cotton will come much later...

Pork rillettes, goat cheese, and Loire wines

One of the most emblematic of the region is goat's cheese, such as Saint Maure de Touraine or Selles sur Cher. A cheese rolled in charcoal ashes mixed with salt and, depending on the maturation time, available wet, semi-ripened or matured; and easily recognizable by the length of straw that runs through it, a legacy of the practice used historically to prevent cheese from breaking.

The Saint Maure de Touraine, with its traditional rye straw in its center consolidating its fragility; the making of this ancestral cheese dates back to the 8th century

Born in Touraine in the Middle Ages, rillettes take their name from the Old French “rille”, which appeared at the end of the 15th century to refer to pieces of pork cut into thin strips. Pork rillettes were already mentioned in the 15th century by Rabelais who, in his writings, called them “brown pig jam”

Another must-have in Tours cuisine is the famous Tours rillettes, a dish made from confit and crumbled pork, seasoned with salt, pepper and spices. The must is to taste the Tours rillettes on a slice of toast, accompanied by a glass of red wine from the region, such as a Chinon or a Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil.

More memories from the 1956 FIM Rally

In addition to the various commemorative souvenirs seen above, produced by different nations, on the occasion of the Tours event, let us add at the conclusion of this page an interesting photo of the armband worn by the Swiss rallyists, members of clubs affiliated to the FMS (Swiss Motorcyclist Federation).

The photo of the armband in question is valuable to us. Due to the fact that it informs us of the exact dates on which the rally was held: 12 to 14 from July 1956. The 14th, last day of the meeting, coinciding with the national day festivities marking since 1880 the celebration of the French Republic

Finally, to definitively close the curtain on the scene of the 1956 FIM Rally, let's finish with this souvenir pennant below, printed on both sides, and one of the two sides of which displays the old coat of arms of Touraine (azure sown with fleur-de-lis in or, and with a border composed of argent and gules), it is said to come from the coat of arms of Philippe the Bold, king of France from 1270 to 1285.

It would be necessary to wait until the summer of 1966 for the FIM Rally to return to France again, more precisely to Rouen in Normandy, for the 3rd meeting in its history organized on French soil.

- Jean-Francois Helias

Addendum

It's been exactly a year since this report was posted online. I'm returning to it twelve months later to provide an additional photographic document, which I was fortunate enough to get my hands on just a few days ago.

This high-quality, large-format image, taken from a slide, reveals a view of what I assume must have been the meeting's machine park.

The participants' summer outfits are a reminder that the event took place in July, more precisely on the 12th, 13th, and 14th. What do we celebrate every year in France on the 14th? Bastille Day, of course; hence the tricolor flags flown at half-mast by the organizers of the 1956 FIM rally, in the lush green countryside of Tours.

One can imagine that the evening atmosphere that day was festive, with the sound of the accordion and the 'flonflons' of the popular dances of the time, lively and festive brass bands, fireworks illuminating the sky with showers of sparks, and the unrestrained tasting of fine local wine served at the countless local refreshment stands.