The Hôtel Ritz is a grand palatial hotel in the heart of Paris, located in the 1st arrondissement of the city. It overlooks the octagonal border of the Place Vendôme at number 15. The hotel is ranked highly among the most prestigious and luxurious hotels in the world. Outside the hotel we ran into a beautiful Jaguar MK II from the 1960s getting ready for the Tour Optic Auto 2012 race that Audemars Piguet sponsors.
The Tour Optic Auto 2ooo 2012 race was held from April 16th thru the 21st and is Organized by Peter Auto for the the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA) with licenses from ASA Tour Auto. For an entry fee of €8,300 entrants get five days of competition driving all the way from Paris to a southern destination in France. The rally race is open to 200 cars which (or the model of which) have participated between 1951 and 1973 in the Tour Optic Auto race. This year's race —22nd Tour Auto Optic 2ooo— will take place from April 22nd thru the 27th. For the first time, the finish line will be in the southwestern city of La Rochelle.
The 22nd Tour Auto Optic 2ooo guest stars, besides the official partner BMW, will be Porsche and Aston Martin. The Porsche prototypes as a tribute to Ferdinand Alexander Porsche who passed away last year, just two weeks before the start of the rally: Porsches 550 and of course the long lineage -904 (his creation), 906, 907, 910 - which raced in Tour de France Automobile. The 'Tour' will also celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Aston Martin and will honour the four models which raced at the time.
As you can see in the pictures, the car was still showing the old decals from the 'Carrera Panamericana' in which the owner had participated before. The car was supposed to get the Tour Optic decals for the race that weekend.
