Youngtimers Days at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry

Images: Ameya Vikram Mishra

‘Youngtimers’ is an endearing term used to refer to cars that are not old enough to be labelled as classics but old enough to be charming. But then, how old is old enough to be charming, exactly? Well, that is constantly evolving with generations; it is safe to say that cars from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s currently fall within the Youngtimer category.

Now an increasingly widespread phenomenon, the growing interest in Youngtimers has been a game-changer, having made our hobby a lot more accessible and providing a gateway for the younger generation to join in. And this era of the automobile has a wide variety to cater to every kind of enthusiast – ranging from the birth of the hot hatch to the supercars of the 90s to peak motorsport legends (coinciding with the V10 era of Formula 1).

In fact, I may even be able to make a case for the 90s to be the peak era for the automobile, but that’s a debate for another time.

What’s not up for debate is that Youngtimers don’t get the attention and respect they deserve, with most classic car shows focussing on older machinery. This is exactly what made the Youngtimers Days hosted at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry last month so special, attracting over 8,000 visitors over the course of the weekend.

I was greeted by two, true blue French royalties of hot hatches as soon as I started my recce around the event – a Renault Clio Williams with the distinctive deep blue paint and golden rims and a Renault 5 Turbo – both parked right next to each other, which is a fairly rare sight even in France. I have always been a fan of the Clio Williams, created for rallying homologation, with some chassis tuning. Though it did not have any link with the Williams F1 team of the time (to which Renault supplied its legendary F1 engines), it added to the marketing appeal, making it a commercial success.

This event also allowed me to appreciate how far ahead of its time the 916 series Alfa Romeo GTV was in terms of design – truly unlike anything else. Being a successor to the hugely popular 116 series Alfetta GTV, Alfa needed something special to keep the Alfisti happy, and it delivered with this groundbreaking Pininfarina design, which not only won Car Magazine’s Best Designed Car in 1995 but also Autocar Magazine’s Car of the Year for the same year – a true 90s superstar! I spotted two examples of the GTV and promised myself I’d own one within the next two years. Fingers crossed.

The 80s and 90s were also when Audis were cool and could make driving enthusiasts look beyond their chronic understeer problem. I was expecting to see a lot more Audis from this era, given its overlap with the groundbreaking ‘quattro’ technology of the time, but I was happy to spot an example from the first Audi S series, the Audi S2 coupé, looking striking in red.

Of course, the Germans, in general, were not at all underrepresented at the event, with tons of E30s, W201s, W124s, and 993/996 911s. Nor were the fast Fords powered by Cosworth masterpieces and some cracking Mondeo ST 220s.

However, the show’s real stars (at least for the local French enthusiasts) were the Peugeot 406 ‘taxis’ from the late 90s French blockbuster Taxi. With exaggerated front splitters, huge rear wings, and twin roof intakes, these may be the most affordable movie cars one can buy at the moment. Personally, I have always been a fan of the straight Pininfarina lines and wouldn’t mind a clean example.

The event ended with a drive around the banked corners of the famous circuit. We definitely need more of these events to keep the hobby alive for future generations!