The X---- Porsche cars

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The 1956 edition had to face terrible weather conditions, heavy rain and wind
Only 14 cars out of the 60 starters finish the race amongst these 14 cars 2 Porsche one 550 and one 356
Car race number 25 finish 5th overall and first in class 1.5 L
Car race number 34 finish 13th
some pics of the winning 550






Richard von Frankenberg at a pit stop

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For its 3rd entry to the Le Mans race, Claude Storez was once again DNF
Claude french blue 550




Claude Storez car by minichamps scale model 1/43

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The 2 356 Carrera (sometimes with some 550)

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Ferry Porsche came to Le Mans to encourage his team

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some other pics
to start with Carel Godin de Beaufort

The winning car to day

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Claude 550 was not the only one to be immortalised by a scale model

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In between the Reims 12 hours (end of June) and the Le Mans 24 hours race (end of July) Claude Storez had the time to find back his new friend Marcel Buffet to compete in the French "Coupe des Alpes" who was raced from July 6th to July 13th



The French Coupe des Alpes, not to be confused with the Austrian "Alpenfahrt" although both were raced in the same part of Europe : the Alps mountains
The French coupe des Alpes was starting from Cannes on the Mediterranean coast and then to Italy to Austria Germany and back to Nice
4103 km to cover in 4 days with 3 night stops
For the occasion Marcel Buffet was using for the first time his bright new 356 A Carrera, the car he order to Sonauto at the 1955 Paris carshow and also where he met Claude Storez for the first time
In 1956 Marcel Buffet his already 34 years old and had never had the time to do something else than local rallyes on the contrary of Claude Storez who at only 29 years had already behind him a quite strong competition carreer
Marcel Buffet who ran a garage in Poitiers obtain from Auguste Veuillet the right to became Porsche agent for the Centerwest of France and then got more freetime for racing

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Claude Storez (left) is seen on the precedent pic with Marcel Buffet (right) with Marcel new Carrera before the start of the race on the Cannes harbour
The 1956 "Coupe des Alpes" had three co-exaequo winners :
Paul Ernst Strahle/Hans Echer and Claude Storez/Marcel Buffet both on a 356 Carrera and Maurice Gastonides/Penny Baker on a Triumph TR3
Indeed the Coupe des Alpes was more a regularity race with average speeds to respects on very difficult roads as the Stelvio pass in the Italian Alps

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Early July the Alps pass are just open with snow not too far from the road as seen on the following pics
First Buchet Storez in the Stelvio

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[attachment:1]coupedesalpes1.JPG[/attachment]

Several factory teams were present as the
Triumph team



The MGA team

and the Peugeot team

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Porsche was present with several cars but I have not found a pic of all the cars together
In addition to Paul Ernst Strahle and Claude Storez Maurice Gacon was also there
His 356 (car race number 322) when Storez had car race number 320, is seen on this pic at the start of a classification race on the Monza race track

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Amongst the other competitors
Ferrari




Aston Martin





Mercedes 300SL Gullwings



Alfa Romeo

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The French Panhard team was also present with a X87 as seen here in the famous Sestrieres ski station

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Some more pics
Claude Storez/Marcel Buffet 356 seen here (right) with

a MGA at a custom check point

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Maurice Gastonides and his Triumph TR3

and at a check point