Here’s a great story about the depth and reach of the Factory Five community from Challenge Series Racer Tim K. Back in 2008, Tim brought a friend of his, Nicholas, visiting from France, to a Factory Five Challenge Series event at Thunderhill Raceway in northern California. Nicholas had a blast at the event and the dark blue and white Factory Five Challenge Car made a strong impression on the visiting French man.

A few year’s later, Nicholas found a way to purchase that car which turned out to be the Factory Five-NASA Challenge Series Nationals winning Challenge Car from the 2007 champion, Dave Standridge! The car now is garaged (if you can call this a garage) at Chateau de Vinzelles which is located in the beautiful Beaujolais wine region of France.

Nicholas has the car at a 13th century residence while he is working on restoring his house a few miles away and took advantage of this great photo oppertunity. And don’t worry; Nicholas is still driving the Challenge Car around as Tim reports that on a recent visit, they took it out which caused “jaws dropping, fingers pointing, and thundering echos made grape harvesters stand up and search for the sound from entire valleys away. Not a common sight as you can imagine.”

Almost 70 years after American troops liberated France, how cool is it to see a Factory Five parked in this spot! Thanks for the great story Tim and congratulations to Nicholas! Hope to hear more great stories of you driving the Challenge Car around France.