WHEN a British television show, Top Gear, was marketed to the French a few years ago, it seemed an improbable proposition. The hit programme, which appeals to petrol heads and the nation’s inner laddishness, was not an obvious fit for Gallic sensibilities. More improbable still, when the French version was launched in 2015, was the choice of an early special guest, whose challenge is to set the fastest time possible when driving an ordinary car round a race track: it was the rather dour, besuited, centre-right former prime minister, François Fillon.
As it turned out, Mr Fillon, who is now the Republicans’ beleaguered presidential candidate, did rather well. Strapped into a specially adapted Dacia Sandero, equipped with a crash helmet and an internally mounted camera recording his every move, Mr Fillon was unerringly calm and focused at the wheel. His lap time earned him a highly respectable fourth place. Fillon devotees were not surprised. He is an amateur racing driver; his brother, Pierre, runs the 24-hour race at Le Mans, which lies in his rural former constituency of La Sarthe, in western France. For anybody else struggling...Continue reading
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