The Avenue Des Champs-Élysées is with out a doubt the most famous and infamous stretch of road in France and possible Europe. The avenue is home to luxury and high fashion stores know the world over, akin to Rodeo Drive in the USA. The avenue runs for two kilometres (1.25 miles) through the 8th Arrondissement in north western Paris, from the Place de la Concorde in the east with its obelisk, to the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west; the location of the Arc de Triomphe. The Champs-Élysées forms part of the Axe Historique, one of the principal tourist destinations in Paris.
Once day turns to night, that’s when the drivers and riders come out to play. The Champs-Élysées has, in recent years, become a more and more infamous stretch of road as motorbikers and drivers try to belt round the avenue in the quickest time possible. All manner of cars and bikes attempt to do this, from the cheapest rentals to the most expensive of exotics, thrill seeking holiday makers to high profile race drivers. The only time to really do this is very late at night or in the wee hours of the morning. Many people have attempted it and succeeded, and many people have not succeded either coming to grief with the gendarme (police) or having an accident.
One of the major obstacles of the Champs-D’elysees is the Arc de Triomphe round about. At nearly 100m wide, and the road a good 20 odd meters wide there are no lane markings what so ever making it difficult to navigate with traffic. There are rumours that a few years ago a young motor bike rider managed to do the quickest time along the avenue ring, and many people have tried to surpass it but to no avail. The rumours also say that it may even have been a certain Moto GP champion in his early days…
And this quite possibly the most famous clip of the Champs-Élysées. “C’était Un Rendez-Vous” was supposed to be used for a French film and was filmed in the very early hours of the morning. A Ferrari 275GTB (no not a hachi…) driven by a professional race driver, you simply have to turn you speakers up for this one…
