"Last year it was 47, so today we have set a new record," says the chairman of the Renault Trafic Mk1 Owners Group. In fact, they are all motorhomes based on the first and second phases of the Renault Trafic launched in 1980. There are cars that have been converted by the owners themselves, but there are also examples from well-known British and European motorhome manufacturers.

All Simply French participants will be held at the gate until 9am, after which everyone will be allowed to enter the museum grounds. As most of the Trafics have already gathered in the area the night before, it looks like a tube of Trafics will be squeezed out at some point. The result is a real traffic jam.

The annual Simply French event is of course open to all French marques, but thanks to the tireless efforts of the Renault Classic Car Club, Renault and Alpine are by far the most popular. It is also funny that the event celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Renault Twingo. Why funny? Because the Twingo I was never officially sold in the UK. Of course, there were parallel imports, so there are between 50 and 100 of them on the road. So when 18 Twingos turn up at an event in the very south of the great British island, it's quite a turnout.

After a week of glorious weather in the south of England, with temperatures in the 30s, the heavens suddenly opened on the morning of Sunday 10 September and there seemed to be no hope of a single ray of sunshine for the whole day. Where the average visitor to an event would pack their bags, an Englishman would unfold his umbrella and continue to enjoy himself amongst the cars on display. Of course, the Beaulieu Museum also offers dry activities. As a result, when it got really dry in the afternoon, most of the visitors and their cars were still there.

The Renaults and Alpines present were very diverse. Sporty, classic, restored or in daily use. From a beautiful Frégate Transluide through a Laguna V6 to a Wind Gordini, fast Clios, Alpine A110s, a 25 V6 Turbo, the requisite R4s, an Estafette to pretty much any number of R4, R5, R8, R9, R10, R11 and you name it.

The English love old things in general and their old cars in particular. It is not difficult to make contact. All you have to do is pay them a compliment and you get a full tour, telling you all sorts of heroic stories about the car in question. Brian Whiteside has set up his stall of mainly documentation under a large tree, but when it started to rain he had to pull out all the stops to keep his wares dry.

Simply French will return in 2024 at a date to be announced.