British expatriates swapped their wine glasses for banners to join a protest against plans by a wealthy Oxford graduate to build a vintage car-racing circuit in the grounds of his mansion in the Dordogne.

Almost 500 British and French demonstrators crowded into the village of Nontron on Saturday to denounce a “monstrous” project that they claim would shatter their idyllic corner of southwest France.

French officials are set to rule on the proposal by David Brooker-Carey, a British businessman with a history degree from Oxford, for a vintage car centre on his 85-hectare estate in Périgord Limousin regional park. “The debate is very tough, particularly amongst the English residents here,” said Philippe de Courcel, mayor of Saint Félix de Mareuil, a neighbouring village. “Families are even falling out over this.”

Mr Brooker-Carey, who made his fortune in aluminium smelting, and Sandra, his wife, a property developer, want to build a 4.6kilometre (3mile) circuit with 24 pit garages and 675 loudspeakers. The scheme also includes a luxury hotel, a spa, a restaurant, a 30-metre swimming pool, an equestrian centre and what is described as the Living Museum of the History of the Automobile.

The couple say that the centre will attract up to 40,000 visitors a year and create 35 full-time jobs in an area where the unemployment rate is more than 10 per cent. “It is a unique concept . . . which will attract collectors of historic vehicles and those passionate with this sport,” they say on their website.

Their opponents include many Britons who crossed the Channel to enjoy the peace and beauty of the Dordogne. “It’s outrageous that this is even being contemplated,” said Crispin Hills, a Londoner who bought a house about a mile from the planned circuit seven years ago. “It’s a beautiful place and it seems ridiculous to build something like this on it.”

Mr Hills said that the noiseless French countryside would be destroyed by the sound of racing Ferraris, Bugattis, Porsches and Bentleys. “We’re dead against it. People come here for peace and quiet. They don’t come here to listen to engines.”

Desmond Kime, a retired biologist, said that the circuit would also threaten “an extremely biodiverse area” that was home to 46 endangered species, including the rare European mink. He said that the pollution, the noise and the felling of 40 hectares of woods to create the racetrack were incompatible with the park in which Mr and Mrs Brooker-Carey live. “The whole thing is monstrous,” he said.

The Dordogne prefect – the Government’s local representative – has to decide whether to approve the circuit by July 4. Last month a public inquiry, which is only consultative under French law, found in favour of Mr and Mrs Brooker-Carey, who say that the racetrack will resemble nothing more sinister than a country road.

Mr de Courcel hopes the prefect will also approve the plans. “We don’t have a lot of projects in the north of the Dordogne. It’s a very pretty corner but what’s the point of that if there’s no economy left?”

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