Friday 6th January 2012

PH Blog: Harris goes retro rally nuts

The Welsh Rallysprint was like Pike's Peak, transplanted to 1980s Wales and our man wants a time machine

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If watching rally videos on YouTube was an A-Level subject, these would be at the core of the curriculum.

This event was organised by the Welsh Counties Car Club, and yet contains more quality drivers than you could find on a modern round of the WRC. Waldegard, Mikkola, Ekland, Brookes and McRae Snr. to name but a few. Plus Murray commentating.

It's a kind of gravel hillclimb, like a mini Pikes Peak in the middle of an uncharacteristically dry Wales but run with an aggregate time on an uphill, then a downhill time.

But why is it so significant? Well, it brings together the most disparate collection of cars imaginable for a competitive, contemporary event. Honest front-engined RWD machines in the Chevette and Ascona, the loopy 290hp Rover SD1, mid-engined Stratos and then the 4WD Quattro.

This is the sport's past, present and future on display for a single, brief moment. It's like having Senna, Schumacher and Vettel in the same race.

It also represents a time when works machinery couldn't stop the likes of Terry Kaby, British champion in 1980, beating people like Bjorn Waldegard. Terry never quite made it to the very top level, not for lack of talent, and he's still coaching, testing and immersed in the sport today. What a legend.

I know these are quite long, grainy vids, and the dust is an issue. But the angle and language of the cars is mesmerising.

Chris

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

 

 

[dave stew]

I was a big rally fan in the 80s and went to all the usual events including the Manx International in 85 and 86. It was a truly great era of the sideways RWD heroes and the staccato banging, flame spitting quattros bullying the forests into submission.

My personal heroes were Jimmy McRae and Tony Pond (plus of course Michelle Mouton!)

Great times, great cars. Oh, and I drove two Opel Mantas and a MK2 RS2000 in that period!

[dave stew]

AllNines said:

k3ybo said:

Stig Blomqvist in the Lotus Sunbeam is incredible, looks like a pro drifter on the way down. Short wheelbase, gravel and RWD, and still pretty damn quick...

This was quite a departure for him - he was a front drive Saab specialist for years, the left foot braking technique was then of course used to brilliant effect when he joined Audi in 1983 (winning the RAC that year).

[dave stew]

Guvernator said:

I think this highlights one thing, just how awesome rally events used to be and how they are now a mere shadow of their former selves these days. Spectacular jumps, firebreathing cars, deafening anti-lag and flinging dirt going sideways through every corner is what we want to see. Instead we get the politically correct watered down version, what a shame.

Do you remember the sudden anti-climax to the start of the 1987 season when the Group B cars were banned? Those poxy front drive Astras et al were complete toss compared with a bellowing Manta 400. They did catch up of course once the Sierra Cosworth, E30 M3 and Integrale joined the fray.