Friday 7th April 2017

Tour de Corse 1977: Pic Of The Week

The WRC brigade heads back to Corsica this weekend; here's how it looked 40 years ago!

---

Tarmac rally cars just look cool, don't they? Lower than gravel rally cars, packing bigger wheels and lower tyres into the arches and typically bristling with attitude, they make for spectacular motorsport.

This weekend is the first time the new 2017 rally cars have been seen on tarmac, the fourth round of this year's championship taking place on Corsica. The narrow, challenging roads of the Mediterranean island have been the location of many a WRC epic over the years, though typically dominated by the French drivers.

It will be fascinating to see just how fast the new cars are on Corsica, but for POTW we return to a simpler time of rallying. This picture is from the 1977 Tour de Corse, the Fiat 131 Abarth of Bernard Darniche and Alain Mahe leading in the sunshine. It was a rally they went on to win in fact (one of six Corsica victories), ahead of assorted Stratoses, 911s, Alpines and more 131s. Imagine attending a rally without a single 4WD car!

Pitched into another bend - look at it lean! - headlights ablaze, the old Abarth arguably couldn't look better. It's just the thing for your desktop this WRC weekend. Click the links below and enjoy.

Traditional (4:3)
Computer widescreen (16:10)
TV widescreen (16:9)
Portrait (mobile)

[Sources: LAT, eWRC]

 

[firebird350]

Proper 1970's rally car! Escort RS, Toyota Celica, Fiat 124 Spider, Lancia Stratos and Fulvia, Alpine A110, Chevette HS, Irmscher Opel Kadetts and Asconas, etc - a decade in which they all had the right noises, looks and 'attitudes'. Brilliant era!

[LMA37]

if you want too see these cars on action take a look at Hill Climbs in Switzerland.

[jakeb]

I prefer a bit of this