2011 Rallye international Des Alpes short version

2011 Rallye international Des Alpes short version
53rd Rallye des Alpes 2011- Glorious weather and a close result.
.door Rallye International des Alpes Historique op dinsdag 12 juli 2011 om 11:49.After five days of rallying in glorious weather through the Alps from Lausanne to Cortina d'Ampezzo, the outright winner of the 53rd Rallye des Alpes was the Triumph TR3a of Ben and Katy Stebbing. Second last year behind the indefatigable combination of Peter Barker and Willy Cave in an ex-works Cooper S, the young Stebbings showed determination by taking the lead from the very first regularity section high above Montreux and staying out in front all the way to the finish.

Their early pursuers were Nigel and Gina Batchelor in their Bentley 4½ litre tourer. As pre-war cars -- and especially the ones from before 1930 -- benefit from a coefficient that is applied to all lateness penalties, the Batchelors held onto second place right up to the end of the fourth day when James and Fiona Willis eased past them in their MGA, a works car that had competed in the Rallye des Alpes of 1956 driven by James' step-father. Behind them was another Bentley from the 1920s, this one a 3/4½ litre example crewed by John Abel and Sarah Bournon. In fifth place came the winners of the post-1963 category, Irving Laidlaw and Robert Ellis in a Mercedes 280SL that was a last-minute substitute for a misbehaving Jaguar XK140. In that same class, Joseph and Wolfgang Strosser claimed second place with their Aston Martin DB6 ahead of Philip and Tania Prettejohn in their Jaguar E-Type. Ben Stebbing's parents, Nowell and Bibby took third in the pre-1930 category with their 3.0/8 litre Bentley.

The thirty-seven starters were drawn from a variety of countries within Europe. Three crews came from Ireland of which the best classified at the finish were Tom and Maria Callanan in their Triumph TR2. Less successful but finishers nevertheless were Shane Houlihan and Suzanna Ratajova whose BMW 328 did not like the hot weather and regularly vaporised the fuel in its three downdraught carburettors during the second day. Time out from the rally was taken to remove the fuel filter from in front of the engine and re-route the fuel supply before they could continue. Jan Woien and Jan-Erik Hansen from Norway drove a very attractive Alvis Speed 25 Special and won the category for cars of the 1930s. However, on the last day, the delectable Alvis turned out to have a darker side to her character and Jan Woien cut his hand while examining her under-bonnet systems.

The Rallye des Alpes was enhanced by the presence of the superb Rolls Royce Phantom 1 17EX of Alexander Schaufler and Anna Mendez. Finished in a blue identical to that of Malcolm Campbell's Bluebirds, this car was originally sold to Maharaja Hari Sigh Bahadur and stayed with him in Kashmir until 1932 and was finally repatriated from India in 1976. In complete contrast, the smallest engined car in the rally was an Austin Mini Seven driven by Faye Whitear and co-driven by Peter Barker. A good start and a top performance on the second day were followed by a traumatic fourth day where penalties seemed to accumulate in plies like autumn leaves. They finally had to be content with fourth in class behind the winning TR3a, the Volvo PV 544 of Mark Rinaldi and André Jeanniard and the Mercedes 300SL of Jean-Pierre Tripot and Angela Mitrofan.

Apart from the rented luggage van losing its power and failing to arrive in St Moritz before the rally cars, the event went off faultlessly and the welcome staged in Cortina d'Ampezzo on the Thursday evening at the foot of its famous campanile was well merited. Next year, this Swiss/Anglo/Belgian rally will go further south back to its roots in the Côte d'Azur to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first Rallye des Alpes. The start will be back in Geneva and the finish in Cannes with stops along the way at Kandersteg in the Bernese Oberland, Val d'Isere and Turin.




John Davenport

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• rally full vintage cars
• classic rally
• automobile club de marseille

[galutoja]

Very nice, I will be glad if i can be with you some day.