Thanks, Jean - sorry, I should have posted before, I thought some of the competitors would have done!
Yes, we had a fabulous event - 54 sub-700cc cars, double the number that took part in the original 1958 event (OK, we'd increased the capacity limit from 500 to 700cc but almost half of our entrants were in the sub-500 pre-1959 Authentic category) and we had a ball...
It was a tough event, no getting away from that - despite my promises that it would be, some had come expecting that if you take an event that was run over 3 nights and 2 days in 1958, and spread it over 10 days in 2008, it would be easy. Not so, what they achieved in 1958 was quite incredible and it's not surprising that more than half the field back then fell by the wayside, not usually because of terminal failures but just because they had a few problems that put them outside the maximum permitted lateness on the incredibly tight schedule (60kph in Slovenia and on the autobahn, 50kph elsewhere, and that includes some horrendously tough mountain passes in Slovenia and Italy that were all loose-surface back then, and in the dark). What is incredible really is that any of the cars stayed within the schedule back in 1958, especially the phenomenal four 250cc Zundapp Janus crews who won the team prize.
For 2008 it was wonderful to have a team of Zundapp Janus again (thanks, Norbert!) as well as teams of Vespa 400, Messerschmitt TG500, Berkeley SE492, Subaru 360, Fiat 500, BMW Isetta and more. Three sub-200cc cars battled through, Jeff Lane and Claude Gueniffey actually winning the 250cc class thanks to brilliant driving and navigation, tenacity and exceptional reliability in Claude's 1956 Heinkel 200.
There are so many great stories to be told -
Telegraph Motoring August 2 – fab report from Andy English, read it on...
www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2008/08/02/mfrally102.xmlAutobild.de – report mid-rally from Nikolaus Eickmann who was with us from Munich to Cortina, with 40 photos...
www.autobild.de/artikel/luettich-brescia-luettich-2008_742846.htmlA charming report from Ljubljana, Slovenia, including video...
www.zurnal.org/cms/avto/index.html?id=58504A site set up by our friends at Brescia, including great photos from the square...
www.lblrally.comA lovely slideshow and report from Norbert...
www.rrrollipop.at/LBL08.phpLocal paper report on our Spirit category winners...
www.sloughobserver.co.uk/articles/2/3693Some Welsh wizardry...
www.wheelswithinwales.co.uk/articles/20080730_7Subaru’s claim to fame...
www.easier.com/view/News/Motoring/Subaru/article-191897.html There are great reports in the current issue of Oldtimer Markt (from Gregor Schulz, who was with us throughout the event), Motor Klassik (from Markus Stier, who joined us from Munich to Brescia), Octane, Classic & Sports Car, Old Stager, Historic Motor Racing News, Classic Auto (Poland) and soon to come in Classic Car Weekly and in Classics Monthly, who have a major feature on Andy Woolley's great adventure in his Messerschmitt KR200.
There's more info on our website -
www.classicrallypress.co.uk - and so much enthusiasm was shown by everyone at the end that we've been persuaded to organise another, all new, microcar rally for 2009! The Micro Marathon will be on September 4-12 and I'll put up a post about it shortly. Hope to see lots of you there!
Malcolm