"KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time" (kngt)
06/14/2018 at 11:22 • Filed to: Rally, Porsche, rally car, Porsche 911
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"KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time" (kngt)
06/14/2018 at 11:22 • Filed to: Rally, Porsche, rally car, Porsche 911 | 3
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Henry Catchpole recently found himself in the passenger seat of the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally winning Porsche 911 SC driven by none other than the winning driver himself, Jean-Pierre Nicolas.
The ride along video is just so cool!
Grindintosecond
> KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
06/14/2018 at 11:36 |
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Redlines are only suggestions.
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KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
> Grindintosecond
06/14/2018 at 11:37 |
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Wish I could hustle a car like that at my age 10% as well as Mr.Nicholas does.
AuthiCooper1300
> KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
06/14/2018 at 12:08 |
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Wow, thank you! That was excellent!
A couple of precisions, though: When Mr Catchpole mentions “rear-engined 911s and Alpines”, he means “rear-engined 911s, and
Renault 5 Alpines”
.
Two works 5 Alpines driven by Ragnotti and Frequelin did so well they took second and third place. I don’t even remember any nice A110s being mentioned in the rally that year (maybe its homologation had already expired?)
Also: he says that the ones expected to do best were Lancia and Fiat - and mentions Röhrl as a clear favourite. Well, not quite. In January 1978 Röhrl was an excellent driver, no doubt, but not at all yet the rally master he would later become. If I remember correctly he started being
consistently
good from Monte Carlo ‘80 onwards.
There were many other people within the squadra Fiat-Lancia who on paper had a stellar reputation and much more experience in that particular field: Munari (Lancia; had won the Monte three times already, last time in ‘77) Darniche (on loan to Fiat-Alitalia, his usual Stratos was driven by Mouton) and Andruet (driving for Fiat France).
Funnily enough I had always been told that “’78 Monte” 911 chassis was... lost. I have the suspicion it became a full Group 5 (rally spec) car in the Spanish rally championship (and not anymore being fettled by Almeras, but by Bernard Vara) but later the trail went very cold indeed. I am not saying this is not the car which won the Monte, but as we know, it would not be the first time an old race or rally car went through a lot of “iterations” (and sometimes, identity changes) over the years. I’d love to read/hear more on the subject, so this vid has ben a very timely reminder to look for more info.
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AuthiCooper1300
> KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
06/14/2018 at 12:20 |
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Another reason why Nicolas’s win is so important is that unless I am very much mistaken, his could well have been the very last time a private entrant won the Monte.
In theory Nanard Darniche, also a private driver (with Chardonnet, Lancia importer in France at the time) won the Monte in 1979 (with a Stratos, natch). But he had full factory support, I think.
Nicolas, on the other hand, really, really had to count his pennies to compete in 1978.