European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 21, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Story and photos by Randy Barnett motor sports editor i except for the Tor of High Speed the world iss rally Driver and its counterpart in grand Pix i or petition have itttlc1 in Ommon. A rally Driver s event May last four or t lvi1 Days and cover 2, Kkt Miles a grand prix Driver s work however is limited to about an hour Ami a Haft and a Distant i.1 of less than 200 Miles few grand Pix Drivers o renown would be aught dead in a rally whith is proc Isely to Many of them fear the Competition would end. And rally events Thev know Don t pay nearly As Well. Certainly rallying an be dangerous. In fact the recent rally at West Germany s curb urging was dedicated to he memory of he f Innesh Ace Merf Toivonen an extremely popular Driver who was killed in ,1 Una during the lob rally of Corsica. When former Trench rally Star my Hele Mouton staged her race of the champions event earlier this month on the curb urging she gave motor sports fans a special look at rallying from the top level. A $1 million used nurse was on Struc Ted at the curb urging near Frankfurt for Mouton s production. Anci she brought 12 of the world s top rally Drivers to put on an Ama ing display of Speed and on Lrol. It was an action filled program kept More Jim inf spectators Heer Ingall Day. I he rally t Ourse pm lured gravel and dirt is Lor Power slides a water filled dil h for jumps a straight aved Tieti h for High Speed flashes and a narrow Ridge thai sent the cars into the air a tin a hurtled downward hut the doers were up loth . And their control under a t conditions remarkable to witness Mouton now retired Ifni driving Isi honk woman to have woo i orld c Hampton slip rallies. My she Ako Hill in in fur Audi in 1ih" she bunt lied her e of the a impious rally ear it the month Here t m it in i Aris when she brought in t Jimain this a cinch i even More Sik c Esmul doing my ears of rail ing t Alwa i thought in would be a idea in someone Wourl set up a rally course combining All of tlu1 a up at features that in Ike rally miso Mut h Dit Lerent from rat ing she said " i Hen we could bring All the world s rally stars together to c compete in this one single event eat i Una rec \ ii i ing we Fth is unique and Spet Ian de open flu Al c ars. The world rally c Hampt hi1.hip involves t ars prodded by regular tuners tars that Are similar in appear Aru e to their t of underparts on Normal rom a today s ars Are last but Onk a Tew seasons ago they were my h taster. During the mid-1 was the pow f Rac e got i nit of hand some Linn s engines were Hing up to too horsepower and liter several crashes to both Drivers and spectators i he rules were rent Len to so ate tilings Down. Rally tars entered in world i championship Competition today Hae engines with j20to us horsepower. It s a wide open Competition. During the l j70s and 80s, the world championship Lor manuf i hirers been won by Renault. Line a f orc her a. F Ord Talbot. Audi and Peugeot. Other arms opel Saab. Volvo merc Edes Volkswagen and Bow scored world championship victories and so have Mam of the japanese makes with both Nissan and to Ota Many time winners of the great last african asian talk f new rally experts would bet against the japanese to dominate in la 90. Toyota Mitsubishi and Mada have All been participants this past season and All three have scored victories. They will come on Mug again next sear and i of Italy the defending world Champion. I j have to work hard in Rebuff the Jap inese Challenge. Rally Drivers Are just is committed to their dangerous professions is their grand Pix ing ounce rams but they Are More Low key and in seems that All of Mem possess Fine senses of humor. One of the Best stories about rally Drivers invokes i i legendary swede Frik , a huge Man who drove the tiny Fri Iii two stroke Saab to vie Lory after Victory during the 1 hos and 60s, carts son loved nothing better than beating the larger and More powerful cars and he did so of ten. The Stor goes that in Portugal Carlsson lipped his car on an approach to a Railroad crossing and it Slid upside Dow n unit the Lov ered f Rossing Gates Ami onto one of the tracks. Belted in Erik and his co Driver go cd ill each other the silence broken Only by the sound of pencils and other falling on the roof liner. The sound of a train was heard and Carkson said. Come we go now. The train is i the Tram did t ome but Furtuni Uteev it arrived on another trac k. Ads son and his co Driver pushed their tiny Aab Bac k onto its a feels and set Oft again. Ohn stiff us he . Hanpt in fim a and fac most us t Estul of All Arneric in rally Drivers enjoys telling the follow ing Lale about it Mal perils. He Evv ears that the Story is True. This Driver and his navigator Bultum said Are tearing Down the Road and the navigator alls out turn right Al House the Driver pours it on looking for the House to turn right at and instead plunges Down the Wall of a c Anyon. What the navigator had said several Hundred feet Back was turn right and How the Driver had heard it As turn right at House Nice thing was Buffum added they lived to Tell about Ari Vatanen. A former world Champion and Winner of i he pans Dakar rally was once asked Why Are the f inns so great at rallying Why do they nearly always dominate Fasy to answer the finn said with a wide Grin. It s simply a Case of heavy foot and empty head " i Here Are hundreds of Ither stories but these serve As examples of the rally Driver s relatively Light approach to his Lite behind the wheel most of the world i Harapi Enship rally at lion tin e m i Europe and if you would like to Check out the St ene Here is the of m schedule. 1990 world rally championship . I1 of Monte car let feb. 9-m Sweden March fit port Tif in april 12-1ft safari rally. Kenya. Mav 4-10 Vrska rally French round luni1 2-7 acropolis rally Greece june 29-Luly 4 new zealand july 21-29 Argentina aug. 22-27 Jodo lakes rally. Finland sep. J ?-/7 Australia oct. 7-11 san remo rally italian round oct. 27-nov. 2 Ivory coast rally nov. 25-29 Lombard Rac rally British round scenes from the race of champions a Peugeot 205 Turbo lop leaves the ground Asil crests an incline and a Toyota celica churns up dirt and gravel As it slides into a Corner. Decfmber2l, 1989
