Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The start takes place today 17th June 2010 for this twenty-first edition of the Alpine Rally. This rally will include four stages over three days
This first 210 km stage starts here in the the town of Evian. Located on the banks of Lake Geneva at the foot of the mountains,
its exceptional natural environment has made it famous as an international tourist resort.
What a splendid setting for this exceptional Historical Alpine Cup!
It's a very agreeable edition because this year we have a true succession of all the most beautiful passes which,
as usual every year, are a bit of a worry to us because of the weather and snowfall at times'
The Alpine Rally is above all an amazing run through the Alps, which has a long history. Everything began in 1946 when the event was relaunched by the French.
Until 1971 the rally saw extraordinary wins, with the participation of the world's best drivers
especially Stirling Moss who won the famous Gold Cup.
In 1988, Hervé Charbonneaux undertook to reorganise the original version of the Alpine Cup,
with the idea of following the route of the legendary rally but in a recreational manner.
The spirit is one of social interaction, an outing, and above all not competition.
It's a great pleasure to discover these Alpine passes, this scenery, a good atmosphere,
a very wide variety of cars, and people from all over the world.
Collectors find real pleasure driving their cars in this magnificent Alpine setting
An impressive number of models are indeed present. Let's begin with the Ferraris:
a 1936 250 GT Lusso, a 1965 275 GTB and a 1972 365 GTB4 Daytona,
just to mention them, and many other surprises await you. There are also less well known makes like this 1965 Sunbeam Tiger 260 and this 1963 Facel Vega Facel III.
Among the rarities of this rally, the 1953 DB Tank Le Mans is in pole position.
We can also admire this 1966 Jaguar Kougar on which the rally technicians are busy making last-minute adjustments.
You have to drive quite a bit to come here, but that doesn't form much of a problem in general.
Year in year out, the cars are more beautiful and better and better maintained.
Ten years ago we did more servicing than breakdowns.
Today, it's really only if we're a bit concerned, for instance, like here, if a bearing is a bit slack,
that we intervene preventively so that we don't have to actually change the bearing as a road breakdown service
Otherwise, braking or ignition are the general problems during the Alpine Cup.
Prevention is the best cure to take fully advantage of these three days of pure motoring pleasure.
This rally is a unique occasion to cross the splendid scenery of the Alps down to the Mediterranean,
at this magical moment when the passes on the Grande Route des Alpes are opened.
The Historical Alpine Cup is a rally for enthusiasts, a navigation rally where regularity is not an issue.
First of all, the Alpine Cup in its classic version is the heir of a very famous and glorious rally.
We're very proud just to have the Alpine Cup sticker on our cars.
What's more, it's a navigation rally with 20 passes and 1000 km of mountain to cross.
So when you start you wonder whether you'll be on the arrival line.
A navigation rally is a rally where the passage points are checked but where there are no imposed time requirements.
For me, it's a first time event because I've never participated in a rally before.
So I haven't got any basis for making comparisons with other types of rallies.
I'm not apprehensive but really excited and pleased.
I think you have to be extremely concentrated, precise and highly reactive. It's going to be a marvellous experience.
The marvellous experience is about to start. It's 2 pm, the Rallystory team are installing the gateway,
the gentlemen drivers, impatient to set off and discover the French and Italian Alps, are getting ready.
On the programme of this first 210 km long stage, 3 passes including Colombière Pass at 1613 m altitude.
The arrival will be in the traditional Savoyard village of Méribel at the heart of the world's biggest ski domain: the 3 Valleys.
A cloudy sky still hangs over Méribel.
This winter sports resort located in the Allues Valley in Savoie at 1,450 m altitude
was founded by Scotsman, Peter Lindsay, in 1938
as a new winter leisure site to replace the German and Austrian resorts because of the advent of Nazism in those regions.
Our competitors are getting ready and sprucing up their beloved cars
Here's Benoît, the fortunate owner of this exceptional prototype, who is going to tell us about it:
It's a Deutsch Bonnet with a Panhard engine. They're cars that were built as prototypes
to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and to participate in endurance races. They wanted to win the Index of Performance and came second in 1953.
In other words they have a rather large petrol tank and a little engine, because there were multiplier coefficients which meant that they came high in the standings all the same.
It's a car eligible for Le Mans, a car which has run the 1000 miles, which has done many a rally, motoring tours and other events.
It's a car that's eligible for all the main current events.
On the programme today, Friday, two stages.
First stage, the 3 Valleys/Mégève, in other words 190 km through 5 passes including Madelaine Pass at an altitude of 1993 m.
A journey taking the competitors between the Vanoise massif and the Lauzière massif.
In the Arc Valley, here we come across the eldest car of the rally, this superb 1953 Jaguar XK120.
The second stage takes place in the afternoon from Mégève to Val Cenis, in other words 160 km including 4 passes,
one being the highest road pass in the French Alps, Iseran Pass at an altitude of 2764 m,
which connects the Arc Valleys in the Maurienne region to the Isère Valley in the Tarentaise region.
A fabulous playground for Daniel Muller,
son of the famous Swiss driver Herbert Muller who won the Targa Florio in 1966 and 1973 at the wheel of his Porsche 911 RS.
Daniel is participating in this rally with his 1955 300 SL Gullwing and occasionally swaps his car for his friend Albert's Lancia Beta coupé.
I started on a Lancia Beta, on a Group A car, from the late seventies I think it is.
It's a friend car. We changed cars, so he drove my little old Gullwing.
They're really different. He has front wheel drive. I have rear wheel drive.
He has a 2 L, I have a 3 L. His car is twenty years younger than my own.
It's very, very different but it was very impressive to see that the car was very fast.
It has left foot braking. It's very different to this one.
Today, which car did I like the most? The ones that drive all the time.
We had some difficulties with other cars. Not with my own.
This stage finishes in the Vanoise National Park, a stone's throw from Italy, at the foot of Mont-Cenis Pass, in the village of Val Cenis.
Today, Saturday 19th June, it's the last stage of the rally. The longest stage with 335 km between Val Cenis and Cannes.
The competitors are heating their engines, getting ready to brave 3 passes, and checking the road-book before heading for Mont-Cenis Pass.
Little roads wind before them in this magnificent hillside and mountain scenery.
The participants are climbing up to Mont-Cenis Pass at an altitude of 2081 m, above the Maurienne Valley and the Suse Valley.
We're taking advantage of this descent from a pass towards Italy to film this exceptional 1961 Ferrari 250 California Spider driven by Brandon ***.
This great collector is providing us with an unforgettable moment.
In an Alpine Cup we of course expected to come across a Berlinette A110
so we're most pleased to meet this female crew running for the Eric Comas Historic team.
Everything is going very well for us; perhaps not quite as well for the men because we overtake them quite often,
above all the Porsches, but they're always quite pleased to see the Smurfettes pass in front of them.
After crossing the highest pass, the 21st edition of the Alpine Cup follows the highest road in the Alps passing the summit of La Bonette at an altitude of 2802 metres.
The sun is shining brightly as the competitors arrive on the Croisette in Cannes opposite the famous Palais des Festivals
for their official crossing of the arrival line of this 21st Alpine Cup.
It was magnificent!
Everything went really well, it was a superb run
I feel great. I mean it's a great event as you know.
It's been a great day. A little bit of rain you know. It got us all wet.
Part of the deal. Easy to drive except when there's water on the road.
Do I have an answer to 'What was it like during this Alpine Cup?
Now we're here in Cannes I'd say, 'It was rather wet'.
In any case this twenty-fist edition with the number of passes crossed was quite exceptional.
With the sight of the passes, the wide variety of cars driven
and the discovery of this amazing crossing of the Alps with its plain and valley sections, it was truly magical.