RALLY PORTUGAL 2000 REPORT

 

 

                       By Ivan & Olga Orisek

                       

 

        We watched our first world championship rally thirty years ago and

over the years, a lot of things have changed. Rally Portugal used to be

famous for unruly spectators. Drivers used to drive in some places through

a tunnel of spectators who were trying to touch rally cars as they passed by.

This is why FIA wanted to remove Rally Portugal from the World Rally

calendar. Not any more. "Bartos satisfeito!" were the headlines in the

Portuguese press. Jacek Bartos is the FIA safety delegate who canceled

the first stage of this year's Monte Carlo Rally because of spectator

behavior. Still, we saw four spectators who put a blanket down at the

apex of a turn and wanted to lie down - they were quickly chased away

by marshals.

        When we landed in Portugal and drove around, there were no signs of

World Rally. There were no billboards, no banners, and no welcome signs.

The staff at our hotel was unsure where the rally was taking place. However,

on Wednesday before the rally, a major newspaper printed a rally spectator

guide as a supplement and, as every year, tens of thousands of people

showed up at the spectator areas the following day. There were a number of

different spectator guides with maps of stages available from vendors'

stands at the tech. The guides were in Portuguese only but with a

rudimentary knowledge of Romance languages we could get around as well as

understand the main points of newspaper articles.

        After landing in Lisbon, we drove 200 miles north to Porto and just

caught the tech on Wednesday afternoon. The tech was indoors in an enormous

exhibition hall Exponor in Matosinhos, a suburb of Porto. Spectators could

watch from a large spectator gallery.

        There were 120 entries including 30 world rally cars and two

Mitsubishi factory Group A cars. A good portion of the field came from

Spain after practicing for all-tarmac Rally Catalunya and went straight

back there for the rally scheduled to start in another twelve days.

        The field included 14 factory cars with drivers who get to drive

a rally car for 250 days a year but also stay away from home some 300

days every year. In addition, there were 18 world rally cars, either

privately entered or as third factory cars for Rovanpera (finished

fourth), Radstrom, two Solbergs, Estonian Martin (finished seventh),

Portuguese drivers Madeira, Chaves and Lopes (who finished eleventh),

Frenchman D'or, Polish drivers Holowczyc and Kulig, Finns Hagstrom

and Tuonino, Greeks Vovos and Papadimitriou, and Saudi Bakashab,

Argentinean Sanchez (tenth in Safari) and Turk Yazici. According to

Autosport magazine, the cost of building a world rally car is $650,000 and

they sell for $500,000 after one season.

        In Group N, which could easily be renamed the Mitsubishi Challenge,

we counted no less than forty-seven $50,000 to $80,000 four-wheel drive cars.

Trelles, Puras, Stohl and Nittel were the usual favorites together with the

Portuguese champion Campos who in the end won and placed 15th overall. We,

of course, were interested in the car #52, John Buffum and Neil Wilson in

a Dom Buckley Motor Sport's Lancer Evo 5. John's car carried several American

flag decals and the crew wore t-shirts with a big 'USA' on the back. John

came over to talk to us and seemed happy to see us there.

        The start of the rally was on the start ramp in front of the City

Hall in Matosinhos on Thursday at 4:00 pm. As the cars were lining up

at the time control in front of the ramp, the drivers appeared to be very

serious and absorbed by the task ahead of them, even though there was not

much on the program for the rest of the day; just one short superspecial

which had no real bearing on the final outcome of the rally. We saw Trelles

studying the drawing of the superspecial and Sainz, with scissors, busily

cutting something off his gloves. Makinen came first and smiled when

we wished him good luck with his fifth world championship and then he and

Kankkunen jumped out of their cars and signed our program and a few

autographs - really friendly guys. When it was John Buffum's turn, he

really enjoyed himself. In the meantime, all top co-drivers got out of

the cars, walked over to the timing car and summoned the driver with the

car on their correct minute.

        We went back to Exponor and found that the indoor service area

was closed to spectators. But we managed to get in thanks to the no-nonsense

attitude of Portuguese marshals. The superspecial was broadcast live

on TV and we watched it on a TV set in one of the service vehicles.

The TV cameras pack it up after the first 25 cars which did not even

cover all the world rally cars (that is much more than the three cars

we are used to). We introduced ourselves to Dom Buckley's crew and spent

the rest of the evening with them. John Buffum's mechanic, John Beauvais,

was there too working with Dom's crew. Then the factory cars started

coming in and it was interesting to watch the activity in the large,

Well-equipped factory service areas, directed by famous rally personalities.

We were not the only ones watching and making pictures - the privateer

crews were looking too including Dom Buckley whose older son is on

the Ford's crew. According to FIA rules, refueling is now done outside

the service area for safety reasons.

        The rally started in earnest on Friday morning. The drivers started

at 5:30 am and so did we. We drove north to the famous Fafe stage. Anybody

who wants to do this needs to be forewarned that Portuguese maps and road

signs outside expressways are very sketchy. The best way is to go with

the flow of spectators. We had an enjoyable ride on narrow mountain roads

through picturesque Portuguese villages. We were heading for a particular

spectator area but when we came there, the local police already closed

the road and turned us away. So we drove along the stage and followed

the other spectators, parked on the side of the road, walked at least

three miles and quite by accident came to the end of the stage. From

there we immediately saw the well-known Fafe jump about three quarters

of a mile away. The flying finish was on a downhill followed closely

by a sharp left (common organizers' transgression). The braking of the

world rally cars into that left was just phenomenal. This stage was run

twice as Stages 2 and 5 and for the second run we sat on the slope facing

the jump. The terrain creates a natural amphitheater in the area below

the jump with thousands of spectators.

        You can sit there and when the first-aid helicopter appears

on the horizon above the jump, you get ready. And then the rally car

appears flying over the jump and continues down the hill at unbelievable

speed through the turns in a cloud of dust and you watch the car in

disbelief for another quarter mile before it disappears. Then the

helicopter turns back to pick up the following car and the action

is repeated. When the world rally cars come it is like a storm! The crowd

of fans goes wild! The speed, the noise, flying gravel and the clouds

of dust! This is marvelous entertainment for rally enthusiasts! In the

beautiful mountains, in sunny 50 to 70 degree March weather, there is

nothing more a rally enthusiast can desire! On that stage, John Buffum

caught each time the car in front of him and that is all you can do.

        On Stage 4, John got high-centered for about ten minutes before

spectators were able to free him. There was no damage. As always,

attrition started with usual euphemisms for the causes. Mitsubishi

reported a broken steering bracket on Makinen's car but it was really an

"off" - "saida de estrada", somebody else reported a problem with a wheel

but this was after hitting something, etc.

        Lousada superspecial was created at a small road circuit. It is

about three miles long. Three cars race at the same time with thousands

of spectators watching from the stands. We came there in mid-afternoon

and had no difficulties in getting the tickets. $15 per person covered

admission, parking and various "pre-game shows".

        After all this, we were quite tired and jet-lagged, so we decided

to take it easy on Saturday. The drivers were on their tough schedule,

leaving at 6:00 am, after finishing at 8:00 pm previous night. Out of

the original 120 entries, just 52 cars started the Saturday leg. Gronholm

in a Peugeot was fighting with Burns in a Subaru for the first place.

In service, the service crews took a nap whenever they could. We decided

to drive south to Arganil service which we reached at noon. It was an

outdoor service area open to spectators, with spectator parking next to it.

        John came in for service with the car intact and left again, running

about 35th overall, 15th in class. John said that the roads were so rough

that you could hardly imagine driving just one mile over those roads.

Subsequently, we heard Burns on TV saying that the roads were so rough

on Saturday that he had to slow down.

        Throughout the rally, it was difficult for us to get results.

There was no posting of results for competitors or spectators during

the day. Ford had an electronic leader board in its service area which

was turned away from the spectators and we had to ask a friendly person

in the Ford compound to read it for us. In Dom Buckley's service, we met

Rui Brasil who was walking around with earphones and an antenna,

presumably listening to the rally radio in Portuguese. Our best source

of information was an Internet terminal back at the hotel. In the near

future, it should be possible to watch a stage and get stage times live

over a wireless Internet terminal.

        We had the opportunity to talk to Dom and his crew about the car.

They are a very nice group of people. Dom Buckley Motor Sport is based in

Kelso, Scotland. They have two left-hand drive and three right-hand drive

Group N Lancers Evo 4 and 5, which they run for customers in Europe, Middle

East, Africa and Indonesia.

        The engine output is about 254 hp @ 5,000 rpm and 340 lb.ft. of

torque @ 3,500 rpm with a 32 mm Group N turbocharger restrictor. They use

an anti-lag system with no ignition or fuel, just airflow. The weight

of the car is 3,040 lb. with a full tank. Dom showed us some tricks for

improving the longevity of Proflex suspension. We were surprised by

linear springs. The set-up sheets showed progressive springs which could

result in better traction. They, same as other Group N cars, use Michelin

17/65-15 tires and not the narrower and lighter 15/65-15 tires which seem

to be favored, perhaps erroneously, here. The car seems to be very durable.

John apparently never broke anything and experienced no problems other

than a loose ball joint on the last transit.

        In the afternoon, we went to watch Stage 19 - Aguieira. This is

an excellent stage for spectators. There are many access roads and the

stage is easy to reach. At random, we turned from the main road onto

a path in the woods and drove up the mountain on a narrow forest path,

turned around and parked within 200 yards from the stage road. At the top,

we could see rally cars for about a mile coming toward us in the valley

below, watched them disappear in the forest and roar out of the woods

over the top of the hill, then go down the hill toward us on a winding

road for about quarter mile and disappear again over another hill.

Rally spectating does not get better than that, not even in Wales.

        Rally Portugal is organized with a big help from the National Guard,

a kind of state police. As far as we could see, there was a policeman for

every 50 to 100 yards of the stage road in addition to volunteer marshals.

Local police were stationed at every intersection on the rally transit route

as well as on the spectator route. Every night, when the rally was

returning to Porto, they either closed one expressway lane to regular

traffic and reserved that lane for rally cars and service vehicles, or

closed the expressway entirely to regular traffic until the rally

passed through.

        The last three stages were run on Sunday morning. The very last

forest stage was closed to spectators and was televised live. The ceremonial

finish was again on the ramp in front of Matosinhos City Hall. Crowds were

waiting at the finish time control for every one of the 48 cars that

finished the rally. The fans greeted every car with clapping. At the finish

ramp, each driver and co-driver got out of the car, were introduced,

their finishing position was announced and they received a big applause

from the spectators. The Portuguese certainly know how to organize, run

and enjoy a modern-day World Rally event.

        In the end, Burns won over Gronholm by 6.5 seconds. John Buffum

and Neil Wilson finished 26th overall and 9th in Group N, which should

be regarded as a success. They both were certainly very happy about it

on the sunny Sunday afternoon.

        Overall, it was an unbelievable experience and seeing an American

driver competing in World Rally again after such a long time was quite

moving. Let us work together to bring World Rally to the United States

again so we all can share this experience.       

        We decided on going to Portugal on Monday before the rally and

on Tuesday night we were on a direct TWA flight to Lisbon for $361

roundtrip. (It would have been $533, had we made our reservation

earlier - still a very good price.) In Porto, we stayed at the Holiday

Inn, one of the better hotels in town, for $60 a night for a double room

with American-style buffet breakfast included in the price. A dinner

in the hotel restaurant with appetizer, salad, main course, desert,

coffee and a bottle of good Portuguese wine was $40 including tax and tip.

At these prices, World Rally spectating in Portugal is quite affordable,

particularly if you fly from the East Coast.

        We rented a mid-size car from Avis with unlimited mileage, which came

to $222 for the week including taxes. Gas, of course, was $3.20 a gallon but

we were getting 24 MPG. Traffic on expressways was moving at 100 MPH or

more though the speed limit was 80 MPH. The only two hazards seemed to

be the tailgating before passing and slow trucks, some of them limited to

the maximum speed of 45 MPH. Otherwise, Portuguese drivers drove quite

carefully, with the exception of taxi drivers in Lisbon. Lisbon taxi

drivers appeared to be constantly practising for rally, jumps and all.

Most cars on the road were compacts and subcompacts.

        After the rally, we spent two days sightseeing in Lisbon. Lisbon was

about twice as expensive as Porto. This was our first visit to Portugal

and we came back enchanted. Portuguese people are very nice and friendly,

the country is beautiful and the weather was very pleasant the whole week.

We are planning on going again next year.

 

 

 

To exit this report, please click on your browser return button