Autobianchi A112 Abarth
Alain JEANCOLAS / Guillaume JEANCOLAS (F/F)

Category	SLOWLY
Year	1977
Group	2

 

 

Yesterday : Pierre PAGANI / Xavier CARLOTTI – Tour de Corse 1977

André Chardonnet, the dynamic Autobianchi importer for France, was passionately involved in motor racing in the 1970s. Before the launch of the Autobianchi Cup in 1978, the formidable A112 Abarth group 2 of 90hp were prepared in his workshops in Bobigny. Future well-known pilots (B. Saby, JP. Malcher, M. Mouton, ...) slipped behind the wheel of the little bomb.

In 1977, after an honorable Monte Carlo (3rd, 4th and 5th in class), Chardonnet again entrusted a car to the journalist d'Echappement Pierre Pagani for the Tour de Corse. In the right seat, Xavier Carlotti, future Peugeot Sport team manager.

Run in November, and some 1,350 kilometers long, including 665 kilometers of special stages, this real endurance test will be completed by the Pagani / Carlotti crew with an excellent 15th place in the scratch, 2nd in group 2.

In 2014, Alain Jeancolas seized the opportunity to acquire this A112 Abarth group 2 replica to participate in regularity events. It was built in the early 2000s, as close as possible to the technical specifications of the Chardonnet group 2 of the time (90hp engine, Colotti gearbox, etc.). Then she had remained asleep several years after 3 participations in the Monte Carlo Historique.

At the start of 2016, the prospect of participating at home, and with the family, in the Vosges Rallye Festival will push its owner to restore the aesthetic configuration of the Tour de Corse 1977 ... up to the CB antenna. In particular, finding the correct color reference was no easy task.

The Jeancolas family has been a faithful member of our Festival ever since.