Ford Escort RS2000
Alfred VAHSEN / Werner STAAB (B/D)

Category	SLOWLY
Year	1978
Group	4

 

 

Yesterday : Pentti AIRIKKALA / Mike GREASLEY - RAC Rally 1976

At the end of the first stage of the RAC Rally 1976, Pentti AIRIKKALA is in the lead with more than 2 minutes ahead of his pursuer, Roger CLARK.

Despite the engine having lost some power, he manages his lead over Clark and seems to be heading for victory when a failure of the braking system forces him into a long stop at his assistance. Its mechanics manage to repair, but the crew arrives late at the Weston-super-Mare time control; he is immediately declared out of the race! AIRIKKALA nevertheless continues on its way, in the hope that the appeal filed by Ford will be accepted. Four stages from the finish, a broken clutch which definitively forced AIRIKKALA to retire removed all uncertainty about the outcome of the race, won by CLARK with a lead of more than four minutes over BLOMQVIST.

Alfred VAHSEN wanted to pay tribute to this slice of rally history and will be at the start of the Vosges Rallye Festival for the third time at the wheel of an evocation of Pentti AIRIKKALA's car at RAC 1976.

Alfred has been racing for more than 40 years on various Ford Group cars, the last years mainly in historic events. He acquired this Escort 2017 from Viking Motorsport, the company of Phil Mills, Petter Solberg’s co-driver for many years. The Ford is the first car built by Viking Motorsport according to FIA regulations (original registration GWF790V). Gwyndaf Evans rallied it in several historic events in the UK in 2009 before it was overhauled by Viking in 2010. After a short interlude with a buyer from Austria, who never used it, the car was with Viking until the end of 2016 before Alfred bought it and used it in various historic events