Modena Cento Ore
Mauro Bompani planned the eighth edition of his rally to run a few weeks later than usual in order to ensure good weather for the competition. However, the southern European climate was at its most capricious this year and did not indulge him, as heavy showers bombarded northern Italy and with it the Cento Ore rally route.
There was a strong field this year. Previous event winners and multiple British hill climb champion David Franklin with wife Debbie were in their usual Ford Mustang. Paul Grist and Italian based son Matt brought the exceptionally pretty Alfa Romeo TZ2, which they rescued from the Rosso Bianco collection. Big-engined Cobras are now the weapon of choice in these events, which take their overall winner from the pre-1966 classes. Favourite was Chris Chiles, the retired software emperor who now spends his time between Europe and New Zealand, returning to his previously successful hunting grounds with Dave Mountford to call the notes. Mark Freeman hoped to follow his debut front running pace on Tour Auto a couple of weeks previously. He shared with Bobby Bell whose experience in these big-engined machines reaches back to their contemporary era. The other favourite marque for the serious competitor is the Jaguar E-type. Gary Pearson, arguably the UK's top Jaguar specialist and very talented driver, was once again in Carlos Monteverde's lightweight version. At the other end of the cc scale Portuguese residents John Sheldon and Lesley Stevens entered their Lotus Elan.
When he won his own event last year, Mauro Bompani declared that he would not indulge again. Popular opinion urged him to come back. Very sportingly, he entered an early Porsche 911, which was clearly less competitive than his E-type. Event and Valentino Rossi sponsor, Modena man, Pier Angelo Masselli entered the youngest car, a raucous 308 Ferrari. Another local team from nearby Florence was Rino Righi and Mauro Jacolutti in a BDG engined Escort. They would put their intimate knowledge of the stages to good use throughout the event. The very affable Michael Eschmann shared his highly prepared Porsche 911 RS with the ever-smiling Wolfgang Witt. The other superstrong German entry in the post-1965 group was the Brose Motorsport sponsored Porsche 911 Carrera of former European Historic Rally Champion Michael Stoschek, with his regular, and very effective co-driver Dieter Hawkrange. Retired Swiss banker George Huber took just over a year to realise that life on a Greek Island was no substitute for the world of classic motorsport. He returned to share his Jaguar with another professional co-driver, Uwe Kunze. Mention should also be made of the oldest car in the competition category, the perfect 1938 BMW Roadster of the always humorous Albert Otten and Kai Billesfield.
In the regularity category regular class winners Bob and Ann Linwood came from their Provence home to take part in a Porsche 911 Carrera. Sally and Dudley Mason Styrron forsook their normal competition category for an exposed run in the beautiful Ferrari Barchetta. Oldest car in the rally was the handsome Bentley of Peter Flood and John Day. The open car with pre-war Le Mans and Brooklands history was driven from the UK and would attract constant attention throughout the event.
Although the rally had 13 special stages, it was the race at Mugello that was considered to be the key to winning the event. A good performance on the nine laps of the long super fast circuit would create a cushion.
Shortly after the field arrived at the circuit there was a torrential downpour. It was this change of weather that set the scene for a shameful drama later in the event. The leading post-1965 cars had all fitted new slick tyres for the race when the rain started. At the drivers briefing, clear instructions were given that tyres must only be changed in the holding area and not in the pit lane, and a few minutes were allocated for that purpose. The well-equipped team of Stoschek and Hawkrange chose a super soft compound wet tyre from the large selection they carried. As the ten-minute acclimatisation period took place, the German rally champion quickly established that these tyres were not suitable for the abrasive surface of the track, which, in any case was rapidly drying. He tried to change to another set in the pit lane and was prevented from doing so by the officials. During the ensuing argument, the pit lane closed and he was forced to start from the back of the grid.
The weather cleared for the final day and blue skies showed Italy in its best light. The second stage of the day was a narrow fast road through villages interspersed with jumps and hairpins. Sadly one of these caught out Mark Freeman and Bobby Bell who were looking good for a top five finish. They left the road and the car was too badly damaged to continue. Tim and Daniel Lewis were inveigled into the same error, and in their ensuing accident nearly landed on top of the stricken Cobra. Although the beautiful Lusso bodied Ferrari ended up on its side in a rock strewn ditch, it got away with just some panel damage and was able to make it to the finish.
The Masselli/Barban Ferrari failed on the penultimate liaison section in spite of having an overnight gearbox change.
Although the battle for the lead going into the final stage of the event was looking clear cut, the fight for the next placings was anything but. The three E-types of Rossi di Montelera with Maria Christina Di Bona, Dr Alexander Bernstein with Astrid Zinkner and George Huber with Uwe Kunze were covered by just a scant three seconds after four days of hard rallying. Very unusually for the Modena Cento Ore, which has always had such a relaxed atmosphere, the FIA demanded inspection of the winning cars much to Mauro Bompani's disapproval.
The final results saw Albert Otten and Kai Billesfield winning the Index of performance in the BMW, with Eschmann and Witt once again dominating the post-1965 group. John Sheldon and Lesley Stevens were delighted with their pre-’66, and therefore, overall win. It was their fourth attempt. Gary Pearson and Carlos Monteverdi were second in their E-type. David and Debbie Franklin were third after a perfect run in the Mustang. Despite their reputation of being fuddy duddies in blazers it was three British Racing Drivers Club members taking the top three places in this tough event. Regularity was won by Marani and Panari, with the Ferrari 275 GTB of Carlo Incerti and Paolo Schianchi second, while Bob and Ann Linwood put British presence on the podium with third place.
For a full report, see our July issue
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