RTG Carrera Italia Daily Dispatch - All days - low res - Flipbook - Page 10
2 to 12 October 2021
Day 4
Bolzano to Cortina d’Ampezzo (212 km)
6 October 2021
We woke to heavy rain again this morning, but there were a couple of bright spots in the low cloud
gloom. Firstly the breakfast was excellent and secondly, two crews who were determined to make it
back to the rally joined us again.
windscreen wipers at max power, the cars quickly shot up
to 1100m and onto the first Passage Control in Collalbo.
It was by now a chilly 7°C with sleety rain developing as
we climbed higher.
It was tough going for some of the vintage crews but,
if the intrepid Keith and Norah Ashworth and Hugh and
Lesley Apthorp regretted going topless through the Tyrol,
they certainly didn’t show it. We saw them hunkered
down behind their windscreens, well rugged up against
the elements and with grins fixed - or frozen - to their
faces. Ingrid Woodhouse was also grinning in the teeth of
this blizzard, but for a different reason. Cocooned in the
warmth of her E Type, she was barefoot, save for a pair of
shimmering flip-flops.
As well as the weather, there was some competition to
contend with and the day’s first Regularity was centred
around the village of Freins. It featured the usual mix of
woodland, gradients and tricky corners, tackled against a
strict framework of speed over distance.
Roof up, wipers on, for the 1925 Bentley 3/4½ of Clint and Dawn Smith
Andrew and Gina Long’s 1972 Datsun 240Z
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
John Fraser and Peter Jenkins had sourced both parts and
a mechanic in the UK and flew them out to Sanremo to
complete their very own Italian Job. With the right parts and
the right people, fixing the broken oil filter proved to be a
fairly easy task and the throaty Porsche RSR roared once
again. And, after a little mechanical difficulty yesterday,
Enrico Paggi and Federica Mascetti have transformed their
Alfa Romeo into a Mercedes-Benz for the remainder of the
rally.
Andy Inskip was in charge of the Main Time Control
(MTC) this morning and, with the drivers outside getting
some ‘heat into the blocks’, the navigators hung around in
the lobby waiting for their appointed time and nervously
checking the weather app’s on their phones. Once the
right minute ticked over and the cars pulled out of the car
park though, there was no time to enjoy the Bolzano rush
hour. The route took the rally straight into the hills, up
and up through kilometres of neatly manicured vineyards
and well kept orchards. With engines revving hard and
www.rallytheglobe.com