RTG Carrera Italia Daily Dispatch - All days - low res - Flipbook - Page 11
Day 4: Bolzano to Cortina d’Ampezzo, 6 October 2021
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Car 42, Otakar Chládek and Hynek Tauscher’s Mercedes-Benz 350 SL
Amazing roads such as this are plentiful in this part of the
world, as are the fine cafés and restaurants which supply the
sustenance required by the skiers, cyclists, hikers and rally
crews who use them. The morning Time Control in Halshütte
was one such establishment and it dished up some superb
strudel and fine coffees to a very grateful rally.
The Passo Erbe Regularity, the second of the day, began
right outside the cafe but by now the snow was falling
heavily and the temperature was a mere 1°C. The rally
inched its way up and over the summit through near
whiteout conditions. Thankfully conditions eased on the
descent and the road to the next Regularity at Valdaora via
the 1789m Furkelpass was markedly better.
It surely had been a morning to remember and the Time
Control and lunch at Villabassa offered a chance for the
crews to both compare notes on an epic drive and to tuck
into a hearty dish of lasagne before they got their teeth into
the afternoon’s session. We were heading for the night halt
in Cortina d’Ampezzo and the final timed section of the day,
the Regularity over the Passo del Zovo. Once this was cleared
we were welcomed into the town by the Mayor, Gianpietro
Ghedina, who did us the honour of waving a chequered
flag as the crews rolled under the arch on their way to the
Il Cristallo Hotel, their base for the next two nights. Our
arrival had been keenly anticipated by the civic authorities
in Cortina and Sig’ Ghedina, something of a vintage car
connoisseur himself, managed to hitch a ride in Graham
Goodwin’s Bentley for a quick lap of his town.
Gerardus Mercator, Dispatch reporter
Cool for cats? The 1961 Jaguar Mk 2 of Phillip and Patricia Monks (top)
and the 1959 Jaguar XK150 of David and Jo Roberts (above)
Welcoming the 1972 Ferrari Daytona of Brian and Catherine Scowcroft
www.rallytheglobe.com