History

Rallye des Alpes
Rallye des Alpes

Iron-bummed Brit Andy Christodole writes and shoots on one of Eurpoe's most challenging vintage trials.

The Alps , so famous for their winter scenery, are magnificent in summer, too. Snowy peaks rise majestically from the verdant flower-covered valleys and primeval forests, creating a dramatic and uplifting skyline that lifts the spirits and stirs the hardest of hearts.
If, that is, you can see them through the thickest, wettest clouds in Europe.
A week of freak weather preceded this year's Rallye des Alpes, but still the competitors came. A total of 73 cars answered the challenge of Roland Gassman, organizer of this fantastic test through the Swiss, French, and Italian Alps.
Starting in Geneva on Friday evening, the competitors braved some of the worst midsummer weather in decades as the rain poured from a sky blackened with clouds that flashed with lightning and crackled with thunder. Stunned, the drivers stood around in damp huddles waiting for the start, unable to do the usual pre-drive fettling for fear of drowning their machines. The navigators simply fretted as usual, waiting for route instructions to be dumped in their laps at the starting line.
Rallye des Alpes After the briefing and a welcome at the Palais Eynard in Parc des Bastions, the rallyists were to set off for a challenging night section in the French Jura mountains north of the city. The route books for this even contained a minimum of information, forcing navigators to plan their movements just as the car drove away from the start. Of course, doing math in a small car on a mountain road in the dark is no Sunday picnic, and the fact that it was all against the clock created a certain tension as well.
Some of the newer crews found it all too much and broke the first rule of rally navigation: Never Follow Anybody. That resulted in packs of cars getting lost together and trying to turn around on roads no wider than the cars were long. Most teams took major penalty points on this stage-even the best hand, Lacomblez in an DKW/Auto-Union, got 684, and half the entrants took the maximum! All were glad to see the finish in the wee hours.
The weather was no better the next morning as the rally headed out of the city along the shores of Lake Geneva before entering France and climbing into the lushly forested mountains of Haute Savoie. The route dipped and dived through the trees, climbing up through thick clouds to break into intense sunlight on the tops of the passes before descending back through the murk of the valley floors. Maps were useless on this section; the crews had only very basic Tulip diagrams to guide them, making total concentration as essential as a really good Halda. Inattentive crews wound up taking the extra-long scenic route, and by lunchtime many were passing through the ski resorts of the Portes du Soleil as the rally headed back towards Switzerland. Other teams took this opportunity to sample some of the mountain restaurants along the route and ponder where they'd gone wrong.

Next came the long trek across the southern part of Switzerland following the Rhone Valley up to Ulrichen before turning east and inching toward Nufenen Pass. Here the weather cleared just long enough to treat the crews to some stunning views before closing in again at the top. Even those without mechanical problems-and the teams suffering them were numerous-found big gaps in their gear ratios as they tackled the steep, repetitive hairpins. This resulted in desperate snatching of a higher gear or a slow howl up the mountain in second. They finally crept over the top wreathed in thick, cold clouds, the 7550-foot pass sheltering drifts of wintry snow despite summer's arrival in the valley.

Dropping down the other side the route followed the course of the river Ticino into the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and finally managed to outrun the weather. At last the sun burst through and illuminated beautiful mountain villages, one of which had an original cobbled street that caused the lower-slung cars to bump and grind past the flower-covered chalets. The bemused locals turned out in force to watch the free show: When the Hofer/Pouponnot Aston Martin pulled over, cakes and drinks appeared, an impromptu party began, and the locals were invited to try the car for size.
From Locarno the route followed a precarious mountain single-track into Domodossala in Italy, leading to lots of folding and re-folding of Michelin maps inside cars-an interesting exercise that inevitably blinds the driver just when he can least afford the sacrifice. No one plunged into the valley below, however, and the competitors continued snaking around the hills behind Lake Maggiore until cutting over to the placid water and tramping across thickly wooded country to the Aosta Valley and the long climb heading for the Grand St. Bernard Pass. Finally it was back into Switzerland, a quick race downhill in the storm runoff, and an exhausted turn into the famous ski resort of Verbier for the night. Relaxation at last!

Rallye des Alpes Or was it? The next morning another unseasonal blizzard moved in, meaning the early run up Grand St. Bernard consisted of slipping and sliding to the top and screwing up one's courage for the even more dangerous descent. The driving snow might have slowed them down, but rallies don't stop for a bit of bad weather and everyone pressed on back into Italy again. Like a rollercoaster the cars rushed down the ominously named Mont Mort, rattled along the Aosta again, and ascended one more time towards Lancebranlette and Petit St. Bernard Pass on the other side. This ice-covered clearing was capped by a statue commemorating Saint Bernard, though the monastery was obscured by driving snow. (No dogs or drinks visible either, alas.) These were the same mountains that hosted the 1990 Winter Olympics, but the weather was nastier now in summer than it had been for the skiers in their season.

Heading over the Cormet de Roseland the cars passed a curious sight: writing spray-painted all across the roadway. The work of Alpine graffiti artists? Disaffected youth in lederhosen toting outsized accordions, bottles of Krylon, and snarling-bad attitudes? Not quite-the Tour de France bicycle race had passed this way just a few days earlier, and this is the traditional way for fans to encourage their favorite riders.
As our rally approached the beautiful spa town of Aix les Bains over the Bauges mountains, the weather cleared again to reveal Alpine scenery at its finest. Even so, crews hoping for a respite were in for a shock as the rally kept up both its pace and its challenges all the way to the end.

And speaking of the end, how did it all turn out? The Porsche 911s of van Soom and Glaas tried hard but they couldn't match the consistency of Lacomblez' Auto-Union. With the weather no longer a significant factor, the top teams just had to keep their heads and not get lost to receive their reward at the finish in Marseilles.

Which, of course, makes it sound too easy. In all, the Rallye demanded more than 1900 hard-driven miles through the most demanding, foul weather imaginable over treacherous mountains that could only be tamed with hard applications of brake and throttle. The continuous cornering and elevation changes could have broken the best of cars and dispirited the strongest of crews, but in fact they did neither. Instead, the difficulties of the Alps uplifted them all; the going got tough this year, and this year the tough really got going! No wonder that the Rallye des Alpes is considered the height of historic challenges.

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