motor

Ford Capri 2.8i · 01-27-2006, 08:09 PM

Which car has been the current Basque champion in hillclimbs among the touring cars?...the BMW 320 Class II FIA Supertouring car?

An accurately modified mitsubishi Evo VIII?

A properly prepared Renault 5 Turbo II with the Tour de Corse engine increased to 1600cc?

A properly modified M3 E-36 grA tuned by the prestigious DELAGE (the car develops about 400bhp)

An inmaculately prepared Ford Sierra cosworth perhaps?

or A Group A 1/2 prepared citroen AX (about 550kg and 150 bhp)

or finally a very accurately prepared renault 5 GT Turbo?

Actually, the championat was won by a 39 year old Renault Alpine A-110

Nonetheless, the Alpine is cared as it was a 2 month old baby (the car has the latest 1800cc engine), and its almost impossible to be driven better (unless we consider Jean Ragnotti or so)

Its true that some of the earlier mentioned cars didnt have the chance to take part in every single hillclimb race due to the failure, the spare parts problem and so on; however, its incredible how a Renault Alpine A-110 has been able to win a hillclimb championship among the other cars, and the alpine has been finishing every race at the top on the list; what do you think of this?...nonetheless, lets have a look at the alpine career during this year

First race: the Arrate hillclimb race, a very twisty race and very proper for the little rallying cars; the Alpine finished the race in the third position; only it was won by the BMW 320 Supertouring car, the Supercup Seat Leon driven by a very fast and local driver, and one of the bests Renault Clio RS ever made and driven by very skilfull rallying driver

http://rapidshare.de/files/11942177/...te_05.pdf.html

Second Race: the Gorla Hillclimb; a hillclimb which requires a bit of power and a bit of good chassis because of the fast bends; only the 320 ST, an ex-Marc Duez (RAS) Max grA Ford Sierra (driven by an Spanish Rallying champion), the Delage M3 grA, and the grF lightweight 205 GTI finished ahead the Alpine

http://rapidshare.de/files/11942378/clas_gorla.pdf.html

Next race: The Reineta Hillclimb; a very technical hillclimb with many bends in it (Ive recently put its scenery alongside the Swiss Alps ones in JW), and naturally the Alpine finished the race in the top

http://rapidshare.de/files/11942678/...ta_05.pdf.html

Next Race: The Muñecas hillclimb; a very twisty road with some fast bends in really sleppery conditions; the Alpine finished in second position, only the 320 Class II FIA finished ahead of him; its even surprising that the Alpine finished quite ahead of the DELAGE M3 (by the way the M3 car is really properly driven), or even the two accurately tunned Ford sierra cosworth and driven very fast

http://rapidshare.de/files/11942812/..._05_2.pdf.html

And finally, the Urraki hillclimb race; it was the Alpine´s worst classification in this year, but we have to consider that the roads are in a very rotten conditions, and he had to compete against some of the best rallying cars from the basque country, and really properly driven; and local drivers three of them; anyway
http://rapidshare.de/files/11943034/...ki_05.pdf.html

An almost ex works Max GrA Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI

As the ex-TTE latest Toyota Celica GT-Four Max GrA

Another Max grA Ford Escort Cosworth from another ex spanish rallying champion

An ex-works Renault Maxi Megane (prepared in France by Jacob)

Or the ex-Alex Bengue 2004 pug 206 WRC

Lets see what you think of my article; its true that if the BMW 320 ST had the chance to take part in every single hillclimb, it would have won; however, IMO its very difficult to believe how the Alpine is capable of finishing every hillclimb race in the top as you can see in the list; and win the touring championship; if the Alpine wasnt driven in an incredible way, it wouldnt have won the championship so far

Ford Capri 2.8i · 01-28-2006, 05:33 PM

BTW, this driver´s story is a bit curious

The thing is that he used to own two relevant General Motors dealerships here; and although its almost compulsory for him to compete in a Opel/Vauxhall in order to get new customers instead of renault, he says that he doesnt find any vauxhall or Opel as exciting as the Alpine, although the Opel Manta grB, the Opel Astra Kit Car, or a group A prepared calibra/Vectra turbo must be great fun, even an Astra with the turbo engine, or a nova with a 2.0 engine which is allowed in hillclimbs;

Furthermore, when running in the alpine, his sponsor used to be the Opel dealership, but his stickers were consisted just plainly on the name, without any Opel icon, symbol, colour or whatever

Ford Capri 2.8i · 01-28-2006, 05:44 PM

By the way, here we go the pics of the inmaculate and flying alpine thoroughout this year

Ford Capri 2.8i · 01-29-2006, 05:39 PM

Yeah, but as you know, the Toyota Celica, the blue and white Mitsubishi Lancer grA, the Maxi Megane, the red Escort, the 206 WRC or the ex-RAS sierra werent regular drivers; however, the rest of the cars (such as the E36 M3, the 320 ST, the lightweight AX, the Renault 5 Turbo, the rest of the sierras and so on were regular drivers, so its still even amazing the Alpine´s career

As I posted before, the Alpine is very very properly hand made, its very fast and reliable; However, there is a better Alpine in the world, the A-110 that uses Jean Ragnotti for the Tour de France..lol

Pehtren · 02-01-2006, 04:48 PM

thanks for the pics

and the report

and the vids, damn rapidshare

btw..this pics is just :shock:

Gilles27 · 02-10-2006, 10:43 AM

Actually you´re doing an excelent follow to the Basque championship thanks for the information and yes Gabilondo and his Alpine are amazing true I watched to him several times also in Cantabria.