News from France

[Porschinelle]

From the 150 cars imported in Europe in 1973 it is thought that not more than 30 cars are still on the road
Of course most of these cars are in Switzerland and in Germany as the one seen here at the 2015 Chateau d'Oex meeting

or at this meeting in Germany in 2014

[Porschinelle]

For Neil

You are partially right
To design the Puma GTE Gennaro Mazzoni (who was Italian) took inspiration not on the 250GTO but from the 275 GTB (hence the louvers)

In France about 5 to 6 cars exists of course mine is the best
Indeed if it is very easy to find a lot of wrecked Pumas in Brazil the importation to Europe is nearly impossible (transport cost, duties and Brasilian laws)
Furthermore a restauration is veryn difficult as the Puma include many specifical parts as seen thereafter

[JTR70]

Thanks for another great Bio Gerard! I think your car and the yellow one Neil mentioned were by far and away this company's prettiest and best effort. Like the heavy grained dash in your car BTW. Thanks again! Justin

[Impi]

http://s703.photobucket.com/user/Impi_2009/media/_DSC0927_zpsc05d7092.jpg.html

[JTR70]

No problem, All set Armand. Interesting story and another very nice Puma. That's the downfall of fiberglass, it never stops curing and is always in process of becoming more brittle as the time passes. I can see that you spent a great deal of effort filling and blocking as the side reflection looks very consistent. I like the color too! It looks like Porsche Conda green.
Justin

[Porschinelle]

The 19th edition of the Historical version of the Monte Carlo rallye is being raced

[Porschinelle]

This year the 314 registred cars have left from 5 European cities to joint Monaco
The longest route is the one starting from Oslo (2123 km) followed by Glasgow (2043 km) Bad Homburg (Germany 1250 km) Barcelona (Spain 1138 km) and to finish Reims (France the shortest with 1002 km)
As you may easily imagine a large share of the competitors have choosen to start from Reims
F

[Porschinelle]

Eligible cars for are all cars built before 1980 who have actually raced this rallye before 1980

[Porschinelle]

[Porschinelle]

The Monte Carlo historique rallye is not based on speed but on regularity
Before to start competitors have to choose between 3 different average speed to be kept as close as possible on 14 stages
To day Sunday January 31st after that 5 stages have been completed 2 Porsches occupy the 2 first places

As for last year the weather conditions are very severe with a lot of snow expected

A last year video just for the pleasure to see cars sliding on heavy snow

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXvPJ_OKIA4

[Don C]

Thanks Porschinelle! Lot of fun watching that. I guess the Mini driver wasn't too concerned with loosing his roof rack and spare tires!

[Porschinelle]

Hi Don happy nto read you have enjoyed the video
I had the same thought than you when I saw the mini drivers not dearing to stop after having drop their luggage rack + spare tyres
Happily they were many spectators at that place and I imagine they took the rack off the road to avaid the next car coming hitting it
I was also been surprise looking at this video to see that mini's were not so performing well on iced and snowy road remembering that minis won the Monte Carlo rallye in 1964 (Paddy Hopkirk) 1965 (Timo Makinen) and 1967 (Rauno Aaltonen)
Minis even made 1-2-3 and 4 in the Monte Carlo rallye 1966 but were disqualyfied for non origin beams (they had one filament halogen beams instead of the homologated 2 filaments beams
The official winner that year was Pauli Toivonen on a French Citroen DS 19
You may easily imagine how hungry was the British press against the French
More fantastic BMC (British Motor Corporation) the minis constructor came back in 1967 and won again
Paddy Hopkirk in 1964

Since these glorious years minis are still very popular in historical rallye with not less than 16 cars racing this year
Another thing who surprised me is that nearly half of the competitors missed the right turnn although they had a very detailed road book

[Porschinelle]

In 1965 the year where Pauli Toivonen won the second car to finish was a 904 GTS
(906-006) driven by Eugen Bohringer/Rolf Wutherich (the former James Dean mecanic)
In 1965 racing cars were still joining the starting line by the road
On the below pic taken in the Porsche plant Bohringer/Wutherich 904 is seen alongside the 911 S of Herbert Linge/Peter Falk before the start of the race

In 1965 only 35 off the 300 + cars havins start the rallye did finish
The 2 official Porsches finish 2nd and 5th

[Porschinelle]

As far as the 2016 rallye is concern unfortunately the 2 Porsches who were ahaead yesterday have gone down a bit the ladder
To day after the stage 9 (out of 14) Porsches classification is
5th (911 2.2S)
6th (924 turbo)
10th (911 2.7) and 11th (911 SC)
14th (911 2.4 T) and 15th (

914/6)
6 off Porsches out of the 15 first classified competitors still not too bad

[Porschinelle]

and to finish this day the second part of the yesterday video dedicated to the 2015 edition

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha_0MbEHFQI