The 2016 took place in fantastic weather on the 29th October over 10 closed road special stages with over 60 cars taking part in the Regularity, Open and Parade classes – with its main Parc Ferme situated directly in front of Palma Cathedral and therefore being the first rally of its kind to be based in Palma itself.
Being part of the Balearic Rally Championship ensured a sizeable entry of competition and open-class cars, with an additional Parade Class created so that those with classic and performance cars on the island could also enjoy being part of this great event, and get a taste of driving some of Mallorca’s classic routes on closed roads. I was lucky enough to be invited to co-drive for Gordon Cox, Captain of SY Cyrano, in his (recently repaired…) laser-blue supercharged Lotus Elise – and whilst the driving itself is demanding and difficult, I discovered that reading pace notes whilst being a passenger in a car driven on the limit over these particular roads is certainly not for the faint hearted either…
The first stage took place from the Genova Military base, over the extremely twisty but newly resurfaced Col de sa Creu to Calvia, with the second stage from Es Capdella to Andratx – narrow and bumpy – before looping back to Parc Ferme in Palma and repeating this circuit three times. The second of these loops was early enough to having me reaching for the ‘sick bag’ in the form of a Princess Motor Yachts baseball cap, kindly provided along with many other goodies to each and every participant through the inaugural and brilliant sponsorship of the event by Princess Motor Yacht Sales and Chris Craft Balearics.. Being in an open-topped Lotus without the necessary Nomex attire and roll cages gave me renewed respect for those that climbed fully kitted out into their hot and claustrophobic fully spec’d and roll-caged rally cars – and went somewhat faster than we did…
Organised through the FA-IB by Jaime Carbonell and Paul Madden of Driving Mallorca in memory of their friend and Driving Mallorca’s late manager Russell Stevens, this was the first time that the event had been fully supported by a title sponsor in the form of Princess Motor Yacht Sales and Chris Craft Balearics, increasing Princess’s motorsport activities after the recent announcement of their ongoing sponsorship of Motor Sport Magazine’s Hall of Fame.
With a one-minute interval between the 60+ cars taking part, the event ran extremely smoothly to the lunch stop at Lloseta, the town fully supporting the event through the Ajuntament de Lloseta, closing off a large section of the main road for a much needed break and servicing of vehicles.
The afternoon stages were from Lloseta to Alaro past Castell San Miguel– again bumpy and narrow – and then a new ultra-fast stage that had never been run before from Sencelles to Algaida. As the Parade Class were the first to go, two loops of these stages meant that the final run from Sencelles to Algaida was run in near darkness for us – and complete darkness for everyone else.
Prize giving took place in front of Palma Cathedral with the overall win going to Alberto Segui and Tony Reynes in their energetically-pedalled Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, with the Regularity Class won by Driving Mallorca’s Jaime and Enrique Carbonell, winners of the ORIS Rally in March.
The Russell Stevens Trophy for the ‘Spirit of Competition’ was awarded to Gordon Cox and my good self. I suspect that this was through Gordon’s excellent approach to the whole thing – organised, fast and safe – and his commitment to the sport as he begins to build a fully rally spec Lotus Elan S2 in the garage over the winter. I guess that my contribution was that I managed to keep grinning like a deceased Elvis throughout, without actually throwing up until we had passed the chequered flag..
All in all a fantastic event – brilliantly organised and well attended with superb support from an energetic title sponsor in Princess Yachts, ensuring that the event remains on the calendar for its next instalment in October 2017. Being part of the Balearic Rally Championship meant that there is a ceiling on entry fees, keeping the event at a very affordable level for those with classic and performance cars on the island who may wish to also join in the fun next year.
For further information on the island based performance and classic car club Driving Mallorca – and next year’s instalment of the Driving Mallorca Rally, please contact:
Hamish Goddard
Club Manager – Driving Mallorca
+34 626 107 775
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