Rally de Portugal Historico 2008

David Dias sent through his write-up on the above rally that took place in the second week of October 2008, that he entered in his 1969 1500 Beetle.

Once again, the rally took place in the old, original roads of the Rally de Portugal (Vinho do Porto/TAP), and had car circuits (Autódromo do Estoril), kart circuits (Poiares and Fátima), open roads, closed roads and a few dirty "off" roads. As ever, the rally finished on the difficult but very interesting roads of the "Serra de Sintra", during the night - 23.00pm / 1.30am.

All cars had very controlled assistance, maximum 1 hour in two days, for a total of four days race. And they need it, due to road conditions and a lot of (good) competition between teams; During the day, we almost don't have any time for fuel filling...

This year I had a problem on the last day with the gear box, and went home in a towed car for the first time in 12 years of rallying. Didn't finish, but had a lot of fun with the improved engine, as you can see from this year's and last year's pictures....

The car is awesome, and runs very well. It also received some interior equipment improvements; including a new vw steering wheel...!!!

Among with a lot of Portuguese race driver's, this year we also had the presence of Jean Pierre Nicolas, with his Renault Alpine. But didn't finished the rally either, due to mechanical problems.

Another presence was Giovanni Salvi, one of the most famous Portuguese rally drivers. Even though he had driven a lot of Porsche's, Ford Escort's, etc., in the "good old times", nowadays, he drives a very competitive and simple "orange" VW.

2009 we will be back, with some more pictures and new events.

First David Dias page