From 25 to 28 November, the area around Sainte Maxime along the French Riviera, was the location for the 26th edition of the Rallye Historique du Var.
A total of 45 rally cars entered this event, which also counts towards the FIA European Historic Rally Championship. The event’s total distance was 583km over nine special stages of 188 competitive kilometres.
Porsche was the most well represented marque with 15 cars in attendance. Nine Renault Alpine’s were also proudly piloted.
Silver Arrows Racing’s flag was flown by Bart Vanhaverbeke with co-driver Filip Lecomte in their black Mercedes 500 SLC. The only other Belgian crew was Kurt Vanderspinnen with Raud Stroper who battled for first place in the European Rally Championship with their Ford Lotus Cortina.
While the Silver Arrows service team pitched its tent in the parking lot of the amusement park in Port Grimaud, the recce was carried out under a radiant sun accompanied by a hard and cold Mistral wind from the northwest. From the beginning it was clear that narrow and winding trails in the hills would not only be very technical, but would also punish any mistake with a drop down into a ravine or into a mountainside or tree.
On the eve of the rally it started raining heavily, making the team fear for the worst. Fortunately, during the night the strong Mistral wind had blown everything dry again, and after noon that following the rally began in warm and sunny weather.
Vanhaverbeke/Lecomte started 32nd in the first 16.5km-long special stage of Pignans. Despite a rather nervous start, the team found its rhythm quite fast but was held up halfway by a slower competitor who wouldn’t allow them to overtake. Nevertheless, they posted the 16th best time and were only 01min 04sec behind stage winners and favorite for overall victory Jean Charles Redele/Laurent Cordonnier (Renault Alpine A110). Mechanical problems forced Vanderspinnen/Stroper into retirement after SS1 and thereby lost all chances of Class victory in the European Championship.
SS2 (the 33.15km-long Collobrieres stage) was tackled cautiously by th Silver Arrows Racing team as the route was treacherous. They managed to set the 20th fastest stage time, 02min 26sec behind stage winners Redele/Cordonnier.
After a short service of 15min, the rally continued along the French Riviera coast to Canadel for SS3. This the last stage of the day was delayed due to a spectator needing to be hospitalised after falling out of a tree.
Meanwhile it had become dark in the mountains and the stage had to be raced with a cold engine, cold brakes and cold tyres. Ambient temperature had droppd to just above freezing. Knowing the rally would not be won or lost in this stage, the team decided to drive carefully and finished in 30th place over 01 minute 16sec behind stage winners Frédéric Raynal/Jérome Louveirol (Ford Escort RS).
The Silver Arrows Racing team ended Day One in 19th place overall, with Redele/Cordonnier (Renault Alpine A110) in the lead followed by Gérard Morière/Odette Gabelle (Porsche 911 SC).
Day Two started early and the freezing cold did no good to the battery of the Mercedes, taking 7min to get the car going. However, the resulting 70sec penalty motivated the team push hard on the remaining stages, starting with the 14.2km-long Gonfaron stage (SS4). The team managed to clock the 10th fastest time, only 47sec behind stage winners Miroslav Janota/Pavel Dresler (Opel Kadett GTE).
SS5 (10.6km-long Bormes les Mimosas test) saw the team place 15th fastest. Also, for the last morning stage, a rerun of the Canadel stage, SS6, they ended 17th, some 34sec behind rally leaders Redele/Cordonnier who were 25sec ahead of Morière/Gabelle.
Upon returning to service, clouds appeared and snowflakes began to fall. Since SS7 (32.2km-long Vidauban test) would be run in the mountains and would take over an hour to rech the startline, Vanhaverbeke decided to run the stage on intermediate tyres. This proved a bad decision as the start of the stage sufficiently dry in spite of some light snow. Despite the lack of grip, the stage started well for the powerful Mercedes and the rhythm was quickly found. However, halfway up the Col de Gratteloup driver Bart Vanhaverbeke exited a left turn followed by a treacherous right too fast and lost control of the car, and slid into a ditch against the mountainside. The team immediately realized that their rally was over. The numerous spectators pushed the car back onto the road, but the hard impact had torn off the left front wheel to make further continuation impossible.
After being towed back to the service park, the damage could be better analyzed and did not seem so bad after all. With a new bumper, front wing, left triangle and revised damper, the car would be ready again for its next event.
Vanhaverbeke, despite the retirement, was still very happy about his performance: “It’s a pitty we had to retire as a result of a wrong tyre choice. This event also proved how important it is to be familiar with the stages. I am nevertheless very satisfied with the progress we have made since the Ypres Rally and the Tour of Flanders Rally. Besides the increased reliability, we have made immense progress with the road handling and the gearbox of the car.
“Due to my limited experience with the stage I only used 70% of the potential of this car,” continues Vanhaverbeke. “While on the first day I was lagging between 01 and 02min behind the leaders, I already managed to reduce the gap to around 30sec on Day Two. With the Silver Arrows Mercedes, an experienced driver could battle for a place in the top 5 without any problems and could even win.”
Overall victory in the rally went as expected to Redele/Cordonnier in a Renault Alpine A110, followed at 01min 12sec by Morière/Gabelle (Porsche 911 SC). Third place was taken by Myrsell/Esko (Porsche 911 RS) at 02min 34sec behind the leaders.
– Credit: Silver Arrows Racing.