Goodwood's 'BIRTH OF STAGE RALLYING' line up
Goodwood Festival of Speed organisers have assembled a stellar line-up of rally icons to drive the popular Skoda Forest Rally Stage at the annual event, June 26-29, as the early days of stage rallying are celebrated. Leading the past legends is Rauno Aaltonen driving a Mini Cooper S.
The flying Finn, who famously won the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally in a Mini, will get behind the wheel of the ex-works car in which he finished seventh on the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally. The versatile Aaltonen won the 1965 European Rally Championship to follow-up a pair of domestic titles, and was also a winner in circuit racing, taking victory at the 1966 Bathurst 500 in another Mini and he remains the only Finn to have won the grueling Australian saloon car race.
Aaltonen's Cooper S will be joined on the gravel rally stage by another famous Cooper - EMO 8, owned by celebrity chef James Martin, a car formerly campaigned successfully by Paddy Hopkirk.
Joining the Minis in the 'Birth of Stage Rallying' celebration will be a selection of iconic Fords with illustrious pasts. Not only will the very first Mk1 Escort RS1600 feature, but it will be joined by the car in which Roger Clark won the 1972 RAC Rally. A pair of Mk2 RS1800s, campaigned by Ari Vatanen in period, will also join the fray. The car in which he captured the 1981 World Rally Championship will be joined by an earlier machine, taken to victory in the 1975 RAC Rally by Timo Makinen.
Fiat will be represented by examples of the two cars that achieved its 21 WRC wins, the 124 Abarth and 131 Abarth, while an ex-works Datsun 240Z and Opel Kadette GT/E will add more international variety to the entry list. Cars campaigned by two British heroes of the era, Russell Brookes and Tony Pond, will also be present; a Sunbeam Lotus campaigned by two-time British Rally champion Brookes, and an ex-Pond Vauxhall Chevette completing the line-up.
The Richard Burns Foundation is the Festival of Speed?s official charity partner and the Festival of Speed beneficiary for 2014 is the Chestnut Tree House.
For more information on the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed please go to:- www.goodwood.co.uk
22nd May, 2014