We're not certain how many teams participated this year, but the parking area was filled to the brim, as usual. The weather in France had been just great for the entire winter...until the week of the rally. Cold temperatures, rain, and snow hit the entire area, and the rally teams had a lot of trouble with the "neige" and the "glace" (snow and ice). Studded tires and front-wheel drive were their only weapons, and for most, damage was unavoidable.
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| Uh, Oops... |
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| Oh, Sh........... |
And yet another tribute to the unending utility of duct tape:
For the 100th, the Principality was obvously planning extra press coverage, and they had their on-the-spot reporters out to interview the winners. We joined the media scrum as they converged on a top finisher...
Poland was surprisingly well represented this year. With six Fiats entered, they must be pretty good drivers, because they all finished with no damage.
Odd, they all looked pretty clean, too...
Gordon is the first one to admit that he wastes an enormous amount of brain power on knowing lots of worthless information about cars. The rally field was filled with the usual suspects: Renault Alpines, various Fiats, lots of Citroens, and even a Toyota or two. Gordon's immense knowledge base summoned up identification of one mystery car, a Wolseley. But the Wartburg got by him. Sadly for the Big Brain, he actually had to look it up. You can too, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg_(car)
Rally Wolseley. It's in a class all its own. Literally.
So much for automobile things for a while. The City of Nice is gearing up for Carnival. This year's theme is King of Sport, and the fun starts in 10 days. We're headed for the store for supplies of armament, cans of silly string.
