CARRERA BAVARIA

Excellent E-type

The fifth in Rally the Globe’s Carrera series produced both familiar and first time winners. Simon and Juanita Brien took top honours in a fiercely contested Classic category in their lovely 1963 Jaguar E-type, while the Pre-War category was dominated by Martin and Olivia Hunt in their 1937 Frazer Nash-BMW 328.

For Simon Brien it was back-to-back Carrera victories after he won last year’s Carrera Riveria but it was the first with wife Juanita on the maps. For the all-conquering Hunts it was an even more impressive hat-trick of Carrera category wins.\

After successes on the Iberian Peninsula and through the wonderful landscapes of both France and Italy, this time the Carrera Bavaria took participants – all driving pre-1977 cars – to ten days along the smooth asphalt roads and National Parks of southern Germany. The 2,170km route wound through the lakes and valleys of the Black Forest to the shores of Lake Constance and the dramatic mountains spanning the Austrian border.

As a convivial ‘Carrera’ category rally, the entire event was set on Tarmac surfaces with the emphasis also on fine dining and great camaraderie as well as entertaining excursions to wineries, motor museums and other places of outstanding interest along the way.

Spicing up the journey, nine Speed Tests at private venues such as the Porsche Experience Facility at the old Hockenheim Grand Prix circuit and 25 road-based Regularities added the competitive excitement, together with numerous Time Controls to keep the convoy in order.

Right from the outset, the competition in the Classic category was intense with just eight seconds of time penalties separating the first four at the front for the final day’s quartet of crucial Speed Tests staged high up in the Alps. Clint and Dawn Smith had set the early pace in their Jaguar XK150 but, by the end of day three, the Brien’s black E-type led by the slenderest of margins with the white 1965 Porsche 911 of Steve and Jenny Verrall hot on the heels of the leaders. On the final day, pushing a little too hard, the Porsche spun across a stop line costing the Verralls vital seconds and ensuring victory for the E-type crew.