The German had another unexpected companion in Brazil, Ferrari having resurrected the rear-end of the car it ditched at the end of the ’95 season. After all, he’d been driving one for the past two weeks. In truth, he’d probably had enough of dogs by then. The World Champion merely gave a smile of exasperation when asked about the new addition to the family. Michael Schumacher left South America with a dog, wife Corinna having taken pity on a stray she found in the Interlagos paddock. Mark Skewis saw Damon Hill take home maximum points from South America after two flawless drives
#Art of rally maximum attack tv#
More recently, he has helped hone several Ferrari production cars as a development driver, while also fronting a TV show in his homeland where he pushes vowel-laden exotics to their limits.Sign-up now for access to a limited number of articles. Nevertheless, Alén won at the helm of the Martini-liveried Delta 4WD and Integrale – and more than once, claiming his last WRC victory on the 1988 RAC Rally of Great Britain.Ī partial season in 1989 followed by drives with Subaru and Toyota rounded out his frontline career, although he continued to rock up in everything from the DTM in a semi-works Alfa Romeo 155 to the Andros Trophy ice-racing series, via driving big rigs on the Dakar Rally. In Group A, you had only 300bhp and it was boring,” he adds, mimicking driving with one finger.
Alén isn’t convinced this was the right approach. Group B was abruptly axed at the end of 1986 because of safety concerns, with Group A becoming the top-flight class for ’87. I won the 1976 1000 Lakes and again in Portugal in 1977.” “We also had a lot of help and support from Pirelli. I worked closely with Giorgio Pianta on the car and we did a lot of testing in the run up to each rally. Strong results came in thick and fast, and Alén claimed his maiden WRC win in Portugal in ’75 at the wheel of a Fiat 124 Abarth Rallye.Ī year later he was piloting a 131 Abarth: “That was so much better than the 124, which was a road car altered for rallying. “Of course, it helped that they offered me more money!” “The Escort was a fantastic car, but the works team already had the Finnish mafia and Roger Clark so I decided to go with Fiat.” Pause for dramatic effect. “My deal with Ford was only for a part-season, but Fiat wanted me to do more and more events.
#Art of rally maximum attack driver#
“I think I was the only driver to be with two teams, but ultimately I had to make a choice,” he recalls. The 22-year-old Alén was subsequently inundated with offers of factory drives, and in 1974 he was a works man for Ford and Fiat.
“When I was 18, I won the 1969 Finnish Junior Cup and the following year I was competing on the same events as the stars I looked up to. As soon as I got my driving licence I was out there competing. “I had done some karting, and some things with motorcycles, but this excited me more. I watched these guys and knew then that I wanted to drive rally cars.
When I was 16 years old, I watched the 1000 Lakes as a spectator. “My heroes growing up were Timo Mäkinen, Pauli Toivonen and Hannu Mikkola,” he explains.
Given that his father was a champion ice racer it is not surprising that Alén became a wheelman, but he claims that this didn’t influence his decision to take up motorsport. He also held the record for most stage wins – 801 – until Sébastien Loeb eclipsed it in 2011. Nevertheless, he won 19 rounds of the WRC from 129 starts, and secured the 1978 FIA Cup for Drivers, the precursor to the World Championship. Just as night follows day, he would tender an unblinking death stare before uttering: “Now we go maximum attack!” And he did.Īlén never claimed the World Championship for Drivers, but he held the crown for 11 days in 1986 before it was controversially taken away from him. His personality drove him, inexorably, to take up the fight more fiercely than anyone else.Īt least, that’s how it appeared from the outside.ĭuring broadcasts of the RAC Rally of Great Britain, each time a microphone was shoved in his face at a rest halt, he was invariably asked what his plans were for the next stage. I finished on every step of the podium apart from the one that matters.”Īlén was, for two decades, the most exciting man to watch in the World Rally Championship. There were certain rallies on which I always did well, but also some – such as Monte-Carlo – that, for whatever reason, I didn’t seem able to win. “I did the rally 15 times and only retired once. I always went well in Portugal,” he says. Our hero appears relaxed, if a little tired. Fast-forward a few hours and we’re at a reception in an art museum, and able to finish what we started.
0 kommentar(er)
