XVITH RALLYE DES ALPES

XVIth RALLYE DES ALPES

F, OR the 16th time the RaIlye des Alpes, organised by the Automobile Club de Marseilles, was held over the mountains of France. Italy and Switzerland. Run on July 10th-16th. it consisted of separate days of motoring of varying conditions and severity and interspersed were eliminating tests, while tight thrte schedules for each day’s journey were calculated to reduce the number of competitors with clean sheets by the time the Rally finished at Cannes.

As usual, a large English entry featured and of these Appleyard figured prominently, having made a speciality of this event for many years. Turning point or the Bally was the winter sports centre of Cortina D’Ampezzo and on the way there, front Marseilles. emupetitors visited the Monza track and were timed over a standing kilometre. Bere Apple yard was well on form with his Jaguar and recorded CIA, while Flower tied for f.t.d. in the 1,000 c.c. to 1,300-ce. class. From Monza to Cortina D’Ampezzo the route ran over mountain passes and, apart from being twisty and narrow, there were numerous coaehloads of holidaymakers to be overtaken, so that keeping to schedule was no easy task. A timed climb of the 47.7-kilometre Col de Pordoi started the next day’s journey and in this the Continental drivers won every class, the fastest being Hoerning, (Jaguar), though Polensky (Porsche) was only a few seconds behind him. Front the top of the Col competitors Started a circuit of the Dolomite mountain passes, 303 kilometres in all, which had to he covered at scheduled speeds for the various classes. This called for a high degree of driving-skill, apart from stamina of the car, and resulted in numerous minor accidents, competitors urriving at the finish with wings and bodies dented and scratched. The third stage ran over 724 kilometres front Cortina IPAmpezzo to Saint Moritz, covering many more mountain passes and including a tinted climb of the fatuous Stelvio pass. Here A ppleyard was fastest, though Von Falkenhausen in a Frazer-Nash, that Aldington had delivered to Reims on the occasion of the French Grand Prix, was second fastest, while Pidensky still led his class. By the time competitors reached Saint Moritz there were only 42 who were. unpenalised, 13 of whom were British and eight of these were on Sunbeam-Talbots, Collins, Moss. Johnson. Murray-Frame and Miss Van Damm being on works ears. As the field was reduced it became clear that the outright winner lay between Appleyard. Von Falkeithausen and Polensky, though officially, as in many French events there is no outright winner, only class winners; however, morally, everyone was interested in the best performance of the whole Bally. The fourth stage ran through the Swiss mountains and over some really treacherous going, down descents with no retaining walls on the outside, and over passes so narrow that a stalled car would have presented a major problem. Arriving in the north-west corner of Italy, at Aosta, the Survivors were timed up the Col du Petit St Bernard and then made their way into Fiance to finish the day’s motoring at Vol d’Isere. The last day of the Rally, so far as longdistance motoring was concerned, covered the area between Val d’Iscre and the Mediterranean and involved nine mountain passes of

varying severity, the finish being at Cannes. Here, starting, stopping and steering tests were conducted for the 25 competitors who arrived without penalisation, and after the usual additions and subtractions the organisers acclaimed Polensky with his Porsche as the winner in the General Classification.