THIS weekend the Malian team headed to Serra da Arrábida, a Portuguese national park and beauty spot, 45-mins outside of Lisbon for – Rampa da Arrábida.
The annual event is an amateur hill climb backdropped by the protected Arrábida mountains and miles of Costa Azul beaches.
Warm, dry conditions made it the ideal Sunday spectator event, coupled with testing terrain for the drivers. Lots of deceptive, tight bends that caught out some of the bravest drivers. There were a couple of crashes by a BMW E46 and also a Ford Escort MkII which temporarily delayed proceedings. The driver had to go to hospital but was later reported to be OK.
Noteworthy contenders included an impressive Ford Sierra specimen – a Sapphire Cosworth with fan tail exhaust! Plus, a Renault 5, a Datsun 1200, plenty of classic Fords, a BMW E46 and tiny old school Fiat (see photo below) – let us know in the comments if you’re able to identify it!
The two fastest running cars of the day were a Silver Car EF 10 and an Osella PA2000 EVO-2 PA30.
The winning driver was Carlos Fonseca who also set a new record for the course at 1: 44.921 – an average speed of 123.52 km/h. The win secures Fonseca’s place at the top of the championship.
