The sport of rallying has changed almost beyond recognition during the recent decades. No longer do the crews drive day and night on numerous special stages for up to five days. Such was its popularity that numerous European countries were eager to host the rallies; during the 1970s it is thought that the RAC Rally of Great Britain attracted in excess of two million spectators as the cars travelled through England, Wales and Scotland.
Fiat 124 Abarth RAC Rally 74
Sorting through a box of my old black and white photographs I came across a print of a Fiat 124 Abarth Rallye in action during the 1974 RAC Rally, taken at a special stage in Cirencester. It is hard to believe that the photograph is almost 52 years old but it brought back many memories of the event; how five car club members managed to fit into a friend’s Austin A40 and drive (flat out) from Sussex to Wales in order to witness the rally at the best locations on the route, those held in the Welsh forests during the dead of night in November. We survived the cold and rain by drinking a ‘few’ Whiskey Macs (Scotch whiskey and green ginger wine, the ultimate winter warmer!) Having found a suitable viewing location around 1 a.m., suddenly, out of the darkness of Hafren forest a Lancia Stratos arrived from nowhere in a blaze of light, followed by a huge variety of machinery ranging from Alpines, Porsches, Toyotas and the infamous SAABs that announced their arrival in advance as their two-stroke engines popped and banged through the pine trees. They were one of a number of unlikely rally cars, a list that could include the Fiat 124 Abarth but the two-seater Italian sports cars proved surprisingly competitive especially on tarmac events. In that era the giant Fiat automotive corporation produced a wide range of models and were aware that success in motorsport helped sell cars. The 124 Abarth, based on the Fiat 124 Sport Spyder, was launched in 1971 following the companies acquisition of the Fiat-tuning specialist, Abarth. The following year saw victory in the European Rally Championship prior to an upgrade to Group 4 specification in order to compete in the new World Rally Championship created in 1973. Against strong opposition the 124 Abarth Rallye won one round of the championship and placed second twice before it was eclipsed in 1976 by an even more unlikely rally car that emerged from the Fiat Group, the Lancia Stratos. Fiat was required to build 500 cars for homologation purposes but such was the demand that twice that number were sold. The works entry in the photograph was driven on the 1974 RAC Rally by the Swedish duo of Ingvar Carlsson and Bo Reinicke. Running for much of the rally in the top twenty, they retired when the car left the road in Scotland.
