BIASION STEALS THE RALLY DAY SHOW
Italian star wows the crowds at castle combe
The rain arrived at Rallyday on Saturday. Nobody cared. Everybody came. And everybody’s coming back. Including Miki.
Two-time World Rally champion Miki Biasion was the star of the show at Castle Combe on Saturday. Sorry Elfyn, but he was.
OK, you both were. Actually, the stars were everywhere and very much in alignment over the damp Wiltshire circuit.
Stuart Turner, Jimmy Mcrae, Russell Brookes, David Llewellin, David Bogie, Ryan Champion. They were all there. Almost too much to take in. Certainly too many to talk to – sorry Mr Bogie. In my defence, it was your own fault. I’d spent so long watching the five-time Scottish champion delivering his fabulous Millington-engined Ford Escort Mk2 into chicanes at some of the wildest angles ever, it was impossible not to stay and watch one more lap.
This year’s Rallyday had a celebration for almost every decade. Twenty years was no so much a celebration as a commemoration, the Clark family attended to remember Roger, 20 years after his passing. His wife Judy and son Olly were interviewed and shared delightful memories of Britain’s first ever World Rally Championship event winner.
And seeing Olly donut a stunning replica of LVX942J in its 1972 RACwinning Uniflo livery stirred some serious emotions. Not least in Clark Jr.
“That thing was a real beast,” he says. “It’s running a BDG, so it makes all the right noises and goes really well. It’s been lovely to come down and see all these people again.”
Rallyday brings some unexpected driver-car combinations and seeing Llewellin at the wheel of Hannu Mikkola’s Eaton Yale-liveried Mk2 was right up there. But again, what a treat.
Back to the anniversaries and it’s three decades since Biasion’s first world title. Thirty years on and the beautiful Martini overalls still fit. The face might have had an extra line of laughter, but the voice delivered just the same insight, charisma and fever.
And when he slid behind the wheel a Lancia Delta HF Integrale wearing that famous red white and blue Martini colour scheme, it was Sanremo in the late 1980s all over again.
Except it wasn’t. Miki had gone to Ford by the time this car came along.
“Yes,” he says with a smile, “but don’t forget I was the driver who did all of the development for this car. This was still a little bit my car.”
And with that he disappeared in a plume of spray, off to entertain the masses. Over a coffee later in the day, the Italian admitted he was hooked on Rallyday.
“I know you are used to the rain here,” he says, “but I can’t believe how many people are out watching. It’s fantastic. I love this. It makes me feel that rallying is still in the hearts of these people and that makes me happy. I want to come back. Do you think they will have me to come back?”
Er, yes, Miki. I think you’ve bagged yourself a return ticket.
The Vauxhall Chevette’s 40th birthday was well celebrated with the help of the Droop Snoot Group, while the Ford Escort Mk1’s golden anniversary was superbly marked by quite brilliant stories from Brookes and Turner. That pair were also on form when it came to the six-decade celebrations of the British Rally Championship.
Talking of the BRC, my personal highlight was from the 1993 vintage of the series. Junior WRC driver Tom Williams drove Richard Burns’ Elonexbacked Subaru Legacy RS. The noise and utter splendour of that car going sideways in the rain again was a joy to behold. Less so from the inside.
“That was just a bit mad,” says Williams, godson of Burns. “Just breathing on the throttle and it was all over the place.”
His dad – and Richard’s former mentor and very close friend – David Williams had done his bit to try to make life more comfortable.
“I had my old tyre cutter out,” says Williams, “I cut some grooves into the fronts, just like the old days.”
It didn’t make much difference. The boots were past their best and bullethard, but it only made for a better show, not to mention a demonstration of Tom’s ability in taming one of Group A’s fiercest machines.
Once again, Castle Combe’s day of rallying delivered on every level. Yes, we got wet, but when and where else do you get to see such an epic and eclectic mix of brilliant clubmen, world champions and rallying royalty from days passed?