His first rally car was the notoriously tricky Stratos, and the 037 has proved much more user-friendly. “The 037 is not as iconic, but as you’d expect ten years on it’s a much better car. You’d expect the engineers to make a much better car. It’s a beautiful car to drive. It’s incredibly well balanced, it doesn’t feel like it’s going to bite you. You can feel it working all the way. You can feel the Pirelli P7 tyres working, they’re unbelievable. As amateurs, we’re driving them nowhere near how the works drivers did in period but I think this car for a proficient amateur is very drivable. It’s really more like a sports racing car than a rally car. It’s got a long wheelbase with wheels in each corner, the engine sits right in the middle. It’s got a ZF box the same as a GT40 and with the supercharger you have instant torque. From 2,000 revs it’s always got this torque plus it’s very light a bit like driving a Porsche it’s got no weight in the front. Where it’s fast is on tarmac stages, from corner to corner to corner, it accelerates really quickly and it just stops on its nose and turns in. It’s incredibly rewarding to drive.”
The car is old enough to be easy to look after, too. “When you get to the next generation of cars like the Quattro S1 and the Lancia S4 and the Peugeot 205, they become incredibly sophisticated with full works teams needed to look after them and with everything made from unobtanium. This car is really quite simple. It’s got AP brakes, a ZF gearbox. In simple terms, the engine block is a 131 Abarth engine with injection and a supercharger and a big 16-valve head. That’s really what it is so they were quite clever about making it. They made it for reliability.” Regular servicing is carried out by specialists in Wales, while for more involved work it goes to the Turin-based Baldi brothers – who are ex-Lancia works mechanics.
“What I love about rallying is you get in the car at 8am and you’re in it all day, driving from stage to stage.”
Photography by Pete Summers.