Fly Lancia 037 Tour de Corse 1984 - Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki

Fly Lancia 037 Tour de Corse 1984 - Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Fly Lancia 037 Tour de Corse 1984 - Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki (/showthread.php?tid=2598)

Fly Lancia 037 Tour de Corse 1984 - Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki - woodcote - 27th-Nov-21

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Fly A2505 - 25th Anniversary Series - Lancia 037 Tour de Corse 1984 - Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki. RRP £54.95. Available now

It's another 25th Anniversary car from Fly - and another cracking Lancia 037. There are no excuses needed for this third Lancia Rally of the autumn - in my eyes, it's one of the most beautiful cars ever produced and the Fly model isn't bad either. The Martini-sponsored 037 is a companion to the A2503 Chardonnet 037 of Jean-Claude Andruet and Martine Rick-Place that Fly released a couple of months ago - Alén and Kivimäki won the 1984 Tour de Corse, Andruet and Rick-Place came sixth.

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Although it was a first victory of the season for Lancia and Alén - plus Miki Biason's Jolly Club 037 finished second and Alén took the lead in the championship - all eyes were on the new Peugeot 205 T16 at the 1984 Tour de Corse. Alén had been quiet throughout the event, speaking to journalists at the end to say "I am very lucky". In 1984, the Tour de Corse was a marathon - thirteen hours of racing (compared to only three in 2019), including brutally long and twisty stages and plenty of night-time driving. There were downpours - in which Alén lost his windscreen wipers and Vatanen's leading Peugeot crashed - and Alén also suffered a broken clutch, ran out of fuel and suffered from some poor tyre choices. So "very lucky" was not far off.

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Ari Vatanen and Terry Harryman had taken the lead after eight stages - with the sister 205 T16 of veteran Jean-Pierre Nicolas and new co-driver Charley Pasquier briefly sitting second. Alén was best of the rest - and was 1 minute 47 seconds behind Vatanen at the start of the final 260-mile leg. The main issue the Peugeot drivers faced was some brake-fade on the longer stages, but they had worked around it. Torrential rain arrived on the final morning - which would take some pressure off the brakes - but the weather was forecast to clear during the day, leaving some enormous stages at the end. Vatanen needed to push on in the wet conditions to be able nurse his brakes and fend off Alén in the closing stages...

Peugeot's impressive debut came to a dramatic end on a rain-soaked left-hander at the top of one of Corsica's many coastal cliffs. Braking into the corner, the 205 T16 aquaplaned at 80mph and veered left - hitting a rock on the inside and being pin-balled across the road, over a bank and down into the darkness. Vatanen and Harryman came to a half 80 feet down the cliff, the doors already ripped from their mangled car. Thankfully, the roll cage did its job - and two large rocks had stopped the car from dropping a further hundred feet into the sea. There was no time to hang around, driver and co-driver watched from a distance and a fire started and then engulfed the 205 - burning the car to the ground, with melted magnesium pooling down the slope.

From hospital in Calvi, Vatanen and his Peugeot team mates were able to reflect on the disappointment of missing out on a sensational debut win. Nonetheless, Peugeot were more than satisfied with Nicolas' fourth place, overtaking Blomqvist's Audi on the final stage. Meanwhile, Alén and Lancia's celebrations were muted - even after their victory, they knew the 037 was history. The 1984 Tour De Corse would be the final time the Lancia Rally 037 would win a World Championship event.

The Fly model of this rally-winning 037 will be available from all Fly dealers over the next few days. Like all the 25th Anniversary cars, it is a limited edition and is likely to sell out very quickly.

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RE: Fly Lancia 037 Tour de Corse 1984 - Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki - rallyhub - 27th-Nov-21

Great report of a wunderful car, Andy. Thumbup

The Tour de Corse would be Lancia's only WRC rally win of the entire 1984 season.

RE: Fly Lancia 037 Tour de Corse 1984 - Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki - rallyhub - 29th-Nov-21

Today the Fly Martini Lancia of Markku Alen arrived: Sun

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Tour de Corse 1984 winners Markku Alen/ Ilkka Kivimaki.

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In the background the Opel Manta 400 of Guy Frequelin (9th) and the Lancia 037 of JC Andruet (6th)