11,000KMS IN 30 DAYS 18 OCT - 17 NOV 2018 TO COMMEMORATE THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF GREATEST ROAD RACE EVER www.bespokerallies.com “The very best” is how Sir Stirling Moss describes Juan Manuel Fangio. The legendary Argentine (pictured left) enjoyed a fantastic career in racing. In Formula One he scored 24 Grand Prix victories from just 51 starts. He tops nearly every poll that attempts to name the world’s best, and it is easy to see why Moss refers to him as “the greatest of all time.” VIEW OUR VIDEO 18 OCTOBER - 17 NOVEMBER 2018 It was hailed as the greatest road race of its age and attracted such star driving legends as Fangio and the Galvez brothers to compete for 10,000kms over just 14 days for the glory of winning the Grand Prix of South America. THE HISTORY IT IS STILL REGARDED AS THE In 1948 the Ford V8 was the car making all the running. Fangio in his Chevrolet Master was in the GREATEST ROAD RACE EVER AND top five but was chasing Oscar Galvez’s Ford which ONE THAT DESERVES A RE-RUN was a front runner all the way swapping stage wins with his brother Juan in a similar car. IN CARS OF THE PERIOD. Fangio, meanwhile was heading towards disaster on In 2018 we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of this Stage 7, but before that we was to win stage 5 from great event with a new Grand Prix of South America La Paz to Arequipa. At the same time a real Knight which will follow the original route where possible. of the Road was emerging in the form of Eusabio Where the roads are new we will find the old and where Marcilla who was dubbed El Caballero del Camino they have been covered in tarmac we will look for dirt. for his selfless acts of rescuing competitors when they got into trouble on the road. This competitive event will start at midnight in Buenos Aires (just as the original event did) and will run north He was the person who came to the aid of Fangio to Salta and into Bolivia. Once over the border we on the 1322km Stage 7 when his car slipped off the edge and disappeared down a 200 metre drop. cross the high plains to the great salt flats at Uyuni. Marcilla was in contention all the way and would The roads we select are very much the same as they probably have had a top two or three finish if he were in 1948 when the cars scrabbled over the gravel had ignored the plight of his fellow competitors. on these challenging stages. From Bolivia the route is modified to run to Cusco With Juan and Oscar Galvez now clear of their along the east side of Lake Titicaca, then through the main rivals they continued to swap stages through Andes before dropping down to a welcome regroup Tumbes, Quito, Pasto, Cali, Bogota, Cucuta and Valera before the final run into Caracas. in Lima. After Lima we are once again on the historic route with But drama was unfolding as the cars sped towards minor changes to ensure we find some of the more the finishing line. Juan Galvez was involved in interesting roads and stages. We enter Ecuador just an accident on the last stage leaving the prize after Tumbes which saw Fangio crash out in 1948. open to his brother only for him to breakdown within sight of the finishing line. As he was pushing After Quito we enter Colombia for four intensive the car towards the chequered flag a spectator days of driving before arriving at the Venezuela joined in which resulted in this being classified as border and the last two days of driving to Caracas receiving outside assistance and a disqualification! and a heroes’ welcome. The spoils then when to the surprised Domingo Marimon, nicknamed Toscanito, because of his habit of always smoking a Tuscan cigar. He had driven a steady www.bespokerallies.com | +44 (0)1483 271 699 race and was rewarded for his cautious approach. follow bespokerallies The rally covered nearly 10,000kms, visited Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela and attracted crowds of millions along the way. CARTAGENA MONTERIA THE FUTURE MEDELLIN The 2018 Grand Prix of South America will start on the 18th of October – 70 years to the day of the original start – and will follow the same route as far as possible but include some race tracks and special tests as road racing is now prohibited. Our event will aim to recreate the look and feel of the great original Grand Prix. CUENCA LOJO It is open to all cars built before 1960 but will have a special category for the type of American cars PIURA of the period which ran in the first Grand Prix event. HUARAZ CLASSES ARE AS FOLLOWS SPONSORS AYACUCHO 1 Pre-war up to 1939 2 1940 to 1947 3 Wagon Tourism - American URUBAMBA cars that ran or could have run in the 1948 event PUNO COPACABAN 4 1948 to 1958 5 1959 to 1972 6 Touring HUACALERA SALTA This is a competitive event which will combine Regularity, closed roads and circuits. We include a CATAMARCA Touring class for those who want to join in with the journey but not the competition. CÓRDOBA SAN FRANCISCO CARTAGENA MONTERIA COUNTRIES DAY DATE FROM TO KMS COMMENTS MEDELLIN 1 18 OCT BUENOS AIRES - 0 ARRIVAL DAY 2 19 OCT BUENOS AIRES - 0 CARS 3 20 OCT BUENOS AIRES SAN FRANCISCO 551 START MIDNIGHT SAN FRANCISCO CORDOBA CUENCA 4 21 OCT 240 DEPART 15:00 LOJO ARGENTINA 5 22 OCT CORDOBA CATAMARCA 424 PIURA 6 23 OCT CATAMARCA SALTA 532 HUARAZ 7 24 OCT SALTA SALTA 20 REST DAY/RACE TRACK 8 25 OCT SALTA HUACALERA 361 AYACUCHO 9 26 OCT HUACALERA UYUNI 497 10 27 OCT UYUNI UYUNI 80 REST DAY URUBAMBA 11 28 OCT UYUNI COPACABAN 543 PUNO COPACABAN BOLIVIA 12 29 OCT COPACABAN PUNO 262 13 30 OCT PUNO URUBAMBA 585 14 31 OCT URUBAMBA URUBAMBA 0 REST DAY HUACALERA 15 1 NOV URUBAMBA ANDAHUAYLAS 337 SALTA 16 2 NOV ANDAHUAYLAS AYACUCHO 350 17 3 NOV AYACUCHO HUANCAYO 318 CATAMARCA PERU 18 4 NOV HUANCAYO HUARAZ 632 CÓRDOBA 19 5 NOV HUARAZ HUARAZ 0 REST DAY SAN FRANCISCO 20 6 NOV HUARAZ TRUJILLO 308 21 7 NOV TRUJILLO PIURA 491 22 8 NOV PIURA LOJO 314 23 9 NOV LOJO CUENCA 253 ECUADOR 24 10 NOV CUENCA QUITO 456 25 11 NOV QUITO PASTO 378 26 12 NOV PASTO PASTO 0 REST DAY 27 13 NOV PASTO CALI 440 28 14 NOV CALI MEDELLIN 485 COLOMBIA 29 15 NOV MEDELLIN MONTERIA 455 30 16 NOV MONTERIA CARTAGENA 305 FINISH 31 17 NOV CARTAGENA - 0 WAGON TOURISM SERVICE SUPPORT Wagon Tourism or Turismo Carretera as it is called We will only provide limited mechanical back-up in Argentina was created in 1937 and is the oldest on this event so we will allow dedicated service racing series still active in the world. Initially used wagons at a separate cost. They must be for road racing it is now more generally used as vehicles not newer than 1988 and weigh no more a closed circuit category. We are reviving it in its than 3.5 tons – anything larger than a small van is not traditional sense for the 2018 Grand Prix of South eligible. They will have a dedicated service route and America where it will apply to ‘stock’ cars of the service points. The service vehicles can be shared. original period. Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1940 and 1941 TC championships in his Chevrolet, helping to launch his career as arguably the world’s greatest ever Grand Prix driver. PERIOD LOOK RPS of Witney is the premier preparation company Participants are encouraged to dress in period style of the cars of the period and we are delighted clothing. There will be awards for best combination they will be sponsoring the wagon tourism class. of car and clothing throughout the event. There are very few vehicle workshops with the William Medcalf Ltd is a restoration and rally knowledge, skills, professionalism and commitment preparation specialist, passionate about preserving to prepare classic and vintage cars for rallies and vintage Bentleys. William and his team ensure endurance events to the standard required to owners can experience all of the pleasures of succeed. RPS work with amateur and professional owning a vintage Bentley including the most important motorsport competitors at the highest level, and aspect – driving them in the environments they are renowned for a unique expertise. were designed for. We are delighted that William Medcalf is sponsoring the pre-war class which promises to be one of the most competitive in the rally. To find out more visit www.rpsrally.com To find out more visit www.vintagebentley.com www.bespokerallies.com | +44 (0)1483 271 699 follow bespokerallies 11,000KMS IN 30 DAYS 18 OCT - 17 NOV 2018 (NORTH AMERICA, EUROPE, AUSTRALASIA AND ASIA) (CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA) No 4 Telford Court, Littlemead, Cranleigh, Buenos Aires Surrey GU6 8ND, UK Argentina Phone: + 44 (0)1483 271 699 Phone: +54 911 3208 8802 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Website: www.bespokerallies.com PLEASE CONTACT US FOR AN ENTRY FORM follow bespokerallies FOR THE MOST EXCITING RALLY.