A raspberry in the winter forest!
01/07/2020
Heiner Nemec and Eugen Botay had a stroke of luck in their 1954 Jaguar XK140 at last weekend 's Planai Classic , which we of course reported on in detail .
On the way back to the start of the second race from the Planai down to the middle station, the driver lost his "raspberry" on a slippery road and slid down a small soft snow embankment into the forest. In the process, he also took the photocell for the split time recording down with him. Everything happened as if in slow motion, but the two of them were very lucky that they didn't slide sideways over the edge, which would have ended in a rollover.
It's hard to imagine what could have happened! But the two of them are fine, only the Jaguar will probably need some care.
Of course, this immediately raises the question of whether you should even take part in winter rallies with cars like this? Let's just forget about the rust caused by the large amounts of salt that get under the bodywork and into the mechanics during these kilometers. Let's just talk about possible accidents and their consequences. The XK140 slid slowly down the slope and was then stopped by a tree on its slide into the valley. The impact must have deformed some of the sheet metal and perhaps also shifted a few of the gaps. The advantage of winter rallies, however, is that they are usually driven much more slowly and the snow often acts as a damper.
Crashes with summer rallies are rarer, but usually much more violent for man and machine.
The fun of driving on changing surfaces is simply great, but it goes without saying that not every model is equally suitable. A compact Lancia Fulvia HF is certainly much more ideal than a comparatively large Jensen CV8, despite its plastic body.
