- 7,198
- Lisboa
- FLAT_TWELVE
This is very close to reporting a barn find, hope you guys like it 
This Christmas one of my cousins decided to offer to many family members a DVD containing very old footage, from the 1960's, mostly containing family scenes in special occasions (marriages, birthdays, baptisms, family gatherings, trips to interesting places, etc.). The quality is very poor and since all of it was taken from old reels in 8mm, many segments of film became sadly lost or damaged beyond repair. Oh and there's no sound also.
Anyway, within that DVD filled with scenes from long-departed and missed family members, and also with many of the ones still living, but 40 years younger, I found, with great amazement, a scene of ... OVAL RACING ... with rally cars of old ... in a location that lloked to me like a football stadium.
A bit of research got me the truth about that footage. The cars you see are the participants of the 1969 International TAP Rally (later to become the WRC portuguese rally). The first two cars are Citroen DS 21 Proto(types). You'll also see Tony Fall in his Lancia Fulvia HF. And lots of other great cars.
Apparently, after the cars arrived to Portugal (coming from starting points located in their driver's own countries, like it was done in that era of rallying), the first "stage" was a oval showdown between two cars (much like it happens nowadays, but with both cars racing each other) . Not sure how it was done, or what rules applied but it sure looked like a lot of fun.
Another curious fact. I looked, and looked, and looked ... and found NOWHERE any other footage from the 1969 edition of the "Rally de Portugal". Of course, in private collections, and maybe at Citroen, you must have something. But there's nothing publicly viewable that I know of.
So, here you have it, fresh from Youtube publication last night ... 1969's Portuguese Rally footage.
For reference, that Rally's poster was this:
This Christmas one of my cousins decided to offer to many family members a DVD containing very old footage, from the 1960's, mostly containing family scenes in special occasions (marriages, birthdays, baptisms, family gatherings, trips to interesting places, etc.). The quality is very poor and since all of it was taken from old reels in 8mm, many segments of film became sadly lost or damaged beyond repair. Oh and there's no sound also.
Anyway, within that DVD filled with scenes from long-departed and missed family members, and also with many of the ones still living, but 40 years younger, I found, with great amazement, a scene of ... OVAL RACING ... with rally cars of old ... in a location that lloked to me like a football stadium.
A bit of research got me the truth about that footage. The cars you see are the participants of the 1969 International TAP Rally (later to become the WRC portuguese rally). The first two cars are Citroen DS 21 Proto(types). You'll also see Tony Fall in his Lancia Fulvia HF. And lots of other great cars.
Apparently, after the cars arrived to Portugal (coming from starting points located in their driver's own countries, like it was done in that era of rallying), the first "stage" was a oval showdown between two cars (much like it happens nowadays, but with both cars racing each other) . Not sure how it was done, or what rules applied but it sure looked like a lot of fun.
Another curious fact. I looked, and looked, and looked ... and found NOWHERE any other footage from the 1969 edition of the "Rally de Portugal". Of course, in private collections, and maybe at Citroen, you must have something. But there's nothing publicly viewable that I know of.
So, here you have it, fresh from Youtube publication last night ... 1969's Portuguese Rally footage.
For reference, that Rally's poster was this:
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