Miguel Sánchez
Spanish Rally runner-up in 1967 and 1972. Runner-up in the 1973 Spanish Mountain Rally Championship. Winner in the Catalan Rally Championship from 1967 to 1970. Co-driver with Servià in the 1989 Dakar… And also, part of the saga that was a reference in racing mechanics in Barcelona thanks to the family business Talleres Juncosa. Manuel Juncosa He is a man with a life dedicated to motorsports.
A life in which the flyer writes new chapters, since his 75 years he is still participating in regularity and climbing competitions. You can see that the lesson he received from his father on how to take the curves in his first race has accompanied him all the time; He was only 17 years old, he had just obtained his license, and even so he managed to rise to second place in a hill race thanks to his father's instructions.
Some indications that showed Manuel Juncosa how to take control of that 600 and, from there, that of not a few Abarths. The firm to which he and his family have always remained faithful for decades. In fact, in the video that we link to you today from La Escudería, we can see Manuel sitting at the controls of an Abarth 1000 explaining why it is without hesitation its leading brand.
STICKED BY SCORPION
Rally lovers know it: the preparations that the Abarth company has made from some FIATs… They deserve their own niche in the history of the wildest motorsport. We have personally always loved FIAT 131, but if we have to be fair ... Possibly the Abarth 1000 is the model that has given the most joy to both the brand and the fans.
Developed from a FIAT 500, the Abarth 1000 becomes another story. A real bullet eager to devour rally kilometers, in which almost everything was replaced to create something that only resembles the original model in the body. The drum brakes for the disc brakes, the leaf suspension for the rigid axle, the ratio of 4 gears for the 5 ... And so on until making the Abarth 1000 one of the most vibrant and effective rally cars of the time, with a 982 cc and 92cv engine capable of lifting its 180 kilos up to 583km / h. A true giant killer.
With these data, it is normal to understand why Manuel Juncosa talks the way he talks about the scorpion brand. But, in addition, his family was always personally linked to Abarth through friendship with its own founder: Carlo Abarth, which was visiting Juncosa workshops when passing through Barcelona. The family business founded by Manuel's father in 1929! and that, as the protagonist of this story tells us in the video, was the benchmark in competition mechanics for years in Barcelona.
54 YEARS ... AND WHAT REMAINS
The video is a life lesson about motorsport, but above all about the love of a passion. And be careful, because although this may seem like one of those hackneyed and simplistic literary licenses that every editor usually takes ... The truth is that there is something that shows how much truth there is in it: the moment in which Manuel joins the fact that he has never had a accident in his 54 years of license thanks to the teachings of his father.
Teachings that, beyond the anecdote of that first race, speak about the need to “master what you have in your hands”. Only in this way, by knowing and feeling happy with the machine you are driving, can you be one with the vehicle and reduce the risk of making a fatal mistake.
And boy, from what we see ... With Abarth Manuel Juncosa is really one. Because at 75, and judging by what we see in the video, You still have quite a few turns to take on this Abarth 1000. We hope to continue watching videos like this!
