Antonio Silva
The inscription of the Rally of Asturias of the Veteran Car Club it was exclusively for vehicles manufactured before 1962, the club's founding date; and the event management considered it appropriate to reward those who dared to do it with their prewar vehicles for which the quota had a significant reduction. In the opinion of a server it is an excellent option that in a certain way encourages the use of these vehicles, And it should also be remembered that statutorily the Veteran Car Club of Spain is a club dedicated to this type of classics.
The cars arrived in Oviedo on September 2, from Madrid, Burgos and Toledo, among other provinces. The unique caravan was made up of about twenty of them, of which 7-8 were pre-war manufactured before 1940.
The route through the principality
The first days the cars circulated around Oviedo, visiting the Fernando Alonso museum, Pravia and various towns in the western part of the region. Later they moved to the surroundings of El Torazo and, on Wednesday, they made the ascent to Covadonga where the abbot blessed the cars.
That night the central dinner of the rally took place with the delivery of souvenirs to the participants. Special mention deserve two milestones of the dinner: The first is the thanks of the club to the person of Herminio Menéndez for the work carried out as treasurer for many years and especially for organizing this route. He was given a painting signed by the well-known car painter Diego Serrano. On the other hand, and thanks to the mediation of Fernando de la Hoz, we share a table with the children of the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time, the great Juan Manuel Fangio.
The route continued on Thursday and Friday towards Gijón, from where it left to visit the Cider Factory 'The Piper' located in the town of Villaviciosa.
Some of the participating machines
Almost all the classics they held out without major problems the 7 days, being carried out aboard them around 1.500 km between round trip. Some distracted start or some burnt out light were the most prominent breakdowns; together with the only casualty that occurred at the start, just over 100 km from Madrid, where a 29 Ford A broke one of the front stub axles. Of course, the great camaraderie of the group caused its occupants to be relocated as passengers in other vehicles and could complete the route in its entirety.
In the section participating vehicles as pre-wars, to point out a few, the following were listed: The aforementioned Ford A, a 1930 Chevrolet Six from Santorcaz that maintains 80-90 km / h cruises without problems; the elegant and sporty Bentley 4 1/4 of 1936, a Rover of the 36, two spectacular Packard 120 Cabrios of the 36 and 37 respectively, or a Lasalle of the 38. As for cars after 1945 there were some Americans: De Soto and Chevrolet; and, of course, three performance and reliable Mercedes, two Ponton and a 190 SL (admitted as an exception because it was manufactured after 1952).
In short, they were very pleasant days, with the excellent atmosphere that characterizes the events of the Veteran Car Club of Spain. We will be attentive to the next event of the club, which is also its star rally: It is the Rally of the Community of Madrid, which will travel the roads and towns of Madrid during the month of October.
