The Clásica de Tenerife ‘dazzles’ the participants and the public

Maximum Saint, communicator and head of the YouTube channel Garaje Hermético, with more than 590,000 followers, took part in the Tourism category with a spectacular dinosaur 246. «The organization has been impeccable and the tours absolutely fantastic; the landscapes are spectacular and the roads of La Gomera are in impeccable condition»Sant pointed out. Regarding the vehicle that was lent to him for the occasion, he pointed out that “it has been like going back 50 years; the Dino runs a lot, with spectacular stability and reasonably comfortable; in his time it had to be the bomb».

Claudio Marciano di Scala and Monica Toniniattended as guests on behalf of the San Marino Vintage Automobile Club. He valued the great participation and the interest that this classic generates not only in people of a certain age, but also among many young people. He appreciated that the test has a «clear imprint of culture, not only on the automotive sector, but also on international relations». The Marciano di Scala club is the one that organizes the emblematic Italian test of the 1000 Miglia. He is convinced that the RACT-RACE test may have greater international interest in the future.

The objective in a classic is to go through the sections with roads open to conventional traffic at the average speed set by the organization; if you go faster or slower at the checkpoints, the team penalizes and the team that accumulates the fewest penalty points wins. John Joseph Llanosresponsible for the company TimeOnLine, and his collaborators place the GPS in the competition vehicles. In this way, it is known at all times where the car is, but above all, with information that is previously entered into the system, it is known at what speed each team passed through the 120 control points placed on the route on the three days of competition. . On Friday they left the García Sanabria and completed the sections of El Bailadero, Las Mercedes, La Esperanza, Boca Tauce and Vilaflor, until they reached the GF Victoria hotel, in Costa Adeje. On Saturday the caravan traveled to La Gomera, where it climbed La Degollada de Peraza and passed through Agulo, Hermigua, Vallehermoso, Arure, Las Hayas, Chipude, Las Nieves and San Sebastián. On Sunday he left Costa Adeje again and went through Playa San Juan, Tamaimo, Chío, the Teide National Park, Los Loros and arrived at García Sanabria. Llanos explained that the average maximum speed was set at 49.9 kilometers per hour, while the lowest was 38. The control points are placed randomly at the discretion of the race director, Leopoldo Mansito. The teams could not bring any type of device to control that average speed. They were only allowed to carry a stopwatch. And there were two surprise controls so that no one cheated.

Felix Machin and Angela Carreno They highlighted that the route «was very beautiful, with a good organization and very friendly people; the roads of La Gomera are very good». Alfonso Gordon, pilot, and Rocío Moreno, co-pilot, they park their 1960 Triumph TR3 A. The first thing Alfonso does is hit the hood of the convertible as a sign of satisfaction. “It was a spectacular race, with incredible roads,” says Alfonso. Both traveled with the TR3 A from Madrid to Huelva, and, from there, by boat to Tenerife. Regarding the averages, Gordon and Moreno pointed out that the biggest problem was in urban areas, due to the accumulation of traffic. They had some mistakes and oversights, which are very common in these tests. But they firmly assure that they will return to the Clásica next year.

The winners in the Regularity E category were Iván Dorta (pilot) and Julio Martínez (co-pilot)with the little Austin Healey Sprite (frogeyes, frog eyes, by its frontal). Martínez, former driver and organizer of the Rallye Isla de Tenerife, commented that the Clásica has “an important charisma, with many drivers from outside; It is an event that should not be missed and has to be promoted from the institutions». For Martínez, “it is well organized, but the elaboration of the route must be done with more care.” He indicated that the last section, Los Loros, was done with fog and a wet road. Dorta and Martínez led the stage on Friday; They finished second on Saturday due to an error with a vignette, which caused them to lose 90 points, but yesterday they regained the lead in their category. Where is the key to win? In Julio’s opinion, in controlling the time of passage with the stopwatch, the kilometric marker and the distances. Iván Dorta is a regular driver of the Sport Regularity with a Ford Escort MKI. And this time he rode much slower for the average of this classic. “I always like both competitions; They are a way to be with friends and take out our classics”, says one of the winners. He states that in both types of careers “the basis is the same: mathematics.”

Another team that was very satisfied when they reached the finish line was the team made up of Orestes Morales and Linda Truszarrived from Puerto de la Cruz with its showy 1966 Triumph TR4 IRS, painted light blue and orange central band. Orestes is an inveterate restorer of classics and yesterday he described the work of the organization as “perfect”, in addition to valuing the “companionship” that is experienced in these tests.

alfredo medina He is Director of Communication at El Corte Inglés, but yesterday he was at the García Sanabria as a fan. It should be remembered that, in the mid-1980s, he sang the stage notes for drivers of the stature of José Luis Rivero Fajardo, for example. According to Medina, the Classic that ended yesterday is «a fantastic event, of the first order, on a par with other events in Europe, and an effective tourist promotion tool, with an incredible sample of landscapes; I hope he receives the support he deserves” in the future.

One of the most prominent and discreet participants, for the second consecutive year, was Mario Iliena Swiss engineer of reference in the design of engines in Formula 1. At yesterday’s trophy ceremony he seemed to be just another fan, but he is a very important figure in motor sports.

Another team that repeated was the one made up of Santiago Sesepilot and president of the Chamber of Commerce of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Maria Jose Hernandez Frances Diaz-Llanos, with a Porsche 911 Carrera RS from 1973. For Sesé, from the point of view of tourism promotion, the test has already stood out since the last edition, so he thinks that the administrations “should put more means to make it prosper”. Santiago and María José agree that the tour “was beautiful” and that “in La Gomera it was a spectacle; we have enjoyed landscapes in Tenerife and La Gomera that we do not know how to value». They consider that “the organization was almost perfect, it is not easy to organize a test with almost 100 cars”, for which he congratulated Leopoldo Mansito and Miguel Hernandez Calzadilla.

Another of the well-known faces in the business world of the Archipelago that competed in the Clásica de Tenerife was Rodolfo Núñez, president of Binterwho took his daughter as co-pilot Irene Nunez. “The test has been very entertaining, very well organized, to meet friends, because there is a lot of love for cars, in general, in Tenerife, and for classics, in particular,” said Núñez. He cited that the figure of the “free ports” made it possible for the Canary Islands to have a fleet of high-level classic cars. Rodolfo and Irene admitted that it is not easy to maintain average speeds only with a stopwatch, “but following the route meter and the other participants is an incentive.”

Leopoldo Mansito He assured that “we are satisfied with what has been achieved” and explained that in La Gomera they neutralized two sections in respect of the death of a motorcyclist in Vallehermoso. The Tenerife participants were joined by teams from La Palma, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, three competitors from Madrid and six other international and national drivers who drove cars belonging to owners of the Island. From the images of the competition, the roads remain , the landscapes and being able to enjoy the panoramic view of Teide at sunset, as well as the blue sky around the corner. He stressed that Tenerife has the best five-star hotel offer in Spain «and we are, 100%, with the Tenerife Motor Circuit», a project that is one of the sponsors of the competition that ended yesterday. Mansito explains that the objective is to improve the level in 2023 and Hernández Calzadilla is committed to “a great Clásica de Canarias”.