Sunday, May 13, 2007
Tenerife Rally Calendar for 2007
Yesterday's 23rd Palma Canaria Norte Rally - the first date in this year's rally season in Tenerife - took us by surprise yet again, but finally, after extensive searching, we've been able to find a program of rally events taking place on the island this year.
2007 Rally Calendar in Tenerife
- June 23rd - Granadilla Rally
- September 15th - Rally Villa de Adeje
- November 10th - Rally Isla Tenerife
The calendar of events (PDF) also includes those in La Palma and La Gomera.
If you'll be in Tenerife on any of these dates, these rallies certainly make a fun day out. You might even want to make a special trip to the island if you're a big rally fan, after all, standing by the side of the road in nice warm weather, with a few cold beers in your cool box, has to beat doing it wrapped up against the cold and rain! :)
For serious "rally car porn" lovers (I only mean LOTS of photos), here's a video montage of photos from the 32nd Tenerife Island Rally last year.
More photos and even wallpapers at TenerifeRallyes.com
2007 Subidas (Hill Climbs) in Tenerife
As well as rallies, there are an ample number of subidas (hill climbs and we certainly have the hills for them!) - including; June 16th - Guimar, July 14th - Arona, October 6th - Tamaimo, October 20th - San Miguel and November 24th - La Guancha.
Undoubtedly, one of the best ways to live the 3.54 minutes of fun of the Subida a Tamaimo is inside the car, a BMW 635 CSI, with Jose Juan Torres - one of the top names in the sport and current regional champion (2005, 2006) - driving:
Link to video for feed readers | Larger version at Google video
(Yes, mate, I used to have a BMW 318i and the road holding was no better!:-)
You don't really appreciate the gradient from this point of view, but you certainly do get a pretty good feel for the innumerable curves (yes, if you aren't familiar with them, all Tenerife roads are like this, and worse). You'll also see that it's an "obstacle course" with spectators and photographers leaning out into the road everywhere!
This further footage of the Subida a Tamaimo 2006, the popular autosport event in Tenerife that drew a crowd of 30,000, this time from the spectator's view, was compiled as a homage to Tenerife driver, Raúl de León, who was killed during the event last year, after his Citroën ZX collided with a rock wall on a left hand bend.
As well as the rallies and hill climbs, car enthusiasts can enjoy the First Santa Cruz Motor Show next weekend in the capital, as well as the IV Feria Exposición "Villa de La Orotava" (Classic Car Fair) in La Orotava, from 09:00 to 16:00 on June 3rd.
Sources: CanariaSport.com, CanariasRallye, Retro Cars Club and the Federación Interinsular de Automovilismo de S/C de Tenerife.
