14 replies to this topic

[P 4 Staff]

Hi all.
I found a very interesting site...only it´s in Portugis...and I don´t understand a word.

http://classicsportscar.com.sapo.pt/

Now...there seem to have been racing for many, many years on this curcuit...Vila Real.

Anyone knows more about it?

Barry?

Found a map of the curcuit.


Staff

[Darren Galpin]

A street track situated in northern Portugal at the mouth of the River Douro. The track was lined with lamp-posts, walls and houses, and included bridges and a level crossing. The circuit opened in 1931, but political upheaval saw the circuit lose its international licence in 1974. The circuit was reopened in 1979, but has only since held national touring car events.

http://www.silhouet....s/vilareal.html

[Barry Boor]

A Multimap search reveals that this circuit remains apparently unaltered from its heyday.

A scary place to race, I believe.

[Rosemayer]

Barry this should be in your thread Unchanged circuits

Best Rosey

[Rosemayer]

Very much like this I should think.


A walk around Angoulême

[P 4 Staff]

Originally posted by Barry Boor
A Multimap search reveals that this circuit remains apparently unaltered from its heyday.

A scary place to race, I believe.

I believe at least it was very dangerous for the public.. There´s a horrific picture of a Porsche 906 hitting people.

My interest though is how the surcuit layout was/is.

As I understand it was/is about 7 kilometers long. But..is it a street curcuit going out into the country..or entirely in the city?

Staff.

[jpm2]

Originally posted by Darren Galpin
[B]A street track situated in northern Portugal at the mouth of the River Douro.

Darren, just a small geographical correction: Oporto is at the mouth of the River Douro. Vila Real is situated in the mountains, about 100 kms inland, from the mouth of the river.

As Barry Boor says it was a scary place to race, with its high speed downhill section that led from "Mateus" to the "ponte metálica", i. e., methalic bridge.

"ponte metalica" was the beginning of a short section of narrow city streets but after that the circuit run through more or less open country.

I went there a couple of times, back in the 60s, and saw some fantastic races and some would be famous drivers too (like Ronnie Peterson, in Formula 3).

But Vila Real was not the only scary Portuguese circuit. Monsanto, where the 1959 Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix was held, was also very dangerous.

Regards

[Neri Moreira]

Originally posted by P 4 Staff


I believe at least it was very dangerous for the public.. There´s a horrific picture of a Porsche 906 hitting people.

My interest though is how the surcuit layout was/is.

As I understand it was/is about 7 kilometers long. But..is it a street curcuit going out into the country..or entirely in the city?

Staff.

Hi

Neri Moreira from Porto calling earth

I would like to know more about that " horrific picture of a Porsche 906 hitting people."....
Are you sure it was in Vila Real? I think you may be refering to a certain race (Circuito da Palanca Negra?) in Angola before 1974.
Can you find and post the photo, please ?

Apart from some roundabouts (sp) the circuit still exists how it was, partly in the cuty, partly in the near country.

I was there two or three times between 69 and 73 and , last October in the revival where I had the chance to chat a litle with Sir Stirling Moss

Thank you
Yours
Neri

[Neri Moreira]

Answering my own question

Here (http://scgt.com.sapo.pt/aurora_p.htm) is the photo and it was indeed in Luanda (Angola) in 1969:

The text below the photo "Troféu da Palanca Negra, Luanda, Dezembro de 1969" is very clear even in portuguese

I remember that I once had the original "Flama" magazine with all the story and the photos, but I lost it looong ago

Bye
Neri

[Pils1989]

1970 Vila Real 500 km anecdote, by Teddy Pilette on VDS Lola T 70:

"The weather was really hot, explain Teddy. All the teams rushed to the surrounding gas-stations to buy engine coolant to lower the boiling point. As we didn't find any, we decided to use... red wine"

The engine lasted and they won the race!

(Translated from the Pilette book)

[jpm2]

Just to illustrate some points you'll find below some photos of Vila Real circuit, 1971:

The strart of the race (leaving the houses behind)


mid-way through the downhill section (and back to the houses)


Mario Cabral in the right hander after the methalic bridge (in the background) and just before the starting line



And here's a photo of Luanda, 1968. As you can see the public is almost inside the cars. Evocative of the glorious and bloody days of the Mille Miglia (or the Argentinian Grand Prix, 1953).

[P 4 Staff]

Originally posted by Neri Moreira


Hi

Neri Moreira from Porto calling earth

I would like to know more about that " horrific picture of a Porsche 906 hitting people."....
Are you sure it was in Vila Real? I think you may be refering to a certain race (Circuito da Palanca Negra?) in Angola before 1974.
Can you find and post the photo, please ?

Apart from some roundabouts (sp) the circuit still exists how it was, partly in the cuty, partly in the near country.

I was there two or three times between 69 and 73 and , last October in the revival where I had the chance to chat a litle with Sir Stirling Moss

Thank you
Yours
Neri

I may have been wrong...Neri. Maybe it was another track.

But the picture is on the site.

Staff.

[Neri Moreira]

Originally posted by P 4 Staff


I may have been wrong...Neri. Maybe it was another track.

But the picture is on the site.

Staff.

Yes Staff

But that site is about Sports cars and GT, not only about Vila Real :-)

The page where is that foto, is about "Garagem Aurora" that was (is?) an independent tuner specialised in Porsche.

The 906 that had the big acident in Angola, came later to Porto (Portugal) and, in Garagem Aurora, was rebuilt with a local built body with the "barcheta" stile that was fashion in those days.

In the same page you can also see fotos of the car with the "new" look

Bye
Neri

[Macca]

IIRC Vila Real was used for bike racing too...........there was a short-lived 'Formula 1 World Championship' which consisted of the IoM TT, Vila Real and the Ulster GP, road circuits all, in the 1980s.



Paul M

[simonlewisbooks]

Originally posted by P 4 Staff
Hi all.
I found a very interesting site...only it´s in Portugis...and I don´t understand a word.

There's a very usefull free translator at http://www.freetranslation.com/

For anyone who has the patience to cut and paste in small chuncks of text , it only copes with about 700 words at a time, it's not bad and it does point you in the right direction.
It can transalate more or less any major language into any other, however some of the (very direct) transaltions are hillarious (Vic Elford is translated into "Vic Eleven Earth"!) and technical terms are beyond it.

Simon Lewis
Transport Books
www.simonlewis.com
Purveyors of Motor Sport Books and Photos since 1985