Скачать или смотреть 1989 February 26 - Markku Alén test F1 March 871 @ Estoril (MTV3)

(From 1989 March 09, Autosport) The Sunday (26) before the 1989 Rally of Portugal (Tuesday 28 Feb to Saturday 4 March), the Estoril track witnessed Markku Alén first tenative laps in a March Formula 1 car* and pronounced himself impressed with his first attempts in such a machine.
Although the Finn raced a Formula Super Vee car on a couple of occasions in 1970, and was a long time favourite at the traditional post-Portugal Rally slalom tests, his experience in single seaters had been limited to a few laps. The car in question, a normally aspirated March 871, was owned by Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Comte and Alén's laps were part of a contra-deal which saw the car's owner taken for a spin in Alen's Lancia through the Sintra stages.
"The March engine gives around 500bhp, a little more than the S4 Lancia of a few years ago," explained Alen. "The difference in power is not so great as the difference in torque. Our rally car would accelerate between 100kph and 150kph at much the same rate but the March will suddenly shoot up to 250kph. You feel you suddenly go!"
With rally drivers often much taller than racers, was it difficult for Alén to fit into the car? "I've still got bruises on the sides of my knees! I don't know exactly how fast the car was going but I had trouble with the air getting into my helmet - it was too much in the airstream. The gearlever was tucked under the bodywork on the right and it was difficult to reach it."
"The brakes were fantastic, you can stop from very high speed in a hundred metres or so - Pow!, you've stopped. It makes you realise how big and heavy the rally car is. It was interesting to drive a normally aspirated car again, having good horsepower completely under your control. The last few years with turbochargers in motorsport have been really difficult."
*Intro from a Motoring News report

To see another video of this test:    • 1989 February 26 - Markku Alén test F1 Mar...  

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