TURIN – A journey not only through the engines and cars that have marked the history of the rally, but through Italian customs and society. The exhibition “The Golden Age Of Rally” opened in Turin at the National Automobile Museum: a journey into the golden age of this sport. An unprecedented exhibition until 2 May 2023 in collaboration with the Gino Macaluso Foundation for Historic Cars.
It is a unique collection for the palmares of the cars present that have competed and won for some of the most prestigious racing teams in the world. The models come from the collection of Gino Macaluso, entrepreneur, designer, rally navigator. Prominent personality of the world of motors that the exhibition celebrates on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of October 27, 1972, when the Rally Race with Raffaele Pinto at the wheel earned him the European Championship.
The models are selected from the Macaluso collection: legendary cars that, from the 1960s to the 1990s, won the most important races of the championship: from the Monte Carlo Rally to the Safari Rally, passing through the Mille Laghi Rally (Finland) up to Rally of Sanremo. A journey into the epic of mechanics, in which team, pilot and navigator acted like gears perfectly synchronized with each other. “It is a rigorous, complete and spectacular celebration of the history of rallies that confirms the commitment and vocation of Mauto in the world of motorsport – underlines the president of Mauto, Benedetto Camerana – this unprecedented exhibition is also an enhancement and a tribute to the expertise of the Turin and Piedmontese territory: local producers and teams, such as Fiat and Lancia, Abarth and Martini, but also designers such as Gandini, Giugiaro and Pininfarina are the creators of the symbols of an epic engines, which we now have the pleasure of showing to the public ”.
One of the most representative drivers in the history of this sport, Miki Biasion, the only Italian to have won the title of World Rally Champion twice in 1988 and 1989, cut the ribbon. ‘Italian motoring: it was therefore right to start from here with this exhibition, which we will then take to other museums around the world ”, explains Monica Mailander Macaluso, president of the Foundation established with the family in memory of Gino Macaluso. The time-line that goes from the origins of the discipline, in the 60s, to the great successes and the involvement of the general public.
The emotions of the great challenges between car manufacturers and teams are relived: special scenic platforms created ad hoc simulate the road surfaces on which drivers and cars battled, from the sand of the Sahara to the snow of the Col de Turini, up to the hard asphalt. And it will be possible to read the exploits of pilots such as Biasion, Mäkinen, Kankkunen, Mouton, Pinto, Sainz, to be read in a special hall of fame. Mariella Mengozzi, director of Mauto says that with this exhibition, “Mauto confirms its role as an international museum institution: the excellence of the artefacts on display, the creativity and the quality of the installations express a production capacity that aligns us with the most renowned museums in the world. Let’s consider this show the real starting point after the pandemic period ”.
There are 19 exemplary protagonists of the challenges that have become legend, which narrate the exploits of drivers and racing teams. Starting from the 60s with the BMC Mini Cooper S (1966), the Ford Cortina Lotus (1966) and the Ford Escort RS Miki (1969), passing from room to room you cross the 70s, with the Porche 911 st ( 1970), the Lancia Fulvia Coupè HF 1.6 (1970), the Fiat 124 Spider (1971), the Alpine Renault A110 (1973), the Lancia Stratos (1976), the Fiat 131 Abarth GR.4 (1978). And then the protagonists of the great challenges between the 80s and 90s, the Lancias in Martini racing livery – Lancia rally 037 (1984), Lancia Delta S4 (1986), Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v (1990), Lancia Delta HF Evoluzione. Safari (1992) – with their antagonists Audi quattro (1981), Renault R5 Turbo (1981), Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 (1986), courtesy of the l’Aventure Peugeot museum in Sochaux (France), and the Toyota Celica GT -4 ST165 (1990). “The exhibition itinerary aims to reconstruct the exciting atmosphere of rallies in the phases of greatest popularity of the specialty”, underlines the curator, Stefano Macaluso. Flagship of the exhibition? The rare example of the Fiat X1 / 9 Abarth prototype, on the development of which Gino Macaluso worked, as project manager, for the Fiat racing team, on behalf of engineer Aurelio Lampredi. And then the Fiat Punto S1600, winner of the Sanremo Rally in 2001, the spearhead of the racing team founded by Macaluso to participate in the Junior World Rally Championship.