The rewarding, testing and unforgiving roads of Mallorca provided a mighty challenge to the 150 cars and crews who enjoyed the Trofeo Baleares in March. Based near the capital Palma, four days provided competitors with 11 stages and a race-circuit finale.
By far the most spectacular stage was Sa Calobra on the third day. This was a steep narrow road, at times unprotected by barriers of any sort, which clung to the edge of a precipice and rose from sea level to 800 metres over 8 kilometers.
1977 Le Mans winner, Jurgen Barth, was the overall winner and displayed a complete mastery of the challenge, leading home World Rally Champion Walter Rohrl in a one/two for Porsche 911s. Coping well with the often-narrow roads were John and Jan Bosch in their Ferrari Daytona LM displaying very precise car control with the big machine.
Dick Waaijenburg suffered a lack of brakes on his Mustang, “not what you need here!” whilst David Franklin suffered from flu and a lack of gears on his example. Keeping the cars on the tarmac was a basic requirement and steep drops beckoned the unwary. One Porsche 911 left the tarmac and landed nearly ten metres below road level.
Mallorca in March is free of traffic and the roads provide some ideal driving experiences, the Trofeo Baleares deserves competitors’ closer attention and wider participation in 2004.
Submitted by Peter Collins
