There is much to celebrate for Rally de Portugal this week, as the event celebrates its 50th anniversary. 2016 marks the 50th running of the iconic event, which first took place in 1967 and the organisers have laid-on a host of attractions at the event’s base at the EXPONOR centre in Matosinhos, just to the north of the town of Oporto.
There will be a display of iconic cars from the event’s history, including the Renault 8 Gordini of Carpinteiro Albino, which won the first rally and the Lancia Delta HF Integrale of Juha Kankkunen. The cars will be arranged in blocks corresponding to the decades of the rally, with groups representing the event from 1967-1976, 1977-1986, 1987-1996, 1997-2006 and 2007-2016.
In addition, there will also be a display of memorabilia from the history of the rally, including displays of drivers’ helmets, trophies, road books and pace notes from the rally both in the distant past and more recently. This will be accompanied by a collection of photographs and videos from the history of the event which this year, once again, welcomes the WRC crews to the first European gravel rally of the season.
Another exhibit which proved popular at last year’s rally will return, a collection of model rally cars and dioramas, showing the incredibly detailed examples in context. Finally, there will be a colouring book, for children of all ages to design and paint their own livery on a blank image of a rally car in action.
The attractions will be open from Thursday 19 May – Sunday 22 May at the EXPONOR headquarters and service park, close to Oporto.