131 Rallying in Turkey

[Administrator]

Forum member Yagmur from Turkey used to drive 131s competitively in Turkey and has sent us by email the  photo below from his 1982 archives.

Maybe Yagmur can tell us a bit more about the photograph, the rally and how well he did on this occasion 

 

[Administrator]

Forum member Yagmur has been in touch by email and said the 131 above did not belong to him and it was driven by a lady driver at the Gunaydın Rally of  Turkey and came 10th overall. It's good to know there are ladies out there who also appreciate 131s.

Yagmur also sent in by email the photos of the Tofas Works cars below with the following message:

These pictures are the works cars of Tofas. The 124 they entered in the 1974 London to Munich Rally and finished 8th overall.The drivers were: Ali Sipahi and Azmi Avcıoğlu.

The rally was very long, started from London and went to France, Portugal, Spain, all over Africa, Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, Austria, Munich and Germany.

Tofas made the body in Turkey (they made the screens from plexiglass, light door panels) and sent the car to İtaly--Fiat Company. They put a standard 1600cc engine, an LSD and good suspension. This car now is at Tofas Museum. Formula 1 driver Stirling Moss, Andrew Cowan, Shekhar Mehta, etc..entered this rally also.

The 131 drivers were: Azmi Avcıoğlu and Beyza Avcıoğlu, (wife&husband team). They became Turkish Rally Champion in 1977 with this car. The car was red in colour with black wheel arches. It was 1300cc, with double Weber 45 DCOEs, Abarth gearbox, Colotti LSD, Bilstein suspension, Cromodora 13 inch wheels, Cibie spot lights, Dunlop tyres, Momo steering wheel. The dashboard was same as 131 Abarth(Turkish made).

Best wishes
Yagmur

[simon131]

Absolutely brilliant photos!!! Took me right back to those great days of rallying!!!

Theo, I like your comment regarding 'ladies out there who also appreciate 131s'. I hope my wife does I foolishly let the MoT expire on her BMW? - and today she's using the Abarth for the school run

At least my son appreciates it? He thinks it's cool to be taken to school in a red rally car, but the wife is rather worried about the left hand drive!!

[Thotos]

So why couldn't you take the Abarth and give your BMW to your wife? I bet it's because she really wanted to take the Abarth to school. I can see all the mums standing outside the school saying "so have you got twin downdroughts on that or have you kept it standard...."

[simon131]

Long story but basically -

1) I drove it from home to my work at Heathrow (and back again!) in yesterdays rush hour, via the M3 and M25 which was OK to a point, but the crumple zones on a 31 year FIAT are not as good as the car I nearly ran in the back of after all of the traffic went from 65mph to zero mph in three car lengths!! Brakes worked well though!!

2) 31 year old electrics struggle - especially when lights, heater fan, wipers and heated rear window are all on together! I even got a spark or two yesterday!!

3) I have to swipe my identity card past a reader to gain access to staff car parks - see what's coming here? - my Abarth is left hand drive and all of the readers are therefore on the wrong side of the car! Oh, and there are three gates to get through!! the people in the cars behind tend to get a bit ratty!

4) I currently have no radio in my Abarth - so can't hear the traffic reports. Not that this is really a very valid reason as the sound of the constantly resonating exhaust drowns out everything else!

5) I have to park it in a car park that is also used by trucks and vans.

[Thotos]

OK, valid points. I certainly know the problem of being on the wrong side of the car when I had to negotiate all the toll booths from the wrong side all the way from the UK to Turin and back. Even the ticket machine at the UK side of the Eurotunnel was on the wrong side!

But go on, tell us how many times you've called your wife to make sure the car managed the school run without any problems...   

Surely you are going to fit some sounds before going to the 3MA? I have an original  Voxhon radio somewhere....

[Administrator]

Forum member Yagmur has emailed another rallying photo from his archive. The 131 below is another works car of the Tofas Rally Group. The colours were yellow and green with black wheel arches.

Thanks Yagmur for sharing your photos with us.