Who's the driver - 1984 ERC in Austria

[Jesper OH]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMP-nvs0CVo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClDoO...eature=related

Who's the driver of the Ellen Betrix Fiat Ritmo in the division 1 C-final? Found at about 6m30s. He or she proceeds to the B-final of division 1, but the driver seems somehow to have avoided attention, as there is no record of a Fiat Ritmo driver scoring any points in Austria at all!

http://www.rallycross.de/history/fia...1984_div1.html

Jesper

[rx-guru]

Built as a Group A Fiat Ritmo 125 TC by Austrian Andy Bentza for the 1983 ERC. In his home series Andy went on with his Lancia Stratos HF 3.0 to become the 1983 Austrian RX Champion. The car was later upgraded to 130 TC specs and at least once driven in Austria by lady driver Gaby Husar (also sponsored by Ellen Betrix). For 1984 the Ritmo went to Andy’s protégé Christoph Dirtl, son of famous Vienna State Opera ballet dancer Willi Dirtl. The later Rally driver claimed third place of the 1984 Austrian RX Championship (D1) with that Group A 130 TC.

http://kartveranstaltungen.at/index.htm

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Dirtl

[Jesper OH]

Thank you for the quick reply, Eddy, but why don't Dirtl appears in the points?

Jesper

[rx-guru]

According to the docs of the 1984 Austrian ERC round at Fuglau Christoph Dirtl set only one qualifying time and, thereby, should not have been in the finals. In my D1 results list he was first placed 9th overall, but later removed while the following drivers were all upgraded. That is the reason why Dirtl cannot be found in the 1984 ERC final standings.

[Jesper OH]

Thank you for the explanation. What a disgrace that Dirtl was even allowed to start the C-final then!

Jesper

[rx-guru]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Thank you for the explanation. What a disgrace that Dirtl was even allowed to start the C-final then!

Jesper

Yep, sometimes strange things happened in Austria in those days and even stranger things at Fuglau… However, Dirtl was a quick man. In that ERC round he set the fastest time in practice as well as in the second qualifying runs. In his first and third heat he retired. But in those days all the retired drivers got just one more point as the slowest of that heat. Therefore, Dirtl had only 21 points (1 for the second heat, 20 for the third) after the qualification and made it to the front row of the C final grid and by his win to the last row of the B grid. Coz somebody simply forgot that two completed runs were needed in the first place.