HEUER & WRC

I was reading the “HISTORY OF WRC” and saw something very interesting 😉

As we all know, HEUER is the go-to dashboard timers in any kind of motorsports back in the days. I was very keen and interested to see Heuer and its role in early WRC. The inaugural season of the FIA sanctioned WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP started in the year 1973. At that time, they didn’t have Driver’s Title yet (1973-1976) but were competed by several manufacturers in 13 International Rounds. The inaugural Manufacturer’s Title was awarded to Alpine-Renault with their legendary WRC Champion the Alpine A110 (1800). 😀

One particular round that came as surprise to me in that inaugural year was the Press-On-Regardless (POR) Rally which was an event organized by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). The POR Rally was entirely played on gravel at Detroit, Michigan and was an OFFICIAL FIA WRC event (1973 &1974) It was the FIRST WRC in USA and the 25th POR Rally, and among those that competed that year was a lone 2nd Generation TOYOTA COROLLA driven by Canadians Walter Boyce & Doug Woods.

These Canadian guys, rallying a Japanese Car on American soil were sponsored by HEUER and ultimately WON that WRC POR rally! It was a FIRST VICTORY for TOYOTA in WRC 👍👍 Although the POR Rally is a lesser known event in the WRC calender, it gained traction and popularity until the OIL CRISIS hit and all forms of motorsports took a deep dive.

Nonetheless, it was a well deserved VICTORY, probably not well known to many of us. TOYOTA will regain dominance in WRC in the 90s with WRC Legends Carlos Sainz, Juha Kankkunen and Didier Auriol, and now in the 2020s with WRC Legend Sebastien Ogier driving for WRC Toyota Gazoo Racing 👍👍

TOYOTA & HEUER (TAG Heuer) 🥰🥰

Just sharing my JOY and PASSION! 😀
STAY SAFE always guys! 😉

Is that the drive for the Halda coming off the front wheel?

I had to google what you mean by Halda sir @Pitfitter446 but most probably Yes 😉 I'm learning something new everyday 😀

Sorry, only ever known it as a Halda, although as I type this the term Tripmaster comes to mind, think the ones I dealt with were also driven from the front wheel but not in that fashion, non driven wheel so that wheelspin does not affect the readings.
They also make taxi meters.

Thanks for this sir @abrod520 👍 Hard to believe initially on a “Press-On-Regardless” Rally which I’ve really never heard of until a couple of days ago 😲

Looking at its history, “Press-On-Regardless” was the unofficial rallycry by the Royal Air Force (RAF) fliers declared by Winston Churchill during WW II to strengthen their resolve and to “never give in” 👍

Alluding to the toughest terrain in rally, I’ve come to appreciate the meaning. I also like the Automobile (Rally) and Aviation (RAF) link of this event, similar to how the Heuer AUT-AVIA was coined and later on fulfilling what is to be the rally cars’ dashboard and racing drivers’ chronograph of choice 🥰