The project involves multiple Italian Rally Champion Simone Campedelli and his entourage to make newly rebuilt FORD rally cars available to drivers.
An idea born during the 2023 Rallye Montecarlo Historique following the Farmakakis-Campedelli crew gave rise to the desire from Simone Campedelli and his contributors to create a real racing team dedicated to the great classics of the “GOLDEN AGE” of world rallying.
An international project which will see the participation of the racing team in the upcoming Rallye Montecarlo Historique, in Rally Costa Brava – Spain in mid-March following on with the Tour de Corse – Corsica in mid-October and finishing at the Acropolis Rally-Greece in November.
“DRIVE THE LEGEND” has just completed a full rebuild of the first of three units of the Ford Escort MKII, an iconic car driven in the ‘70s by drivers of the caliber of Ari Vatanen, Bjorn Waldegard, Roger Clark, Hannu Mikkola and many others such as italian ace Angelo Presotto in the Italian championship.
The cars dedicated to the “Gentleman Drivers” of Drive the Legend will be completely entrusted to exclusive use and will boast a degree of customization agreed with the crew themselves.
In the first example built in “DRIVE THE LEGEND” the customization work started from the construction of a light chassis dedicated mainly to tarmac rallies, passing through the search for the best technical components to arrive at the customization of interiors. The first car actually has auxiliary instruments dedicated to regularity events according to the crew’s requests.
The setups and colors were also agreed and customized with the drivers through 3D graphic renderings, then through the order of materials from technical suppliers.
The first car will debut in Montecarlo and this unit will bear the same name and serial number nr. 001.
The following examples will be named: ACROPOLIS – chassis 002 and
SAFARI – chassis 003.
“DRIVE THE LEGEND” is established with the aim to solve multiple problems which may be faced by the crews in this type of MARATHON rally, each lasting approximately a week.
Until today, in fact, the majority of participants are the cars’ owners who sometimes face considerable difficulties in the sporting and technical organisation of such long and complex events.
The target of “DRIVE THE LEGEND” is to satisfy its drivers by providing them with an “Arrive&Drive” service including all aspects inherent to the participation in these events starting from the supply of the new car at the start of the project, technical assistance, logistics service, the welcome of the crew and their stay during the race week, the tyres, through to the technical equipment such as overalls and helmets service.
An all-inclusive service which will allow the crew to live a pure driving experience, brin-ging them back to the ‘70s.
The quotes from the project’s main actors:
Simone Campedelli – multiple Italian rally champion driver:
“Last year at the Montecarlo Historique I experienced a week of times gone by.
From there began the desire to create and make our customers relive the emotions and glories of the past with iconic cars such as the Escort MKII.
I have wonderful memories of my five years spent driving the cars of the blue oval brand which culminated in 2019 with victory in the Targa Florio, the oldest road race in the world with Malcolm Wilson’s world champion British team.
This story couldn’t be left in a drawer, so here we are today.
We will give our drivers new, fast and customized cars based on their requests.
I believe that we will offer something unique in the world of historic MARATHON rallies and for this I must thank all our staff who have been working every day for a year now. None of this would have been possible without them”
Angelo Campedelli – DRIVE THE LEGEND team Co-Owner:
“We had the desire to create a rally team and participate in MARATHON races with an ancient flavour.
In less than a year we went from an idea written on a paper napkin one evening at dinner in France to making it real. We are proud and eager to participate in the next Rallye Montecarlo Historique.”
Gianluca Nataloni – Team Manager DRIVE THE LEGEND:
“When I was contacted by Simone and Angelo I couldn’t say no to the appeal and the coat of arms of the Ford brand and the idea of reviving it in the historic rallies mentioned above in an immersive and professional way.
My role as Team Manager of the team will allow me to undertake a journey with drivers from different nations.
We are all euphoric and all this was made possible thanks to the technical supervision of Alfonso Giacobazzi and his boys.”
Andrea Farmakakis – DRIVE THE LEGEND driver:
“Drive the Legend brought me back to living a dream, the one of rallies of the 70s.
They built a dedicated car for and with us which we will take racing on the historic roads. The car will be completely for exclusive use, an added value and we will be able to only think about having fun, the team will take care of the rest.
We can’t wait to get off the start ramp in Milan on February 1st.”
All that is left to do is to wait for the debut of “DRIVE THE LEGEND” at the Rally Montecarlo Historique Rally scheduled from 1st to 7th February 2024.