Our usual suspects Jan Woien / Jan Erik Hansen and Jose / Maria Romao de Sousa are entered on the Rally Round Samurai Challenge this year. Rally Round describes the Samurai Challenge as “the first UK-organised competitive rally ever to visit Japan, running over 23 days in Spring 2017 – cherry blossom season – when crews will compete on a series of regularity sections along a spectacular route of 3,272km (2,033miles) from Fukuoka in the south to Lake Toya in the north.” A relatively gentle drive compared to some of the previous rallies Jan and Jan Erik have entered!
The cars
Jose and Maria Romao de Sousa are driving their Alvis Speed 20 SA. The car was comprehensively restored by Earley Engineering in the 90’s and is still in fine order. Enjoyed now more than ever and driven energetically for the last few years . Since Jose has owned the car, he has competed in a number of events including two ERA Flying Scotsman rallies and two HERO 1000 Mile Trials, coming 3rd in class on the 2015 Flying Scotsman and taking the Concourse d’Elegance prize at the 2015 1000 Mile Trial.
Jan Woien and Jan Erik Hansen will compete in their Alvis Speed 20/25 . The car has competed, and achieved brilliant results, in several endurance rally events including the Rally Round Tiger Rally Malaysia 2012, ERA Vintage Cape Horn 2013, ERA Trans America Challenge 2015, and the ERA Flying Scotsman 2016. As usual, we expect good things from this highly competitive duo in “The Black Rocket”!
The cars are undergoing final preparations and test drives this week before they are shipped out to Japan at the end of January.