THE hills above the north west Italian town of San Remo reverberated to the sound of highly tuned rally car engines last weekend when the Sanremo Historic Rally hit town.

The mouth watering sight of cars like the Porsche 911 RS, Lancia Stratos HF, Lancia Delta Integrale, Alfa Rome 1750 GT AM, Alpine Renault 110, Renault 5 Turbo and many more tackled 147 km of closed tarmac roads over 11 special stages during the course of two days.

Local interest was in Steve Perez and Raglan's Paul Spooner competing in a Porsche 911RS. Seeded 21st out of 62 starters, Perez and Spooner proved the seeding was right when they finished fifth in class C5 and 21st overall. They were also the first British crew to finish.

After adding another rally to his impressive CV, Spooner explained, "I really enjoyed my first Sanremo, and can see why it is a must do event."