Held in the shadow of Mont Blanc in the cozy alpine town of Chamonix, it was a round-the-clock two-driver rallycross ice race staged in the winter off season for over 30 years...
We should really say races* plural - while the event was held through the night, there were various heats culminating in a grand final.
France’s second-most famous 24-hour motorsport affair after Le Mans, Chamonix operated outside the FIA regulations and attracted a raft of famous names from all disciplines of racing – Formula 1, included! It also allowed Group B cars rendered otherwise obsolete by the category’s ban in 1986 to continue to compete, racing literally door-to-door with less-extreme production-based all-wheel-drive cars, most of which were born in France. Matra Murena, anyone?
Pictured are the mighty Lancia Delta S4 Corsa Group Bs contesting the 1987 edition of the 24 Hours of Chamonix. Crucially, the number-three Works car of Miki Biasion and Bruno Saby was the last Works Lancia Martini Racing Team-entered Delta S4 to compete, crowning an epic chapter of the marque’s story. Note the early experimental prototype centre-lock wheels.
Photos courtesy of the Girardo & Co. Archive – click here to discover over five million purchasable motorsport photos spanning five decades.