Sandro Munari was known as ‘il drago’ – the dragon – and his following at home in Italy was such that his most devoted fans used to kiss the asphalt he had just driven on. Munari was everything a rally driver should be: insanely competitive, constantly on opposite lock, and as excitable as Fidel Castro in a missile crisis. Munari became the first person to win the Monte Carlo Rally three times in a row and he also made the twisty mountain roads of Sanremo his own. Visit the old stages now, and you can still see the word ‘Munari’ daubed in fading paintwork on more than one crumbling wall. Surprisingly, Munari only won his home rally once, but this is Italy and he was driving a Lancia Stratos, so who’s counting?
In 1967 il drago won the Italian Rally Championship driving a Lancia Fulvia HF Coupé for the first time, and in the same year his employers decided to try him out on the Targa Florio in the same car...
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