Berga, Catalonia. A small industrial and culturally rich city about one hundred kilometers away from Barcelona perched in the mountains of Spain.
Situated on the banks of the Canal Industrial de Berga since 1975, Cavallera had made this their home. By the late 80s, they broke out of their ownership and launched into the 90s with a somewhat successful motorsport foundation in a time of economic prosperity around the world. The engineers at Cavallera had been making cars and engines for almost 30 years at this point. This expansion of the company meant that many of the engineers and designers not only put together the cars but also raced. A few people were so driven by their passion that they even committed their free time to it as a hobby alongside working full-time at an automobile company.
Two young men, a junior test driver and an engineer, Xavier (Xavi) Llobet and Rocco Martell formed Enso, starting off as a bodyshop company that only worked with BMMAs and Erins, both each a love of the two. This story began with a crashed Salmon that rolled into their shop one day in 1991. It was no major repair, just a bumper replacement, a new radiator, new headlights and an wheel alignment job, but for Xavi that was all it took it to spark a new infatuation. Two years later he managed to save up enough money to buy a used mark 3 BMMA Dolphine. Gutting the internals, the engine bay was cleared deeming the inline 6 too weak for any performance to be extracted out of it and the drivetrain was modified to rear wheel drive, but the original gearbox was retained, the only change done was a tweak to the final gear. The Dolphine was put through a severe diet, with fibreglass panels replacing much of the exterior, out went the semi-active suspension together with most of the passenger amenities. All these changes added up to a car weighing in under a thousand kilos without an engine. What was left was to get one.
This was where Roc came into the picture. His father’s love for cars, specifically Erins had rubbed off on him as a child. The aging father decided to hand over his beloved 1986 mark 1 Erin Scarlet X. Roc quickly realised the car had not fared well after all the enthusiastic driving it had taken, so the best choice would be to save what could be and find a different Erin. Extracting the 3.6L V8 from the now retired British beast, the two began the process of overhauling the engine. By the time the engine had been fully modified with a displacement enlargement, race spec cams, exhaust and intakes, custom ECU with tuning, an uprated fuel system and ignition timing changes among many other small tweaks, the summer of 1994 had arrived. It had been a long and tiring process but they were nearing the goal. The last of the fabrication steps commenced ensuring the powerplant was securely mounted and breathing in the BMMA. Remaining exterior functional parts like wings and lips were fitted and the required extra cooling was accommodated for.
After three months of hard toil, the car was finally in one piece but had nothing under its belt. And so commenced the enduring process of tuning and testing on the road, on the mountain passes and canyon routes as well as the track.
(out of narrative, this is just some technical info for comparison)
Powered by a 382 horsepower naturally aspirated 3.9L Erin V8, the tuned Dolphine nicknamed “Sprint-RE” can go from 0-100 in 4.5 seconds, hit a top speed of 277kph and corners at over 1.3g average while weighing 1020kg. It manages an impressive 12.2L/100km, netting an estimated 435 km range. On the ATT it completes a lap from a standstill in 2:05.86.
Xavi and Roc found out about the GAR through word of mouth on the street racing scene. The notoriety and scandalous nature made news of the event spread like wildfire and being young frisky bloods, they were drawn to entering like moths to a flame. Fueled by their potentially overenthusiastic belief their own workshop, engineering and driving abilities they set off to Malaga with basic necessities and all of the hot-blooded youth.
Olvan, 7th of October, 1995. 5:32 AM
“Get in, oncle, it’s cold outside!” shouted Rocco through the wound-down window.
It was a chilly morning high in the Spanish mountains. Wispy mist swirled through the small towns perched in rocky crevices cut into the face of the Catalan landscape. The cold early morning wind whipped the mop that was Xavi’s hair.
Xavi took a moment to look up and down the length of the Dolphine before gripping the door handle. “Ah man, what kind of idiot idea was it to wake up this early, you son of a…” he griped, opening the door. “At least this car is an absolute beauty. Looks savage, sounds raucous.”
Putting the Dolphine into gear, Roc grinned. “Do you want to make it to this race or what? There’s a 12 hour drive ahead and then a race across the continent so if you’re going to complain about this we won’t be getting very far.”
A few silent minutes passed as they rolled down the desolate roads, they were abandoned at this ungodly hour, so Roc decided it would be a good time to further prod Xavi. Stomping on the throttle caused the Dolphine to gurgle as the intakes opened up and the highly strung 8 cylinder inhaled deeply. The car jolted forwards as it accelerated unexpectedly, pushing it’s occupants back hard. Xavi’s eyes opened wide and his hand shot out groping in the air for something reassuring to hold on to at this sudden punch to his guts.
“Capullo!” he swore over the sound of his friend cracking up next to him.
“Why do you always choose times like these to mess with me, you bastard! Damn it, man.”
Roc reached over to playfully hit him on his head, “You need to wake up, that’s all. You’re driving in an hour, so, get prepared.”
[…]
The day wore on to the backing track of the droning straight piped Erin V8 and they had done two shifts each. The sun had emerged and was sparkling up above the pair.
“How much longer, tío?” asked Rocco.
“Pff - and you say I’m the one who complains too much!” snorted Xavi.
“Who’s complaining? I’m asking a question, now answer,” he replied.
“Alright, alright. We left Valencia about two hours ago which means we have about 5 hours left to do, just a little over halfway.”
“Good, we’ll make it there in time for tomorrow morning,” Roc mused.
Xavi shuffled around in his seat and yawned. Shutting his eyes he said, “Wake me up when it’s my turn to drive,” slyly.
“Oh you’re a real lazy fucker,” Roc replied, laughing while slowly stepping on the accelerator.
~BMMA Dolphine speeding off into the horizon~