Classic cars and super-yachts at Mallorca’s most luxurious rally event, the Oris Rally Clásico at Puerto Portals
Thanks to its clubbing capital Magaluf, Mallorca has developed an unfair reputation as a place full of barely-clothed, sunburnt Brits, all clambering over each other to contract the latest, greatest sexually transmitted disease. There are a few locations actively attempting to repair that perception, though, by attracting lovers of sport and culture to the island, rather than lovers of ‘what was her name again?’ from Thursday night’s foam party. One of those locations is Puerto Portals, a small marina just outside Palma and a mere 15 minutes up the coast from the home of all-you-can-drink sambuca and two-day hangovers.
In early March each year, Puerto Portals offers a very different sort of soundtrack: howling, chattering engines. As the home of the Oris Rally Clásico for the past 12 years, scores of iconic rally cars, old and new, line the harbour before thundering off down the island’s more rural roads in surprisingly fierce competition. Every evening, the circus reconvenes at the port for food, drink and to trade the day’s war stories.
Puerto Portals clearly takes some inspiration from that most famous and exclusive of motorsport venues, Monte Carlo. Inaugurated only in 1986, the modestly-sized harbour offers mooring for 639 vessels, up to 60ft, and a range of restaurants, bars and designer boutiques to lighten the wallet once you’re ashore. It’s been a favourite of Spanish celebrities and royals for years, but remains relatively unknown in the UK.
In spite of its well-heeled clientèle and occasionally astronomical price tags, there’s a rather casual, relaxed air to the port itself. While the eye is immediately drawn to Tristan’s, the immaculate restaurant located at the entrance of the port, word is that the former King of Spain, Juan Carlos, prefers Flanigan. Not, as it turns out, an Irish pub full of bellowing ex-pats, but instead a casual, island-style hangout serving fresh seafood and traditional Spanish fare. Graze on tapas to start, sink an enormous spiced steak tartar and finish off with Flanigan’s signature caramelised apple pie. That’s exactly the sort of royal decree I can get behind.
If you’re not planning on getting behind the wheel, Mallorca’s own Biniagual vineyard produces wines that take advantage of the island’s traditional techniques and unique geology. Bottles such as the 2012 Memòries de Biniagual – a smoky and fantastically distinctive red – are not widely available elsewhere in Europe because of the increased cost to export from the island, so it’s best to indulge while you can.
If your finances aren’t quite yet at the stage where you can sail into Puerto Portals on a crisp, white Sunseeker, you could do a lot worse than a stay at the newly refurbished four-star Hotel Son Caliu, which serves as a base for the event and its participants.
(Picture credit: Mike Channell)
After a long day of being rattled around in the cockpit of a turbocharged rally weapon, visiting the hotel’s impressive spa, with its heated pool, steam room and huge menu of elaborate treatments, must be something close to a religious experience.
There’s also a vast terrace that’s ideal for undoing all that detoxing over the course of a lazy summer’s evening, as well as a spacious outdoor pool and access to a small beach with crystal clear waters.
Following the route of the rally up into the Serra de Tramuntana, a ridge of mountains that runs along the north side of the island, reveals one of Mallorca’s best kept secrets. The competitive ‘special stage’ that wends its way through the dramatic, imposing limestone peaks must surely rate among the greatest driving roads of all time. Dizzyingly sheer drops, tight switchbacks, even scything through the rock itself are all treats that await you if you have the nerve for it. Suddenly the Rally Clasico’s presence in this somewhat obscure corner of the Mediterranean makes perfect sense.
Naturally, if you have access to more modest wheels you can drive these spectacular passes yourself and it’s the perfect place to test the theory that the fastest car in the world is a rental car.
Alternatively, but only for the seriously committed, it’s becoming an increasingly popular spot for cyclists to test their endurance up the thigh-burning inclines.
For the rest of us, the recent attentions of lycra enthusiasts (they prefer that term to ‘velocipedophiles’ for some reason) have led to more frequent flights to the island these days. Easyjet and Ryanair will get you there from Gatwick, Luton or Stansted, while British Airways and Iberia fly direct from City Airport, where you might avoid being cheek-by-jowl with 18 separate stag parties.
As the rally comes to a close on Saturday night with a convivial prize-giving ceremony in Cappuccino Grand Cafe, a classically styled cocktail bar and music venue, it’s difficult to reconcile the refined Puerto Portals experience with the fact that Magaluf in all its horrifying glory lies only five miles to the West.
It may still take some time for the region to fully shake that reputation, but those in the know will cling to this most precious of secrets for as long as they can.