{"id":499193,"date":"2021-03-09T15:05:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T23:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=117266"},"modified":"2024-02-12T13:52:58","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T13:52:58","slug":"monte-carlo-rally-110-years-of-maximum-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/monte-carlo-rally-110-years-of-maximum-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Monte Carlo Rally – 110 Years of Maximum Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>If ever there is a breeding ground for heroes it is the Monte Carlo Rally, organized by the Automobile Club de Monaco and now celebrating its 110th<\/sup> anniversary. Today, the most prestigious event in the world championship is three days of high speed poker. It is played out by supermen, able to squeeze and slither their sophisticated electronic missiles through the narrow roads and dozens of hairpins of the French Alps over 15 timed special stages at an average<\/em> of about 75 mph.\u00a0 And, more often than not, they do so on ice or snow or a mixture of both.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t always like that. When His Serene Highness Prince Albert I of Monaco inaugurated the Monte Carlo Rally back in 1911, it was billed as a \u201crace of comfort through Europe\u201d and had a multiplicity of starting points that included Paris, Brussels and Berlin. Drivers could almost sit back and enjoy the countryside as they wended their way to the Principality, because the time allowed to cover the distance called for a mere 7 mph average speed. The winner of the 1911 Monte was one Henri Rougier in a Turcat-Mery. We have no record of who won the prize for the best decorated car, but there was one!<\/p>\n

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Henri Rougier and his 25-hp Turcat-Mery before the start of the inaugural Monte Carlo rally in 1911.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The genteel formula soon gave way to a rather complex system whereby the cars would start from various geographical locations more or less equidistant from Monte Carlo. It is a wonder the first Briton to win the event in 1926 ever got started. He was the Honourable Victor Bruce and he decided to set out from northern Scotland, but the snow was so deep en route to his point of departure that he almost didn\u2019t get there. Severely taxed before he started, Bruce did eventually set off on his 1,530-mile marathon to Monaco and victory.<\/p>\n

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Not your typical rally car. This Vanvooren-bodied Ballot took part in the 1928 Monte Carlo Rally. (Peter Larsen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Worse still, Donald Healey of Austin-Healey fame decided to compete in the 1931 Monte in a 4,500-cc Invicta open sports car, an especially courageous choice as he opted to start from Stavanger in Norway. He had to cover 2,000 freezing miles in the topless car before he made the balmier climes of the Monte Carlo, but the tough little man won the rally. Average speeds had risen to around 40 mph by the mid-\u201930s and the entry had increased to over 200 cars a year, all battling manfully for glory on the icy roads of France. That caught the eye of the press, who started devoting acres of space to the rally, which in turn attracted the car manufacturers who would soon begin to enter works teams. It wasn\u2019t exactly Henry Ford\u2019s \u201cwin on Sunday, sell on Monday\u201d concept, but victory in the Monte Carlo Rally did project a much more exciting image of the mundane sedans languishing in showrooms across Europe.<\/p>\n

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1934 Monte Carlo rally. The Railton-Terraplane of De-Ribeiro & Ferreira.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Weather has always been a crucial factor to the Monte, which was known for years as the only international winter rally. Snow and ice abounded as cars, large and small, tried to fight their way to victory. And that meant making the right tire choice. By the mid-\u201970s, manufacturers were taking thousands of their round black doughnuts to the Monte in all kinds of structures, tread compounds and patterns. And that was where a lot of poker playing acumen came in: making the right tire choice. Weather conditions can change dramatically on a 20-mile special stage in the Alps, meaning the right tires for the start of a stage could be totally wrong for the rest of it. So teams began setting up tire change \u201cpit stops\u201d mid-stage. Now, though, it seems global warming has hit the Monte too, as triple world champion Sebasti\u00e9n Loeb won the 2007 rally in a Citro\u00ebn C4 WRC on pristine asphalt.<\/p>\n