Since its inauguration in 1911 by Prince Albert I, the Monte Carlo Rally is widely regarded as one of the most difficult and demanding endurance races in the world. Running from La Bollne to Sospel over a steep and stiff mountain road full of hairpin turns and passing over the icy Col de Turini, the Monte Carlo Rally is perhaps one of the most special and prestigious rally stages in the world.
In its early years it was mainly an amateur event where ardent racing aficionados would drive their cars along hard European roads, day and night, and often under extremely difficult conditions, to get to the exotic Monaco waterfront. At that time, the aim of the Monte Carlo Rally was to create a tough rally event where global manufacturers would be able to test the durability of their automobiles as well the latest technological improvements and innovations under extremely challenging conditions.
Over the years, the winners have included many of the worlds leading car manufacturers such as Ford, Fiat, Jaguar, Renault and Lancia, but also smaller manufacturers such as Amilcar, Hotchkiss and Delahaye that have achieved major successes in the earlier years.
However, in the 1960s the Monte Carlo Rally became more prestigious than ever.
In 1960, a Mercedes Benz 220SE was the winner after a difficult scoring procedure. Then, it was the time of Mini Coopers that pretty much dominated the Monte Carlo Rally during the rest of the decade. Other winning manufacturers of the 1960s were Panhard, Porsche and Saab, signifying a complete range of competing rallying cars. However, the conditions were so demanding that each year fewer and fewer cars were actually making it to the finish. Especially, in 1965 only 35 out of 237 cars finished their race, a fact that made the Monte Carlo Rally even more exciting and prestigious. Winning the Monte Carlo Rally gave the winner a great deal of reliability and exposure.
By the end of the 1960s, the amateur spirit of the early years had been transformed to professionalism and marketing. All manufacturer teams were keen to employ the top rally drivers and mechanics aiming to maximize their chances of winning the rally. Driven also by the urge of television coverage and the potential of worldwide exposure, top factories would do the utmost to win the Monte Carlo Rally and increase their sales by targeting new car buyers in their living rooms.
Since 1973, the Monte Carlo Rally was held in January as the first race of the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) World Rally Championship. In 2009, the race has joined the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) programme. Since 1991, the participants are allowed to choose their starting points from five venues that are located almost halfway from Monte Carlo district. Each starting point comprises of different conditions, usually wet tarmac, dry tarmac, snow and ice, all in a single stage of the rally. These varying conditions require great experience from the drivers as they have to balance their cars on ice and snow as well as on dry tarmac. This is often a difficult choice because, from a mechanical point of view, the tyres that respond well on ice normally perform badly on dry tarmac.
Since its inception, the Monte Carlo Rally has come a long way. One of its most impressive parts is the Night of Turini, also known as the Night of the Long Knives because of the intense high beam lights cutting through the night. No matter the progress made and the professionalism undertaken, the memories of the small Mini Coopers are still alive today in the minds of all the rallys fans around the globe; maybe because the magnitude of the Monte Carlo Rally is in the magnificent spectacle of man and machine against the elements of nature.
0
No comments:
Post a Comment