to celebrate the 40th anniversary
of the
mini cooper winning
the
monte carlo rally
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to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the mini cooper winning the monte carlo rally |
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A Brief Report
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40 years ago Paddy Hopkirk won the Monte Carlo Rally in a 1071 Mini Cooper S. To mark this anniversary the Mini Cooper Register arranged its ‘minis to monte’ tour. The route closely followed the route of the common run from Reims to Monte Carlo as used in the 1964 event. The entry of 58 cars left Dover on the 26th September bound for Monte Carlo. Amongst the entry were six cars which had actually competed on the Monte Carlo rally at different times including the car used by Ruano Aaltonen to finish 7th in 1964 now owned by Paul Roberts. Significantly over half of the entry were cars from the 1960’s and 70’s. The remainder being later Rover Coopers and half a dozen new MINI’s. The route took the participants from Dover to Reims via the old grand prix circuit at Reims. The second day saw the route ending at Mulhouse and a visit to the Schlumpf Collection at the National Motor Museum. From Mulhouse it was onto Aix les Bains where the cars were assembled along the lake side for the locals to view. The run on Wednesday from Aix les Bains to Gap featured the most spectacular views on the event. After leaving Gap for Monte Carlo the route took in some difficult passes, lakeside drives, tight gorges and of course the most famous pass of the all the Col d’Turini. The final night was spent in the Columbus Hotel in Monte Carlo and the final dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant. Being a non competitive event there were no winners, however, awards were made for the Car of the Event and Spirit of the Event. The car of the event was the voted on by those taking part and the clear winner was the 850 of Kenneth and Margaret Hunter. Ken’s car was parked outside the Waterfront whilst the final dinner was enjoyed. Additionally all the voting forms went in to the proverbial hat and a draw was made for 6 bottles of Champagne; the winners here were Jo Riding and Dave Brazell. The Spirit of the Event went to Tim and Anne Way. A superb event enjoyed by all, no matter whether this was their first event or they had competed in many more competitive events.
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