Minis to Monte 2010  26th September - 3rd October

MTM 2010 - JANUARY UPDATES

This is an update on our plans for Minis to Monte 2010, which have now being finalised into more detail and a route for the event.  As we told you last month, we propose to use parts of the Tulip Rally and the Alpine Rally, and go further to the north east of France than recent events.

The dates are Sunday 26^th September to Sunday 3^rd October. The outline is to start at Calais and head first to Reims, where we believe that an historic race meeting may be taking place on the old circuit the same weekend.  The following day we will continue east as quickly as possible to Alsace in the north east corner of France where we will pick up the route of the 1966 Tulip and tackle several cols including the Col de la Schlucht.

After a night in Mulhouse we will continue south on the 1966 Tulip route via the Ballon d’Alsace and end up in Aix Les Bains for a two-night stay.  On the fourth day we will tackle several of the classic Alpine Rally stages around Aix Les Bains before returning for a second night.  The following morning we will do more Alpine Rally classics to the north of Aix and then south and east over the Col d’Iseran, ending the day near Mont Cenis. 

The final ‘rally’ day will take us over the high passes of the Galibier, Lautaret and Izoard, which are all over 2000 metres. It was a feature of the Alpine Rally that as it was a summer event they were able to use higher passes than the Monte Carlo Rally could, but it does present us with a problem in attempting a full recce of the route in the winter months! 

We will finally tackle the familiar Turini (also used as a Tulip and Alpine stage!) before descending for a night in Monte Carlo, which we will reach on Friday 1^st October.  The idea is then to have a fast route back to somewhere north of Lyon, possibly calling in on the way at Auto-BMC at Vienne, for a final night together on Saturday, and then leaving entrants to hotfoot it back independently to the Channel ports to be home late on the Sunday evening.

Compared to previous events, 2010 will include an extra day and night and the mileage will be accordingly higher, partly as a result of starting in Calais and coming part of the way back there.  We plan to be more liberal with the use of main roads to join up the interesting bits, but without exposing entrants to endless motorways.  It is however an unfortunate truth that the interesting bits are a long way from the Channel ports! 

The entry fee will be £1600 per car (£1400 for previous entrants of any M2M event), which we believe will offer excellent value given the weakness of the £ against the €, and price inflation in France. The entry fee will include seven nights’ 3 or 4 star hotel accommodation, dinner on at least four nights, an easy to follow roadbook and the assistance of a back-up crew.  It is not a competitive event and no modifications to your car are necessary to participate, and we will try to build in short cuts for those who don’t want to ‘climb every mountain’ on the way.  The entry will be restricted to 40 cars so early application is recommended.

Register your interest here.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Minis to Ecosse 2009 has hardly finished and we are already planning our next touring event for 2010.  We are looking at changing from the format of the last three Minis to Monte, which essentially followed the route of the Monte Carlo Rally of forty years previously. Instead we are considering drawing inspiration from the routes of other 60s rallies such as the Tulip and the Coupe des Alpes, to give entrants a taste of the cols and passes that were the scene of many Mini Cooper victories.  Pat Moss scored the first works Mini Cooper victory (in a 997) on the Tulip in 1962, Paddy Hopkirk the last on the Coupe des Alpes in 1967.  This will take us further north and possibly further east than we have been in recent years, but we think both old entrants and new will find that the formula of Minis, interesting roads and like-minded company will make for an enjoyable week.

The dates will be Saturday 25th September to Sunday 3^rd October 2010, and while we have not yet finalised the details, the starting point is likely to be Calais, from where we will head towards the Alsace-Lorraine region in the north-east corner of France.  From there we plan to head south along the eastern border of France and possibly into neighbouring countries.  We are conscious that some entrants want high cols and long drops, while others prefer smooth roads and spectacular views, and we will try to plan a route that makes everybody happy. The finishing point remains to be decided, but because the majority needs to head back to the Channel, we may incorporate a route that comes at least part of the way back. 

As previously, the entry fee will include six or seven nights’ hotel accommodation, some dinners on the way, and certainly welcome and final dinners.  The entry will be restricted to 40 cars so early application is recommended, and if you are interested please contact us so that we can send you regulations as soon as they are available.