Monte Carlo Rally
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The Monte Carlo Rally (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco who also organize the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix. The rally takes place along the French Riviera in the Principality of Monaco and southeast France.
From its inception in 1911 by Prince Albert I, this rally, under difficult and demanding conditions, was an important means of testing the latest improvements and innovations to automobiles. Winning the rally gave the car a great deal of credibility and publicity. Since 1973, the race has been held in January as the first race of the FIA World Rally Championship and as recently as 1991, competitors were able to choose their starting points from approximately five venues roughly equidistant from Monaco itself. With often varying conditions at each starting point, typically comprising dry tarmac, wet tarmac, snow, and ice, sometimes all in a single stage of the rally. This places a big emphasis on tyre choices, as a driver has to balance the need for grip on ice and snow with the need for grip on dry tarmac. For the driver, this is often a difficult choice as the tyres that work well on snow and ice normally perform badly on dry tarmac.
This rally features one of the most famous special stages in the world. The stage is run from La Bollène to Sospel, or the other way around, over a steep and tight mountain road with many hairpin turns. On this route it passes over the Col de Turini, which normally has ice and/or snow on sections of it at that time of the year. Spectators also throw snow on the road — in 2005, Marcus Grönholm and Petter Solberg both ripped a wheel off their cars when they skidded on snow probably placed there by spectators, and crashed into a wall. Grönholm went on to finish fifth, but Solberg was forced to retire as the damage to his car was extensive.
The Turini is also driven at night, with thousand of fans watching the "Night of Turini", also known as the "Night of the Long Knives" due to the strong high beam lights cutting through the night.[1][2] In the 2007 edition of the rally, the Turini was not used, but it returned for the 2008 route.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Past winners
(list by driver / co-driver and vehicle type)
[edit] 1911-1929
| Year | Winner | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1911 | Henri Rougier — (Turcat-Mery) | Aspaigu — (Gobron) | Jules Beutler — (Martini) |
| 1912 | Jules Beutler — (Berliet) | Von Eismark — (Dunkop) | Meuiner — (Delaunay-Belleville) |
| 1924 | Jacques Edouard Ledure — (Bignan) | de Marquet — (Métallurgique) | Barbillon — (Bignan) |
| 1925 | François Repusseau — (Renault) | Mertens — (Lancia Lambda) | Lamarche — (FN) |
| 1926 | Victor A. Bruce/W J Brunell — (Autocarrier) | Bussienne — (Sizaire Frères) | Marika — (Citroën) |
| 1927 | Lefebvre/Despaux — (Amilcar) | Clausse — (Celtic-Bignani) | Bussienne — (Sizaire-Frères) |
| 1928 | Jacques Bignan — (Fiat) | Malaret — (Fiat) | Versigny — (Talbot) |
| 1929 | Sprenger van Euk — (Graham-Paige) | Szmick — (Weiss-Manfred) | Visser — (Lancia) |
[edit] 1930-1949
| Year | Winner | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | Hector Petit — (Licorne) | Al Berlesco — (DeSoto) | A. Blin D'Orimont — (Studebaker) |
| 1931 | Donald Healey — (Invicta) | J P Wimille — (Lorraine) | Lucy Schell — (Bugatti) |
| 1932 | M Vaselle/ — (Hotchkiss) G. de Lavelette/C. de Cortanze — (Peugeot) |
Donald Healey — (Invicta) | B Ivanovsky — (Ford) |
| 1933 | M Vaselle — (Hotchkiss) | R Guyot — (Renault) | Roualt/Quinlin — (Salmson) |
| 1934 | Gas/Trevoux — (Hotchkiss) | Chauvierre — (Chenard-Walcker) | Donald Healey — (Triumph Gloria) |
| 1935 | Christian Lahaye / R. Quatresous — (Renault) | J C Ridley — (Triumph Gloria) | Lucie Schell — (Delahaye) |
| 1936 | L. Zamfirescu / P.G. Cristea — (Ford) | Lucie Schell — (Delahaye) | C Lahaye / R Quatresous — (Renault) |
| 1937 | René Le Bègue / Julio Quinlin — (Delahaye) | P de Massa / L Mahe — (Talbot) | M Jacobs / T de Boer — (Buick) |
| 1938 | G.Bakker Schut/ K.Ton — (Ford) | Jean Trevoux / Marcel Lesurque — (Hotchkiss) | C Lahaye / R Quatresous — (Renault) |
| 1939 | Jean Trevoux/Marcel Lesurque — (Hotchkiss) J Paul/M Contet — (Delahaye) |
No second place, joint first place |
E Mutsaerts / A Kouwenberg — (Ford) |
| 1949 | Jean Trevoux / Marcel Lesurque — (Hotchkiss) | M Worms / E Mouche — (Hotchkiss) | F Dobry / Z Treybal — (Bristol) |
