I once pondered whether the “historic” appellation was applied to the competitors or their cars (personally, I’m only just pre-31/12/1965). However we now have to conclude that this applies purely to the cars as in this year’s HMCR, Rauno Aaltonen (81) convincingly reset the standard that we must apply to ourselves.
Yet my personal patina was enhanced this week as the Automobile Club de Monaco have given “un coup de jeune” and expanded their list of eligible treasures for the January 2021 event.
The previous 1980 cut-off date gave a refreshingly diverse list of cars (all entered in period). The new additions (detailed below) give a welcome opportunity to dust off rally exotica ranging from the legendary Audi Quattro, Lancia 037, Renault 18 Turbo… to a Reliant Kitten.
The event is the holy grail of regularity rallying. Despite setting off from civilisation next year (Bad Homburg / Barcelona / Milan / Monte-Carlo / Oslo / Reims), this event is no trip to the pub.
The GPS tracking (using the “Tripy-R”) gives unforgiving real time accuracy to a 10th second. Roughly 15% of the field is quickly side-lined by navigational, time management or mechanical gremlins.
The roads chosen by the ACM are challenging in Summer. In wintery and nocturnal conditions, the low sounding averages (under 50 kmh) must be maintained regardless of the gradient, camber, narrowness of the road or the tightness of the lacet. When mixed with the accuracy of the Tripy-R, even former rally champions find this to be a challenge.
It’s a great event and I firmly agree with Greta Thunberg, we do need to have proper winters.
But proper wintery conditions or not, what will these “new” historic rally cars do for the event? Is it simply thinning out the whole concept or are they a breath of fresh air? Dear ViaRETRO reader, what say you?
The full list is given below:
RAMC 1981
AUDI QUATTRO – CITROEN VISA SUPER – DATSUN BLUEBIRD RS TURBO- FIAT 127 SPORT – LADA 1300 – NISSAN LANGLEY – OPEL KADETT D 1300S – PEUGEOT 505 SRD et STI – PEUGEOT 604 – RELIANT KITTEN – RENAULT 5 TURBO – TOYOTA STARLET – VOLVO 242 GT
RAMC 1982
ALFA-ROMEO ALFASUD SPRINT – BMW 323i – BMW 635 CSi – CITROEN VISA TROPHEE – FERRARI 308 GTB – FIAT RITMO 105 TC – FORD ESCORT XR3 – ISUZU GEMINI – LANCIA BETA HPE – MATRA MURENA – MAZDA 323 – MAZDA 818 – MITSUBISHI LANCER TURBO – PORSCHE 924 CARRERA GTS – RENAULT 5 ALPINE TURBO – SEAT 124 2000
RAMC 1983
ALFA-ROMEO ALFETTA GTV6 – CITROEN VISA CHRONO – FIAT PANDA – FIAT RITMO ABARTH – FORD ESCORT RS 1600i – LANCIA 037 – NISSAN 240 RS – NISSAN PULSAR COUPE – NISSAN SILVIA – OPEL MANTA B GTE – RENAULT 18 TURBO – SEAT RITMO 75 – SUBARU LEONE 1800 – TALBOT SAMBA GLS et RALLYE
Source: ACM – Rallye Monte Carlo Historique
