"Monte” Changes Needed

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31321, 17 March 1967, Page 9

"Monte” Changes Needed

A CLEAR-CUT decision in the Monte Carlo rally not only gave poetic justice to B.M.C. after last year’s fiasco, but should also help to ensure the continuation of this winter motoring classic, writes John Langley in the “Daily Telegraph.” Any repetition of the squabbles and ugly allegations after the headlamps affair in 1966 could have meant the end of the event ■as a serious competition. [When the results were announced in the auditorium at ■ the rally headquarters the general sense of relief felt almost as tangible as the cheers and applause that greeted the news of the Mini Cooper’s victory. All the same, there seems to be general agreement that changes will have to be made in the form and organisation of the rally if it is to recapture its former public interest and support from competitors.

One reason for this, is that it was not until the rally had been in progress for five days that we had any idea of who was winning. Officially, the rally began early on the Saturday for most competitors, but the first 1800 miles was a comparatively easy and boring run down to Monte Carlo, where the entrants from the eight starting points assembled for the first time.

So when the cars reached Monte Carlo on Monday we had no idea of their competitive position, but merely that 176 of the 195 starters had arrived. The real rally began on Tuesday, with an 800-mile mountain drive.

• It was not until Wednesday that we knew officially that Vic Elford’s Porsche was in the lead, pursued by the Mini pack. I am sure people following the regular reports on the earlier stage must have been wondering when they were going to get some hard news. To build up interest in future years I am convinced it will be necessary to introduce competitive stages on the run-in so that there will be some excitement when the cars reach Monte Carlo for the first time. Another bad rule was the limitations on the number of tyres available on category two cars for the two mountain tests. These cars, most of the entry, were restricted

New Triumph Plant

Standard-Triumph is to establish a plant in Portugal. Cars will be assembled near Oporto from this month. Initially production of 500 cars a year is planned.

to eight tyres—four on the car and four spares carried inside for each run.

The idea was to help the private entrants, but it did not have this effect and was a potential hazard to safety. A better way of helping the privateers and reducing the works teams’ costs, would be to restrict the number of types of tyres that could be used (one set of plain, one of studded, for example) but to allow replacements to be fitted, of a similar type, when necessary. Mr J. Kemsley, who organised the RAC. rally and has turned it into a world-class event within a few years, believes the Monte also suffers from too many petty rules and regulations. “Regulations should be kept to the bare minimum: they get in the way and are always a potential source of trouble,” he said. The rally results demonstrated once again the advantages, for maximum traction on slippery roads, of cars with their engines over the drive wheels, either back or front The highestplaced front-engined reardrive model was a Lotus Cortina, which finished twelfth. Of the 40 cars which completed the final 380-mile mountain race, all but 11 had the weight of an engine over (their drive wheels.