28th November 2010 - Entry confirmed

Our entry with CRX 89B Austin Mini Cooper S into the Rallye Monte Carlo Historique 2011 was confimed by the Auto Club de Monaco http://www.acm.mc/ on Friday 26th. I received the all important letter through the letter box complete with more forms to fill in and confirmation of the route instructions. If you go to their website and select the Rallye Historique tab you will find all sorts of useful information - detailed route instructions, entry list, plus a new and informative background history to the route and special stages.




I am thrilled to say that we have firm committments of sponsorship from well known Mini enthusiasts and suppliers Norton Insurance http://www.norton-ib.co.uk/ and Mini Spares http://www.minispares.com/. In consequence I am pleased to report that we will be able to begin support for our chosen charity Bliss http://www.bliss.org.uk/ helping babies born too soon, too small or too sick.




We have confirmed our sevice crew as being Nigel Chetwynd and Lisa Thornton who are great Mini and motorsporting enthusiasts from the Cotswolds. They have been building, restoring and competing Minis for over twenty tears, so have lots of experience to keep us going should any gremlins appear en route. Between them they will have to peddle furiously in our Land Rover Discovery service vehicle, whilst towing a car trailer around for most of the route, in order to see to our every need.




There are five starting town locations - Marakech, Glasgow, Warsaw, Reims or Barcelona. Only the oldest (pre-1966) and smallest cars (less than 1150cc) may opt to start from Reims or Barcelona with a shorter Concentration Run distance. Our car dates from 1964 so we qualify for the shorter route and we have opted to start in Reims. Marakech is a distance of 2600km from Monte-Carlo, whereas Reims is only 1010km saving 1600km. No one won the Monte-Carlo rally from the Concentration Run, but many have lost it, so whilst it is an integral part of this unique and very special rally, the easier you can make this element on the car the better.




See the map below for an idea of how the starting towns are distributed around Europe and the distances to be travelled.















The cars start at their different starting towns in accord with the rally time table and progressively make their way to a little mountain village in the Alps by the name of St Andre les Alpes. Here all of the cars come together or "concentrate", approximately 330 of them, before making their way toward Monte-Carlo and for the competition to really begin.



We are in a team of 6 Minis representing the Mini Cooper Register. Three of our team cars will start in Glasgow and three will start in Reims.




In my next post I will share with you more about the Mini Cooper Register team and how our preparations for the event are progressing. It is bitterly cold outside with ice and snow all about and currently no power unit in the car due to gearbox overhaul. It is a reminder of what conditions will be like if we have a breakdown at the roadside!