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Monte Carlo 'Historique' Rally comes through Beaune
Beaune, Saturday 2 February - great cars from the 50s, 60s and 70s including marks such as MG, Jaguar, Mini Cooper, Triumph, Alpha-Romeo and Renault came through Beaune early this morning as part of the 11th edition of the "Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique" from 31 January to 6 February. It was a stage stop for teams coming on from Reims and Copenhagen supervised by François Belorgey, President of the Beaune Sports Car Association and himself a former participant in Monte Carlo rallies. The rally,organized by the Monaco Automobile Club which also organizes the Monaco Grand Prix, is co-ordinated by Michel Ferry, President of the Club's 'Collector's Car Commission' across the whole of Europe with 331 teams starting the rally from 5 different cities - Barcelona, Copenhagen, Monte-Carlo, Reims and Turin. They all make their way to Valence in southern France for the rally proper with a series of stages to determine the winners. The MG Club in North London had two MGs in the Rally - from 1958 and 1964 - with a support team of Jon and June Hale and Ian Haynes - who shone brightly as they posed for a dawn photo by Beaune's city walls looking towards the historic Hotel-Dieu. The fifth year of participation for the team their van was full of all the spares and tools necessary to keep the MGs safe and well until they returned home. "We are having a great time" said June. "We also have a friend driving an Austin to raise funds for a local hospital in London." There were a number of changes for the 2008 edition of the Rally - age of eligibility for cars moved from 1976 to 1979, only cars built before 1966 could chose their average speed for the stages and Valence was chosen as the town where participants would meet up to start the stages and then to finish as the point of departure for the drive home. More on the Rally from the Monaco Automobile Club - www.acm.mc Back to Beaune News page |
