Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Monte Carlo Historique Rally 2006: Progress Report 3

MCH Finish 2005
Peter Barker and Willy Cave at the finish of the MCH rally last year. Photo courtesy Christian Malin.

By now all the car that have struggled through the mountains are parked on the quayside in Monte Carlo and the crews are nervously awaiting the start of the dreaded night loop over the Col de Turini where Bill and I came adrift last year. I've been studying the posted results on the ACM website in minute detail of the past few days. There a lot of discrepancies but I have deduced the following:

Geoff O'nion and David Wilkinson clearly had a bad day yesterday after their brilliant start. The were "non-efectuée" for Stages 7 and 8 yesterday and 9 and 10 today. So either they were delayed by the weather and didn't think it was worth risking life and limb today or they suffered damage and/or mechanical problems. Peter Barker and Willy Cave were "non-efectuée" on Stage 3 but have been valiantly fighting their way back through the field and are now lying 195 out of the 287 cars left in the running.

The attrition rate seems unusually high this year and I suspect that the weather is to blame but as yet I have no first hand information. Currently there are three Porsche 914s in the top 10 (two 914/6 and one 914/4) and one 911. After three decades of being treated snottily by other Porsche owners, these cars finally seem to be showing their worth.

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