MONTE REVEALS WEAKNESSES

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30958, 14 January 1966, Page 7

MONTE REVEALS WEAKNESSES

<By SIMON MARSH) r jpWo brotheii, driving to th, Glasgow starting point o the Monte Carlo Rally, slid of the road and wrecked the! carefully-prepared car. With official permission they impounded a little ca used by their sister for shop pmg. transferred their lug gage and rally plates—am reached Monte Carlo in tinn to qualify! In the same rally fou: year ago—a huge limousine complete with tea-making ap paratus, cocktail cabinet, ; fuli-length bed. and short wave radio, was out of thi running after six hours. . . This is typical of the roll luck plays in the Monte which begins today. Manufacturers who spen< st least £lO.OOO on a three car team, consider it mone; well spent Not even in thi gruelling African Safari Rail;

do their cars get such a battering. If a model has - weakness, the Monte will find it. In no other way, and in so [short a time, can car-builders [get such valuable information ■about their vehicles. The Monte is also the ideal testing ground for new ideas. Adjustable headrests on passenger seats, electrically controlled lamp covers, stoneI guards for plastic cooling : fans, improved windscreen washers and tyres with steel studs were all tested in last year’s event. ■ This year, some of the “works” cars will be employing gadgetry and engineering 1 developments scheduled for next year’s production models ' —if they can stand the strains I of the rally. Entries must be basically [production models, but they are lightened and “breathed | on” by the manufacturers. : After an official inspection the

main components are sealed to prevent alteration during the event. Special batteries and dynamos cope with up to eight extra lights, and improved heating and ventilation systems. lodine quartz bulbs giving light of great power and intensity are an absolute “must” this year. The cars are littered with clips, racks and shelves to house the special equipment. Sometimes even spare wheels are brought “indoors” to protect them from ice. CONTROLS It is vital that everyone knows exactly where everything is kept: works teams often carry out tests in darkness to make sure they can instantly locate everything. Last year, a British entrant was driving along a road near Rheims, making up lost time, when the bonnet suddenly sprang up completely blinding the driver ... at more than 90 miles an hour.

Fortunately he was able to pull up without incident. The navigator, momentarily bemused by the array of knobs on the dashboard, had pressed the bonnet catch instead of the windscreen wiper switch! The sliding and skidding with which a driver must constantly contend over the last 1000 miles of the route, plays havoc with steering, transmission and tyres. The ice and slush—often mixed with road salt—viciously attacks the wiring; freezing windscreens put added strains on the wipers.

Wherever possible duplicate

parts are screwed or taped on to existing ones—fuses, radiator hoses, high-tension wires, and so on. LUCK

Sometimes, however wellprepared it is, bad luck will dog a car. In one recent rally, a team beset by every conceivable mechanical mishap, were so fed up by the time they reached Paris that they called the whole thing off, and had a week's holiday instead. Good fortune, on the other hand, seems to smile benignly on some competitors. Sidney Allard, veteran Monte winner, certainly has luck on his side. In one rally, he slid over the edge of a mountain, crashed 300 feet into a snow field, and escaped with nothing worse than a dislocated shoulder.

Two years ago, a driver was making up time on a fast downhill stretch when there was a sudden jolt—and a front wheel, complete with brake drum, went past him and bounced off the road. The car collapsed on to its undertray, but the driver stayed calmly at the wheel and “parked” several miles on, amid a shower of sparks, outside the only hotel in the area.

In the same rally, a British driver in a Ford, completely blinded by snow flurries, slid off the road and landed on top of a car which had gone over some minutes before. It was a Citroen driven by a Frenchman, and he waved the Ford driver’s apologies aside. “Think nothing of it,” he said. “I myself am on top of a Renault.” (Concluded)