If ever there is a breeding ground for heroes it is the Monte Carlo Rally, organized by the Automobile Club de Monaco and now celebrating its 110th anniversary. Today, the most prestigious event in the world championship is three days of high speed poker. It is played out by supermen, able to squeeze and slither their sophisticated electronic missiles through the narrow roads and dozens of hairpins of the French Alps over 15 timed special stages at an average of about 75 mph. And, more often than not, they do so on ice or snow or a mixture of both.
But it wasn’t always like that. When His Serene Highness Prince Albert I of Monaco inaugurated the Monte Carlo Rally back in 1911, it was billed as a “race of comfort through Europe” and had a multiplicity of starting points that included Paris, Brussels and Berlin. Drivers could almost sit back and enjoy the countryside as they wended their way to the Principality, because the time allowed to cover the distance called for a mere 7 mph average speed. The winner of the 1911 Monte was one Henri Rougier in a Turcat-Mery. We have no record of who won the prize for the best decorated car, but there was one!
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