MONTE CARLO HEADS TO YE OLDE BELL FOR CLASSIC RALLY

This January Ye Olde Bell Hotel & Spa will once again host drivers taking part in the historic rally run to Monte Carlo.

The hotel in Barnby Moor, on the borders of Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire is an important control point in the rally, staged by the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM).

Drivers will travel across Europe to make the 1500-mile trip to the South of France. The UK part of the rally starts in Clydebank, in the shadow of the Titan Crane on Wednesday, 30 January.

After leaving Scotland at 6pm around 80 cars in separate categories are expected at the control point at Ye Olde Bell, later that night around 11.30pm and will depart the following morning at approx. 9am.

The Historique Class is being run for the 22nd year and is restricted to car models which competed in the Monte Carlo Rallies between 1955 and 1980. It will run over eight days on open public roads with the cars and crews undertaking a series of fourteen demanding test stages in the mountains of southern France.

It’s been confirmed that among the cars taking part in that class will be a Mk2 3.8 litre Jaguar, an Austin A40 and a Rover 2000 SC, all from the 60s and an Opel Kadett GTE, Fiat 124 Coupe, and Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF from the 70s.

The Classique event is for older cars and in the 2019 entry list there are no fewer than five Rileys from the 1930s – two of them driven by American crews and another which actually competed in the Monte Carlo Rally before the last war – and an MG TC from 1949.

Other cars include a 1958 Standard Pennant, a French-entered Austin Healey Sprite from 1959 and a 65 year old Ford Popular.

They will follow the same route to Monte Carlo but will not compete in any test stages, the goal simply being to finish after checking into the series of control points.

Hotel Manager, Kate Firth, commented: “We originally hosted the check point back in the 1950s so we are extremely proud that we are still able to play a small part in this amazing event in 2019.

“It is a fantastic spectacle and with 80 drivers expected this year it will have a real wow factor – we can’t wait.”