Caledonian Classic and Historic Motorsport Club

Rallye Monte Carlo Historique - Aussie team home

Returning to shorts and T shirts for the Australian summer is a long way from the freezing cold and snow of the alps on the Monte Carlo Historique. The Holden crews however have made the change with the same 'spirit' that they brought to the rally at the end of January.

Project leader and crew member Gary Poole is taking it easy at home in a sunny Derrinallum, around 180Km to the west of Melbourne (that's around 110 miles to us here in the UK), and sent me this article from his local newspaper,and an update on the trip back from Monaco.

Gary Poole, David Fazakerley and Lyall Bond brought home the cup for oldest car to finish the rally, after completing the six day, 5000 kilometre journey. The trio were in complete agreement.“It was probably a lot tougher than we’d really imagined,” said Gary “We were there to have fun and take in the adventure, but once you get racing, it’s extremely competitive and the pace is frantic. Renault for instance entered three teams in an effort to repeat their 1973 result of first, second and third. They even had people paid to get up at five in the morning each day to go out and drive the route to report back on the conditions and hazards." he added “The money involved is incredible – a detailed map book of the route can cost anything up to $10,000 AUD. Some teams spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Driving an exact replica of the 1951 Holden 48-215(FX) which competed in the 1953 rally, Gary's co-drivers were three-time V8 supercar champion Craig Lowndes and Richard Davison, son of original competitor Lex Davison. “It was pretty grueling – the lack of sleep particularly, but there were still plenty of highs along the way,” Gary reported. “The stretch to Valence was one of them. We were driving through the night, it was snowing heavily and we only had normal tyres on, not the stud tyres. Craig Lowndes was amazing. We were actually passing other cars which isn’t bad for being the oldest car in the rally. When we arrived in Valence the entire car was covered in snow, it was caked over the lights and the radiator.”

Meanwhile, Lyall Bond and David Fazakerley leap-frogged along the route to reach the scheduled destinations prior to the FX’s arrival. Charged with the mechanical logistics, such as supplying the fuel and fixing any problems with the car, the pair had their work cut out in trying to source Australian wheel bearings in a foreign country.“We had to replace the wheel bearings three times,” Gary said. “We were right the first couple of times because we had spares with us, but the third time was a nightmare.

“The car had broken down in the mountains, so Lyall and I drove back about 80 kilometres on a windy road that was like a bowl of spaghetti to a bearing company back in Valence. They had a similar bearing but it wasn’t the same width – we needed spacers.” Calling into a service station on the way back, the pair muddled through with their 'Frenglish', sign language and diagrams to secure the spacers and headed back to the car.

Missing three zones of the rally in the meantime, the FX racked up a hefty total of penalty points.Reading map books and getting lost proved a repetitive problem for the support crew. “There were times when it was hilarious,” Lyall said.“We’d get a bit lost and spot another rally car, so we’d follow it, only to end up at a massive roundabout with roads coming into it from everywhere and each one full of rally cars that were also lost.“It was also strange to see people drinking champagne and beer at all the check points. Food and drink were always on offer – it didn’t seem to matter that they were serving alcohol at a driving event.”

Spectacular scenery and sudden temperature changes also surprised the trio.“The Alps were incredible,” Gary said. “You’d be driving along in 15 degrees, head through a tunnel and come out the other side of the mountain in two degrees with ice and snow.” He said the atmosphere of the event made a lasting impression.

After the event the Ambassador in Monaco met the car and crew outside the Prince's Palace of Monaco, the official residence of Prince Albert II, for a big 'thumbs up'

The crew also took the Holden via Paris on the way back to England, including a photo opportunity with the Australian Ambassador in Paris.

Déjà Vu

How is this for deja vu ('already seen'). The crew took time out to take this great photo at the very spot where the 1953 car checked in at the Paris Control on the Avenue d'Lena which leads off the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe.

1953

2013

The car is now being shipped back to Australia and will no doubt be around for more 'local' events.

Now I'm hoping to visit my son over in Brisbane later in the year. Would a 1948 Holden be the ideal car to tour the eastern seaboard of Australia? Could call it Trans Australia?
.