Classic cars begin Monaco challenge
A convoy of classic cars has left Clydebank on a non-stop 2,000 mile rally to Monaco.
Cars including Lancias, Triumphs and Porsches left the start ramp at Clydebank College for 30 hours of driving as part of the 2012 Monte Carlo Classic Rally.
The town, famous for building ships on the River Clyde, hosted the start of the event along with Barcelona, Turin, Oslo, Reims and Warsaw.
Cars typically start in different European cities of roughly equal distance from Monte Carlo in Monaco. Organisers said there were around 5,000 people at the college to wave the teams off.
Scotland is represented in the rally for the first time in 39 years by the Ecurie Ecosse team, a seven car squad that hopes to win the team prize in the race for the best combined time.
Andrew McAlpine was the first member of the team to set off in his Lancia Fulvia. The 51-year-old director of the McAlpine building company worked at the John Brown shipyard in Clydebank in his twenties and was delighted to be back for the rally.
He said: "This is one of the few events in the world which is a true adventure. It is a personal challenge. You have something different at every corner. You have night and day, fog, ice and rain and more black ice.
"Coming back here is really quite emotional for me. One hundred and thirty years ago, my great, great grandfather built the Singer sewing machine factory so my family have a lot of connections to the area. My goal now is to finish the rally and reach Monte Carlo."
The first car over the starting line for the 2,190 mile trip was a 1979 Fiat driven by Nicola Parolin. A total of 306 cars are competing in this year's Monte Carlo Classic Rally from the various start points across Europe..
The cars from Clydebank aim to arrive in Calais by Monday morning and then head south over the French Alps before arriving in Monte Carlo on Tuesday.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Selkirk
Wednesday 22 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 7 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 36 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 26 mph
Wind direction: South west
