Today the participants in the 16th Monte-Carlo Historic Rally set off on their concentration leg to the first meeting point, Valence, in the Rhones-Alpes region of France. There are six starting points, Monte Carlo itself, Rheims, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Warsaw and Glasgow. Among the participants who set off today on a sunny but chilly Glasgow afternoon were Karel Mach (driver) and Jan Blaha (co-driver) in their Skoda 130RS, vehicle number 182. It was a pleasure to see and hear this wonderful car. Their progress can be followed when results start being reported through the website of the Automobile Club de Monaco. I wish Karel and Jan well. Below are a few photographs of the 130RS.

Edit: Warsaw was removed as a starting point: Glasgow and Copenhagen entries set off on Saturday with Barcelona, Reims and Monte Carlo vehicles starting on Sunday.

Below is a link to the ACM website where progress and results can be tracked:

http://www.rallylive...u=26&id_actu=38

I'm pleased to say that car Nr 182 - the Skoda 130RS - and her driver and co-pilot finished the rally Their overall positioning was 218 out of 252 who finished the rally, there were 50 entrants that Did Not Finish. It should be borne in mind that the focus of the rally is regularity, keeping a set average speed and not exceeding a pre-set maximum speed. There are checkpoints along the stages, the checkpoint positions are not published; penalty points are accumulated for being too early or too late at a checkpoint, exceeding rally speed limits and so on. It must be extremely difficult to maintain a steady pace given the nature of the roads chosen for the stages and the variation in road surface conditions experienced during the stages. I'm also pleased to say that Karel and Jan were not the only 'Glasgow starters' to finish and when I get a chance I will post photos of those cars taken in Glasgow.

Also of interest would be interior shots of the 130, if you have any. I suspect it's black overall, with touched of faded black and/or schwarzviolett.