Small car, big victory: these days mark the 50th anniversary of one of the most spectacular successes in the history of international motorsport. On January 21, 1964, the Mini Cooper S won the Monte Carlo Rally for the first time. Irish driver Patrick "Paddy" Hopkirk and his co-driver Henry Liddon achieved the feat of prevailing with the small British car against a supposedly superior field of much more powerful competitors.
Their flawless chase over country roads and mountain passes, ice and snow, tight bends and steep slopes also laid the foundation for the underdog and favorite to become not only a crowd favorite, but also a motorsport legend. The Mini continued to dominate the Monte Carlo Rally in the years that followed. Hopkirk's Finnish team colleagues Timo Mäkinen and Rauno Aaltonen added two more overall "Monte" victories to the title collection in 1965 and 1967.
Memories of the progressive front-wheel drive car
Paddy Hopkirk, now 80 years old, is still enthusiastic about the handling of his winning car: "The Mini was a very progressive car, even though it was only a small family car. Its front-wheel drive and transverse front-mounted engine were very advantageous, as was the fact that the car was small and the roads were winding. They were also quite narrow, which I think was also an advantage for us. And we were very lucky that the cars were in order, that everything happened at the right time and came together at the right time."
It was the legendary "Night of the Long Knives", the penultimate stage of the rally, which put the Mini Cooper S with the starting number 37 and the since famous registration number 33 EJB on the road to victory in the winter of 1964. Hopkirk crossed the finish line just 17 seconds behind his closest rival Bo Ljungfeldt in the far more powerful Ford Falcon with a V8 engine. Due to the handicap formula in force at the time to compensate for the differences in weight and power, the Mini driver was ahead in the overall standings. And he also defended his lead in the final circuit race through the streets of Monte Carlo. At the podium ceremony, he shared the applause of the audience with his team colleagues. Timo Mäkinen in fourth place and Rauno Aaltonen in seventh place overall had made the Mini Cooper S's success perfect, heralding the era of the "three musketeers" at the Monte Carlo Rally.
Congratulations from the home country
The victory was celebrated enthusiastically, especially in the Mini's home country. Irishman Hopkirk received a congratulatory telegram from the British government, and the Beatles were also among the first well-wishers. "A Beatles autograph card arrived," Hopkirk recalls, "which said: 'You're one of us now, Paddy.' It's very nice to have something like that today."
The triumph of the little Mini at the "Monte" was celebrated by motorsport fans around the world as a sensation. But it did not come out of the blue. The small car developed by Alec Issigonis, Deputy Technical Director of the British Motor Corporation, was born with sporting talent.
It was first discovered by sports car designer John Cooper. He initiated the construction of a more powerful version of the four-seater, which initially only had 34 hp but was extremely agile thanks to its front-wheel drive, low weight, wide track and comparatively long wheelbase, thus paving the way for the Mini on the racetracks and rally tracks.
The greats at the wheel of the Mini
As early as 1960, prominent drivers such as Graham Hill, Jack Brabham and Jim Clark tested the cornering skills of the small car tuned by John Cooper on the Silverstone Formula 1 circuit. However, the classic Mini found its true domain in rallying. Patt Moss, the sister of Formula 1 driver Stirling Moss, drove it to victories in the 1962 Tulip Rally and the Baden-Baden Rally.
The following year, the little Brit attracted attention for the first time at the Monte Carlo Rally. In the previous years, the works team had still had to learn the ropes there, but this time it made its first big impression: Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk took a one-two victory in their class with the 55 hp Mini Cooper, finishing third and sixth in the overall standings.
It was clear that the Mini Cooper was better suited than any other car for the "David versus Goliath" battle. John Cooper had long suspected this. As early as 1959, he had sent his driver Roy Salvadori in a prototype on the journey to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Even the journey there turned into a race between Salvadori and his racing driver colleague Reg Parnell, who was driving an Aston Martin DB4. The result confirmed Cooper's expectations. The Mini he had prepared arrived around an hour earlier than the much more powerful Aston Martin.
Victory for the "underdogs"
At the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally, the pure data also initially spoke against the six small cars sent by the BMC works team, which were recognizable from afar by their tartan red paintwork and white roofs. The Mini Cooper S made its debut in the familiar look.
Its new four-cylinder engine now had an increased displacement of 1071 cubic centimetres and an increased output of around 90 hp - significantly more than in previous years, but still modest compared to competitors such as the Mercedes-Benz 300 SE and the Ford Falcon, whose six-cylinder and V8 engines could mobilize three to four times as much power.
The opening round of the 33rd edition of the Monte Carlo Rally was held in the then customary style of a rally, reminiscent of the event's origins, which began in nine European cities and brought the entire starting field together in Reims, France. The Hopkirk/Liddon duo started their Mini Cooper S in Minsk, Rauno Aaltonen and Tony Ambrose began their "Monte" adventure in Oslo, while Timo Mäkinen and Patrick Vanson set off from Paris.
None of these routes were too far for the lively Mini, and in Reims all six works cars joined the starting field of 277 cars. And on the first leg to Saint-Claude, the duel that was to characterize the entire rally was already apparent. Bo Ljungfeldt in the Ford Falcon took the lead, with Paddy Hopkirk in the Mini Cooper S hot on his heels.
Even on the next section, which mainly consisted of kilometers of full-throttle driving, Hopkirk did not allow himself to be decisively left behind by his highly motorized rivals, so that the "night of the long knives" literally became the "day of truth". And now the Mini was able to show off its strengths to the full. "It was pretty snowy that year, so we had done a lot of training and preparation," says Hopkirk. "The Mini was particularly good downhill, and the tests had all been uphill and downhill, so what we lost uphill we made up for downhill."
The irresistible handling, the right choice of tires, Hopkirk's skill at the wheel and the snow that slowed down the big cars all came together and ensured that Hopkirk was actually able to take the lead as he stormed up the 1607-meter-high Col de Turini. Nevertheless, it remained exciting right to the end, as Bo Ljungfeldt set another fastest time on the final stage through Monte Carlo, as expected. But Paddy Hopkirk also demanded everything from his Mini Cooper S once again and saved the lead to the finish. "It wasn't like today's rallies, where you always know where you stand. So I still had to drive the finishing lap, then the journalists told me that I had won and I couldn't believe it. That surprised the world and us, it was wonderful," recalls Hopkirk.
Victory by Mäkinen in 1965
The following year, it was Timo Mäkinen and his co-driver Paul Easter who ensured that the Mini Cooper was able to defend its title. The new engine, enlarged to 1275 cubic centimeters, helped, but the Scandinavian's driving skills were the decisive factor.
Mäkinen was the only participant to remain penalty-free over the entire distance, even though the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally turned out to be one of the most difficult stages in the history of the event. Huge amounts of snow and ice made progress difficult, yet the organizers had included a second night drive through the Maritime Alps in the program. Mäkinen and his Mini Cooper S were unimpressed by the difficult conditions. The Finn won five of the six special stages on the final leg and was well ahead at the end.
No victory in 1966 due to "illegal lighting system"
The strongest, but also most dramatic performance of the "three musketeers" at the Monte Carlo Rally was to follow in 1966. Mäkinen, Aaltonen and Hopkirk dominated the race right from the start, and in the end they finished first to third in the overall standings in that order. The public's enthusiasm for the nimble classic Mini seemed boundless - as did their disappointment after the French race stewards disqualified the trio due to a lighting system that allegedly did not comply with official regulations. They also disqualified the fourth-placed Lotus Cortina on the same grounds and declared the Finnish Citroën driver Pauli Toivonen the winner.
Third victory for Aaltonen
The dream of a hat-trick was thus shattered, but the return of the "three musketeers" was a foregone conclusion soon afterwards. In the winter of 1967, Hopkirk, Mäkinen and Aaltonen and two other BMC works teams again took part in the Monte Carlo Rally. And this time neither the competitors nor the regulations could stop the Mini Cooper S. This time, Rauno Aaltonen had co-driver Henry Liddon, who had already been successful in 1964, at his side. The Finnish-British team worked perfectly. Aaltonen steered the Mini to an unchallenged victory, twelve seconds ahead of the runner-up. And nobody begrudged this duo their success more than Paddy Hopkirk: "Henry Liddon really was an outstanding co-driver. And the co-drivers never got enough credit. They did a fantastic job reading the route books, they were the secretary of the car."
Hopkirk himself finished the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally in sixth place. The following year, he once again finished fifth overall with the Mini, while Aaltonen even came third, but the era of the little top contender was clearly coming to an end. The competition had simply upgraded too much and the classic Mini had passed its sporting zenith.
The memory of the famous triumph in the winter of 1964 remains, the "three musketeers" have a firm place in the history books of motorsport. And the individual lighting technology that was criticized in 1966 is now one of the most popular products in the original accessories range for today's Mini - from black headlight housings and the characteristic additional headlights in front of the radiator grille to the retrofittable xenon light.
