This is the third installment of my Rally Monte Carlo Historic entry report.

As the title says, I jumped into this world past forty, a complete amateur… someone with zero connection or interest in cars whatsoever, who just kept driving purely because meeting people and having fun felt good — I even got my license purely because I wanted to rally.

And now, someone like me is out there entering “Monte Carlo,” staged in the world-famous city of Monaco, of all things (laughs).So first, let me start somewhere anyone can follow: what even is “Rally Monte Carlo”??

What is the Rally Monte Carlo Historic?

It's organized by the Automobile Club de Monaco, in France. Apparently the reason it's centered on the city known worldwide as Monaco traces back to a tourism strategy aimed at drawing wealthy vacationers to the resort destination!
Hmmm — that makes sense!

The world's Monaco… it was genuinely incredible!! Someone who used to have nothing to do with any of this is standing here now…
I'll never forget that spine-tingling feeling of it.
How that dream came true… that's a story for another post!


The view from my hotel room
click!
A shot of the hotel we stayed at too!

Being an FIA-recognized motor race, it's certified as an official world rally, so naturally it's nowhere near just paying money and enjoying a drive — there are countless strict regulations. Among the internationalmotorsportevents currently held, it ranks among the oldest of its kind, and carries real prestige — enough, they say, to rival what's calledthe world's three great motor races.So they say, at least.

Can you enter with a Japanese license plus an international license?

I obtained what's called an “international license” to earn the right to enter this certified motor race. Even if you clear the car requirements I'll explain later, apparently you can still get screened out based on the driver and co-driver's competition history! I've completed five JAF-certified races here in Japan… and just that alone meant building a car and taking years to build up the experience (ugh).

Thanks to that experience, I've gotten to try out all sorts of different competition categories.

The WRC-style Rally Monte Carlo, which competes on outright speed, is followed three days later by the “classic car” division, spanning 2,152 to 3,572 km. That's split into six sections, with 17 “regularity” stages, competing on precision instead.

Can any old car enter, as long as it's old enough?

For the classic car division, entrants must be one of a carefully selected group of cars that actually took part in Rally Monte Carlo at some point between 1911 and 1983.
So, having entered twice now, this time and last, alongside the University of Tokyo team, we got to borrow a car the students had built and maintained over and over for their project.

This time's entrant: a 1975 Honda Civic!

So where do you actually drive??

The course for the Rally Monte Carlo Historic, an FIA-recognized motor race, runs 2,152 to 3,572 km.
You make your way from various cities across Europe relying on what's called a road book of pace notes (no GPS functions allowed at all during the competition — even phones have to go into a sealed bag as required).


Even after crossing the finish, the co-driver's job isn't to go straight to sleep — it's checking the next day's route. We reviewed our footage from the dash cam too, going over the competition again and again to keep improving.

Here's the actual road book!

Starting from four different locations, including Milan and Reims, crossing mountain roads in the dead of winter, everyone converges on Monaco on the Mediterranean coast — and this time that leg alone took a full 23 hours!… and with barely any time to recover from that exhaustion, the rally starts again at night from Monaco, heading over 300 km away to Valence, in France's mountainous region. Days two and three are based around Gap, and the surrounding Alps' steep, winding mountain passes are split into six sections, with 17 “regularity” stages set across them.


About 3,000 km… seven days, basically… living inside the car (laughs).

A toilet?? Out in the mountains there's obviously nothing like that, so, naturally, it's “field business”… (laughs)

Finish the competition and head back to Monaco for the finish!… or so you'd think! But the final stage is still waiting.
The start is only a few hours later, and the real finish happens in the middle of the night.

That was a rough overview based on my own experience, but that's the kind of rally this is.

So, next up, part four will go into detail, starting from scrutineering itself, day one… day two… and onward,
leaving a proper account of the experience as it unfolds.

It looks glamorous, and it looks fun!! My purpose is simply to enjoy life!
But I hope I can also show you the appeal of a rally where, behind the scenes, there's a whole drama of peaks and valleys playing out, a whole theatre of a life.