Distance versus time: The WRC's endurance debate

"Is this day two or day three?"

A colleague asked a question that kind of summed up last week's Monte Carlo Rally. I love the Monte, but it did go on a bit.

I've been a strong advocate of longer-distance rallies in a nostalgic-but-probably-slightly-naïve way. Not so sure now. After a 2011 season of nano-second finishes and rallies decided by two tenths here and there, last week's WRC opener became a bit of a procession. In fact, it became a terrible procession.

It was no co-incidence that, as the total competitive time ventured well north of four hours, the gaps between the finishers mushroomed as the Monaco finish beckoned. It's simply unrealistic to maintain the kind of thriller edge we saw regularly on rallies last season if they're going to go on for this long. Sebastien Loeb won this five-day Monte by more than two minutes; Sebastien Ogier won a two-day Jordan Rally by two tenths of a second.

That's not to say I don't agree with the endurance principle, I do. But I'm coming around to the idea of short-sharp endurance, similar to the idea Kris Meeke put forward in AUTOSPORT at the back end of last year. The world's fastest 'benched' rally driver talked of non-stop, 36-hour rallies, starting at seven on Saturday morning and finishing at seven on Sunday night after hundreds of miles of chasing through the woods with only a handful of services to feed and water cars and drivers.

That, I like.

Last Saturday's rally-free morning, I don't like.

FIA president Jean Todt is still pushing the endurance idea, with the caveat that they have to stand up and be counted in terms of viewing figures. Do we want a captivating couple of days - like Jordan last year - or five days of nice pictures but no real story? It's a toughie, but I can't see the numbers stacking up in favour of longer rallies.

The Monte route was a real talking point last week. There's no doubt Valence is a bit grim. Or, at least, the service park is - it's in an industrial part of the town and overlooked by the kind of flats appreciated by communist governments in power when The Jam was still making records.

It's not fair to have a go at the whole town, the centre of the place is lovely with nice architecture and some great restaurants. And here, you're only overlooked by the strangely square Vercors mountains - and nobody can complain about that.

There wasn't so much snow on this year's Monte to help increase the drama © LAT

The advantage of the Ardeche is more snow. Granted, we didn't see much of it last week, but there was always the hope and rumour (largely spread by Malcolm Wilson and me) that the big weather was coming. In the Alpes Maritimes, the blossom was out on the trees and things that hibernate were looking for the snooze button on their annual alarm, so warm was the weather. Even MW and I would have struggled to sell the snow-coming story for the Turini.

The one thing the Monte can't do is stay in Monaco for three days. We've been there and tried that and it was awful. If we're not going to Valence then let's go back to a single overnight in Gap or somewhere like that.

The Monte Carlo Rally is probably the most famous motorsport event in the world, but it's names like Gap, Sisteron and St Jean en Royans that have made it the event it is. To ignore those roads would be a travesty.

And, beyond that, we would be robbed of the opportunity to make one of the most entertaining journeys of the season. For those of you not entirely au fait with the Route Napoleon, it's a mind-bendingly brilliant stretch of road, also known as the N85, which runs from the Med to the mountains.

The run down from Valence to Monaco is always going to be a bit of a schlep, but there's just no excuse for taking the motorway to Marseille and then running along the coast. Frankly, that's just not an option. Not when you can hack your way through the hills in an old-fashioned road race.

Which is what my colleague Anthony Peacock and I did last week. Armed with the full potential of Alamo's finest oil-burning Fiat Brava (by the way, don't ever hire a car from Alamo in Lyon airport - you'll be stung for a €1000 bond by one of the top-five rudest men ever to walk the earth), the one they call Piccolo (he's a little half-Italian fella) and I hit the road.

What joy. South-east France unfolded before us as we chased the rally cars down towards the Montauban stage, picking them up on the far side, once they'd been treated to the Col de Perty. A couple of hours in, we'd pinpointed a McDonald's close to the post-stage refuel as a sensible place to give our brakes a moment's peace. Amusingly, we met a couple of teams picking up some sustenance for their drivers. There's nothing like a splash of super-unleaded rocket fuel and an illegal (outside assistance) Big Mac to liven up the final dash to the sea.

FIA president Jean Todt is an advocate of endurance rallies © LAT

And, from Chateau Arnoux down through Paint Thinners (Puget Theniers), we diced our way through the gorges, trading places with a variety of ice-note crews and like-minded fevered-up fellows. The highlight of the trip was figuring out a three-abreast approach to a single carriageway tunnel. It was insane. But brilliant.

Insane but brilliant just about sums up Monaco as well.

I absolutely love the place and its sheer arrogance. If you don't like Monaco, then don't go, nobody in the Principality will lose any sleep. This is Monte Carlo, you know... it might be small, but it's the centre of the universe. And last weekend it really was.

Every year I go, I can't help myself. I have to stop on the outside of Portier for another moment of tribute at the place a crack was discovered in Ayrton Senna's genius back in 1988. And then, 50 or so strides along there's the apex of the right-hander in the tunnel.

No ordinary curve this one. But its peculiarity comes as much from the fact that it sits just above the crashing waves of the Mediterranean and just below the dining room of the Fairmont Hotel as for the fact that its taken in the dark, at speeds of around 180mph.

I challenge anybody of our religion not to be moved by Monaco.

Loeb was on typical stunning form in Monte Carlo © LAT

Yes, it's brash, bling, blindingly expensive and littered with the kind of horrible little handbag-sized dogs that would be better served in a Korean TV dinner, but, for us, it's Mecca.

And, Allah himself was in Mecca. Loeb might have been away from the Monte for a while, but he still found the magic touch on his return last week.

That truly magic touch was just missing from Mini's Monte. But it wasn't far away, was it? Second place in a car that hadn't really been touched in asphalt trim since Catalunya last year.

It's possible, more than possible, that Mini could have won the Monte again last week. Imagine that, imagine what a start to the season that would have been: the Dakar and the Monte for Mini. It might even have taken some of the heat, no pun intended, out of the current round of road car re-calls. With some fairly negative PR kicking off around the brand, BMW could do a lot worse than get behind Prodrive, let bygones be bygones, forget the old deal, crack on with a new one and win the world championship.

Now that would be a story worth telling.