Vroom with a view as hotel welcomes iconic Monte Carlo race

staff at a hotel near Doncaster will be welcoming competitors taking part in the Monte Carlo rally tomorrow night. This is because the venue will be acting as the official British checkpoint in the iconic road race.

Back in 1959, Ye Olde Bell at Barnby Moor, on the old Great North Road between Doncaster and Retford, welcomed cars and drivers that were bound for the glamorous city in the Principality of Monaco.

Tomorrow, drivers in classic cars following the same route will set off from Glasgow and call at the hotel as they pass on their way to Dover to cross the English Channel into France. The cars will leave Glasgow at around 5pm and are expected to start arriving at Ye Olde Bell from around 9.30pm onwards.

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Staff said enthusiasts were welcome to come and meet the drivers and take photographs.

The Glasgow starting point will be in the city’s Blythswood Square and the British leg of the rally is overseen and organised by the Caledonian Classic and Historic Motorsport Club.

A club spokesman said: “Clydebank will join Barcelona, Oslo, Turin, Reims and Warsaw as the 2012 official starting locations for the rally, one of the most famous motor sport events in the world.

“The competitors will finish the event, if successful, on February 4 with a grand ceremony in Monte Carlo.” Ye Olde Bell is one of the original posthouses and stagecoaching inns on the Great North Road, which is now the A638, and the building dates back to 1650.

It has recently undergone a multi-million pound restoration and was recently awarded the AA’s 4-Star award for the first time in its 360-year history.