Canadian Driver features another account of the event that MINI set up for members of the press to mark the 40th anniversy of the first Monte Carlo rally win. Here's an excerpt of the article:

The narrow mountain road from L'Escarène to Col de Turini in the south of France is much the same today as it was 40-years ago. Drive it slowly and you'll meander through ancient villages nestled between spectacular alpine peaks; drive it fast and you'll frighten dogs and annoy the locals, while inducing some unusual noises from your car and your stomach. Learn to drive it flat-out and you might win the Monte Carlo Rally.

That's what Paddy Hopkirk did 40-years ago behind the wheel of a red Mini Cooper S, much to the amazement of the entire rallying world, and to the delight of Mr. Hopkirk himself, who, after the results were tabulated, only learned of his victory the next day. Rauno Aaltonen, the “Flying Finn,” repeated the achievement in 1965 (35 out of 237 cars finished the tortuous race that year), and 1967 saw Mr. Aaltonen's fellow Scandinavian Timo Mäkinen complete the hat-trick for the Mini.

What happened in 1966? The Mini team came first, a British Ford Cortina came second, and Minis came third and fourth. But after stripping the cars down to nuts, bolts and engine parts, rally scrutineers disqualified these cars for running “illegal” bulbs in their headlamps. This suspiciously gave the victory to a Citroen (which apparently used the same bulbs) and became part of rally lore.

It's a disqualification that still rankles the three drivers, and according to Peter Browning, former competitions manager for the Mini team in his 1971 book “The Works Minis”, likely came about because organizers and manufacturers simply couldn't believe that a 70-horsepower, showroom stock, Mini Cooper S, could possibly prevail over established teams and technologies. Basically, he felt, they were embarrassed by being beaten by such a pip-squeak of a car.

But what also happened is that the revolutionary concept of a tiny car (what we now call a subcompact), with front-wheel drive, a transverse-mounted engine and wheels located at its extreme corners, convincingly demonstrated its superiority against all types of vehicles in the harshest conditions. It's a configuration that's become a standard platform for many cars today, and is reproduced in everything from Volkswagen Golfs to Toyota Echo Hatchbacks and most faithfully in the new Mini itself.

Although no longer a competitor on the world-rallying scene, Mini's BMW owners are keen to preserve, promote and celebrate the marque's unique and illustrious history. As a result, the three veteran Monte Carlo Rally drivers — Hopkirk, Aaltonen and Mäkinen — recently met in Monaco for a 40th anniversary celebration of Mr. Hopkirk's win. They explained driving techniques like heel-and-toe shifting and left foot braking to invited auto writers, and at 66-years old, an enthusiastic and still blazingly fast Mr. Aaltonen took eager volunteers for a quick squirt along slippery mountain roads in a new Mini Cooper S.

You can read the entire article here.