9 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

 

The 7 day international car rally organised by the R.A.C. (1964) with lots of period Mini footage !

Edited by mab01uk, 25 October 2014 - 04:47 PM.

[mab01uk]

Pathe have even uploaded the outakes/ rushes of the RAC Rally film:-

 

 

[b_sdaddy]

Firstly, thanks for these.

 

After watching these, my mini needs more stickers & definitely door number circles/squares!

[Cooperman]

1964 RAC Rally. Fantastic to see that. I did that event in a 'works' Simca 1500 - worst car I ever rallied in, well on a par with the Marina 1.8 TC Coupe in which I had the misfortune to do a few events.

So many of my old friends on there and all looking so young. To think that was 50 years ago next month. I still meet up with quite a few of those guys at our annual lunch at Race-Retro every February. If only we could go back and do it all again  . Fond memories indeed.

Note that there was no advertising allowed on the cars back then.

[A-Cell]

Great. Paddy paying for his fuel with a £5 note! Running a team of 5 cars for £10,000.

[Cooperman]

To fill a twin tank Mini with 10 gallons of 'Super Plus' would have cost around £2-50.

What would those cars be worth now?

The winner was the Volvo 544 of Tom Trana/Gunnar Thermenius. Sadly Gunnar was killed on the London Rally the following year.

The RAC was a proper rally back then. Over 2500 miles with 70+ special stages and only one night in bed over the 4 days. Thank goodness we had 'keep awake pills'.

[A-Cell]

Yes sad that Gunnar was killed. Tom Trana had won the 1963 RAC but because of Gunnar's death Tom did not come over for the 1965 RAC to attempt the hat trick. The Gulf London rally was also a phenomenal event. Co-drivers worked especially hard in those days, not only navigating but doing a lot of driving between stages to allow drivers some rest or to share the sleep deprivation.

[Cooperman]

On that 1965 Gulf London it was a real road race. I did it in a Cortina GT and we finished 7th out of 118 starters and 18 finishers. I was a co-driver, but I reckon I drove about 50% of the total road miles and I drove them very quickly. Crews where the co-driver had no rally driving (as opposed to navigating) experience really didn't stand a chance. We passed the Volvo in which Gunnar was killed about 20 minutes after the crash, which was on a public road near Monmouth. Of all the hundreds of rallies I competed in both as navigator and driver, that one stands out especially.  At the finish at the Excelsior Hotel, Heathrow, I was given a pint of bitter. On top of the 'keep awake' pills it knocked me out and I woke up 24 hours later, just in time for the party and prize-giving. Roger Clark won and was one of only 2 cars to clean the road sections, it was that tight.

[mingy]

Proper rallying Pete, I can remember in the early seventies rushing home from school to watch the RAC competitors come past my house on the way to the next stage, me and a few pals standing in the middle of a small traffic island giving the thumbs up to the british cars and giving the thumbs down to the foreign cars.

They all waved at us though, brilliant....

[Cooperman]

That '65 Gulf was my first top 10 on an International and came 3 weeks after my first win on a full RAC Championship National event, the Morecambe. My driver was the late Alec Lobb, who developed MS the following year and had to retire from rallying. I later went on to navigate for his son and, earlier this year, his grandson. I reckon that's some kind of a record in itself.

To think when that 1964 RAC film was taken there was no overall speed limit and notice how relatively traffic free the roads were. It was a wonderful time to be young and active in rallying. At the time I had a new Cooper 998 which was equipped for club rallies and the fact that I could drive it to good local results without crashing and that I was also an engineer who could help fix the car gave my drivers in 'big' events the confidence to have me drive quickly whilst they got some rest. Those sort of overall skills are not needed by co-drivers these days.

I found a Pathe film of the 1966 Monte Carlo and I'm in one of the early shots arriving at Dover. To think I was just 25 then is a sobering thought.

It is hard to explain to rally drivers these days just how exhilarating events were then, how long they were and how fierce the competition. There were so many characters and we all tended to help each other.

Then there was the Motoring news Championship, but that's another chapter really.