17 replies to this topic

[Mini-Hazel-Nut]

Many of us of a certain age (pushing 60 or more) will remember those good old days in the 60s and 70s when on a saturday afternoon Grandstand was actually worth watching. We had saloon  car racing in the warmer months and rally-cross in the cooler ones. I loved rally-cross and was an avid watcher. I remember quite a few names from those days but a prominent name amongst the many was Hugh Wheldon (no, not the politician) and when I saw a certain copy of Cars and Car Conversions (aka triple C) on a certain auction site I bought it. When it arrived I recognised it as the same mag I had bought about 40 years ago! Anyways up I thought I`d share the article with you and here it is:-

 Hugh Wheldon 1 rs.jpg   64.08K   29 downloads

 Hugh Wheldon 2 rs.jpg   57.73K   8 downloads

 Hugh Wheldon 3 rs.jpg   71.33K   8 downloads

 

As an aside, one of Hugh`s contemporaries was a chap named Eric Clegg and he raced the wingless front of a Mini with 2 tubes extending rearwards to which were attached the rear wheels and his seat!! He was amazingly quick and hard to beat. I wasn`t too keen on him myself because his Mini didn`t really look like one as such. However after a bit his "machine" was outlawed and Mr Clegg put the engine in a "proper" Mini and was still hard to beat, I liked him then...............

[keefr22]

One of my main regrets is getting rid of my collection of CCC's due to the nagging of 'er indoors! I've since been replacing the issues with articles of Will Sparrows Mini in, & grimicing at the e-bay prices I've paid now compared to the cover price I paid then....!!

 

Used to love that mag & the Saturday afternoon TV...!! (did ITV's World of Sport eventually take on the Rallycross?) 

 

And whoever saw it could ever forget this Murray Walker classic?!;

 

 

Nomex overalls, fireproof gloves & boots, HANS devices...phooey who needs them when you've got an anorak & jeans....!!

 

keith

[Mini-Hazel-Nut]

Yes, ITV did take it on a bit later but at another circuit the name of which escapes me at the moment, but I never rated it as much as the Grandstand ones. Ooh! Was it Cadwell Park? I used to get Motoring News every week and religiously cut out all the Mini bits and put them in a scrap-book, I wish I had it now...grrrrrrr!

[keefr22]

It seems we had very similar tastes  in reading matter! I also had MN delivered every week, & recently my son gave me a box of them he'd found up his loft (in what used to be my mum's house) - don't tell the missus or she'll be after me to chuck those too...!! I don't know whether to love or hate the classified ads in the back...!!

[Ivor Badger]

The big difference between Lydden and Cadwell was that Cadwell wasn't a complete swamp.

[Cooperman]

Those were the days indeed! Triple C was the magazine for those of us who prepared our own cars, whilst MN, then Motoring news, now Motorsport News, was the weekly paper for competitors from clubman to international driver/co-driver. Then there was the Motoring News Rally Championship for drivers and navigators when navigators had to actually 'navigate'. Will Sparrow was so quick in his Mini with master map-man Nigel Raeburn in the LH seat.

The books by Peter Robinson ('Memory Lanes') and by Mick Briant tell the story and bring it all back to life - well they do for me anyway.

 

I'll tell you a story involving Will Sparrow. He was marshalling on a historic rally, the Tour of Cheshire, about 7 years ago as was I and my friend Barrie Williams (Whizzo - the first person to win an international rally in a Cooper 'S'). There was a lady friend of ours who was with her daughter in a later-model 1275 Mini also marshalling. At the finish after the prizes had been presented the lady came along to where Will, Barrie and I were in the bar (where else!) and said her daughter's Mini would not start. Not to worry, here were 3 alleged Mini experts  eager to rescue a damsel in distress. We looked at it, fiddled with it, checked all sorts of things, but couldn't get it to fire, so we called the RAC and they took it away on a flat-bed truck. How embarrassing was that. It turned out it was an electronic ignition module and we only understood points-type distributors!

[Mini-Hazel-Nut]

Nice little story and not surprised you were stumped. Electronics? Exit, first door. I remember Will Sparrow was a regular name in MN as was Harry Ratcliffe on the circuits.

[Cooperman]

The first Mini I drove with a limited slip diff was one of Will's cars. I found it very hard to drive in the wet on twisty roads as it went straight on when the power was taken off and it turned in when power was applied, just the opposite of every Mini I had ever driven. Even now, over 40 years later, I still can't drive an LSD equipped Mini at all well.

Nigel Raeburn, Will's regular navigator, is also a good friend and his son is a good friend on my son. Personally I always rated Nigel, along with Don Barrow, as one of the finest road-rally navigators and international co-drivers ever.

Probably the fastest Mini driver back then never to achieve his full potential was a Welshman named Alun Rees. I did one event with him and he was just so fast, but he kept on crashing, usually whilst leading!

[keefr22]

The books by Peter Robinson ('Memory Lanes') and by Mick Briant tell the story and bring it all back to life - well they do for me anyway.

Me too!! Looking forward to Mick's final books, should be out soon!

[Cooperman]

So am I. He did a great section in his first book about my friend & 240Z driver, Kevin Videan. I was surprised he described both Kevin and me as 'eccentric'. Maybe he was right  .

[keefr22]

So am I. He did a great section in his first book about my friend & 240Z driver, Kevin Videan. I was surprised he described both Kevin and me as 'eccentric'. Maybe he was right  .

I think he was spot on, having marshalled and spectated on a few MN events and watched you wrestle that beast through Welsh lanes! Not really the sensible choice of car maybe, but absolutely spectacular!!

[Cooperman]

Mick said that the only thing he really worried about was the chance that Kevin might buy an Escort RS1800 and then beat him. But Kevin and I both felt that we would rather come in the top 5 most times in the 'Big Z' than win in an Escort. It kind of suited our style somehow. We were the only crew in a Big Z and we could challenge for a win on most events, although 2nd or 3rd was our normal final position. By gum it was fun, but the big Datsun was a handful in the Welsh lanes.

The start of the Vales National rally which we won outright:

Edited by Cooperman, 14 July 2015 - 09:41 PM.

[mab01uk]

Another reader of CCC each month and Motoring News every week in the 1970's here......great days! Still have most of the CCC's but sadly my Motoring News got dumped probably because they were only newspaper quality and went very yellow stored in the loft.

 

On the subject of books John Rhodes has just published his autobiography:-

 

 

Available Here:-

http://www.parleybooks.co.uk/

Edited by mab01uk, 14 July 2015 - 11:24 PM.

[Mini-Hazel-Nut]

Yay! Thanks Mab, soon as I saw that I went and ordered a copy. It`s about time for this book and I`m gonna love it 

[Mini-Hazel-Nut]

My copy arrived today and after a quick flip through it (savouring it till sunday when I`m laid over in me coach) I just know that I an going to enjoy a darn good read.

 to you Mab!