8 replies to this topic

[404KF2]

Bert Shankland died in late January in Scotland at age 79, and will buried in Perthshire, Scotland.

Shankland, a Scot, moved to Tanzania at a young age and was not too long thereafter the workshop manager at Tanganyika Motors, the Peugeot importer in Tanzania, where he achieved fame at the wheel of the Peugeot 404 Injection (KF2) sedans.

Together with his navigator Chris Rothwell, he won the East African Safari in 1966 and 1967 in the 404 KF2, and had solid finishes later in the 504, though not again getting first in GC.

The Shankland/Rothwell wins in 1966 and 1967, when added to the Nick Nowicki/Paddy Cliff wins in Peugeot 404 sedans in 1963 and 1968, built the legend of the 404 as a giant of African rallying. Peugeot owes a lot of its worldwide success in the sixties and seventies to these tough and proficient rallymen, whose cars were locally prepared, more or less without factory support.

The Museum of l'Aventure Peugeot has the 1967 Safari-winning Shankland/Rothwell 404 Injection sedan Number 5 in its collection.

Link to a photo of the 1967 EAS winner

Rest in Peace, Bert Shankland.

[Cobra]

Godspeed Mr. Shankland.

[RS2000]

Might be better appreciated on TNF than here?

[sterling49]

A rallying legend that I appreciated all the more after a holiday in Kenya, R.I.P.

[DrProzac]

Rest in Peace.

[D-Type]

50 years ago he couldn't have been more charming when a 15-year old asked for his autograph when he was in the queue for the start of the Safari, which I now realise was a time when the tension and nerves would have been high.

Kwa heri

[ReWind]

A newspaper article from 1 February 2012 [source]:

Former motor rally driver and champion Bert Shankland who died on January 26, 2012 in Glasgow at the age of 79, will be buried on Friday at a small township of Perth in Scotland.
According to the latest reports from the Automobile Association of Tanzania official Satindersingh Birdi, Shankland is survived by wife, Margaret, and two sons, Scots and Neil.
Reports say the former driver who used to pull huge crowds during his driving career in the mid 60’s and late 70’s died after long illness.
He was born on on September 12, 1932 in Glasgow and came to Tanzania in 1958 to start a career as technician at the Arusha-based branch of Ridoch Motors. He was transferred to Dar es Salaam in 1962 with same company while participating in various motor rally events staged by then.
His driving talent shocked and won admiration from the Tanganyika Motors Managing director by then Jimmy Finney who convinced him to cross over to his firm as a workshop Manger. Shankland got all the blessings from Finney and made full use of Peugeot car in motor rally events. He also got backing from Ken Kassam, the director of Leyland Albion to steady his rallying career. Kassam is now residing in Toronto Canada.
Shankland was an icon of the Tanzania motor rally drivers and his move from Ridoch Motors to Tanganyika Motors that was coupled with rally victories boosted sales of Peugeot cars in the country and beyond.
The Scottish driver will be in the history books of rallying in Tanzania for many decades to come if not centuries.
His presence in rallies used to stimulate and attract huge crowds when he competed with other legends in the likes of Shekhar Mehta, Jayant Shah, Joginder Singh, Zully Rhemtulah (not the Tanzania Cricket Association CEO) to mention only few.
Shankland’s career was later rocked by politics in Tanzania when motor rallies were abolished in late 70’s owing to fuel scarcity and economic hardships. However the Government reintroduced motor rally events after remarkable improvement of the economy, rocked by the consequences Uganda war in 1978-9.
The Automobile Association of Tanzania and the rest of motor sports fraternity, drivers, navigators and fans wish Shankland to rest in peace.

[Fred Gallagher]

Bert and Chris Rothwell attended our annual Safari reunion at The Donkey pub in Surrey on the Thursday before the Goodwood Revival.

Both were on fine form and full of stories but Bert clearly had some health worries at the time.

It was a pleasure to know him.

Fred

[RogerBarnard]

A newspaper article from 1 February 2012 [source]:

To add a little to post no.7 above, Riddoch Motors were Ford dealers. Bert competed, mainly in Fords, in Safari Rallies in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1963, finishing a couple of them, but there was little to mark him out as a future winner. He was headhunted by Tanganyika Motors in 1963 by Jimmy Feeney (not Finney) to become service manager. He went on to become Managing Director before he retired from the company in 1987. Jimmy Feeney drove in several Safaris himself - some of them with Nick Nowicki - with some success.

Bert's fortunes changed dramatically when he switched to Peugeot. His wins in 1966 and 67 are well chronicled but he maintained that the drive which gave him the most satisfaction came in 1970. Tanzania had pulled out of the Safari in 1969. They objected to the start and finish always being in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Not only did they ban the rally from using Tanzania's roads, they also banned Tanzanian residents from driving in the event. They relented just days before the start of the 1970 Safari, which started in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

A mad scramble ensued to accommodate half a dozen late entries, one of which was a Peugeot 504 of Bert Shankland and Chris Rothwell which came out of Tanganyika Motors' showroom and was hurriedly prepared to Group 1 standard (a number of the other leading entries were Group 2 cars). The draw had already taken place so Bert had to start at the back of the field, irrespective of seeding, and his start number was 94. He had no time to carry out a route survey but he motored through the field, overtaking car after car, to finish in a remarkable 3rd place overall.

Bert's trademark driving style was to make it all look unhurried and effortless - until one checked his times and realised how quickly he was motoring. He would maintain the same pace throughout the 3,000-mile event. He also had the ability to look after his car.

I cannot say that I knew him well but we met on several occasions during rallies, particularly around Safari time. He was always friendly and helpful, even to humble private entrants, and was universally known as one of the nicest guys in East African rallying - although if you were up against him in an event he could prove to be a formidable competitor.