24 replies to this topic

[Martyn Hey]

I thought people may be interested in a short video I made of the teams leaving Chelsea Harbour for Dover. The Ford Australia team looked a very professional outfit, and I believe they went one better results-wise than '68, one of the Falcons arriving at Sydney in 2nd place behind the Tuthill Porsche?

 

[Alexey Rogachev]

I believe I saw among others the lonely Moskvich 412 driven by Viktor Schavelev (the participant of the original London to Sydney rally) and Alexandr Dolbish.

 

[Martyn Hey]

Yes, a brief glimpse - how did they do in 1993?

[Alexey Rogachev]

There are no full results of this event on the web but I read somewhere that they had been 25th out of 86 at the finish.

Edited by Alexey Rogachev, 25 August 2016 - 19:38.

[cooper997]

Martyn's film has TNFer, the late Barry Lake with the #3 Ford Falcon GT. Barry loved an adventure and took second outright with Ford Australia's Ian Vaughan.

 

Hopefully Alexey will be happy to see the results from the slightly pretentiously named 'THE BOOK' published after the event.

 

 

This might inspire me to dig out my photos taken from the Wangaratta and district stage.

 

Stephen

 

[Alexey Rogachev]

Indeed I am very grateful for these pages from 'THE BOOK'. Meanwhile I didn't sit on my hands and found out that there was one more Moskvich in this rally - no. 6, Alexandr Ipatenko (the participant of the original 1968 event) and Viktor Vodyanitsky. They reached Australia but then retired with broken rear axle. There are no retired participants on the list, so this piece of info can be added to it.

[cooper997]

Here's the 2 page entry list for the 1993 London to Sydney.

 

 

Stephen

[BRG]

Old entry lists always make interesting reading.

 

Is that perhaps THE Derek Bell at #17?  And is it George Bevan of Hillman Imp fame at #47?  And presumably THE Alistair Caldwell at #55 (the NZ nationality would suggest so).

[glyn parham]

Definitely not George Bevan of Imp fame, he wasn't Australian.

[Martyn Hey]

No, its another Derek Bell:

 

https://www.volvoclu...k/lon_syd.shtml

 

And its Barrie Whizzo Williams sharing Hunter no.34

[Alexey Rogachev]

"Moskvich Y08"... rather funny   The actual name of those cars was "Moskvich 408" - someone who fiiled the entry forms must have illegible handwriting. Besides, the cars were actually the "412", not "408".

[eldougo]

16th May 1993 London to Sydney Marathon arrives in order at ,Homebush Abattoir demolition site that would eventually host 

the 2000 Olympic games and become known as Olympic Park.

n

Edited by eldougo, 31 August 2016 - 23:18.

[eldougo]

[eldougo]

[eldougo]

and they arrived in all sorts of condition some a little second had. No48 a friend in the Datsun 1600.

 

[BRG]

16th May 1993 London to Sydney Marathon arrives in order at Homebush Abattoir demolition site

Nice that they really rolled out the red carpet for the event. 

[eldougo]

They just had the red soil ,of the outback so this was fitting finish..

[Martyn Hey]

Wonder if there'll be a 50th anniversary event in 2018? Surely yes?

[cooper997]

If there was going to be a 50th, i suspect it would have been announced well before now. One must also remember organiser of the 1993 event, Nick Brittan is no longer with us.

 

Here's a couple of snaps from my one and only brush with Roger Clark. It was Friday evening May 14, Wangaratta control point....

 

The Australian Touring Car Championship was scheduled at Winton that weekend. So my brother and I took off from home and spent time at Winton's Friday ATCC practice. Then headed up the Hume that bit further for the London to Sydney cars arriving in Wangaratta. The control point was at the Merriwa Park & Merriwa Park Motel area, on what is now the old Hume Highway (that section is known locally as Ryley St) that goes through the middle of town. It was blocked to normal traffic for the rally cars, as many of us stood on the road watching the cars come in.

 

Those competitors that reached Wangaratta were 2 days from completing the rally, but had already spent almost a month covering many tracks of the globe in this mammoth adventure. So many were tired and their patience was tested. One such was Roger Clark if my experience is any indication. Seconds after I snapped the second photo shown below, and if memory serves correct, still peering through the camera view finder, one R.A.C barks "Where's the entrance?"  But before I realised it was me being barked at, "Öh don't bother" to then see his glare. I was just an interested spectator, not an official, but would have helped if given the chance. He was after the driveway into the motel where so many of the competitors were staying that night. Less than 30 odd feet from where we were then positioned.

 

 

 

Stephen

[Ian G]

Here's a couple of snaps from my one and only brush with Roger Clark. It was Friday evening May 14, Wangaratta control point....

 

 

 

 

Stephen

 

I can beat that but no Pics. unfortunately.We were spectating the 1976 Southern Cross Rally near Port Macquarie in NSW,following instructions to a Spectator point on a narrow road.We heard a terrible howling coming out of the Forest and i slowed down,Roger Clark in the Mk.11 came around a sharp bend doing about 80K's and sideswiped my Datsun 1600 and just kept going. The next Morning we showed the damage on my car to his Service Crew and they took all my details but i never heard anything more.Apparently he had blown the Diff. and was looking for his Service Crew and ended up on the wrong road.

[Lee Nicolle]

There is quite a few stories re rally cars hitting parked cars yet alone crashing into property, wrecking fences and leaving gates open.

In this political and insurance liability and litigation I could never see these long distance rallies ever happening again. Most organisers have enough problems getting roads at all to run on these days. Local Govt do not want their roads torn up plus the NIMBYs who do not want access and egress to their properties closed off. And the damage to fences etc as well. Which is very understandable.

[Ian G]

There is quite a few stories re rally cars hitting parked cars yet alone crashing into property, wrecking fences and leaving gates open.

 

That's what caused Rallies to be banned in NSW in 1969,the final straw for the Govt. was a Rally car loosing control and going thru a Farmers fence and hitting and killing a stud bull that was standing just inside the fence. This was less than a year after the London Sydney Bianchi incident at Nowra.

It took a couple of years before Rallying returned to normal in NSW and there was never any more competitive stages on Shire roads,only transport to Forest stages.

There is still hope for International Rallies esp. those ending in Australia,plenty of areas for special stages,Forestry,Desert etc.

[cooper997]

Ian, your tale wins, although I didn't have to pay for repairs!

 

Here's the Finnigan/Margoram GB Lotus Cortina Mk2 having arrived in Wang. Looks better in the first photo than the second. Just a few battle scars along the journey!

 

 

 

Stephen

Edited by cooper997, 07 September 2016 - 00:42.

[cooper997]

A couple more from Wangaratta. The Andrew Cowan / Johnstone Syer Hunter parked up in the motel and the Doug Morris / Bruce Stapleton Morgan Plus 8 still out the front on  Ryley St.

 

 

 

Stephen

[cooper997]

I picked up the latest (to arrive in Australian newsagents) August Motor Sport yesterday, to read Tony Moy,,co-driver for Roger Clark in this event, passed away recently.

 

My condolences to his family and friends.

 

Stephen