NUNEATON MAN SETS
RECORD FROM CAPE
IN Coventry this week
after a record-breaking
trip from Cape Town to
London was Mr. Roy
Wright, a 48 years old
Nuneaton man, whose
home is now in Southern
Rhodesia.
Driving a composite Morris
Minor, he and co-driver Tom
Burton, covered the 10,000 miles
journey in 17 days and 20 hours,
bettering the previous official light
car record for the trip by nearly
three days.
Mr. Wright, who is an old boy
of King Edward VI School,
Nuneaton, set out from Salisbury,
in Southern Rhodesia just before
midnight on November 28, and he
reached London last Wednesday.
Charter Plane
He travelled via Salisbury,
Elizabethville, Albertville, Mom-
basa and Fort Lamy to reach Kano
on December 17—38 hours behind
schedule, due to an engine failure
on a river ferry.
The drivers encountered a three
days delay in the Sahara because
of steering trouble, but received
assistance from the French Army
and eventually reached Algiers.
From there a chartered aircraft
carried them to Marseilles. They
motored through France to Calais,
where they boarded another plane
to Lydd.
It took them a further three
hours through London traffic
before the journey, which had
been planned for seven years, was
completed after 9,000 miles actual
driving.
On ' Tracks'
The car used was a 1952 Morris
Minor with a Minor 1000 engine,
suspension and gear box. It carried
many extras, including an additi-
onal petrol tank, water tanks,
sump guard and electrical equipment.
An ingenious device, made from
conveyor belt rollers and sand
mats, was fitted for the desert
crossing, enabling the car to run
on " caterpillar tracks," although
Mr. Wright said they encountered
little trouble with the soft sand.
Only on rutted tracks, where the
sand had been pushed into a cen-
tral mound, did they become
bogged-down.
"We passed all through the
trouble spots of Africa without any
difficulty." said Mr. Wright. "In
Algeria, however, we were stopped
by French soldiers for travelling
at night on a road. which we
thought we had permission to use,
but which proved to be out of
bounds during the hours of dark-
ness.
Frost Danger
"The Army made us stop at the
roadside until six in the morning,
when they woke us up with cups
of hot coffee.
"The only narrow squeak came
in the Belgian Congo where a
lorry went into a skid, swerved
round us and then turned over.
He came close enough to scrape
our paint. but somehow missed us.
"Contrary to the popular idea,
the Sahara Desert is not always a
hot spot. One night while my
partner went with the French to
get a welding job done, I had to
remain in the car and run the
engine from time to time to stop
it freezing-up. The water con-
tainers we carried outside the
vehicle were frozen solid.
Quick Return
Mr. Wright has been staying in
Coventry with his cousin, Mr.
Stuart Wright, who lives with his
wife at Tile Hill Lane. He has also
visited his sister, Mrs. F. Gibson,
of Heath End Road, Nuneaton.
He is to return to Salisbury,
where he was associate editor of a
finance magazine, on Christmas
Day.
"I am flying by Comet, and the
journey will take just about as
many hours as it took us days to
cross by road," he said.
Coventry Evening Telegraph, Wednesday 23 December 1959
A photograph shows the split-screen Morris Minor lettered:
CAPE TO LONDON RECORD ATTEMPT
PLEASE HELP ON WAY
Registration: S 21804
RGDS RLT
Edited by Rupertlt1, 13 June 2021 - 08:26.