Remembering Rallying 1960-2005

[AAGR]

Interesting to see that virtually no-one, repeat no-one, seems to have chosen rallying from the late 1990s era when World Rally Cars were just coming on to the scene ....

And, yes, I'm happy to relate that I was most enthused in the Stratos, Mk 2 Escort, Fiat 131 Abarth period.... along with heroes like Ari Vatanen, Roger Clark, Markku Alen.

Sorry, I feel quite faint now - I need a lie down.

[Mark A S]

Marshalling on the 1980 Ringwood stages rally listening to Paul Faulkener in his GP 4 Mk 2 BDA coming for miles away, eventually appearing in a blast of sound flying stones and sideways, thinking I have got to have a go at that!
My car at the time was a completely standard Mk 1 RS1600 which I proceeded to drive out of the stage after marshalling as fast as I could!
Little did I know then that almost 4 years later I would be wining my first forest rally in a similar Car to Paul!

Later in 1980, having traded the RS [which was dissolving ] for a Lotus sunbeam, went and spectated on that years RAC rally, first at Longleat which was sooooooooo slippery the cars were great to watch, then later in the forest of Dean.
On the way back home going down the M4 we saw Henri Toivenens winning lotus sunbeam crossing the motorway on his way back to bath, I remember thinking, my LS was a good buy

I have many more but don’t want to bore you all!

[aeropilot]

Mark A S said:

Marshalling on the 1980 Ringwood stages rally listening to Paul Faulkener in his GP 4 Mk 2 BDA coming for miles away, eventually appearing in a blast of sound flying stones and sideways, thinking I have got to have a go at that!

I nav'd for Steve Clanford in his Mk2 on the Ringwood one year in the mid-80's.......buggered if I can remember which year though

[Old Merc]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Old Merc said:

The team owner then graduated to a Metro 6R4.Very spectacular and faster.

Edited by Old Merc on Thursday 3rd November 15:51

What fantastic information and insight.

Also having Richard Burns in the Nova must have made you extremely proud seeing him in the WRC later in his career.

Love hearing stories like this. The good old times.

I was very proud of my old mate Richard Burns.By the way its NOT a Nova its a Peugeot 205GTI.Think about that car,there we were in 1990/1 with a little Pug 205.Could we have imagined that he would become World Rally Champion and then a works Peugeot Driver.What happened next still haunts me,I miss him.

[Old Merc]

aeropilot said:

Gary C said:

1985 rac.

Group B

Best drivers

Night time stages

Blind (no pace note) stages included

Full length rally

Followed it through Wales, Midlands, Scotland.

Amazing sounds, cars absolute animals, cutting edge tech, drivers putting their lives on the line.

Everyone buzzing, knowing they were watching something special.

Terrible spectator traffic problems that year around the Yorkshire Moors stages on the Tuesday afternoon/eve and caused terrible problems for crews and service vehicles.
Crews and chase cars were having to take big risks driving on the wrong side of the road past the traffic queues.....Plod were obviously not impressed and quite a few crews and chase car crews got pulled....I was driving the chase car at that time and had a VERY close call with a Police car in the traffic queues around Pickering

I remember getting stuck in traffic in our service van on the Yorkshire Moors at 01.00AM !!!
Then driving like a lunatic,wrong side of keep left signs etc,knocked a few spectator`s car mirrors,we even went the wrong way round a roundabout.Spectators used to pull over and wave us by.Also sometimes,near to the service area,we would get a Police Motorcyclist to escort us through.
That RAC had to be the hardest ever for us.We went non stop from Sunday morning till Monday evening,with just the odd kip in the service van.Monday night was the only proper hotel night for us.Then we went non stop from Tuesday morning till Thursday afternoon.I had not even got out of my overalls for three days!! We were so knackered we didn't even go to the pub to celebrate finishing 3rd in class.

[anonymous-user]

Old Merc said:

I was very proud of my old mate Richard Burns.By the way its NOT a Nova its a Peugeot 205GTI.Think about that car,there we were in 1990/1 with a little Pug 205.Could we have imagined that he would become World Rally Champion and then a works Peugeot Driver.What happened next still haunts me,I miss him.

I am wondering where Nova came from. Clearly a 205 GTI which I have owned in the past. Even more worrying

Yes very tragic times. The Peugeot 206 WRC did not seem to suit Burns which was strange after the 205 GTI success.

I do remember he was in talks with Subaru again for 2004 but again this was just in the press.

Burn's has left a lasting legacy which will never be taken away.

[anonymous-user]

ALBA MELV said:

All North East Scotland for me. By the time I was legal to drive the exciting cars had become less and less.

1st rally memory - must have been early 90s with my Dad and wee brother at Whiteash hill wood near Fochabers. Having watched and listened to various BDA and some 6R4 engines heading back to the car and seeing car 74, a blue Sunbeam IIRc on it's roof beside the A96. God knows how that happened.

Various Snowman, Granite and Speyside events through the years and mostly between stages like Balloch (Keith), Teinland, Ordiquish, Rosarie, Bin, Clashmach, Gartly Moor, etc.

Lasting memory 1
At a sponsor day for the Gleaner Speyside Stages. Sitting in the passenger seat of an ex Petter Solberg WRC machine and hitting the limiter in 6th through the Whiteash wood stage.

Lasting memory 2
Another sponsor day in the passenger seat an ex Gwyndaf Evans MGZR. For being FWD and a 1600 the thing gripped, handled and cornered amazingly helped no doubt by a supremely skillful driver.

Here's hoping my 4 year old will have fond memories of all the Rallies, car events and whatnot that I take him to.

Would not be surprised if we had not stood in the same area at some of the stages you mentioned.

Do you remember Brian Lyall who use to have some of the most up to date machinery in the Scottish forests in the late 90's

He had a Prodrive Subaru Group A, Subaru WRC 22b style and then a Escort WRC. Won the Scottish and British Rally Championship.

Colin McRae also did the Speyside rally in a Ford Puma in 2001. Vicki Butler-Henderson and Tiff Needel were there too to try out rallying for the first time.

The Subaru you sat in was it Barry Johnson's ex Petter Solberg's?

Anyway good to hear your story

[aeropilot]

Old Merc said:

aeropilot said:

Gary C said:

1985 rac.

Group B

Best drivers

Night time stages

Blind (no pace note) stages included

Full length rally

Followed it through Wales, Midlands, Scotland.

Amazing sounds, cars absolute animals, cutting edge tech, drivers putting their lives on the line.

Everyone buzzing, knowing they were watching something special.

Terrible spectator traffic problems that year around the Yorkshire Moors stages on the Tuesday afternoon/eve and caused terrible problems for crews and service vehicles.
Crews and chase cars were having to take big risks driving on the wrong side of the road past the traffic queues.....Plod were obviously not impressed and quite a few crews and chase car crews got pulled....I was driving the chase car at that time and had a VERY close call with a Police car in the traffic queues around Pickering

I remember getting stuck in traffic in our service van on the Yorkshire Moors at 01.00AM !!!
Then driving like a lunatic,wrong side of keep left signs etc,knocked a few spectator`s car mirrors,we even went the wrong way round a roundabout.Spectators used to pull over and wave us by.Also sometimes,near to the service area,we would get a Police Motorcyclist to escort us through.
That RAC had to be the hardest ever for us.We went non stop from Sunday morning till Monday evening,with just the odd kip in the service van.Monday night was the only proper hotel night for us.Then we went non stop from Tuesday morning till Thursday afternoon.I had not even got out of my overalls for three days!! We were so knackered we didn't even go to the pub to celebrate finishing 3rd in class.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I got something like 11 hrs sleep between 5am Sunday and 1am Thursday. We had to slum it in BnB's, and I can remember getting up after about 2hrs kip and having a cooked breakfast at 10pm on the Monday eve in the BnB in Carlisle!
We did go out and celebrate on the Wed eve in Nottingham, but I fell asleep during the meal with my head dropping forward into the plate and getting food stuck in my hair, much to everyones amusement
I think I slept for what seemed like 2 days solid when I got home

[JohnW1]

Cyprus Rally 1976, middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, Billy Coleman in a Lancia Stratos blasting past......

[4x4Tyke]

Can anybody remember the name of the one armed UK National competitor who drove Mk2 Escort in the late seventies?

[YorkshirePudding]

4x4Tyke said:

Can anybody remember the name of the one armed UK National competitor who drove Mk2 Escort in the late seventies?

Mike Jackson?

[AAGR]

Yes, it was Mike Jackson, a very capabe driver. He lived near Hull, and was supported by a Ford RS dealer in that part of the world.

[coppice]

- Hannu Mikkola crashing his Escort in front of me on my first RAC as a marshal- on ..ahem..what came to be called Mikkola's bend in Dalby forest. '69 I think

- same year-sound of 2 litre 911 of Waldegaard.

- '74 ish - Andy Dawson in screaming , howling Stratos in Wykeham

-75 ish - Vatanen driving the wheels off a very battered Ascona in Cropton

- 84- Wykeham ; jaw dropping grip and speed of first Quattro , Langdale

- 85/86 ; where to start? Sound of Sport Quattro bellowing and banging into Dalby woodyard; staggering , unreal speed from Toivonen's Delta S4 in Stang; 205T16 smashing into tree at Lightwater valley . Being overtaken by Mouton's Quattro in Lakes; standing in local garage in Thirsk watching Kankkunen's works Toyota being serviced ; the speed and the NOISE of Llewellyn's 6R4 in the snow at Guisborough.

90s- McRae's commitment in Kielder in warbling Impreza

Noughties-watching how quick a Mk 2 Escort can be against 4wd cars when driven by somebody who is not a stranger to a dab of oppo

Best ? Undoubtedly 1985 and insanity of Gp B .

[s m]

A bit random but, can anyone remember the rally/rally interview, from the Gp B era I think, where Markku Allen is being interviewed about his impressive stage times in the Lancia S4(?)

The interviewer, maybe Steve Ryder (? ), praises the S4 saying it must be incredible to drive, fantastic stage times etc, must be "maybe like a super car to drive"

Markku, bit of a cheeky glint in his eye responds with "maybe I super driver!"

Can't remember which rally it was but sure it was on one of those old BHP videos

Nearly as good as the Michele Mouton ".....I was completely steering.." when she went off in the Quattro one year

[4x4Tyke]

AAGR said:

Yes, it was Mike Jackson, a very capabe driver. He lived near Hull, and was supported by a Ford RS dealer in that part of the world.

Yes, that will be him. When I was a kid my pop used to take me spectating at rallies around East Yorks. I was old enough to see he was very competitive and awestruck when told.

Thanks.

[Gary C]

aeropilot said:

Gary C said:

1985 rac.

Group B

Best drivers

Night time stages

Blind (no pace note) stages included

Full length rally

Followed it through Wales, Midlands, Scotland.

Amazing sounds, cars absolute animals, cutting edge tech, drivers putting their lives on the line.

Everyone buzzing, knowing they were watching something special.

Terrible spectator traffic problems that year around the Yorkshire Moors stages on the Tuesday afternoon/eve and caused terrible problems for crews and service vehicles.
Crews and chase cars were having to take big risks driving on the wrong side of the road past the traffic queues.....Plod were obviously not impressed and quite a few crews and chase car crews got pulled....I was driving the chase car at that time and had a VERY close call with a Police car in the traffic queues around Pickering

You weren't the chase car and rally car I followed all the way from grizedale 2 to Penrith on the wrong side of the road for about 5-8 miles passed all the spectators queuing to get out onto the main road?

The policeman controlling traffic at the junction was a bit miffed

[olly755]

s m said:

A bit random but, can anyone remember the rally/rally interview, from the Gp B era I think, where Markku Allen is being interviewed about his impressive stage times in the Lancia S4(?)

The interviewer, maybe Steve Ryder (? ), praises the S4 saying it must be incredible to drive, fantastic stage times etc, must be "maybe like a super car to drive"

Markku, bit of a cheeky glint in his eye responds with "maybe I super driver!"

Can't remember which rally it was but sure it was on one of those old BHP videos

Nearly as good as the Michele Mouton ".....I was completely steering.." when she went off in the Quattro one year

Could be wrong but pretty sure it was Olympus in 1986. The same event he won the championship (but didn't), and was filmed taking the time to walk round and hug each and every one of his mechanics as if they were his own children.

[ArnageWRC]

A thread mainly about 'old school' rallying gets 6 pages. A modern WRC event thread is lucky to make it to 2....I think that says quite a bit.

[s m]

olly755 said:

s m said:

A bit random but, can anyone remember the rally/rally interview, from the Gp B era I think, where Markku Allen is being interviewed about his impressive stage times in the Lancia S4(?)

The interviewer, maybe Steve Ryder (? ), praises the S4 saying it must be incredible to drive, fantastic stage times etc, must be "maybe like a super car to drive"

Markku, bit of a cheeky glint in his eye responds with "maybe I super driver!"

Can't remember which rally it was but sure it was on one of those old BHP videos

Nearly as good as the Michele Mouton ".....I was completely steering.." when she went off in the Quattro one year

Could be wrong but pretty sure it was Olympus in 1986. The same event he won the championship (but didn't), and was filmed taking the time to walk round and hug each and every one of his mechanics as if they were his own children.

Cheers Olly - I'll have a look and see if I can find some clips. It's one of those things a few of my friends and I have been trying to remember

On a side note, can you remember the touring car race (BTCC late 80s/early 90s) when one on the RS500 prop shafts break/detach at high speed and catapult the car up into the air?

[Hugh Jarse]

1985, lived in Newby Bridge which was a service stop. Great fun to hang around there at the garage though the cycle along the main road on a bicycle with blood curdled boy racers everywhere and Ever Ready fast draining 6V(?) bike lights was always horrendous.

Saw the Grizedale stage start point one year, the 4wd cars really flew off up a gentle incline despite the early snow that year. A stark contrast to the 2wd cars which were a bit underwhelming. I remember the Lancia S4 looking like a homemade piece of crap. Probably had had a shunt.
Spectators then raced on foot to a different long sweeping downhill left hander where elevated position on the outside of the corner meant you saw the full turn which was nice. Though I could be blending several years into one here.

Our house actually faced the route (not a stage) they all took, with hump back railway bridge then sharp right and straight with hillside and stone walls reflecting the sound waves into my room 50m away which had a great viewpoint.

Mate had a Sunbeam 1.6 ti with capri rear drums and back axle and we had a sneaky slide one night for about half a mile near Hawkshead but the Forestry Commission would understandably go apest if you were caught.

Mum had an light blue metallic MG metro at the time (loved for its smartness, velour, red belts and 60mpg) so naturally was well into the 6R4 not least because as a 16 year old I was fairly jingoistic. However, I also liked the Peugeot because as a budding car engineer, the styling of it was so resolved I put aside national feelings. Find the whole nationality-of-cars thing very tiresome now especially all the (mostly) inaccurate predjudices that go with it.
Except Japanese car reliability which is largely true of course

Edited by Hugh Jarse on Sunday 6th November 06:36