1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally | |
Native Name: | Daily Mirror World Cup Rally |
Rallybase: | London Mexico City |
Startdate: | 19 April |
Enddate: | 27 May 1970 |
Stages: | 32 |
Overallkm: | 25700 |
Surface: | Tarmac and Gravel |
Driver1: | Hannu Mikkola Gunnar Palm |
Team1: | Daily Telegraph-Ford Motor Company Limited |
Teamsstart: | 96 |
Teamsfinish: | 23 |
The 1970 London-Mexico World Cup Rally was the first of two World Cup Rallies to be held and the second of four marathon rallies to be held in a nine-year period beginning with the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon. The motor rally started at Wembley Stadium in London on 19 April 1970 and finished in Mexico City on 27 May 1970, covering approximately 16000miles through Europe and South America. It was won by Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm, driving a Ford Escort.
The event was the brainchild of Wylton Dickson, possibly inspired by the earlier 1968 London-Sydney Marathon, and was to mark the fact that the 1966 FIFA World Cup had been held in London and that the upcoming 1970 FIFA World Cup was to be held in Mexico. Dickson approached the renowned British rally driver Paddy Hopkirk and together they went to The Daily Mirror for sponsorship.
The event was organised by members of the RAC and the MSA.
The course covered approximately 16000miles through Europe, South America and Central America. Two boats were needed to convey the rally, one to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro and a second from Buenaventura, Colombia across the Gulf of Panama to Panama to avoid the impassable Darién Gap. Some of the principal towns and cities visited were, in order:[1]
The course included many special stages, some over 500miles long. Time penalties were given for exceeding set times on the special stages, as well as for other infractions of the rules, and the cars' positions determined by the penalties awarded rather than lowest cumulative times.
Over one hundred cars started the event. The rules about what cars could be entered were not restrictive but due to the demanding nature of the course most competitors were conservative and used modified versions of standard models. That did not prevent there being a wide variety of cars, from Volkswagen Beetles to Rolls-Royces. There were works (officially sanctioned and prepared) entries from Ford, British Leyland and Moskvitch, and semi-works entries from Citroën.
The Ford team ran modified Escort Mk Is, fitted with an 1850 cc version of the crossflow Kent engine and uprated with various other parts from other Ford models. Each Ford car had two drivers. The British Leyland team entered two teams. The first team ran three Triumph 2.5PI Mark 2s, which were more powerful than the Fords but were significantly heavier; two cars carried a three-man crew, Brian Culcheth preferring to stick with a conventional two-man crew. The second Leyland team ran Austin Maxis, Austin 1800s (some badged Morris) and a lone Mini Clubman. Citroën used the venerable DS21. Moskvich used the Moskvich 412 with 1500 cc engine.
Other cars run in the event included:
Many rally drivers of the day entered the event, including:
As well as professional rally drivers, the event attracted a number of well known people, including the footballer Jimmy Greaves, who finished a very creditable sixth, and HRH Prince Michael of Kent, who failed to finish.[1]
Entrant | Drivers | Car | Penalties (Time) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 18 | Daily Telegraph-Ford Motor Company Limited | Hannu Mikkola Gunnar Palm | Ford Escort 1850 GT Mark I | 9hr 7min | |
2 | 88 | Brian Culcheth Johnstone Syer | Triumph 2.5 PI Mark II | 10hr 25min | ||
3 | 46 | Daily Express-Ford Motor Company Limited | Rauno Aaltonen Henry Liddon | Ford Escort 1850 GT Mark I | 10hr 46min | |
4 | 98 | Paddy Hopkirk Tony Nash Neville Johnson | Triumph 2.5 PI Mark II | 12hr 26min | ||
5 | 103 | Daily Telegraph-Ford Motor Company Limited | Timo Mäkinen Gilbert Staepelaere | 14hr 31min | ||
6 | 26 | Springfield Boys Club-Ford Motor Company Limited | Jimmy Greaves Tony Fall | 19hr 31min | ||
7 | 100 | Societe d’Encouragement de Automobile France | Patrick Vanson Olivier Turcat Alain Leprince | Citroën DS 21 | 22hr 3min | |
8 | 14 | Ford Motor Company Limited | Sobiesław Zasada Marek Wachowski | 23hr 59min | ||
9 | 54 | Reginald Redgrave | Reginald 'Redge' Redgrave Phil Cooper Bob Freeborough | BMC 1800 | 24hr 42min | |
10 | 74 | Rosemary Smith Alice Watson Ginette Derolland | Austin Maxi | 30hr 35min | ||
11 | 32 | Ken Tubman Andre Welinski Robert McAuley | Austin Maxi | 32hr 36min | ||
12 | 28 | Avtoexport | Leonti Potapchik Edouard Bazhenov Youri Lesovski | Moskvitch 412 | 34hr 6min | |
13 | 29 | Bolivian National Team | William Bendek Dieter Hubner Jorge Burgoa | BMW 2002 Ti | 35hr 14min | |
14 | 15 | Temple Meads Motors | Ron Channon Rod Cooper | 36hr 43min | ||
15 | 83 | W.G. James | Alun Rees Hywel Thomas Washington James | Hillman Hunter | 37hr 50min | |
16 | 38 | Fixo-Flex Sports Team | Alfred Katz Alfred Kling Albert Pfuhl | Mercedes-Benz 280 SE | 38hr 5min | |
17 | 71 | Avtoexport | Gounnar Khlom Vladimir Boubnov Kastitis Guiradouskas | Moskvitch 412 | 38hr 52min | |
18 | 91 | Jean Denton Pat Wright Liz Crellin | BMC 1800 | 39hr 16min | ||
19 | 66 | Gaston Perkins Jack Forrest Greene | Peugeot 404 | 40hr 46min | ||
20 | 19 | Avtoexport | Sergei Tenichev Valentin Kislykh Valeri Chirotchenkov | Moskvitch 412 | 41hr 5min | |
21 | 31 | Rob Janssen | Rob Janssen Jaap Dik | Datsun 1600 SSS | 46hr 1min | |
22 | 96 | Terry Kingsley Peter Evans Michael Scarlett | Austin Maxi | 46hr 25min | ||
23 | 45 | Doug Harris | Doug Harris Mike Butler | Ford Escort 1300 GT Mark I | 66hr 8min | |
Source:[3] [4] |