More Marathon Rallying!!!
First, if you haven’t read this thread on the London Sydney Rally of 1968, it should be considered a prerequisite:
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=355160
After the success of the Daily Express’s 1968 event, the Daily Mirror decided that it too needed a piece of the marathon rally action. And what better promotional tie-in than the World Cup (Soccer) tournament. Held every four years, the 1966 Cup had been held in London and the 1970 Cup was to be in Mexico. The 1970 World Cup Rally was symbolic of the Cup traveling from London to Mexico and was scheduled to end just as the Cup match began in Mexico City.
The route in Europe was not extraordinarily difficult and many entrants made it as far as the Lisbon point of departure for South America. Once on the South American continent, things changed rapidly and those that weren't truly prepared to deal with the harsh conditions dropped out quickly.
The winning car was the Ford Escort 1850 GT driven by Hannu Mikkola, car #18. This is a Trofeu model:
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Second place went to Brian Culcheth in A Triumph 2.5PI. This is a Vanguards model:
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Third went to Rauno Aaltonen in another Escort, a model I have not found.
Keb Tubman finished 11th in this Austin 1800, another Vanguards model:
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I also have this IXO/Altaya model of Carlos Del Val’s Seat 1430, a car that failed to finish the rally. Only 23 cars of the over 100 entered were able to make it to Mexico City.
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Four years later, in 1974, UDT (an automotive finance company) decided to sponsor another World Cup-related rally, this time from London to Munich, the site of the ’74 FIFA World Cup. Because the distance from London to Munich was too short to qualify as a marathon rally, the route ran from London through North Africa, and then back to Munich.
Because of the 1973 oil crisis, few factory teams entered as most had, at least temporarily, withdrawn from racing/ralying. Therefore most entries were privateers.
However the organizers of this event failed to account for road changes made between the time they laid out the route and the time the Rally was held. As a result, the timing instructions were off and most competitors got lost in the Sahara. The eventual winner was this Citroen DS 23, one of whose co-drivers was Ken Tubman, driver of the Austin above. This is a Rio model of the winner:
![]()
The experiences of the many teams that wandered lost the Sahara (in some cases for several days) was the spark that set in motion the planning for the first Paris-Dakar, in 1979.
In 1995, on the 25th anniversary of the original World Cup Rally, it was held again as a Historic event (i.e. the entrants must be cars that were around when the original event was held). It was called simply the London-Mexico Rally, since it was not held in conjunction with a FIFA event.
Amazingly, it was won by the same team (Mikkola/Palm) who won the first event 25 years earlier, in the same type of car. This is a Trofeu model of their car:
![]()
(If anyone knows of other World Cup rally cars in this scale, please send me a PM.)
First, if you haven’t read this thread on the London Sydney Rally of 1968, it should be considered a prerequisite:
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=355160
After the success of the Daily Express’s 1968 event, the Daily Mirror decided that it too needed a piece of the marathon rally action. And what better promotional tie-in than the World Cup (Soccer) tournament. Held every four years, the 1966 Cup had been held in London and the 1970 Cup was to be in Mexico. The 1970 World Cup Rally was symbolic of the Cup traveling from London to Mexico and was scheduled to end just as the Cup match began in Mexico City.
The route in Europe was not extraordinarily difficult and many entrants made it as far as the Lisbon point of departure for South America. Once on the South American continent, things changed rapidly and those that weren't truly prepared to deal with the harsh conditions dropped out quickly.
The winning car was the Ford Escort 1850 GT driven by Hannu Mikkola, car #18. This is a Trofeu model:
Second place went to Brian Culcheth in A Triumph 2.5PI. This is a Vanguards model:
Third went to Rauno Aaltonen in another Escort, a model I have not found.
Keb Tubman finished 11th in this Austin 1800, another Vanguards model:
I also have this IXO/Altaya model of Carlos Del Val’s Seat 1430, a car that failed to finish the rally. Only 23 cars of the over 100 entered were able to make it to Mexico City.
Four years later, in 1974, UDT (an automotive finance company) decided to sponsor another World Cup-related rally, this time from London to Munich, the site of the ’74 FIFA World Cup. Because the distance from London to Munich was too short to qualify as a marathon rally, the route ran from London through North Africa, and then back to Munich.
Because of the 1973 oil crisis, few factory teams entered as most had, at least temporarily, withdrawn from racing/ralying. Therefore most entries were privateers.
However the organizers of this event failed to account for road changes made between the time they laid out the route and the time the Rally was held. As a result, the timing instructions were off and most competitors got lost in the Sahara. The eventual winner was this Citroen DS 23, one of whose co-drivers was Ken Tubman, driver of the Austin above. This is a Rio model of the winner:
The experiences of the many teams that wandered lost the Sahara (in some cases for several days) was the spark that set in motion the planning for the first Paris-Dakar, in 1979.
In 1995, on the 25th anniversary of the original World Cup Rally, it was held again as a Historic event (i.e. the entrants must be cars that were around when the original event was held). It was called simply the London-Mexico Rally, since it was not held in conjunction with a FIFA event.
Amazingly, it was won by the same team (Mikkola/Palm) who won the first event 25 years earlier, in the same type of car. This is a Trofeu model of their car:
(If anyone knows of other World Cup rally cars in this scale, please send me a PM.)
