Rallying  Times
The year� was� about 1963 the move to� the North of� England had been made� and a new sphere of experience for me opened� up Tarmac   RALLYING.
�My only previous encounters with this branch of the sport� was the occaisional prep job� for� the Monte� ( Works� assisted� private� entrants)� and� a� few Cambridge Place� customers�did run in the Targa� Rusticana.
Hardknott  climb up to the top from west to east  and on to Wrynose bottoms a classic north coutry rally  route  when tarmac rallying was " THE " sport. The  road  climbing up from Eskdale Green  beside the Ravenglass Railway@ Beckfoot  and Dalegarth   up  to Hardknott  Castle  and the Old Roman fort and on to the three counties stone  down the  wiggley bit and on to Cockley  Beck.  Superb  for  any one that loves the open road "  especially at night in the snow"
For  several  years in the sixties and  early seventies  we were involved with International Rallying with Mr Jim  Bullough producing may fine results   the best of which was the 3rd overall on the  RAC RALLY OF GB  in 1968 with The  Westune  Twincam  Rally  Escort.   a few images  of the events  follow along with those from the  uk championships  of the era.
THE  RAC  RALLY  OF    GT  BRITAIN
After the  RAC 3rd place 1968
THE  RAC RALLY OF  GT  BRITAIN
JIm Clark needing damage repair  RAC
Grizedale Forrest with the Lotus cortina in the RAC
Slippery  stage in Sherwood  Forrest  RAC  Rally
THE   MONTE - CARLO RALLY
The  Bay  aat  Monte carlo a  most  welcome  sight after several days on the road  on snow and ice .   In  an HA Viva van ,  however all  service points were met and the rally car  got to the finish..  I remember one in particular the town square in Angouleme at -20   the calor gas had to be warmed up before  we could make breakfast and coffee for the crew.
Our  accomodation when we eventually reached Monte-Carlo was normaly    on Jimmys Bulloughs  boat  The  "Thelma 6"  for the  early sixties very sylish.  she  reappeard several years later on the River Dart   in the UK. Jim  had it brought from its normal mooring to the harbour so we could use it to rest up before the treck  home
Bob  Smith  on the lower  promenade with the HA  Viva van checking car out before a wash this was before Don Barrow joined the outfit , Jims navigator had  a bad case of snow fatigue causing some disorientation  and loss of efficency, we had however had heavy snow all the way from the channel, 
The team showing Anne Hall the car on the promenade with
Bob under the bonnet  Anne, and the navigator , recovered after a nights rest ,  Jims yacht skipper  in attendance 
This is the Monte -Carlo Cortina GT forerunner to the Lotus  on a shake down rally before the Monte with John Middleton navigating . For the Monte I upgraded this car with full twin 40 DCOE webers  and four branch system worked head etc performance was on a par with the Lotus
went very well on the Monte but that year  we had atrocious weather from calais to the Monaco.
Time has moved on the size of rally cars has reduced dramatically from the  days of stirling efforts of  the  brilliant  drives by  Peter Jopp  Anne Hall  and Bo- Lungfelt  on international  events in the   Ford   Falcons with American V8s to the fore. These  huge  by british satndards,  cars  needed  the vary best of pilots just to get to the finish,their sheer size being a   major factor., their  best result on the Monte was BoBo in 1964 , 2nd overall .
Current club racer  in the US  Ford  Falcon
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1