Report from Autosport of 25th September 1975

Fowkes throws down the gauntlet

Story and photos by PETER NEWTON

Despite everything that has befallen it over the last six months, the Chequered Flag Lancia Stratos is still the subject of awed attention wherever it appears. Last weekend, however, extra fuel was added to the fire by the fact that an Englishman was to drive it for the first time, an Englishman who had professed his intentions to achieve a result for the team rather than go out with the sole intention of annihilating the opposition only to return with a broken car; with Tony Pond behind the wheel, the Chequered Flag had found themselves with a mature driver of quiet resolve and great flexibility; so surely it mattered not that he had never driven the car on the loose before ..
Tony Fowkes had not been pleased with the Marina Holidays result and he set out to redress the balance with typical determination. From the outset he made the event his own, and set a seal on proceedings immediately. There was no question as to his intentions, and no one had an answer. Fowkes came home at the end of the day a delighted and thoroughly deserving winner, just reward indeed for his perennial determination and 100% effort. Among the other fancied runners there were afternoon dramas waiting in store which first heaped themselves on George Hill, then Tony Drummond, Andy Dawson and finally Chris Wathen, who had the sickening misfortune to misjudge a bend near the finish of the final stage, with the glare of the setting sun in his eyes, going off and losing a certain second place, after a memorable drive in his old, old car.

"Fowkes swings through the last hairpin on Myherin. He was the unchallenged master of the event all day."

Last year the Castrol '75 was an unprecendented success. Under the capable direction of David Stephenson and David Cozens of the Wolverhampton and South Staffs CC, the event is now establishing for itself a unique character and style; the result is a rally which no competitors in the country would want to miss. There are few rallies indeed held on these islands where it is possible to drive an 18 mile special stage on loose surfaces; on the Castrol '75 it was merely the longest of a succession of exciting protracted stages from which drivers coasted out of the forests, sweat pouring in rivulets from their faces, wearing wide smiles under their helmets. The rally again contained close to 100 forest miles in its compact 120 mile route, and these superb stage miles were effectively divided up into just eight tests. It is only possible to do this sort of thing with firm cohesion and confident organisation; for David Stephenson and his hard working team, these are merely by-words. This year the rally was based on the increasingly enthusiastic Welsh seaside town of Aberystwyth, and after last weekend it seems as though it has found a permanent home there, such was the reception from the town. Besides merely hosting the event, the townspeople and the local Aberystwyth and District MC were actively involved in that many of the awards were being presented by the town's traders themselves, one even coming from the town council. Thus the atmosphere on Friday night, as the rally circus moved in and the gutteral sounds of BDAs drifted through the streets, was one of convivial anticipation. As a natural centre for rallying Aberystwyth is geographically almost perfect, its inhabitants seemed determined to make sure that the welcome lacked nothing either.

"Tony Pond on Dyfi 2. A thoroughly professional performance brought the Stratos to its first finish this year, despite a multitude of problems including a stripped thread on a steering arm bolt which effectively gave one wheel steering for half a stage."

Scrutineering was scheduled in two sessions, on Friday night and on Saturday and the organisers were a little taken aback at the sheer number of competitors who appeared for the former session at Meirion Motors' premises. (This is perhaps a reflection of the increased professionalism growing among stage rally crews who now recognise that hotel bills are effectively a necessity, and budget accordingly). The result was that large queues built up in the rain outside the buildings, the latter not ideally suited to the job in hand; it was all very good natured however and competitors made their way towards the bar of the Belle Vue Royal in high spirits. It thus came as a redoubled shock when it was learnt in the small hours that there had been a tragedy not 400 yards away from where the merrymakers were carousing.

It was a rough wet night and the tide was high. A road runs along the promenade at Aberystwyth and at one point turns square right where the sea wall has been built out, there are only some rusty railings between the road and a 20 foot drop into the black waters below. It is doubtful whether the driver of Neil Metcalfe's Ford Granada service car ever saw the corner, for there were no braking marks and the heavily loaded car careered straight on, brushing aside the railings as though they did not exist, and plunged headlong into the sea. The depth was about 10 feet at the time and there was a strong swell running; only one of the four people in the car was reported as being able to swim and Neil, sitting in the back, was badly injured about the shoulder and ribs by a trolley jack which hurtled forward from the rear. The driver, trapped by his seat belts, drowned before he could be extracted, but mercifully the other three escaped. Co-driver Steve Slater and the other member of the service crew were discharged from hospital on Sunday after treatment, but when we last heard Neil was still there, badly hurt. This ghastly tragedy leant an unnaturally melancholy note to the remainder of the evening, so that those who were left rapidly retired to bed, sickened and depressed.

"George Hill powers through a fast left at the start of Hafren 3. A fine drive was rewarded with 2nd overall."

There had been several discussions as to where the organisers would allow Billy Coleman, who had been granted a late entry, to start. In the event the decision never had to be taken as the Thomas Motors team never arrived. Tony Drummond/ Mike Nicholson were first away in the Derek Carman Escort which was now fitted with a pair of new "infrangible" halfshafts following the last frangibility on the Marina Holidays round. Tony also had his "rallycross" doors fitted in an effort to shed some weight from the car. The Stratos started at two with a new crew and everyone's hopes that it would at last succeed. Tony Fowkes has now resolved to win the Castrol championship, and like everything else he does, he has set about it with a singlemindedness that leaves nothing to chance; if there was a favourite to win, it had to be the Cables and Components car at number three. George Hill, his only rival for the championship, was next away in Britain's most successful rallying Vauxhall, the ageing Martins Magnum coupé. Following the most recent exertions of the Manx, the Watts linkage had been "expertly" re-welded by the irrepressible Mike, the rear anti-roll bar had been taken off, and the steering gear had been refettled with new ball joints. The car was still equipped with the 'smoker'; the most reliable of the bunch of engines purchased at various times from Mr Blydenstein, and George seemed more confident and relaxed than at any time this year, having shrugged off his mid-season misgivings about the handling of the car. His performance in the afternoon session of the Marina Holidays was a joy to watch and he was to give another uninhibited display on the Castrol 75. Another battle weary vehicle was next away, and this of course belonged to Chris Wathen. Local fortunes were represented by Jeff Churchill, Dai Roderick, and Aberystwyth resident, David Grainger, the latter down at 29 and destined for a noteworthy run into sixth overall. Lloyds of Stafford were very, much in evidence through the entry, for not only were they handling Tony Drummond's service and ' looking after Laurie Richards as usual, they were also represented by Mr Andrew Dawson, who with Kevin Gormley, was seeded at 14 (taking Randolph Whittal Williams' place) in the G2 Lloyd's RS2000 which following flywheel failure on the Manx was now powered by the unit which had served Andy so well on the Jim Clark. Richard Iliffe's Avon Tyres car made a return to competition at 10. The car had been scheduled to start the Marina Holidays, but a porous cylinder liner in the Drummond engine was discovered at the last moment and Tony had had to wait two weeks for a replacement. A smart green Avon Garage /Central Tyres supported Escort RS started at '11. This newcomer for Terry Brown turned out to be none other than David Stokes' venerable old TC shell resprayed and fitted with Brown's 1800 BDA and Atlas axle salvaged from the wreck of his old car. Regrettably he was to pack up after the first stage when, on suspecting the flywheel bolts working loose, he decided to stop rather than risk expensive damage to the car. Further down the. entry list were Robert James' Carrefour RS, Pat Ryan Western Mail/Howells Alligator, Gordon Batchelor's Avon Tyres RS, still with the big engine, "but don't tell Pat Ryan!" and further on, three Irishmen: Hugh O'Brien, who was making a return to stage rallying at 18 in the ex-Derek Boyd Escort; Ronnie McCartney in the car which brother Dessie used on the Manx in '74; and Paul Martin at 44. These three brought with them an entourage which comprised at least Peter Scott, not to mention Derek Boyd, Brian Evans, a now remarkably svelte John Brown, Nigel Mills, and of course Paul Martin's rigorously drilled and highly disciplined service crew. With David Lang, Paul Appleby (just), Ian Lawless, Bernard Banning, Chris Field et al in attendance, the Castrol '75 promised to be a tremendous rally. No one was disappointed.

One of the disappointments of the day, however, concerned the non-start of Barry Lee who was to have made his return to rallying at the wheel of Geoff Glover's neat little Datsun Sunny coupé. He was on his way to the start when he was forced to park the car forlornly at the side of the A44 some 15 miles short of Aberystwyth when the Datsun overheated and reportedly blew a head gasket. Apparently a hose had worked loose, accounting for the rapidity of the engine's demise. Barry thus did not make it; Paul Appleby however did, by about two and a half hours, arriving in the town at six o'clock in the morning after a sleepless night delivering cattle. Since his cattle business pays for the rallying, there is no question as to priorities, but Keith O'Dell's eagerly awaited double act as driver and co-driver was not to be.
There were only three stages before an early lunch in the nostalgic surroundings of the Wynnstay Arms, Machynlleth; just three tests and 34 stage miles. At 09.15 the rolling forests of Myherin came alive with the angry sounds of teeming rally cars and the battle was joined; On the way to the start of the stage, the Stratos played the first of its multitude of tricks on Tony Pond when the selectors jammed between two gears, leaving him with just second gear to tackle the entire 12'/i mile test. There was nothing for it but to go in, and hope for the best. Meanwhile Tony Fowkes had made his intentions obvious from the start, setting a time through the forest to which no one could reply. In fact he was fastest all morning, and was a comfortable and happy leader at lunchtime, for him the rally was now a pleasant formality. With very strict servicing arrangements everyone was well aware of the necessity of reliability. This factor and the length of the stages themselves could mean that to get a puncture might well decide the event. Unscheduled servicing in Wales has now been forced off the road by the police, and the organisers, already keen to restrict servicing, made the day a very simple outing for support crews by laying down official service areas and banning any other rendezvous. It was gratifying to learn that most competitors complied with the rules.
When eventually, after a 27 minute delay while a mobile cement mixer was allowed up the first stretch of Myherin, the Stratos crawled through the stage, Tony was immediately confronted by another problem, namely how to get around hairpins. There is no effective handbrake in the car, the brake bias is to the front, and while a 'big swing' would have possibly sufficed, this might have meant visiting ditches, and possibly damaging the suspension - Tony was determined to get the car to the finish and he intended to prove it by driving as sympathetically as possible. The fact that he lost so much time on this first stage, and then at all subsequent hairpins where he would always take reverse gear rather than risk the car and yet still finished third, three seconds down on George Hill, speaks volumes both for his driving and the potential of the car.. Never has it been driven so carefully, and never has it before finished an event.
There were a further two stages in Hafren before lunch and the second of these proved something of a graveyard for rally cars; Escorts littered the trees and firebreaks like confetti. Among those off farming was David Stokes, who shot down a firebreak at impossible speed, electing to head for the gap rather than risk his car in the forest. He was horrified to see a vicious tree stump looming up ahead as he careered on down the gap. REV lunged towards it with prayers being offered from within the cockpit. The stump promptly exploded in minute pieces all over the car it was rotten to the core. David was out of the rally but damage to his car was minimal and he will be out on the Dukeries next week. Meanwhile he was soon joined by Mr Spriggs' Vauxhall with two rods through each side of the block and a holed sump! Poor David Lang does not seem to have much going his way at present. After another batch, of really impressive stage times he rolled to a halt in Hafren 2 out of petrol. He was a rather subdued man at lunch and carried on onlv to suffer boiling brake fluid and, eventually, to run out of tyres. Richard Iliffe managed to collect two maximums before lunch; the first as a result of an off after the ford in Myherin, the second when a rear brake pipe and a cylinder cracked in Hafren 2. The engine, however, was apparently highly satisfactory. Meanwhile Bernard Banning had managed to go off five times on this stage — all this on the way to ninth overall! Jeff Churchill was not at all his ebullient self that morning, and his service crew were also suffering from a mystery stomach ailment that was as unpredictable as it was violent. Dr Laurie Richards stepped in at lunchtime however and one of his unique potions soon soothed the Churchill constitution. All, however, was in vain for the camshaft belt slipped 'off his BDA on the first test after lunch, thus adding another expensive mechanical malady to the swelling list. Jeff however was not too disheartened for two 2-litre BDAs are on the way - and a new car to boot.
Laurie Richards' ill luck was back again after a brief relapse on the Marina Holidays; he got two punctures in Hafren and broke the steering wheel in his efforts to keep the weaving car on the track. He would certainly have been second at lunch but for this 2½ minute delay. The Gods were not nearly finished with him however, for between the two Dovey stages during the afternoon the engine refused all attempts at restarting, and despite the mechanics changing everything save the distributor, it obstinately maintained its silence. Recalling his day later Laurie totted up three punctures, one broken spring, one useless ignition system, a bent axle, a broken steering wheel and a persistent misfire - such is the price of winning an event. In the afternoon it was the leaders' turn to feel some of these misfortunes and as they made their way out towards Pantperthog Fowkes led from a hot foot Dawson by half a minute, with one second separating George Hill in third and Chris Wathen in fourth. The Stratos was as yet about a minute behind these two, back in eighth place.

"Andy Dawson flings the Lloyds RS 2000 through Dovey - he was unluckey not to finish second."

Whereas the first stage had been very slippery in parts, the afternoon developed into a warm sunny session with a stiff drying breeze. The going was thus faster and with two Doveys and 18 miles of Hafren as part of the later agenda (including 32 stage miles without any servicing) the pace promised to be hot. Halfway through Pantperthog an internal return spring on one of the leader's carburettors broke, jamming the throttle wide open as the car hurtled down a steep descent. Tony remembered the moment with a wry smile and a shake of the head — somehow he got round the next corner, the massive power of the engine rapidly shrugging off the effects of the brakes. Tony drove the remainder of the stage on the key and at the end got out to dismantle the induction — time was on his side and thanks to meticulous preparation it just so happened that he carried some different external return springs. However despite all this, had Tony not been the mechanic he is, the return spring could have cost him the rally. He coolly fitted double external returns to the Webers, threw away the internal springs and continued, albeit among the low numbers. When he arrived at a delayed Hafren, oil stained and beaming, it was with a 'pleased to see me!?' look that was the exact antithesis of the thoughts of Wathen and Dawson. These last two were now heavily involved in a struggle for second place as the Martins Vauxhall had run into trouble in Dovey when the bolt holding the alternator bracket to the engine dropped out, and the fan belt went slack, forcing George to drive on without a water pump. Rapidly the gauges went off the clock and the crew began to be increasingly concerned about the headgasket. With no service at the end of the first Dovey they pressed on. George had already noticed that the engine had gone right off and in fact the offending bolt had also savaged the camshaft belt, scoring a groove in it and resulting in a slip of one tooth on the cog. One further cog and all the valves would have been hopelessly bent; as it was the car struggled to the end of the stage where all was put right and the engine re-timed. George however was apparently out of the reckoning. Misfortune too for Tony Drummond who had been lying fifth at lunch. He miscued a hairpin in Dovey 2, and in reversing backwards in the narrow track to have another go, found an enormous hole to run into which lay concealed in the undergrowth. No amount of shouting or horn blowing could attract many spectators that far in the forest and it was fully seven minutes before the luckless pair were extricated and on their way again. Meanwhile Ronnie McCartney, who had been having a quick drive in the Porsche despite running without an LSD (he had come over on business and had not been able to resist the thought of the forests) swiped a log with the rear wheel albeit at very low speed, punctured the tyre, and broke the driveshaft. The crew took a short cut out of the stage, met their service crew and Ronnie was most impressed with the way in which Brian Evans first produced a spare driveshaft, and then proceeded to fit it himself. With the car well again the crew continued. Ronnie was thoroughly enjoying his day.

The Stratos was now using a lot of oil but Tony was really coming to terms with the style of driving required to get the best out of it and in fast corners the little black and white projectile would draw gasps from onlookers as it rocketed out of bends, apparently without drama, and scurried away into the horizon, almost before the sight had fully registered on the retina.
The final drama was reserved too for the final stage, Talliesin, where Chris Wathen, after another storming run to a certain second place, went off on "Kullang's bend" over a drop and about eight-feet down a bank. If he had had a gun with him at that stage, there is every possibility that he would have put it to his head there and then. As it was the car, though undamaged, took over an hour to extricate ... At almost the same spot the coil dropped off the Lloyds RS2000, just over a mile from the finish. The car ground to a halt and Dawson found to his chagrin that he could not replace it on the bracket, every time he got it on, the coil would tumble off again. He lost over three minutes but still claimed a fine fourth overall in a car which was giving away a tremendous amount of power to the top runners.
There is more of course, Ian Lawless' excellent drive into seventh overall with the Sky Radiophones RS2000; Paul Appleby's antics on Nant-y-Moch where his efforts to regain the road from the river had the vast crowds on their feet, waving and cheering; Gordon Batchelor's unfortunate retirement after losing second gear and a morning spent being sprayed in oil; Robert James' hard earned fifth place with a failing gearbox and dragging clutch; Pat Ryan's broken rockers and a fire on a stage when the engine blew back through the Webers; O'Brien's unfortunate accident in Hafren 2 when he hit a bank at 80mph and will now probably require a new shell. . . but above it all was a splendid rally, run with panache by a highly experienced team, only the prize giving ceremony itself lacking the finesse of the rest of the event - the memorable moments remain . . . the looks on the faces of the ever enthusiastic and hard working Chequered Flag team when Tony brought the Stratos home at last . . . the Castrol '75 was indeed a memorable event and did great credit to all associated with it.
Aberystwvth Castrol '75
1. T. Fowkes/B Harris (Escort Rs) 6172,
2. G. Hill/P Short (Vauxhall Magnum) 6352;
3. T. Pond/D Richards (Lancia Stratos) 6355;
4. A. Dawson/K. Gormley (RS 200) 6436;
5. R. James/B Tilley (Escort Rs) 6523;
6. D. Grainger/P. Watts (Escort RS) 6623;
7. I Lawless/E Cheetham (RS 2000) 6636;
8. P. Martin/N. Mills (Escort TC) 6653;
9. B. Banning/J. Morton (Avenger) 6690;
10. B Jeffs/W. Ainsworth (Avenger) 6735.
Group one
I. Lawless/E. Cheetham (RS 2000) 6636; (seventh overall);
B. Banning/J. Morton (Avenger) 6690; (ninth overall);
B. Jeffs/W. Ainsworth (Avenger) 6735; (tenth overall).
SS1 Myherin
1, Fowkes 790; 2, Dawson 798; 3, Lang 807; 4, Wathen 809; 5, Richards 810,
SS2 Hafren 1
1, Fowkes 357; 2, Lang 358; 3, Richards 360; 4, McCartney 361; 5, Drummond 362. SS3 Hafren 2
1. Fowkes 1093; 2, Hill 1095; 3. Wathen 1101, 4. Dawson 1107; 5, Pond and Drummond 1111
SS4 Pantperthog
1, Drummond and Wathen 482; 3, Fowkes 485; 4. Batchelor 486; 5. Dawson and Hill 491.
SS5 Dyfi 1
1. Fowkes 758, 2. Wathen 768, 3, Pond 769; 4. McCartney 772; 5, Dawson 773
SS6 Dyfi 2
1. Wathen 902, 2, Fowkes 908, 3, Dawson 913; 4, Pond 915; 5 Richards 928
SS7 Hafren 3
1, Fowkes 12/0, 2. Wathen 1284; 3, Drummond 1289 4 Dawson 1293, 5, Pond 1297
SS8 Nant-y-Moch
1, Dawson /7, 2, Hill /8, 3, Martin and James 80. 4. Pond, Fowkes, Drummond, McCartney, Mack and Grainger 81
SS9 Talliesin
1. Fowkes 430; 2, Drummond 438. 3, Hill 446, 4. Pond 447, 5, James 450