Tulip Rally 1966
I’ve seen them mentioned on motorsport forums, those bright orange spotlight covers. This photograph was taken on the 18th International Tulip Rally in 1966 which Eric Jackson did with Ken Deacon as his navigator. We used to call them the ‘what’s new pussycat?’ covers – after the film of the same name, filmed in 1965. There was a song of that name too – by Tom Jones. Although you can’t tell from the black and white photograph, the flash down the...
Read MoreFirst rally car – last rally car
Eric Jackson’s first Ford rally car was a little 35 brake horse power Anglia. It had a three-speed gear box, a side valve engine – and windscreen wipers that stopped working every time the car went uphill. The first rally he entered with the Anglia was the the Yorkshire Rally. The registration number of the car was OYU 676. He also entered the Rally of Great Britain in the car. The photograph I have shows a remarkably old little car with a remarkably determined, be-goggled...
Read MoreLondon to Sydney can’t be tougher than this
That is the title of a press cutting I have. It shows a photograph of the Ford works team on an eight mile trek over the Welsh mountains. The article begins: Eight of Ford’s ace drivers in the 10,000 mile London to Sydney Marathon shared a mountain top with a flock of bewildered sheep – in one of the most unusual exercises ever carried out by top international rally teams. The aim was to toughen up the drivers for the driving test which will see them battling through...
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