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 through Europe and South America. It was won by Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm, driving a Ford Escort.
Organisation 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.
Route and scoring The course covered approximately 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:World Cup Rally, Graham Robson, The Car magazine no. 25, 1985, Orbis Publishing Ltd.
European leg (April 19-25)
London, England Dover, England Boulogne-sur-Mer, France Mannheim, Germany Munich, Germany Vienna, Austria Budapest, Hungary Belgrade, Yugoslavia Sofia, Bulgaria Trieste, Italy Venice, Italy Genoa, Italy Toulouse, France Pau, France Burgos, Spain Salamanca, Spain Lisbon, Portugal
Americas leg (May 9-27)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Montevideo, Uruguay Buenos Aires, Argentina Bariloche, Argentina Santiago, Chile, Chile La Paz, Bolivia Lima, Peru Cali, Colombia Panama City, Panama San José, Costa Rica Mexico City, Mexico
The course included many special stages, some over 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.
Cars
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:
BMW 2002ti Datsun 1600SSS Ford Cortina Lotus Ford Escort Mk I Hillman Hunter Jeep Wagoneer Mercedes-Benz 280SE Peugeot 404 Porsche 911 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Trident Venturer VW-based beach buggy
Competitors Many rally drivers of the day entered the event, including:
Rauno Aaltonen Roger Clark Jorge Burgoa (Bolivian National Team) Andrew Cowan (winner of the 1968 London-Sydney marathon) Brian Culcheth Tony Fall Paddy Hopkirk Timo Mäkinen Hannu Mikkola Jack Murray Gilbert Staepelaere Rosemary Smith Rene Trautmann Guy Verrier Gastón Perkins Jose Migliore Alcides Rodriguez (Peugeot #33) Henri "Ido" Marang, french driver on Citroën #47 who was killed on May 24, in a traffic accident in Panama, two days before the race's end. His co-driver, Paul Coltelloni survived but was seriously injured."French Pilot, Marang, Dies In World Cup Rally Crash", Indianapolis Star, May 26, 1970, p26
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.
Results 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 British Leyland Cars-The Football Association 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 British Leyland Cars-The Football Association 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 Ford Escort 1850 GT Mark I 14hr 31min 6 26 Springfield Boys Club-Ford Motor Company Limited Jimmy Greaves Tony Fall Ford Escort 1850 GT Mark I 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 Ford Escort 1850 GT Mark I 23hr 59min 9 54 Reginald Redgrave Reginald 'Redge' Redgrave Phil Cooper Bob Freeborough BMC 1800 24hr 42min 10 74 Evening Standard-British Leyland Cars Rosemary Smith Alice Watson Ginette Derolland Austin Maxi 30hr 35min 11 32 BLMC Australia 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 Ford Cortina GT Mark II 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 Gunnar Holm Vladimir Bubnov Kestutis Girdauskas Moskvitch 412 38hr 52min 18 91 Woman Magazine Jean Denton Pat Wright Liz Crellin BMC 1800 39hr 16min 19 66 SAFRAR-Peugeot Argentina Gaston Perkins Jack Forrest Greene Peugeot 404 40hr 46min 20 19 Avtoexport Sergei Tenishev Valentin Kislykh Valeri Shirotchenkov Moskvitch 412 41hr 5min 21 31 Rob Janssen Rob Janssen Jaap Dik Datsun 1600 SSS 46hr 1min 22 96 Autocar-British Leyland Cars 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:Graham Robson, The Daily Mirror World Cup Rally 40: The World’s Toughest Rally in Retrospect, 2010, pages 195-196
References
External links London-Mexico: The Complete Story, transcription of an article in the French magazine L'Auto Journal (in French) WCR40: The 40th Anniversary Event, The site for the reunion of all surviving cars, crews, mechanics, organisers and associated personnel to be held in April 2010. Now a part of the Heritage Marathon Rally Group website. Lotus Cortina to Mexico, The story of the Cal Withers entered Lotus Cortina in the 1970 event