The golden days of Rallycross...

[Sparky]

I just sat and watch a short video about Rallycross in the '70's.

Fascinating stuff. Many of the names mentioned have obviously gone on to bigger and better things. Keith Ripp being one of them. Until recently, he was running one of the first car accessory showrooms in the country.

Back then, he drove the yellow, demon no.17 1400cc Mini.

Murray Walkers commentary at the time was priceless.
Describing Ripps last lap sprint to the finishline, it sets the scene perfectly:

"...As the Mini of Keith Ripp... accelerates away... at over 100mph... down this stretch... fling it sideways onto the chalk... keep it there... avoid Manns Bank... which he DOES NOT DO! Keith Ripp in real trouble..."

Every Mini enthusiast has seen the short piece of film, and stared wide-eyed and speechless at the screen as EVERY panel falls off the car in it's end-over-end tumble across the track. Keith is helped from the wreck, looking very dazed and confused, staring inadvertantly with a certain 'gob-smacked' look at the BBC camera.

I participate in Autocross these days (as a mechanic only) and the racing just isn't this exciting!
Has the standard of driving improved that much? Are the circuits safer? (There has never been a darned great bank of earth beside any track we've raced at!) Or do the drivers not try as hard? (Don't believe that for a minute!)

Do you have any fave club motorsport moments?
Are any of them on film? Where can I see them!

[SL]

Not very intersting fact no 1

Rallycross was "invented" by the BBC due to the foot & mouth outbreak in the late 60's. The UK rally was cancelled for fear of contaminaton. Thus the poor old BEEB had nothing to fill their slot on Grandstand and so looked for other forms of racing. Being mid winter there was not a lot around at short notice.

Having a paddock full of race prepared cars and bored drivers someone (Raymond Baxter ??)had an idea, why not use these cars to race around a closed track, time them and show on TV.

Hey presto rallycross was born.

SL

[TimD]

Rallycross in the seventies?

Oh boy!

The memories come flooding back. The de Rooy brothers, in their Ford V6-powered Dafs, John Taylor's Escort, Tony Proctor's 3.4 litre Capri, John Button and Franz Wurz kicking up dirt long before their respective little boys were any more than knee high to a gokart.

Happy days indeed.

Couldn't ask for a copy of that tape, could I, Sparky? I got lots of swapsys I can offer.


SL, you're quite right about the birth of rallycross. I've seen photographs from that event with works Austin Healey 3000s competing against Saab 96s and an MG1100! I wonder whether the broadcast footage still exists somewhere? The thought of all that wonderful Saturday afternoon entertainment from Lydden Hill mouldering away in some archive somewhere....


Another favourite Murrayism from Lydden.

"...and with this lead that Martin Schanche has, John Greasley hasn't got a hope of... YES HE DOES!"

(as Schanche's Mk2 Escort runs wide at the top of the hill and Greasley's black droop-snoot 911 sneaks through the inside)

[Sparky]

Alas, Tim, the tape was viewed at a friends house under armed guard

He's very protective of his collection, but I'll see what I can do!

I made him hover around the end of 'that' race, just so I could note the commentary exactly (What an anorak...!)

SL, for a quarter of a second there, I thought you were saying that Fact No.1 was that Rallycross was not very interesting! What DOES it take to wake Simon up, I thought!!

I love the sport. What is the state of play with the British Championship? I know we dragged it kicking and screaming away from the Europeans, but I haven't followed it like I should...

The last 'British' Championship I caught was (I think) December '94 (Brrr!) at Brands. The one where Schanke put his 'Scalextric' Escort on its roof after the flag!!

Ahd what was the name of the Swede in the 'Karcher' sponsored 4x4 Mondeo? He rolled (and destroyed) it at Paddock Hill Bend, the first corner in it's debut race!! Oh how we laughed.. ahem, I mean commiserated.

Then there was Patrick Dupallier in the Citroen Xantia, Will Gollop in that indecently quick 700bhp Peugeot of his..

I remember he lost control of that beast at the Brentwood Short Oval show a few years back. Doing a few demo runs for the ammassed crowd, he totally lost it on the wet tarmac and took out a fence AND a transit!

I think he sold it after that!

Rallycross! - The last bastion of the entrepreneurial car engineer!

[Peter Mallett]

Hmmm,

I liked the old days of rallycross. My last visit to Lydden as a spectator was in February 1981. Can't remember who was on the programme but it was tremendous fun. Not many spectators as I recal.

The drive down was fun too. I had a 2 litre GTXLR Capri at the time with sorted suspension and a V4 engine of somewhat dubious tune. I never did figure out exaclty what the previous owner had done to it but it sure as hell frightened my mate in the XJS whom I passed going up the hill on the A20 outside Maidstone. The needle was off the clock. It definitely needed the AVO front spoiler which was fitted.

As to the last bastion? Sparky you should get out more. What about the BARC north east centere' Sports and Saloon Car Championship? V8 mark 3 Escorts etc.

[chunder]

Oh dear Sparky, looks like your rallycross knowledge is letting you down a bit. Just kidding mate, rallyx is (or rather was) my favourite motorsport.
Barry Squibb drove the Scalextric car at Brands and the incident you talked about was Schanche hitting the twin turbo Impreza (retired because it wasn't powerful enough!) of Per Eklund.
I saw the Mondeo rolling aswell, possibly one of the biggest accidents I have ever seen. The driver was a Belgian called Jos Stekens.
And finally the Xantia driver was indeed French but called Jean-Luc Pailler. He still competes in a Peugeot 206WRC and also ice races a Saxo with a V6 motor.
I disagree with the sentiments about the seventies being the greatest days. Surely the late eighties were the pinnacle.
Stupidly fast cars in both divisions, no computer controls just feet and hands and Brits doing well in both categories.
In Division 1 you had the RS500 Sierras up against the likes of Steinar Joranli's Kadett and Hunsbedt's BMW and the Div 2 contest was a massive brawl between the Group B supercars.
My personal memory is of Schance, Gollop and Alamaki doing battle at Lydden, four wheel drifting their cars in perfect control round Paddock Hill bend, Glorious..

[dougcross70's]

Originally Posted by ;47670

Not very intersting fact no 1

Rallycross was "invented" by the BBC due to the foot & mouth outbreak in the late 60's. The UK rally was cancelled for fear of contaminaton. Thus the poor old BEEB had nothing to fill their slot on Grandstand and so looked for other forms of racing. Being mid winter there was not a lot around at short notice.

Having a paddock full of race prepared cars and bored drivers someone (Raymond Baxter ??)had an idea, why not use these cars to race around a closed track, time them and show on TV.

Hey presto rallycross was born.

SL

Think it was ITV that started Rallycross, they were contacted to cover a special stage of the RAC rally as they had done the previous year but that sadly did not happen because of foot & mouth so Brands Hatch was brought on board to cobble together a Rallycross track and the rest is history, the sport grew a healthy audience for ITV with John Sprinzel behind the commentating and Croft becoming its regular circuit with Cadwell Park following later.
In a move to get onboard the viewer grabbing sport the Beeb jumped in at Lydden with Murray Walker, sadly the Beeb were the first to dropped the sport from winter schedules followed later by ITV, the beeb resumed for a couple of Brands Rallycross Grand Prix meetings(Fog Permitting).