Ian Harwood Pt.1
In this episode of Backseat Driver, I sit down with Ian Harwood, a rallying legend who brings decades of thrilling experiences. From passing his driving test to conquering local rallies and tackling international events like the iconic London to Mexico rally over 50 years ago, Ian’s story is one of passion and perseverance.
Ian shares unforgettable anecdotes about the cars he’s driven, partnerships with notable figures, and the adrenaline-filled moments defining the rallying world.
We delve into the highs, the lows, and the camaraderie that made his rally career so remarkable. Whether you’re a motorsport fan or love a good story, this episode offers a captivating glimpse into the life of a rally driver.
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Transcript
Foreign.
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Speaker A: -: Speaker A:I'd like to welcome to backseat driver Ian Harwood, rally driver and the man who competed in the London to Mexico rally.
Speaker A:Now that's over 50 years ago now but it's interesting how that rally and the London Sydney starting to gain interest once again people are interested in these long distance rallies.
Speaker A:Ian Holland, welcome to backseat driving.
Speaker B:Thank you, Mark.
Speaker B:Yes, it goes back a long time, doesn't it?
Speaker B:1956, my love with four wheels started when I had the morning off school to take my driving test in Chester and fortunately I passed because my headmaster was not very happy.
Speaker B:And once I got four wheels I had a single Le Mans, I had an mgta, I had a Dello which is the trials car and then my girlfriend who is now my wife thought a tin roof would be fine.
Speaker A:Women want roofs on car.
Speaker B:They do because of these hairdos.
Speaker B:So eventually there.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker A:Clutten in you joined the car club.
Speaker B:Because back to join car.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Chester Motor Club and another little motor club still going Broughton and Breton based in north wa.
Speaker B:And those two motor clubs really steered my life and latterly Knutsford Motor Club, which is still a very, very active motor club today of course.
Speaker B: to win two or three events in: Speaker B:The rally got off Cumru, the Slaters, the Ballamotor Club and I got spotted by a local company who had just been given a Triumph dealership.
Speaker B:So they approached me with these sort of successes of limited nature that I'd had.
Speaker B: just been given this Triumph: Speaker B:We would like you to perhaps do a rally with this.
Speaker B:I thought, blimey, that's a step up, isn't it?
Speaker B:International rallying.
Speaker B:Because they mentioned the Tulip Rally in Holland.
Speaker B:So yeah, I did this nice and comfortable as well.
Speaker B:Oh, it's the way to go riding, isn't it?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:And that straight six engine's a joy.
Speaker B:So they approached me on this Triumph deal and I was so privileged to be offered this ride and I had a local pal of mine who, who came along with me.
Speaker B:So they put in a KPH speedometer.
Speaker B:The only mod we did to the car, it was in the showroom the previous week.
Speaker B:So they put this KPA speedometer.
Speaker A:They didn't also mention when you finished it's going back in the showroom.
Speaker B:It did with the stickers on it as a local publicity stunt which worked quite well for them.
Speaker B:So we go over the Holland and we get through scrutineering and the next morning we're given the road book, famous for his tulip navigation things, of course.
Speaker B:And this young lads comes looking at these different rally cars in the morning of the start there and he looks in our window and I'm in the driver's seat there.
Speaker B:Oh, he said your car is modified.
Speaker B:No, I said it's completely standard.
Speaker B:But he said your speedometer, it says 220 miles an hour.
Speaker B:No, I said it's kilometers an hour.
Speaker B:Well, he was very offended.
Speaker B:I think that he'd been caught out on this, this.
Speaker B: nd there were, there were BMW: Speaker B:So the Tulip Rally.
Speaker B: And this is: Speaker B:So the Tulip Rally then they had a silversmith who used to make this lovely tulip silver tulips.
Speaker B:There were three for a class win, two for second, one for a third in class.
Speaker B:So they looked lovely on display.
Speaker B:So off we go and we.
Speaker B:It's all tarmac mealy and we go up towards the Ardennes and the halfway halt.
Speaker B:It's a two day rally and the halfway halt is sort of what, 2:00 in the morning and there's a big sort of part Fermi area.
Speaker B:So we go in and the halfway results are being show.
Speaker B:And so we thought, well, we'll have a look See what's happening.
Speaker B:Yeah, this Opal record, that was German registered.
Speaker B:Couple of guys there with matching overalls and helmets and things there.
Speaker B:So they look quite professional, yet they were leading the class.
Speaker B: One of these many: Speaker B:Well, we thought, that's not bad, is it, really?
Speaker B:Could we be picking these BMWs off on these different stages?
Speaker B:So third in class, what?
Speaker B:Be nice.
Speaker B:We could finish third in class.
Speaker B:Class because you get a silver tulip.
Speaker B:So up in the Ardennes we do various calls, the Col de for seal and so on, that we didn't have an accurate speedo.
Speaker B:This was our problem, which was a shame because some of the tulip diagrams were sort of 18 kilometers apart.
Speaker B:We'd have one or two little overshoot because the speed was reading a bit slow and we came to this one particular junction.
Speaker B:But I was being warned, certainly in the next half kilometer there'll be a slot off to the left.
Speaker B:So it's midnight, of course, or early morning, and we're thumping down this lane and we see all these skid marks on this road.
Speaker B:A little slot on the left, right, stop up this little road to be met by a BMW coming backwards.
Speaker B:Obviously wrong slot.
Speaker B:So we get back on the road, we go another 100 yards or 100 meters, and there's another set of Tarmac skid marks there, slot left, we take it, which is obviously the right one.
Speaker B:So we're a bit.
Speaker B:Bit cross with ourselves about that.
Speaker B:So we get back and the finish at Nordvik in Holland and all the silverwares on display at these tulips, silver tulips are all there and I must.
Speaker A:Say, oh, very spot in.
Speaker A:And I've seen them.
Speaker A:They are lovely little things, aren't they?
Speaker B:The guy that made them, he died some years after and now they don't do them, of course.
Speaker B:Really.
Speaker B:And I don't know if the tulip runs quite as it used to be run, but they are lovely and the.
Speaker B:Every British rally driver really wanted a tulip.
Speaker B:Well, better still, free tulip.
Speaker B:So at the finish there, they're all on display and we're dying to know how the results have gone.
Speaker B:So the overall winner and second third it was Ran A Walton as who won the rally in a Cooper S Works S and Vic Elfin and Lotus Cortina was second and Peter Harper and a Summit Tiger was third.
Speaker B:And then they get down to the important bits.
Speaker B:The class wins.
Speaker B:So our class is coming up there.
Speaker B:Well, this Opel record.
Speaker B: ep, he won the class, second,: Speaker B:Another BMW.
Speaker B:Ah.
Speaker B:We were fourth in class and we missed a silver tulip by 10.3 seconds.
Speaker B:That little overshoot we had cost us.
Speaker B:We ran 20, 30 seconds.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that was it.
Speaker B:But the.
Speaker B:The dealership were very pleased and the car was back in the showroom.
Speaker B:They asked us to leave the stickers on the.
Speaker B:Normally, I didn't like running around with numbers on the car, but they asked us to leave the stickers on and so on.
Speaker B:And it was in the showroom and the local radio, people, Radio Merseyside and so on, did interviews with us and with the owners.
Speaker B:So that, that was, that was interesting there.
Speaker B:66, that was.
Speaker B:Now, I bought a well used Cortina GT in 66.
Speaker B:Phil Simister, he was a good Motor News chappie, came second, I think, a couple of times in the Motor News championships.
Speaker B:And he ran a Ford dealership in Macclesfield, Simister's main Ford deal.
Speaker B:And I bought my Angler from him.
Speaker B: I had a: Speaker B:And whilst I was there, I spotted this Cortina in the showroom, well, not in the workshops.
Speaker B:Oh, I said, that's.
Speaker B:That's your car, shorty 12 YMA.
Speaker B:Because I tell the thing about registration numbers.
Speaker B:Yes, he said, he said, I don't know what I'd do with it, really.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:I said, are you thinking of selling?
Speaker B:Well, he said, I might do.
Speaker B:He said, it's whether sell it as is or whether we just tidy up a bit.
Speaker B:Well, I said I would be interested in buying it if it's not too dear.
Speaker B:Well, he said, look, his tax is 17.
Speaker B:He said, come up the road with me.
Speaker B:So we go up the road.
Speaker B:I'm quite impressed with the car and his driving as well.
Speaker B:He obviously knew the lanes we were in.
Speaker B:So I bought the car and this is the end of 66.
Speaker B:My wife was quite interested in motoring and still is.
Speaker B:And she said, you know, she said, I wouldn't mind doing this Chester Motor Club Barclay Rally, which was in October 66.
Speaker B:Well, I'm quite delighted, you know, happy wife, happy life.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So my wife enters this Barty Rally, Chester Motor Club in this Cortina gt, and damn me, she goes out and wins it, much to a lot of male frustration.
Speaker B:But she, she wins it fair and square.
Speaker B:Now, what we didn't know when she was competing in this rally in, in October 66, she was two months pregnant.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, of course, my daughter, who was born in the July, still reckons that she is the youngest person to ever win the barclay rally, a two month seed.
Speaker B:So that was 66.
Speaker B:So I cut back on my rallying program in 67 and I switched to rally autocross and auto tests and things like that.
Speaker B:And well, 67, 68, 69 gets a bit boring really.
Speaker B:I was lucky to win the Welsh Autocross Championship outright in all those years the players number six was the National Autocross Championship fiercely contested thing.
Speaker B:And I won our class in the North England region and got through to the finals each year.
Speaker B:And I also did the odd auto test.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I happened to keep picking up the odd win in this Cortina GT and I was approached by one of the motor club people from North Wales.
Speaker B:Would I be interested in being in a driving test?
Speaker B:Auto tests as we call them nowadays?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And what it was, it was an event which I'd seen myself on tv.
Speaker B:It's called the Ken Wharton Driving Tests and it's the.
Speaker B:That's the home nations, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland and I think another country as well.
Speaker B:And they each submit three cars, front wheel drive, which was Cooper S sports cars which are generally the MG Midgets and Healy Sprites and so on.
Speaker B:And the saloon cars, well there were a variety of cars there but the Cortina GT's a especially the Lotus Cortinas were the cars there.
Speaker B:So I was the saloon car man for Wales and we went through to in the Midlands we met up with Raymond Baxter who was doing the commentary and we did our stuff and the next year I was back again And Raymond Baxter.
Speaker B:Oh, he said you were here last year.
Speaker B:Just update me what you've done for the commentary.
Speaker B:So updated him and 68.
Speaker B:I'll just keep going up in the years.
Speaker B:68.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Pal of mine, the one that did the Tulip Rally with me, Graham John, local rally man, he had bought quite a nice 12 month old Lotus Cortina Yenak 2.
Speaker B:So 66, 67.
Speaker B:I'm jumping up.
Speaker B:68.
Speaker B:68 RAC.
Speaker B:68 REC.
Speaker A:So that was in the days when the RAC was a proper railway.
Speaker B:Five days.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Forests, one night's sleep.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's great.
Speaker B:The endurance events which suited me fine really because I always like the long distance things.
Speaker B:So we both got young families.
Speaker B:In fact our second daughter was by then was three months old.
Speaker B:So he said do you think our girls would allow us to do the rac?
Speaker B:Well I said it's worth a try, isn't it?
Speaker B:So my wife, I was, yeah, okay.
Speaker B:We had a Young family.
Speaker B:We had to be mindful of that.
Speaker B:So we did the 68 RAC.
Speaker B:We started from London and the car was nicely set up.
Speaker B:I think the engine was not necessarily modified but it was very reliable.
Speaker B:So the.
Speaker A:Well you then a lot of the time was a reliable engine out and out power wasn't the thing.
Speaker A:It was an engine that will keep going.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:And all the prizes are at the finish.
Speaker B:Yes, so.
Speaker B:So the arrangement was that my pal Graham had been a club racer some years before with a Lotus 7 so he wanted to do all the racing circuits.
Speaker B:There are about 15 racing circuits there.
Speaker B:He was not really a forest man so I did the forests, he did the tarmac and it worked well.
Speaker B:So we get.
Speaker A:I was putting in.
Speaker A:That was also in the days when a co driver was.
Speaker A:Besides the maps etc was a driver.
Speaker A:They tend not to be.
Speaker B:That's by the way, there's a rider.
Speaker A:The co driver drove.
Speaker B:That's quite right.
Speaker B:Well we were both drivers.
Speaker B:This was the trouble, you see we were both drivers.
Speaker B:Neither of us really enjoyed being in the co driver's seat A I'm also a particularly good passenger at speed anyway but we both agreed all this.
Speaker B:We'd both take our turns and so that was it.
Speaker B:So we started in London.
Speaker B:We go up across South England, up through Wales, all the wonderful forests up to the lakes, up to Edinburgh.
Speaker B:First night's halt in Edinburgh and there's a night's sleep there and the provisional results are shown the next morning.
Speaker B:So okay, next morning we have breakfast and there's crowds of people around these big boards with the, with the results on and the first boards got from first to 30th and the second boards from 30th to 60th and then and so on.
Speaker B:So I skipped the first board.
Speaker B:So I pick up sort of between 30th and 60th and I'm looking, oh, I know him.
Speaker B:Oh, he's doing well, I know him.
Speaker B:So we, we.
Speaker B:We're looking at these boars and somebody taps me on the shoulder he says my words, you're doing well.
Speaker B:Almost.
Speaker B:I can't see any.
Speaker B:No, we say I'm going to be here some council.
Speaker B:So he takes to the first sheet there which is from 1st to 30th and at the halfway we're lying 14th cars reliable which is important of course.
Speaker B:So we, we have a driver's meeting, don't we?
Speaker B:And we decide, well, we've been going 9/10 occasionally 9 and a half maybe we'll stay as we are, Graham's enjoying his circuit, I'm at home in the forests and we just think, well, 14th, okay, there could be a couple of retirements in the way back down to London.
Speaker B:So we get back down to London and the results are there and we end up 8th overall on the 68th RAC rally, which helped of course with sponsorship and with seeding on different events later on.
Speaker B:So that was 68 highlight because just.
Speaker A:Put it in back then, class wins and doing willing categories counted for a lot more.
Speaker B:Yes, that, that was it.
Speaker B:I mean it wasn't just the overall win, it was, as you say, the class wins and we were third forward home, which Ford recognized as well, which is quite handy and it did help me later on when different things crop up there.
Speaker B:So I decided that we'd seen these Escorts at work, they were newly introduced, of course, the Ford Escort twin cams.
Speaker B:And I thought, well that's the way to go.
Speaker B:And I started looking for, I couldn't afford to buy one young, young family and a fairly new home.
Speaker B:So I, I started scouting around and keeping my ears open and talking to different people in the trade if there was a Escort, damaged Escort I could buy or whatever.
Speaker B:So one of my pals who worked in the workshops at quicks of Chester main four dealers then he said, we've got a three week old Escort GT that's being reshelled.
Speaker B:He said it's done 600 miles, they're going to reshell it.
Speaker B:He said there'll be a nice shel there.
Speaker B:So I bought it, had it straightened, put the engine, gearbox and things from my Cortina engine, gearbox and axle fitted the Escort.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:By this time I built a twin cam engine which I felt was the way to go.
Speaker B:So 69, I got this escort on the road and I was quite pleased the way it went.
Speaker B:It was quick.
Speaker B:Compared to the Cortina which I'd done the RSC in, it felt quick.
Speaker B:It had more power of course, because I'd modified the engine with L1 cams which gave about 160 ish 770 break.
Speaker B:So the first event I do is the Welsh, the International Welsh Rally, which is in the May.
Speaker B:And I'd only just got the car on the road about the week before because I had to get it insured and I had to get the police to come and examine it and give it a registration number.
Speaker B:So I virtually drove the car going down to the start of the Welsh in May.
Speaker B:And it was quick.
Speaker B:I realized it was quick and it was A bit twitchy as well, which the Cortina hadn't been.
Speaker B:So we start the rally.
Speaker B:I'm seeded number 15, which again was as a result of coming 8th on the rec.
Speaker B:So that was fine.
Speaker B:So the first stage is epant.
Speaker B:In fact the first four stages are epant, which I haven't done.
Speaker B:But I'd heard about and I'd heard stories about EP and if you went off on eppence, you were off for three days till they found you.
Speaker B:So the, the start was there.
Speaker B:I watched my minute man go off and I'm watching his brake lights and things like that and then it's us to.
Speaker B:And I have to say for the first five minutes it's the hairiest bit of riding I've ever done.
Speaker B:A the combination of Epping with his blind brows and yumps and things.
Speaker B:This Escort which I was still learning to drive.
Speaker B:The beauty was we caught the minute man at the end.
Speaker B:We both went over the flying finish virtually side by side.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I felt well that's all right.
Speaker B:I'm quite pleased about that because the car was proven that it was, it was all right, it was quick.
Speaker B:And next week emoji news.
Speaker B:You look at the stage times, we're actually fourth fastest on Eppens behind Colin Malkin.
Speaker B:So that was quite nice.
Speaker B:And we had a couple of seventh fastest in the forests and then I had to retire I'm afraid in Dovey the Ford Escort's first problem really was the cross member would open up and the engine used to slip down the cross member and the sump would touch the rack and that's what happened with me.
Speaker B:We were putting more oil in than we could with, than we could get hold of.
Speaker B:So I retired before I blew the engine.
Speaker B:So that was 68, 69.
Speaker B:Must the same story again really.
Speaker B:I was asked if I would do mo the Tour of Mull which became quite a well known event still it's now legendaries.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:And I was asked by Don Barrow who of course had been a works navigator with Timo Mackinen and people and.
Speaker A:If you don't mind me saying, a past guest.
Speaker B:Yes, of course you, I've.
Speaker B:I've heard you into interview Don as well.
Speaker B:Good pal these days.
Speaker B:And we, we did Mull.
Speaker B:The story was that Jimmy Buller, his regular driver wasn't available.
Speaker B:I had heard that Jimmy Buller didn't want to be rallying on grass which they said that they no way on Mole can you get 200 miles of roads to qualify as a motor news event.
Speaker B:And There was a fair bit of sort of loose stuff around.
Speaker B:So I had a.
Speaker B:Because I'd won the Welsh Rally Autocross Championship, they thought, well, maybe, maybe I was the guy for the.
Speaker B:The loose stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So we go up to Mull.
Speaker B:Don and I, we stay bed and breakfast in Oban.
Speaker B:We go over the next morning, Saturday morning, when the start is, I go to scrutineering.
Speaker B:Don had not even set foot on the island before.
Speaker B:We did hear that the likes of George Hill and Will Sparrow and one or two other people have been up doing three, four day recce.
Speaker B:So, okay, so we, we do, we do Mull and we're quite surprised really that at the halfway halt, we're just seven seconds behind George Hill.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Who went on to Winnies.
Speaker B:And we were matching fastest times through the event.
Speaker B:And very sadly, because we haven't done a recce, Don had never been up there before.
Speaker B:We took a shortcut which was on the, on the map.
Speaker B:It was a triangle.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:We went across the base of the triangle there.
Speaker B:We're thumping down this white.
Speaker B:He's warning me.
Speaker B:He said, 200 yards.
Speaker B:He said, I want to take a right turn 100 yards where those people are.
Speaker B:There's a couple of dozen people standing at the side of the road.
Speaker B:They say that's where the junction must be.
Speaker B:So they're on the cattle grid, these people there.
Speaker B:So we, we there tweet around the handbrake down this little lane and we come to a blessed bolted padlock gate about probably.
Speaker B:Well done.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:It was nearly half a mile.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:So we had to reverse back.
Speaker B:It was such a tight, tight thing.
Speaker B:So we had to reverse back up.
Speaker B:Unless it's dark.
Speaker B:It's, it's, it's towards the end of the rally and as we reversed back onto the road we'd left, there was this gang of, of chaps that were on this cattle grid.
Speaker B:Inadvertently they'd covered the arrow was telling us to go straight on.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Which we didn't see, couldn't read.
Speaker B:And of course, Don did what was natural.
Speaker B:So I'm afraid we, we finished fourth overall.
Speaker B:But it opened a few people's eyes because the stage times were in motion.
Speaker B:News and so on and so on.
Speaker B:So after mole 69, I'm talking now, I've just got to keep my perspective going here.
Speaker B:69.
Speaker B:I was also doing the players number six autocross.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Now, mor club always did a good show.
Speaker B:And Tony Mason, who became Ford's competition coordinator later on, he had got different guest stars arriving, including Hannah Mikola, who was arriving in a brand new works car that he had picked up from British Vita and was bringing it up to this autocross meeting with the players number six championship round and he was going to demonstrate this works Escort.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Trouble is, when he got up there, Ms.
Speaker B: was down a couple of Formula: Speaker B:It failed scrutineering of all the things that British Vita hadn't done is when you put the fuel lines inside the car, we all know you have to have a protective coating on them.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:British Vita slipped through the net on this and the scrutiny wouldn't allow Hanno to do a drive.
Speaker B:So it was a quick phone call from Tony Mason to Stuart Turner, Ford's competition manager, or God, as we called it.
Speaker B:And Stuart turned and said, well, look who, who's who's there in a competitive Escort.
Speaker B:So they rattled three or four names, they agreed, well, look, ask Ian Harvard if he will allow Hanno to drive the car on Ford's bend and mend if he rolled it, they'd reshell or repair.
Speaker B:If he bl, then they'd repair.
Speaker B:So we're delighted to say that Hannah Mikla spent the day, my wife was there, our two young daughters, and he spent the day with us.
Speaker B:Lovely, lovely guy.
Speaker B:And he, he, we, we put the crash helmets on the floor.
Speaker B:Norm, there's just one crash helmet and my elder daughter, who's about three and a half by then, would soften, sit in my helmet and just roll around like a moon hopper thing, just.
Speaker B:So this time we had two helmets, didn't we?
Speaker B:So my younger daughter, who was about 15 months old, sees this spare helmet, so she walks over and sits in this other helmet and they're both rocking around there and Hannah's quite delighted.
Speaker B:He sees this and he's laughing at these kids and all of a sudden he goes very seriously, points to these things.
Speaker B:Poo, poo, poo, boo.
Speaker B:So, so we had to explain.
Speaker B:No, no, they wouldn't.
Speaker B:Anyway, we took them out of the helmets, put them in the car and Hanno does his bits and of course he, he wins the class.
Speaker B:He, he, he's about two and a half seconds quicker than me on this two laps of this field.
Speaker B:But it was nice to meet him.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that was 69.
Speaker B:So we got mole where at the halfway halt we've been second.
Speaker B:And then we had this slight navigational problem.
Speaker B:Martin Holmes, who was a, almost a works driver, co driver he phoned me up, he's look, he said I've just been reading the mole report there.
Speaker B:He said, said the Target Rusticana is a top motion news event.
Speaker B:He said would you do it with me?
Speaker B:I said yes, yes.
Speaker B:This elevation of being driven or co driven by these works drivers co drivers was, was okay.
Speaker B:So we do the Targa Rusta Khan and.
Speaker B:And like Mo at the halfway halt we're lying second to John Bloxham who went on to win it.
Speaker B:And I'm afraid in the second half we had alternator failure, no lights, dimmed headlights there and the inevitable T junction comes up a bit quicker than we were expecting on gravel and of course we damaged the car a wee bit.
Speaker B:So that's it.
Speaker B:So we're out of that.
Speaker A:But I mean back then drivers and coal drivers weren't as religiously glued together as they are now because shop and change somebody was that wasn't doing something and you were or whatever you'd be invited to do it.
Speaker B:That, that.
Speaker B:Well this is it and.
Speaker B:And you're right because Martin Holmes did.
Speaker B:He was Russell Brooks, he was with Paul Faulkner and different driver Sprinzel and people like that.
Speaker B:And I, I doubted did the ear with him later on but.
Speaker A:And you weren't tied to Coys.
Speaker A:I mean lots of time you used your own car.
Speaker B:Ah, you did.
Speaker A:You could happily be invited to drive and different maker model of cars.
Speaker B:He thought that's right.
Speaker B:It was much, much more relaxed in those days really.
Speaker B:As you say, people do get sort of.
Speaker B:They get regimented now they are usually under contract.
Speaker A:Organ said they're under contract to it and the sponsors and everything.
Speaker A:Yeah, doing something else.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:So that was it.
Speaker B:So the Targa, we were second at the halfway like we were a mole.
Speaker B:We do the Seven Dales Rally which is a great event.
Speaker B:Delacy Motor Club up in Yorkshire organized the Seven Dales and it's almost two rallies in one.
Speaker B:There's a daytime stage event and then at 10 o'clock at night after they've done all the stages, you then do the night event.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And we get to the halfway halt where we're changing from stage to road rally and it's a big, it's a big like a truck stop subway near Selby Moore I believe.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And we roll up to this cafe place there and these guys from Delacey Motor Club who are also autocrossers.
Speaker B:Hey Harwood, we thought you were autocross man.
Speaker B:You're second.
Speaker B:What's happening?
Speaker B:So there we were, we were Second again at the halfway halt unfortunately on the road section there.
Speaker B:We're going through a quiet zone and this is like we're not far from the end of the rally but we're just going as quiet as you can.
Speaker B:I'm in third gauge just to get the engine smooth and a camshaft breaks.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Lotus twin cam.
Speaker B:So we're out again, aren't we terrible.
Speaker A:I mean the Lotus twin cam was a phenomenal engine but like anything by Lotus they have their fragile.
Speaker B:Well that's right.
Speaker B: And Ford caught a cold in: Speaker B:They did the London to Sydney.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Lotus Cortinas Mark twos built by Boreham and they had a rough ride because the engines just weren't strong enough.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:And I'll come on to the World cup later on.
Speaker A:I mean that's the problem.
Speaker A:I mean you, you, you look at a lot of the Lotus F1 cars, the original ones, they be.
Speaker A:They'd be leading or else they'd been second.
Speaker A:Challenging for first and all of a sudden click out because some, in many ways it was something insignificant that would your main goal.
Speaker B:They were quite a complex engine in their day.
Speaker B:Quite a complex engine.
Speaker B:I mean the number of times I built my Twigam engine in, in the kitchen next you wipe up the door and assembly valve springs and things and.
Speaker B:Yes, but they were very, they were very finicky really.
Speaker B:And they were hard to keep dry.
Speaker B:They drip oil all the time really.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:There we might.
Speaker A:It's like the old saying it.
Speaker A:If you go in your garage and there's no pool of oil under your Jaguar mg, well that a problem.
Speaker A:Say oil left.
Speaker B:So there we go.
Speaker B:So that was a seven day.
Speaker B: It was: Speaker B:We retired again having been second to the halfway halt.
Speaker B:The Planes Rally which nuts with Motor Club ran now that was always considered to be the premier event of the year.
Speaker B:It was beautiful, beautifully organized and I had won a set of tires.
Speaker B:I'd done some tire testing for Goodyear about a month before the planes and I was given a set of these new Goodyear Riley Supers.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Which I quite like.
Speaker B:So I put these new tires on about a four night before the rally just to get the feel of the car and so on.
Speaker B:And again, would you believe at the halfway halt we're four seconds off the lead and the car.
Speaker A:That was the way you got to the stage.
Speaker A:You dreaded being second.
Speaker B:Well it's no good being second at halfway because we don't know that.
Speaker B:But it kept the adrenaline going I suppose really.
Speaker B:So we do the Planes.
Speaker B:The, the second half we're going fine.
Speaker B:The car that was leading I knew had retired.
Speaker B:So Martin Holmes who was navigating for me still, we got about a three minute lead over Frank Pearson who was like second at the time.
Speaker B:And we're going down this fast white, we're jumping down there, there and I think, oh, we got a puncture.
Speaker B:I can feel the car pulling left.
Speaker B:So I said how far the end of this selective?
Speaker B:Oh, said it's oh good, three miles.
Speaker B:Oh, I said we all have to stop really.
Speaker B:So we pull over, we got this practice where the spare wheels out, the jacks up and so on and we get the front wheel change and as I'm walking past the back wheel that's also got a puncture.
Speaker B:We must have clipped a bit of flint or something like that.
Speaker B:So there we were, we're out.
Speaker B:We had one spare wheel because Martin for the first time will you run one spare to get the weight down because this is awfully quick rally.
Speaker B:So there we go, second halfway, you'll.
Speaker A:You'Ll learn, you'll put to him from there.
Speaker B:I always did run two spare wheels.
Speaker B:I'm very tired really.
Speaker B:I had really.
Speaker B: So: Speaker B:71, seven dale to gain.
Speaker B:Ron Krellin, who of course was Paddy Hopkirk's co driver, he was without a driver on the seven dales and he rang me up and said, look, he said I want to have a run in a Ford Escort.
Speaker B:He said would you mind being my driver?
Speaker B:Well I said yes.
Speaker B:I mean I'm so privileged that these top line navigators are looking for a ride.
Speaker B:Well he said I can only do this one event.
Speaker B:He said I've had to work with because he was under contract with Barry Hopper as well, he said I can only have this one event.
Speaker B:Yeah, in a Ford.
Speaker B:They're not happy with me going forward anyway, we get fourth overall on this event for once.
Speaker B:We get fourth overall and we got a free entry in a Scottish rally.
Speaker B:The first five cars had international rallies and we, we, I chose the Scottish because I like the gravel of course and I did that with another well known co driver, Will Sparrow's navigator, Nigel Rayburn.
Speaker B:And we, we used an X Works car which I was loaned for the event.
Speaker B:Withers of Winsford loaned me their ex Works car, AVX578G.
Speaker B:Unfortunately we broke the gearbox so that was us out again.
Speaker B:So there we go.
Speaker B:I'm just having a little thing here.
Speaker B:71, right, I get a phone call about October, 9:00, half past nine one evening, the phone goes and I take the phone call.
Speaker B:Good evening, Ian.
Speaker B:He said, it's Stuart Turner here.
Speaker B:Well, fortunately I knew Stuart Turner, who was boss of four competitions.
Speaker B:He said, I've just got a provisional entry list for the RAC Rally.
Speaker B:He said, you're not doing it?
Speaker B:No, I said, I decided I couldn't really afford it because I've had a fairly heavy year and young family and so on.
Speaker B:On.
Speaker B:Well, he said, look, I've got a deal I'll put to you.
Speaker B:He said, I'd like to know in the next 24 hours if it's on.
Speaker B:He said, I'd like you to do the RAC Rally with Juginder Singh.
Speaker B:Now, Juginder Singh was the first man to win the East African Safari Rally three times.
Speaker B:So he said the deal would be that we'd have your car down at Boreham.
Speaker B:Boreham is in Essex where all these works cars are built.
Speaker B:He said, we will lend you an engine.
Speaker B:It's just won the Cyprus Rally.
Speaker B:It's an all steel Phase 4 BRM modified twin cam engine.
Speaker B:And I said, thank you.
Speaker B:We will give you a new rocket gearbox and the latest Atlas axle.
Speaker B:Well, okay, that's, that's interesting, right?
Speaker B:Well, I said, listen, I said, I'm very interested, of course, but I would like to just chat with my wife and time off work and so on.
Speaker B:So that's all.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So I ring him back the next day, right?
Speaker B:He said, I want your car down at Boreham within the next few days.
Speaker B:I said, we will change the engine.
Speaker B:We'll put the engine and box and axle on for you.
Speaker B:So that's fine.
Speaker B:I run the car down to Boreham, leave it with them.
Speaker B:They lend me, I think it was born Wildegaard's car, which was just lying around at Boreham there because he was out wrecking.
Speaker B:And I used that Capri for a week, week.
Speaker B:Full of Swedish newspapers in the back seat there, full of Swedish newspapers.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So that was right.
Speaker B:So we do the event.
Speaker B:Juginder Singh flies in from Nairobi and Ford are paying the entry fee and hotel and so on and so on and so on.
Speaker B:So I suggest to Ford Bill Barnett and Stuart Turlo, the two guys.
Speaker B:I said, listen, I said, my wife and I would be very happy if Jaginda stayed with us.
Speaker B:We got room here.
Speaker B:Yes, that's fine.
Speaker B:You get to know the guy.
Speaker B:So I met him at Chester Station.
Speaker B:I'm thinking, I hope I recognize him because every photograph I see of Jaginda he's got a crushover, a turban on, you see.
Speaker B:So sure enough, coming down this platform is this guy with a turban.
Speaker B:So I'm thinking, this has got to be him.
Speaker B:So I sort of make eye contact with him and yep, that's it.
Speaker B:So he comes here, stays two nights with us here.
Speaker B:We get to know him, my kids get to know him.
Speaker B:One quick little story.
Speaker B:He wears his turban all the time.
Speaker B:It's a paper mache one.
Speaker B:Because on the rally, he took this off well before the stage where people weren't around and put the crash helmet on.
Speaker B:And my younger daughter would be about three at the time.
Speaker B:She was sitting on his knee and he was very family oriented.
Speaker B:Had a young family.
Speaker B:And she's looking at Joginda and then she's looking at this turban.
Speaker B:Now she's looking back at Jigind and we're thinking.
Speaker B:Val and I were thinking, oh, my God.
Speaker B:So out this little voice comes, Joe.
Speaker B:Because he asked us, Joe, she's.
Speaker B:Have you really hurt your head?
Speaker A:And on that naughty.
Speaker A:At Harwood, we shall bring part one to an end, and when we come back, we shall be taking part in, shall we say, probably one of the longest rallies you've ever driven, but part.
Speaker A:Part one.
Speaker A:Ian Harwell, thanks so much for joining me on Backseat Driver.
Speaker B:Thank you, Mark.
Speaker B:Enjoyed it.
Speaker B:Thank you very much.
