Ian Harwood Pt.2
In this episode of Backseat Driver, I welcome back Ian Harwood to share the gripping story of his participation in the legendary London to Mexico Rally, one of the longest and most gruelling endurance rallies in motorsport history.
Ian takes us through the highs and lows of this epic adventure, from mechanical breakdowns and navigating treacherous terrains across Europe and South America to overcoming extraordinary challenges that tested both driver and machine. Along the way, he recounts memorable encounters with legendary figures in motorsport, offering a rare glimpse into the camaraderie and determination that define this historic rally.
Tune in for an in-depth and thrilling look at Ian’s unforgettable experience and the tales that make the London to Mexico Rally a true motorsport epic.
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Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Yes, it's me, Mike Stone and this is the Backseat Driver podcast.
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Speaker B: -: Speaker A:I'd like to welcome back to the backseat driver Ian Harwood.
Speaker A:Rally driver Ian welcome back.
Speaker C:Thank you, Mark.
Speaker A:Now, when we finished, we were doing local rallies, for want of a better term, but you were invited to drive in what was one of the longest endurance rallies ever.
Speaker A:They'd been the London to Sydney.
Speaker A:And then somebody thought, why don't we do for the World Cup, London to Mexico?
Speaker A:So you ended up driving that and looking at the route, there was an enormous distance driven in Europe, all down through France, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, the then Yugoslavia, all the way around, taking in some of the great Liege sophilia stages.
Speaker A:The Monte Carlo eventually finished up in Portugal.
Speaker A:At that stage alone eliminated a lot of cars.
Speaker A:That's even before you got to South America and the truly rough rally began.
Speaker A:How did you, how did you become to be invited to drive the London Mexico?
Speaker C:Well, Mark, I was very lucky.
Speaker C:I was partially sponsored by a firm, Withers Withers of Winsford.
Speaker C:Now they're well known in the rally circles.
Speaker C:And Cal Withers, I was there one day talking to him and he said, what do you know about this London to Mexico rally?
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:I said, I've been reading about this in the papers.
Speaker C:And so what an event.
Speaker C: Because the previous year,: Speaker C:And I was absolutely mesmerized by that event.
Speaker C:So he said, well, he said, would you be interested in doing it?
Speaker C:Well, I did a double take to make sure he was serious.
Speaker C:Well, I said, my God.
Speaker C:I said, what a challenge.
Speaker C:I said, yes, I would.
Speaker C:But I said yes.
Speaker C:He said, just give it some thought, he said, and come back to me in a, in A week's time and see what you think, have a thing out, choice of car and things like that.
Speaker C:So quite excited about this, of course.
Speaker C:Didn't sleep for two or three nights thinking about it.
Speaker A:And now to break it to the wife.
Speaker C:And now to break it to the wife.
Speaker C:And my wife, bless her, she.
Speaker C:She's always very, very supportive and again, family, of course, has to come first.
Speaker C:But yeah, she was fine and I managed to get time off work, so.
Speaker C:So I'm thinking about this choice of car and I'm thinking, well, it's got to be a Ford, really, because A.
Speaker C:I know how Fords are, you know, with the business and rallying and so on.
Speaker C:I know how Fords are generally put together and the rally cars and most people do.
Speaker C:So I decided, I would suggest.
Speaker C: and the only sensible Ford in: Speaker C:Yeah, the Escort was still a very new car.
Speaker C:It was a bit small maybe for a long distance event like that.
Speaker C:So I went back to Carl with this and I said, look, I said, great.
Speaker C:I said, I've got the okay from my wife, my company.
Speaker C:And I said, yes, thank you very much indeed, I'm up for it.
Speaker C:So I suggested about this Cortina idea.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:He said, well, we'll have to have a think what we can do on this.
Speaker C:And he said, what the crew?
Speaker C:Well, I said the big talking point in the motoring news and Autosport was different manufacturers on this London to Mexico, 16,000 miles.
Speaker C:The big talking was where to go, two man or three man.
Speaker C:Yeah, I said, I've got a good co driver in mind, Frank Pearson, who a lot of people know, he's a garage man, he knows a thing or two about Spanners.
Speaker C:He's a very tidy, quick, neat driver.
Speaker C:And we wanted a third crew member who would handle the paperwork, the navigation, all the passports had to be stamped by with visas and things for the South American countries mainly.
Speaker C:So originally Cal with us got Don Barrow in on the team.
Speaker C:So we had the team.
Speaker C:We had myself, Frank Pearson and Don Barrow and this was Calworth, wanted the publicity, of course, for doing all this.
Speaker C:So he put this fact into Motor News and he spotted a car for sale which was the car that Rosie Smith used on the London to Sydney.
Speaker C:It was built by Ford, it was a lotus Cortina Mark 2.
Speaker C:And this car was being.
Speaker C:It had just come back from Australia where it had done the London Sydney and it was being offered for sale less Engine and gearbox.
Speaker C:Well, that was fine because I wasn't even thinking of running a twin cam engine because they just didn't have the stamina as Ford found out themselves.
Speaker C: was thinking perhaps going a: Speaker A:It's like we said, a good old fashioned engine was actually the more reliable.
Speaker C:You could change the head gasket in half an hour if you like.
Speaker C:And whereas the twin cam, it was a, you know, it was a job undoing everything.
Speaker C:So Carl said about this Corti and I said look, that sounds great.
Speaker C:I said the shell will be prepared, it'll all be firewalled and strengthened.
Speaker C:And so he bought the car and it arrived with its Irish registration, VPI 77 because Rosen Smith of course lives in southern Ireland and it was Ford island that entered that particular car, but it was built alongside the factory cars.
Speaker C:So we got the car and again Cal, with this, put this in Motor News that the ex Rosie Smith car.
Speaker C:Now it was very fortunate that Stuart Turner, who we mentioned before, the competitions manager had spotted this and he rang Carl Withers and said, look, he said, I see you've got this ex Rosie Swift Cortina, you've got Ian Harwood, Frank Pearson, Don Barrow.
Speaker C:He said I'm thinking that we'll run a three car team under Ford Sport banner.
Speaker C:So that was all decided.
Speaker A:The just putting in there was the thing about that event.
Speaker A:There were works cars, privateer work supported cars, there were various categories, even down to three lads in a Volkswagen beach buggy which basically didn't get very far.
Speaker C:No, he didn't.
Speaker C:I remember seeing that at the Dover harbor.
Speaker C:My God, I thought, they're brave lads.
Speaker C:It was raining and they got no wood and yeah, so that was it.
Speaker C:So Turner was outlining his plan that we would run a three car team, Ford Sport.
Speaker C:But he said I don't want you to run a twin cam engine.
Speaker C:He said we're not running twin cam.
Speaker C:He said we will supply you with a 2.6 V6 engine out of the Ford Taurus or Taunus.
Speaker C:He said we'll supply the engine and a ZF gearbox the same as the works cars are using and.
Speaker C:And also it spreads the class.
Speaker C:You'll be in the over two litre class, which would be handy for us maybe.
Speaker C:So that was it.
Speaker C:We get the car organized and delivered to Winsford, the engine and boxing has come along and Carl has a company who we're going to build this for him after about two or three weeks.
Speaker C:What are we talking here?
Speaker C:We're probably talking January, February.
Speaker C:The rally started in April 70.
Speaker C:So around about the January February time, it was all coming together.
Speaker C:And this garage that Cal Withers had chosen to build the car, when Cal went, about two or three weeks after it all been delivered, nothing had been done.
Speaker C:The chap had had some health issues and nothing had been done.
Speaker C:So we had to think very quickly then.
Speaker C:Well, Frank Pearson, who I'd selected as my co driver, had this garage business in Whitchurch in Shropshire.
Speaker C:So we contacted Frank and yes, he could sort this out and he did.
Speaker C:It was very last minute.
Speaker C:That was the trouble.
Speaker C:Don Barrow, being a very wise ex works co driver, smelt a rat here.
Speaker C:He thought, there's no way, this car's got to be ready.
Speaker C:And he suggested the Cal that maybe he could ease out.
Speaker C:He got other things he could do.
Speaker C:But he would ask Barry Hughes, who was another very well known works driver man with Roy Fiddler.
Speaker C:And he had done the London of Sydney in 68, so he knew the ropes of what's what.
Speaker C:So Barry Hughes stepped in.
Speaker C:So it was myself, Brad Pearson, Barry Hughes were the crew.
Speaker C:We got the 2.6 V6 engine.
Speaker C:It was a last minute scramble.
Speaker C:The prop shaft causes a problem.
Speaker C:About a week before the rally started at Wembley, the prop shaft arrived from the fern that were doing Ford's prop shafts as well.
Speaker C:And the original instruction was this prop shaft had to be 48 inches long.
Speaker C:48 inches long.
Speaker C:When he came back from the suppliers it was too long.
Speaker C:So a lot of phone calls going around and the manufacturer down in the Midland said, well look, he said, our instructor needs to make it 4 foot 8 inches long, not 48 inches, hence the 8 inch.
Speaker C:So it had to be sent off to a local firm to be shortened.
Speaker C:And they did say, look, we haven't got rebalancing facilities but we'll try and keep it as as straight as we can.
Speaker C:And we got the prop shaft about four days before we were going down to Wembley.
Speaker C:Of course it vibrated like hell.
Speaker C:So we put wheel weights and things on.
Speaker C:The old trick jubilee clips and wheel weights on this prop shaft we got it slightly better.
Speaker C:But all the way down to Wembley you couldn't look to the rear view mirror.
Speaker C:The vibration was just, you couldn't recognize the cars behind.
Speaker C:So that was a problem.
Speaker C:We put more weights on when we're down at Wembley.
Speaker C:Anyway, that was that.
Speaker C:So we started the rally.
Speaker C:Now, as you said, the European section, it was tight and the organizers said that they didn't want this rally to become what they called their wording a gin and tonic rally.
Speaker C:You had to really get cracking.
Speaker C:So we had 5,000 miles to do in Eastern Europe, then, of course, Hungary and Romania and so on.
Speaker C:We had 5,000 miles in five days.
Speaker C:And it was a tight event.
Speaker A:And anybody who can be bothered reading some of the books on the event, it was tight because some of the times you were given were incredible.
Speaker C:Yes, yes, they were.
Speaker C:Particularly in South America, I'll mention in a minute, but that's right.
Speaker C:And that also, the organizer also had said, look, the first 45 cars are going to South America with the shipping line they've used, with all the service barges and things like that, they can only take 45 Bradley cars.
Speaker C:I've earned an odd.
Speaker C:That started.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So you under pressure, really.
Speaker C:And we had this terrible vibration problem.
Speaker C:And in fact, in Yugoslavia, I felt the clutch a bit soft and I said to Frank Pearson, I said, this clutch might be needing bleeding.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:He said, just.
Speaker C:So I pressed the clutch pedal.
Speaker C:He's under the bonnet there now.
Speaker C:He says, nice dry.
Speaker C:It's no.
Speaker C:Oh, my God, he's doing again.
Speaker C:So I pressed the.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker C:He said, we've got a crack right down the side of the bell housing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And as you're pressing the clutch pedal, the crack is opening up about quarter of an inch.
Speaker C:That's the clutch problem.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Well, we can't do much about this.
Speaker C:The main time control at Monza, we were in this Ford sport team, so Ford were looking after us as and when they could.
Speaker C:We mentioned about this crack in the bell housing.
Speaker C:So Stuart Turner came over to us and he said, you've got a problem.
Speaker C:I said, yeah.
Speaker C:I said, we got this cracked bell housing.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:He said, I will arrange for a new bell housing to be shipped out ready for you at Lisbon.
Speaker C:And if there's time, which I doubt because the timing's so, so tight, we will try and give you a hand to do this.
Speaker A:Because the other thing was a lot of.
Speaker A:Was the chorus crew that had to do a lot of the work.
Speaker A:It was not like today, a service crew, a load of mechanics pile on.
Speaker C:That's right.
Speaker C:We had one service crew who did shadow us through, and very good.
Speaker C:A guy called Ray Evans.
Speaker C:He had a team with him, but the one car did all the work.
Speaker C:And we had a second car that met us at Lisbon and they offloaded spares that we wanted for South America.
Speaker C:So Ford had said that they obviously had to look after their works escorts.
Speaker C:But if a works Escort retired through any reason, accident or mechanical Reasons they would bring in the next highest placed Ford car.
Speaker C:Perspective of nationality.
Speaker C:If it was an Australian Ford entered American Ford entered European Ford or British Ford, that car would be brought into the Ford network of servicing.
Speaker C:Now, Colin Malkin went out in Yugoslavia, he hit a lorry.
Speaker C:So our teammates, actually Rod Cooper, who ran supersport engines, they actually were the highest placed forward at the time.
Speaker C:So they were opting to this forward servicing which we're very envious of.
Speaker C:So we were still looking after ourselves, really.
Speaker C:So we get through the different stages.
Speaker C:The Col de Torini, which well known for its Monte Carlo thing, I remember listening to Raymond Baxter years ago when I was a kid at 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning, doing a commentary from the Col de Torini.
Speaker C:We get through to Lisbon and yes, we're 26th overall.
Speaker C:We struggled to make time and had a lot of time.
Speaker A:That would not be funny.
Speaker A:That was still a very respectable position.
Speaker C:Yes, it was.
Speaker C:Ford were well pleased with it, I must admit.
Speaker C:And they had this bell housing flown out at Lisbon for us.
Speaker C:And Stuart Turner came over with this brown paper parcel with a new bell housing.
Speaker C:Thank you, Stuart, that's very good.
Speaker C:Thanks.
Speaker C:I opened it up, wrong bell housing.
Speaker C:He had brought the bell housing which the Ford Escorts were using with the four cylinder engine and the ZF gearbox.
Speaker C:We had the V6 engine, totally different bell housing.
Speaker C:So I had to return this bell housing with the tail between my legs and said, look, Stuart, it's the wrong bell housing.
Speaker C:And he looked at me, oh, of course.
Speaker C:He said, V6.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:He said, I'll have another bell housing sent out to the hotel we're all staying at in Rio de Janeiro, so that's fine.
Speaker C:So little incident actually put at Lisbon, which we're all getting our cars prepped before the cars are shipped abroad.
Speaker C:And one of our service crew, who brought all the spares down, we wanted Pam and Noel Watson.
Speaker C:Pam was doing the.
Speaker C:She was the chef, she was doing these different meals for the primer stove and so on.
Speaker C:And she was doing these bacon sandwiches, bacon butties at Lisbon.
Speaker C:And she'd made these bacon bodies we were talking into.
Speaker C:And she said, suddenly she said, there's this voice behind me, she's, excuse me, could you manage a bacon sandwich for me?
Speaker C:And she thought, well, that's not, that's not one of our crew.
Speaker C:So she looked round, it was Prince Michael of Kent who smelled these baked buddies being made.
Speaker C:So of course she was quite delighted to make him a baked butty.
Speaker C:I told her she should really have had by royal appointment over.
Speaker C:Over a kitchen.
Speaker C:So that was that.
Speaker C:So there we go.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker C:We get.
Speaker C:We get the cars all ready to go on.
Speaker C:We stay at the hotel.
Speaker C:I think it's a Friday night, we stay at the hotel.
Speaker C:All the Ford boys are there and there's a.
Speaker C:There's a dinner being arranged for all the service crews and the Dr.
Speaker C:And we were included with being Ford's board.
Speaker C:I was rather privileged, actually, that we got to know the works drivers, that they were, you know, they were very much part of the team.
Speaker C:And as I was walking down to the restaurant, arranged to meet our service guys and things and going through the bar there, Timo Macadin, who was a great hero of mine, he'd be out in works Healey sometimes coming first, second, third.
Speaker C:Next time out he'd be in the Cooper s first, second, third on Major internationals was brilliant to cope with the different handling and power range with these cars.
Speaker C:And he sees me coming down the.
Speaker C:Past the bar there and he raises his hand, Ian, he says, let me buy you a whiskey.
Speaker C:Well, this is Timo Makin, you know, asking me to join him for a whiskey, which I did.
Speaker C:And we chatted.
Speaker C:I thought, I can't talk rally cars.
Speaker C:Everybody talks rally cars.
Speaker C:But I did know that the previous summer he had been with the Ford powerboat teams and they'd won the offshore Brown Breton Powerboat race.
Speaker C:So I said, what's your plan for the powerboat race, Timo?
Speaker C:Well, his eyes lit up and he.
Speaker C:Oh, well, he said, well, he said, I've told Ford we need more power.
Speaker C:We got two big Ford diesel engines.
Speaker C:We need a third engine.
Speaker C:We've got to get a third engine because we've got a plane quicker.
Speaker C:We've got to get planing and get away quicker.
Speaker C:Just as we was telling me this, the dinner bell rang, so we were called forward for dinner.
Speaker C:So shook hands, went through.
Speaker C:He was on the top table, of course, with all the stars and we were.
Speaker C:We plebs were on the.
Speaker C:On the tables going off.
Speaker C:So that was great.
Speaker C:That was a lovely, lovely feeling to be recognized by Timo.
Speaker C:The next morning, Ford arranged that if we wanted to go home.
Speaker C:We had a week now before we joined up in Rio de Janeiro.
Speaker C:And Ford arranged a flight from Lisbon to London because a lot of folks wanted to get Abe back to work, as I did.
Speaker C:So we get this chartered plane.
Speaker C:A lot of the work service crews and drivers.
Speaker C:Roger Clark's there, so going through passport control at Heathrow.
Speaker C:Roger Clark's about four People ahead of us.
Speaker C:He turns around.
Speaker C:Oh, he said, he said, how are you getting back to Cheshire?
Speaker C:Well, I said, we're going to go into London and get the train up from Houston.
Speaker C:Oh, he said, that's a hell of a time that will take.
Speaker C:He said, I'll run you in there.
Speaker C:He said, I'm just going to the Hertz counter now to pick up a car.
Speaker C:So he goes over to the Hertz counter, we stay back a wee bit and out come these signed photographs he gives to the girls behind the Hertz count.
Speaker C:And they're all cooing.
Speaker C:And so he comes away.
Speaker C: e keys, we've got a brand new: Speaker C:He said, so we go to the car park, it's pouring me rain.
Speaker C:Jump in this Cortina and Roger's there.
Speaker C:First roundabout, nice power slide round the roundabout.
Speaker C:Second roundabout, raining, of course.
Speaker C:Nice power slide roundabounder always.
Speaker C:It's quite greasy, isn't it?
Speaker C:Anyway, we get into Euston, he drops us off, we thank him profusely for his I'll.
Speaker C:Off he goes to the Leicestershire.
Speaker C:So that was a nice touch, which you wouldn't necessarily get that these days, I don't think, really.
Speaker C:So I won't go on about my journey back to London.
Speaker C:When I.
Speaker C:When I was going back to London, the.
Speaker C:The train out of Chester had to stop halfway between Chester and Crewe.
Speaker C:Apparently there's some power failure.
Speaker C:So I ended back in Chester station, half past eight in the morning, when I should have been on my way to Crewe.
Speaker C:So I asked the station porter, what's happened here, do you know?
Speaker C:He said, apparently there's a power failure at Delamere.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker C:He said, how long before?
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:He said, I don't know.
Speaker C:So I'm thinking about this timetable.
Speaker C:I'm booked on the flight out of Heathrow, back to Lisbon.
Speaker C:I think it was about 3:00 in the afternoon.
Speaker C:So he says I should go and ask the ticket office what the plan is if they bought one.
Speaker C:So I do, I go over there.
Speaker C:Fortunately, Ford had sent me all this printed out paperwork, what I was doing, where I should be and flights and so on, because we were going back to Lisbon on the.
Speaker C:On the afternoon flight and then we're flying out to Rio de Janeiro on the flight that the organizers had done.
Speaker C:So it was important that I got the flight from Lisbon to Rio.
Speaker C:So I decide I'll go into the ticket office and somebody there.
Speaker C:And he.
Speaker C:I said, look, I said, it's important I get to Heathrow.
Speaker C:And I produced this four paperwork which I thought might just work.
Speaker C:So he said, oh.
Speaker C:He said all right.
Speaker C:Oh well, oh, we'll leave this with me for a few minutes.
Speaker C:He said just take a seat, I'll see what I can do.
Speaker C:So he comes back out of his office, right.
Speaker C:He said the plan is, he said I've had a word with crew.
Speaker C:He said the next train you'll be going on is straight from Crewe to Euston.
Speaker C:It's coming down from Carlisle, it's stopping at Crewe, Stafford and then Euston.
Speaker C:He said we'll arrange for this train to stop at Watford and then they're organizing a taxi for you from Watford Station to Heathrow.
Speaker C:Well I said as long as that all works.
Speaker C:I said I appreciate that very much indeed.
Speaker C:So, okay, we get back on the train which the same train leaves about half an hour later than it should do.
Speaker C:I missed the connection that should have been on but they've arranged that I will go on the next train coming down which, okay, it's all there.
Speaker C:They show me the paperwork.
Speaker C:This train stopping at Watford just for you and then taxi.
Speaker C:So we're getting down towards the Watford area.
Speaker C:I'm thinking, oh dear, I hope this train stops.
Speaker C:Anyway, we do.
Speaker C:It starts slowing down, Watford Station.
Speaker C:It stops, I'm off, the guard's there just making sure I get off.
Speaker C:I thank him and I go through to the ticket office.
Speaker C:Oh right, okay, yes, right.
Speaker C:I show him the paperwork.
Speaker C:Yes, your taxi's there for you.
Speaker C:So the taxi driver's there, he's most interested that I'm doing this event.
Speaker C:He said Jimmy Greaves is doing it as well.
Speaker C:Yes, I said he is, that's right.
Speaker C:So I get to Heathrow about half past two and my two co driver people, Frank Pearson and Barry Hughes, so pleased to see me because I say I just was not able to get in touch with them.
Speaker C:So we get off at 3 o'clock or thereabouts into Lisbon, 5, 5:30 the plane takes off then about 7, 7:30 over to Rio, 10 hour flight.
Speaker C:It's a small play compared to the modern ones.
Speaker C:I think it was a Boeing 727, I think it was.
Speaker C:Narrow bodied thing.
Speaker C:And it's a long, long flight and a lot of the boys at the back of the plane there's a little bar there about 4 foot long headed by Roger Clark of course.
Speaker C:And the pilot comes on after about five, six hours on this flight there the pilot comes on, he said listen, I would like passengers to return to their Seats, we're using far too much fuel.
Speaker C:But what was happening, of course, as we were in Lisbon, we were taking our bags of things on board and we were being told, Tony Fall actually came over and look, he said, put your foot under the scales.
Speaker C:Because he said they're charging us carriage extra excess baggage.
Speaker C:So we learned this little trick.
Speaker C:You could put your foot under the scales and you could watch it go to 20kg.
Speaker C:I think ours was 18.
Speaker C:Officially, it was much, much heavier.
Speaker C:So of course, everyone who's doing this, they have half shafts up, anorak sleeves, really, just covered by Anorax.
Speaker C:So we all carry these spare parts on which the airline crew didn't know about.
Speaker C:So this, this emergency phone call by the pilot to take our seats, he said, we're using far too much fuel.
Speaker C:We think we're going to have to touch down in Venezuela to fill up and then go on to Rio.
Speaker C:So there we go.
Speaker C:So we're all back in our seats.
Speaker C:Those days it was knees under your chin.
Speaker C:Of course, there weren't proper reclining seats and so on.
Speaker C: y, we land at rio, it's about: Speaker C:They open these plane doors and it's like a hot fan just blowing in there and we all come out.
Speaker C:We've got our different things on four Sport.
Speaker C:We had our four Sport Anorax on and the Ford crew had their Ford gear on and there were thousands of spectators.
Speaker A:I mean, by then it was a seriously big event, wasn't it?
Speaker C:Yes, oh, yes, yes.
Speaker C:And it was, it was well advertised, you know, all the way through South America.
Speaker C:So we're coming down office, plane office down the gangway there, into the terminal there, and we've got these people all cheering and waving.
Speaker C:There's a steel band there, busy banging away there.
Speaker C:We thought, what a reception.
Speaker C:This is great, isn't it, there?
Speaker C:So we go into passport control and we're there about 10 minutes maybe, and another plane taxis up and stops and the passengers come down and this band starts again.
Speaker C:You see all cheering, waving, and it was the Brazilian football team.
Speaker C:They don't actually thought that we were the Brazilian football team.
Speaker C:So all this cheering was not for us at all really.
Speaker C:But the Brazilian team had won some big match, which was part of the series, apparently, so that was it.
Speaker C:So anyway, we have a week in Rio Janeiro.
Speaker C:We stay at a nice hotel, all the four team are there.
Speaker C:Our bell housing arrives, the correct one this time.
Speaker C:We lounge around the pool and so on for a week because we can't do very much else.
Speaker C:We go to Copacabana beach, we've got the Sugarloaf Mountain.
Speaker C:And one of the guys that was very, very affable and mixed with us and was interested to learn about these rallying stories was Jimmy Greaves.
Speaker C:And there were times when there'd just be two or three of us really Jimmy and somebody else and somebody else and we chat about this and he was genuinely very impressed with the rally world and of course the publicity he was getting.
Speaker C:He was with Tony Fall.
Speaker C:All these Works Escorts were left hand drive, but of course were photographs of the Works Escorts with Tony Fall driving of course in the left hand side, Jimmy Greaves in the right hand side.
Speaker C:But the press boys didn't know it was left hand drive.
Speaker C:So they were saying, and there's Jimmy Greaves driving the Works Escorts and The car's about 2 foot in the air and Jimmy Greaves is getting all the credits to driving the car.
Speaker C:Whereas it really said I drove between the stages and, and Tony Ford did all the hard work, but he was, he was a nice guy, Very, very nice guy.
Speaker C:We start off from Rio Janeiro, thousands of people there.
Speaker C:We start off on the main street and we head south.
Speaker C:San Paulo is the first big city we come to.
Speaker C:And I remember driving through Sao Paulo, it must have been very late at night, it was pitch black, but there were thousands of people on this road.
Speaker C:We were coming through this road at walking pace and we're in convoy and I could see we had an exhaust system on our car which I didn't much mention but with the V6 engine we had a problem where to put the exhaust under the car because it was the engine.
Speaker C:So we had two exhausts.
Speaker C:So I rather surprised my crew by saying, well, how about putting this exhaust on the roof?
Speaker C:There was silence, but it was in.
Speaker A:Many ways it was a common thing.
Speaker A:I mean the two, the Rolls Royces, there's egg two there too, Porsche used to put them over.
Speaker A:Well, I went back with the Os kids and were out of arms way.
Speaker C:Well, this is what I said.
Speaker C:I said if the exhaust gets damaged we're in trouble anyway, for all sake.
Speaker C:So I went back to the garage where it had been built immediately my own work.
Speaker C:And about three days later I dove just.
Speaker C:There was a length of exhaust pipe on the roof, just dying on the roof there.
Speaker C:Anyway, that's where it went.
Speaker C:So we had the exhaust coming up flexi pipe from the bonnet up to the main exhaust.
Speaker C:So we're in San Paolo.
Speaker C:The there's a local guy there showing off a bit really.
Speaker C:And he was cartwheeling down these cars ahead.
Speaker C:I could see about four cars cartwheeling onto the bonnet, on the roof, down the bonnet and then onto the next car.
Speaker C:Well, of course he came to our car and again I'm afraid he touched the exhaust pipe that was literally blowing red because I was worried about the engine temperature all the time watching this.
Speaker C:Well, there's the most blood curdling cry from this poor boat.
Speaker C:And for days afterwards we had the imprint of five, your four fingers of thumb while he grabbed this exhaust pipe.
Speaker C:Oh, dear me, dear me.
Speaker C:Anyway, there we go.
Speaker C:So we're going through.
Speaker C:Roger Clark, I'm afraid, has an accident with the non competing car and it's out of the rally.
Speaker C:It's to our advantage because we were the second highest place Ford, so you'd.
Speaker A:Be part of the Ford.
Speaker C:So we would draw into the Ford Servicing, which was wonderful and I picture it now, we'd go in some of these prairies there where it would be like a big illuminated center where all the works crews were together and we'd go in there and the Ford crew would wave us over, right, and there'd be beautiful big sort of barbecues there with those steaks and barbecues and things.
Speaker C:Go and feed yourselves and have a draw.
Speaker C:We'll look after the car.
Speaker C:So they take the car off, they change the oils, read through petrol, new tires, new this checks nut and bolt check new brakes, wash the car down or wash the windscreen down and present it to us 10 minutes later and then we're off.
Speaker C:So that was nice.
Speaker C:That was a very, very good thing in Chile.
Speaker C:I'll leapfrog a wee bit.
Speaker C:Now in Chile we had a rear brake seal pop so we had to clamp off the rear brakes with the mole grips.
Speaker C:So we're driving there with just front brakes and of course we're on shale surface all the time.
Speaker C:So Frank, co driver Frank, he'd had a stomach bug, which I knew about this beforehand.
Speaker C:It was actually an ulcer he had, but he took tablets and they knocked out for about 10, 8 hours, 10 hours and he was all right.
Speaker C:So he's having a bad day with this stomach of his.
Speaker C:So I've been driving about 15 hours or more and I was realized I was hallucinating because I was seeing palm trees and elephants.
Speaker C:Now I knew the palm trees probably in South America, but I didn't think elephants were ever there.
Speaker C:So I said to Barry, who was code driving on the maps of course, I said, listen, we're going to get Frank Driving here, I'm just getting so.
Speaker C:So, you know, it was dusty all the time.
Speaker C:There was dust in the air and so on.
Speaker C:So Frank wakes up eventually and we explain about the front brakes still grabbing all the time.
Speaker C:Okay, So I go into the back seat.
Speaker C:We had a single back seat there.
Speaker C:Put the seat belts on, and I'm asleep within minutes, probably.
Speaker C:And sometime later, maybe in half an hour, I don't really know.
Speaker C:I just sense this dab braking, this cadence breaking there, and I get a bit suspicious.
Speaker C:It's not natural, this brake.
Speaker C:The car's being braked, and eventually there's a thumb.
Speaker C:Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
Speaker C:And we've gone off the road now.
Speaker C:It was one of the best decisions that Frank Fierce never made, in my opinion.
Speaker C:He was very bitter about that.
Speaker C:He take the car off the road, but it was pitch black.
Speaker C:We got out the car, he said, there's a hairpin bend that I picked up in the headlights there.
Speaker C:I walked down on this with a torch.
Speaker C:I walked down this gravel pothole track that we're on.
Speaker C:And sure enough, about 30 yards ahead was this tight hairpin bend with about 20 wreaths on this bend.
Speaker C:And I picked up courage.
Speaker C:And I walked as near as I could to the end of this road, probably about six feet away, and looked down and.
Speaker C:I don't know, thousand feet maybe.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:I saw two little lights twinkling in some little village.
Speaker C:And I thought, well, if he hadn't stopped, we'd never have made this.
Speaker A:If you had to stop there, we'd be stopping down there.
Speaker C:We had to be stopping down.
Speaker C:I wouldn't be doing this interview now either.
Speaker C:So he was very sore about this.
Speaker C:So we.
Speaker C:We've got the car damage on the.
Speaker C:On this ditch.
Speaker C:A lorry comes down, a local lorry.
Speaker C:It's a freezer wagon with carcass, beef carcasses.
Speaker C:And he comes down and he sees our problem.
Speaker C:We've already put the tow rope that we had over the back axle so that we thought another rally car perhaps would be next along.
Speaker C:So this driver stops and he realizes we have no common language, of course, but he knows what's happened.
Speaker C:And so he hooks up onto his chain on his front bumper and he reverses out and gets our car back on the road facing the way it should be going.
Speaker C:And then he says, mechanic.
Speaker C:Mechanic pointed to the damage.
Speaker C: ch are quite new, I think, in: Speaker C:So reverses up.
Speaker C:We put this car onto this tailgate lift, lift it up about 12 inches and we go past this hairpin bend that he pointed to and he said, you know, murdered, which, you know, death by the sounds of it.
Speaker C:So we go to the little village.
Speaker C:Little town, Little village.
Speaker C:And we stop the garage.
Speaker C:The driver obviously knows this guy and the garage owner comes out and it's probably 8:00 in the morning now and the kids are going to school and they're looking at this rally car.
Speaker C:And so the garage man says, yeah, we can.
Speaker C:I presuming he says this, we can repair this.
Speaker C:So we get the car into his forecourt and it's.
Speaker C:It's all stripped down the front end and it's.
Speaker C:It takes about an hour and a half to do.
Speaker C:And of course, we're running out of time here, but eventually we get this thing back on and the sign writing is done.
Speaker C:The chap asks, he got some tire paint.
Speaker C:He said, can I write on your car?
Speaker C:We presume he's saying that.
Speaker C:So it's unbelievable, really.
Speaker C:Here we are in the center of Chile.
Speaker C:The garage is Garage Williams and the Little Villager Inn is Victoria Chile.
Speaker C:So we have this on both sides, the car, Garage Williams, Victoria Chile.
Speaker C:And that was quite remarkable.
Speaker C:I think, really what we'll do is.
Speaker A:We'Ll stop there and we shall return for part three.
Speaker A:Ian, Arlo, thanks once again.
Speaker A:Beard army on the backseat driver.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:There's a lot of talk about, but thank you very much, Mark.
