Dave
Hi Dave,
Here's the photo I promised. It was taken at Millbrook but I'm not 100% sure of the year although it may have been 1972, some time after I finished my Austin Apprenticeship. That's me driving the British Leyland "Special Tuning" Department's car originally driven successfully by Brian Culcheth and Willy Cave in 1971. I was one of the Austin/Morris drivers approved to take passengers at speed round the track. All I can remember is the car went rather quicker and handled far better than the production models! Here's an extract from some information I dug up on the internet:
"Soon Team Castrol was formed, rallying with first the Triumph 2.5 PI and then the humble Morris Marina. Culcheth and Willy Cave were entered for the 1971 RAC Rally in a Special Tuning prepared Marina, winning the 1300cc class. Ford competitions manager, Stuart Turner (formerly of BMC), was famously wrong-footed here, because he thought the Marina was to be 1.8-litre and so didn’t field one of his Escorts in the small class! With the 1275cc A-Series engine tuned like a Sprite to give around 95/100bhp the Marina was only averagely quick but reliable. Culcheth was the man to make it work, claiming 2nd on the Cyprus Rally in ‘72 (with Johnstone Syer) and 6th the following year"
I also drove the World Cup Rally Triumph as course car on the Tour of Dean Rally around the same time.
Cheers,
Roger Boughton
(ex-Austin Apprentice - 1963-1968)
