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Following his outstandingly successful books Works Escorts in
Detail and Works Triumphs in Detail, rally veteran and historian
Graham Robson now tackles the story of Ford's emergence during the
1960s as a leader in international saloon car competition, whether
in race or rally, beginning with the Mark 1 Cortina in 1962. Walter
Hayes was the driving force behind this push forward. It was he who
enlisted Colin Chapman to create the Lotus-Cortina, he who had bold
ideas like entering the Safari Rally and the London-Sydney
Marathon, he who brought in Alan Mann Racing to wipe the board in
touring car racing, he who attracted top-flight drivers like Roger
Clark, Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Pat Moss, and he who inspired
Ford's quite dazzling success in national and international
competition. The career of every works Mark I and Mark II Cortina,
Lotus-Cortina, Capri and Corsair is individually recounted in this
book, with contemporary action photographs and listings of events
entered, results and drivers, along with accounts of performances
in rallies and races. In addition there are specially commissioned
colour photographs of a number of surviving works cars, which have
been shot in considerable detail. For fans of the race and rally
Fords of these glory days, as well as for motor sport enthusiasts,
this book is pure treasure.
Graham Robson is the doyen of writers on rallying. His new book
joins his respected Works Triumphs and Works Escorts in our list.
Here he tells of the story of Donald Healey's introduction of the
cars of his own make into the world of rallying and racing, from
the Healey Elliott and Westland of the late 1940s through to the
last racing Austin-Healey Sprite in 1967. In between he produced
competition versions of the Austin-Healey 100 and 100S, the 100-6
and the gloriously successful 3000, a brutal and wayward machine
that won countless international rallies in the 1960s in the hands
of great drivers like Pat Moss, Timo Makinen, Rauno Aaltonen and
Paddy Hopkirk, to name but a few. The author describes the career
of each of the works cars individually: entries, drivers and
results, with nearly all cars illustrated. In addition there is
detailed colour photography of important surviving examples
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Sir William Lyons enjoyed a seemingly unstoppable rise to fame and
fortune in the motor industry, and the Jaguar brand which he
introduced became world-famous. Yet it did not happen overnight. In
the 1920s he was in Blackpool, styling motorcycle sidecars, in the
1930s he was in Coventry developing the SS motor car, and the
stand-alone Jaguar company did not appear until 1945. Until 1972,
when he retired from business, Sir William was the mainstream, the
chairman, the chief stylist, and the inspiration of all things
Jaguar.
Helped along by the amazing new XK engine of 1948, by motor racing
success at Le Mans, and by the stunning style of cars like the
XK120, the Mk 2 saloons and the extraordinary E-Type, Jaguar soon
became world-famous. Along the way the company absorbed Daimler and
Coventry-Climax, then merged voluntarily with BMC in 1966, and
returned to Le Mans racing with great success in the 1980s.
Although the company was later commercially buffeted by its
involvement with British Leyland, with Ford and latterly with Land
Rover, and finally the Indian conglomerate Tata which now controls
the business, the company's products have always been stunning.
Sports coupes which reach well beyond 150mph, sleek executive
saloons with unbeatable styling, and the promise of much innovation
in the next few years make this a story whose climax is yet to
come.
From the early 1930s until the mid-1970s the Rootes Group was one
of Britain's foremost car manufacturers, producing and selling a
multitude of models under the Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam and
Sunbeam-Talbot badges. Some of these cars have been the subject of
individual model histories, but this is the first book to bring the
total Rootes model line together in one major reference book.
Written by one of Britain's most able car historians, the late
Graham Robson, this book has now been reprinted for future
generations to enjoy. It covers the company's history, and details
all the major marques within the Rootes Group. The book looks at
the overall marketing strategies as well as the widespread use of
common components across the range. Individual descriptions of each
model built results in a book of great breadth and absorbing
interest, that will be welcomed back by all classic car
enthusiasts.
Between 1953 and 1980 the Triumph competitions department
produced more than 150 'works' competition cars for race and rally.
These included TR2, TR3 and TR3A, the TR3S, TRS and Conrero race
cars, Herald and Vitesse, TR4, 2000, Spitfire and GT6R, 2.5 PI,
Dolomite and Sprint, TR7 and TR7 V8. In addition they prepared
Standard Eight, Ten, Pennant, and Phase III Vanguard for
competition. Viewed overall, what stands out as the remarkable
feature of the work of the department was that they achieved such a
degree of success with relatively ordinary production cars, from
803cc saloons upwards. Author Graham Robson was manager of the
Standard-Triumph competitions department in the early 1960s and
himself supervised the development and management of the works
TR4s, Spitfires and 2000s. Here he provides information on each and
every one of the works cars of the whole 1953-80 period, with
details of their specifications, entries, drivers and careers,
accompanied in nearly all cases by archive photographs. In addition
there is specially commissioned colour photography of important
surviving examples.
In the 1950s and 1960s, British sports car ruled the road, and
their charge was led by Triumphs. From the TR2, its first modern
sports car, Triumph went on to produce a host of classic sports
designs such as the Spitfire, GT, and Stag, as well as more TR
models, ending with the TR7 in the late 1970s. These represented
the epitome of the contemporary classic British sports car. Fast,
nimble, and gorgeous to behold, Triumphs offered the everyday
motorist an exhilarating drive at a price that they could afford.
Popular both in the UK and the US, the Triumph range helped define
the entire genre, with sports cars today like the Mazda MX-5 having
their roots in models like the Stag. Illustrated throughout and
written by acclaimed motoring writer and historian Graham Robson,
this book guides the reader through the history of this classic
British marque from its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s through to
its eventual demise in the 1980s.
The Escort RS Cosworth, which started rallying in 1993, was one of
the most ingenious designs of all time. What started as a shortened
Sierra Cosworth 4x4 platform, topped off by a modified Escort cabin
and outer skins, was soon developed into a versatile and
sophisticated rally car, and eventually became Ford's most
successful since the legendary Escorts of the 1970s. Because it was
smaller, lighter, and more nimble than any of the Sierras, the
combination of Cosworth power, four-wheel-drive transmission, and
an effective aerodynamic package made it a Rally Giant in all
conditions. With five World victories in its first season, and
success all round the world in later years, it was seen in every
continent, in all conditions. Drivers like Carlos Sainz, Tommi
Makinen and Francois Delecour added their own stardust to a
glittering reputation. To meet a change in regulations, the Escort
World Rally Car took over in 1997, and also enjoyed years of
success. Until the all-new Focus WRC was launched in 1999, this
generation of Escorts was the most effective rally car that Ford
had ever produced. This book tells the whole story, and is part of
the series "Rally Giants" many of which have recently been
reprinted by Veloce, due to popular demand.
The Audi Quattro is a Rally Giant because it was the first to
combine four-wheel-drive and a turbocharged engine - not the most
sophisticated, but it was the first, and very successful. It was
also the first to run with more than 300bhp. As it was
re-homologated/transformed from Group 4 into Group B in 1983, it
was also the first successful Group B car. The Quattro dominated
rallying from the start of 1981 until late 1984 (when the Peugeot
205 T16 took over). Quattros won no fewer than 23 World rallies
from 1981 to 1985, won the Makes Championship in 1982 and 1984, and
drivers Hannu Mikkola (1983) and Stig Blomqvist (1984) also won the
World Drivers' series in Quattros. The Quattro led the World and
European rally scene in the first half of the 1980s.
This book describes the birth, development, and rallying car of the
turbocharged, four-wheel-drive Subaru Impreza in the 1990s and
early 2000s, providing a compact and authoritative history of
where, when and how it became so important to the sport.
This is the complete story of the Austin Healey 100-6 and 3000's
rallying history, told in all its glory by expert motoring
historian Graham Robson, as part of the `Rally Giants' series. In
nine eventful years - 1957 to 1965 - the six-cylinder-engined
Austin Healey evolved into a formidable and increasingly
specialised rally car. By any standards, it was the first of the
`homologation specials' - a type made progressively stronger,
faster, more versatile, and more suitable for the world's toughest
International rallies. Though the motorsport foundations had been
laid by the Healey Motor Co. Ltd, the work needed to turn these
cars into rock-solid 210bhp projectiles was almost all completed by
the world-famous `works' BMC Competitions Department at Abingdon.
It was because of their vast experience that the `Big Healeys' (as
they were affectionately known) became fast and tough, nimble yet
durable, so that they were capable of winning major events wherever
traction could be assured. Not only did the works Austin Healeys
win some of the world's most famous events - including
Liege-Sofia-Liege, Spa-Sofia-Liege and the French and Austrian
Alpine rallies - but they were also supremely fast on events like
the Tulip, and came so close, so often, to winning their home
event, the British RAC Rally, which traditionally ended the season.
The drivers - Pat Moss, Donald Morley, Rauno Aaltonen, Timo Makinen
and Paddy Hopkirk among them - became heroes, while individual cars
seemed to take on a character and reputation of their own. This
book lists each and every success, each and every notable car, and
traces exactly how the machinery developed, and improved, from one
season to the next. Over time, the works cars adopted aluminium
cylinder heads and body panels, much-modified chassis, transmission
and exhaust systems; they also became supremely strong and could
withstand a true battering on the world's toughest events. This
book relates how the cars were improved by the engineers, how the
drivers came to love their heavy and sometimes self-willed steeds,
and how the management team got the most out of everything -
machinery, personnel, drivers, and regulations. Heavily illustrated
and packed with technical detail, this book will make a welcome
addition to any motorsport fan's library.
In the 1960s the Cortina was an entirely new type of British car -
light yet strong, cheap to buy, and yet roomy. It established a new
class of car - the 'Cortina Class' - and Ford's rivals had to rush
to compete. Not only was the Cortina the first, it was the best,
too; a fascinating, ever-evolving project, around which
Ford-Europe's planning always revolved. This book gives all the
facts, figures, images and legends of the Cortina story. With over
180 colour and black and white photos this is the fascinating story
of an incredibly successful car.
Not only has Cosworth designed and supplied many race car engines,
which won F1, CART, and many other Championship races, but it has
also produced many celebrated high-performance road-car engines. In
more recent times, its growing expertise in developing electronic
data capture components, and in providing ultra-high-tech engine
manufacturing facilities, has made it a world leader. The expansion
continues, and in this book the Cosworth story has been brought
up-to-the-minute to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of
the legendary DFV F1 engine.
This is a comprehensive study of the career of one type of rally
car - the BMC Mini-Cooper/Mini-Cooper S. In the 1960s the Mini
became famous as Britain's most successful rally car. It combined
superb handling, a tiny body shell, high-performance engines and
the excellence of front-wheel-drive in an irresistible package. Not
only this, but the works team included famous drivers like Paddy
Hopkirk, Timo Makinen and Rauno Aaltonen. The works Minis not only
won the Monte Carlo three times - 1964, 1965 and 1967 - along with
the European Rally Championship in 1965, but also won events all
over the world. Because Minis were British, and well-promoted, they
became seen as giant-killers, and were the people's favourite for
many years. The car outpaced many of its rivals, and this book
examines exactly who they were, and how they came to be defeated by
the 'mighty Mini.' Even today, works Minis appear at every
gathering of classic cars - and in 2009, Mini celebrates its 50th
birthday. Packed with over 100 photographs, this book is a fitting
and timely tribute to a much-loved Rally Giant.
This is the complete history of British international rally events,
starting with the very first RAC rally of 1932, which included 1000
miles of road motoring, when a mere three driving tests were needed
to produce a result. By 1951 an international permit had been
achieved, a speed element was included, and the 'Rally of the
Tests' ran until 1960. From 1961, the event took on a number of
high-speed, loose-surfaced Special Stages, the Scandinavian
influence became clear, and the event took on a World Championship
qualification in 1973. In that time, competing cars had progressed
from having perhaps 50bhp to at least 300bhp, and even more
high-tech machines with 500bhp and four-wheel-drive would follow.
By then the RAC Rally was - and remains in its present form as
Wales Rally GB - one of the three most important rallies in the
world. Every 'works' team makes sure that it is represented, and it
has a very important image throughout the world. Major sponsors
embraced the event from the 1960s - first The Sun and Daily Mirror,
then Lombard, and Network Q, and finally the Welsh government -
which in recent years has become a very high-profile showcase for
the world's most exciting cars. Few other British International
events have such a long and distinguished record. The 75th running
of this event takes place in 2019. With year-by-year accounts of
all events in the Rally's history, copiously illustrated with
period photographs, and covering the various challenges posed by
such crises as foot and mouth disease, weather conditions and
controversy over rules and regulations, this book is the definitive
guide.
This book describes the birth, development, and rallying career of
the original Ford Escort, one of Europe's Landmark Rally Cars in
the early 1970s, providing a compact and authoritative history of
where, how, and why it became so important to the sport. The Escort
Mk1 delivered everything its predecessor, the Lotus-Cortina, had
promised. Versatile, accessible, and competitive at all levels, it
dominated international rallying throughout the 1970s, and became
hugely popular with teams and spectators alike.
When Fiat entered rallying in 1970, its ultimate aim was to become
World Rally Champion - and the 131 Abarth of 1976-1980 provided the
machinery to make that possible. Within the Fiat-Lancia empire, the
131 Abarth not only replaced the 124 Abarth Spider sports car, but
was also favoured ahead of the charismatic Lancia Stratos. By 1970s
standards, the 131 Abarth was the most extreme, and effective, of
all homologation specials. Compared with the 131 family car on
which it was originally based, it had different engine,
transmission and suspension layouts, was backed by big budgets and
by a team of superstar drivers, and was meant to win all round the
world.Not only did it start winning World rallies within months of
being launched, but in 1977, 1978 and 1980 the 'works' team also
won the World Championship for Makes, and set every standard by
which Rally Giants were to be judged. The 131 Abarth was backed by
a peerless team of engineers, so was there ever any doubt that
successors like the Lancia Rally 037 and the Delta Integrale would
eventually come from the same stable?
It was code-named X100 and it was to be Jaguar's latest sports
cars, featuring both coupe and convertible coachwork. It was to
have an all-new V8 engine and it was to replace the XJS. It would
also ultimately have the most powerful forced-induction engine of
any production Jaguar road card and it had a lot riding on its
success. It was the XK8 - a sleek, purposeful grand tourer in the
Jaguar tradition. Graham Robson, one-time Jaguar apprentice and a
motoring historian with several other Jaguar books to his credit,
tells the story of one of the twentieth century's most beautiful
sports car, from its conception to the end of the line for both it
and the factory it was built in.
This is a comprehensive study of the career of the Toyota Celica
GT-Four. Starting in 1988, three generations of this effective
turbocharged four-wheel-drive car - known by enthusiasts as ST165,
ST185 and ST205 types - fought for World Championships, and were
amazingly successful for almost a decade. All types combined
high-performance, great reliability, and superb preparation by
Toyota Team Europe (based in Cologne, Germany), their
300bhp/four-wheel-drive chassis package being among the best in the
world. Over the years, the cars won some of the roughest events in
the world (such as the Safari and the Acropolis), and were also
supreme on tarmac, snow and ice, including Monte Carlo. After
fighting a running battle with Lancia for years, the Celicas won
the World Manufacturers' Championship twice. Its famous drivers
included Carlos Sainz (World Champion in 1990 and 1992), Juha
Kankkunen (Champion in 1993) and Didier Auriol (Champion in 1994).
Never far from controversy, and at times embroiled in technical and
regulatory disputes, these cars brought real glamour to the
colourful sport of rallying, and were only replaced by an even
higher-tech Toyota - the Corolla World Rally Car - in 1997.
The complete story of the front-wheel-drive Saab 96 made the brand
into a rally icon in the 1960s. Superstar driving from Erik
Carlsson, his wife Pat Moss-Carlsson and - later - from Stig
Blomqvist, all brought real publicity and admiration for a car that
always lacked the sheer straight-line performance of its rivals.
Saabs like this, however, never wanted for strength, or for amazing
handling and traction, and they succeeded in events as diverse as
the Monte Carlo, Britain's RAC rally, special stage events in every
Scandinavian country, and the rough-and-tough Spa-Sofia-Liege
Marathon. The big change came in 1967, when the 96 became the V4,
looking almost the same as before, but with a new and more powerful
four-stroke Ford-Germany V4 engine. Works cars continued to be
competitive in carefully chosen events for many years, and it was
only the arrival of much more specialised rivals that made them
outdated. Saab, though, was not finished with rallying, as the V4's
successors, the much larger and more powerful 99 and 99 Turbo
types, proved. More than any other car of its era, the 96 and V4
models proved that front-wheel-drive allied to true superstar
driving could produce victory where no-one expected it.
The Ford Escort RS1800 (Escort MkII) is considered a Rally Giant
because it was consistently the fastest, most successful and most
versatile car in the second half of the 1970s. Developed from the
MkI, it was a conventional front engine/rear drive machine, which
rallied with 2-litre engines of up to 270bhp. Rally successes were
legendary - British (RAC), Safari, Acropolis, Finland (1000 Lakes),
Sweden, Portugal, Canada, and many more. The cars won 17 World
Rallies between 1975 and 1981, as well as the World Makes
Championship in 1979. They were always close to victory, and always
competitive. Escort drivers like Bjorn Waldegard (1979) and Ari
Vatanen (1981) won the World Drivers' Championships. Over the years
hundreds - and this is no exaggeration - of RS1800s were built for
motorsport, and were the ideal car for almost any condition in the
world because they were very powerful, but simple and rugged. The
RS1800 was also the layout template copied by other manufacturers
for cars like the Talbot Sunbeam-Lotus, the Vauxhall Chevette HSR
and the Nissan GTs of the late 1970s/early 1980s, which were really
all Escort 'clones.' Ford claims, and it may be right, that RS1800s
have won more rallies, at World, International and National level
than any other car in the world.
The "Big Healeys" took the motoring world by storm in the 1950s and
60s - thse powerful and fascinating cars were not only popular as
production cars, but also enjoyed considerable success in rallying
and racing. This book is the in-depth story of the marque's
evolution, from Donald Healey's initial inspiration to the Layland
take-over that saw the end of Austin-Healey. Topics covered
include: the complete history of the company and development of 100
and 2000 models; full specification tables and detailed accounts of
the cars' competition fortunes.
After the first ever intercontinental rally - the London-Sydney in
1968 - there was widespread enthusiasm for an even more difficult
test. With the Football World Cup being held in Mexico in 1970, it
was the perfect opportunity to hold a parallel, much tougher
challenge - the World Cup Rally. Organisers John Sprinzel and John
Brown secured sponsorship from the Daily Mirror and planned a
unique high-speed event, lasting six weeks and covering 16,000
miles from London to Mexico City via some of the most varying,
tortuous and difficult terrain on three continents. Serious works
teams such as Ford and British Leyland spent tremendous amounts
choosing and developing new cars, completing months-long route
surveys, and analysing every detail of diets, oxygen provision, and
the number of crew members. Despite all this planning, out of an
entry of more than 100, only 23 cars made it to the finish. It was
then, and remains now, the toughest rally of all time. This book,
now reprinted in paperback, tells the complete story.
Relating the story of Triumph cars is complex enough, but to
include all the earlier events which persuaded Siegfried Bettman to
begin car manufacture in 1923 is even more so. The two authors,
however - both of them experts in all things Triumph, the cars, and
the political events surrounding them - have assembled and
presented an enthralling story of the way the car-making side of
the business came to prosper, was then afflicted by financial
problems, and then rescued from oblivion by Standard in 1944.
Thereafter, Triumph once again became a prominent marque,
eventually dominated Standard, and (from the 1960s onwards) became
an important cast member in the melodramatic events which involved
Leyland, BMC and eventually British Leyland. This, however, is not
merely a turbulent trawl through the historical record, for both
authors were also successful in locating the important characters
whose efforts made it possible for Triumph to excite the world.
Along the way, the career of cars as famous as the Glorias and
Dolomites of the 1930s, the Heralds, Spitfires and TRs of the
post-war years, and the headline-grabbing exploits in racing and
rallying build up a story which no fictional writer could have
created.
When world rallying introduced a new formula for "World Rally
Cars," Ford seized the opportunity. Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport
organization was contracted to do the job, completed the design in
less than a year, and spent the next 12 years campaigning this
turbocharged, four-wheel-drive car all round the world.Working from
state-of-the-art facilities, M-Sport built 97 Focus WRCs, all of
which proved to be worthy of World level action when they won 44
World Championship events.Stellar drivers like Colin McRae, Carlos
Sainz, Markko Martin, Marcus Gronholm and Mikko Hirvonen all added
to the mystique of an ultra-professional organization, along with
substantial support and sponsorship from the likes of Martini, BP,
and the state of Abu Dhabi.By building its in-house technical
expertise, M-Sport not only engineered and developed the entire car
on behalf of Ford, but gradually took over development of the
300bhp, 2.0-litre, turbocharged engine, and led the design of the
complex four-wheel-drive transmissions provided by Xtrac.M-Sport's
reputation exploded to the point that when regulations changed, the
company immediately produced a new-generation Fiesta WRC, and kept
the winning days rolling.
This is the complete story of the Peugeot 205's rallying history,
told in all its glory by expert motoring historian Graham Robson,
as part of the `Rally Giants' series. Four-wheel-drive had been
authorised in rallying from 1979, but for a time no serious
car-manufacturer even tried to harness it to their cars. Although
it was Audi who produced the world's first rally-winning
four-wheel-drive car - the Quattro - it was Peugeot who designed,
developed, campaigned and won with the first truly sophisticated
four-wheel-drive Group B Car - the 205 Turbo 16. It was the first
truly great, purpose-designed, Group B car. Determined to win at
almost any cost, Peugeot hired Jean Todt (who would later transform
the fortunes of the Ferrari F1 organisation) in 1981, and set him
an ambitious target. His dream car had to be running in 1983,
homologated in 1984, and capable of winning World Championships by
1985. Nothing, no excuses and no lack of application, was to get in
the way of that. Apart from being obliged to use the silhouette of
the still-secret new 205 road car, Todt was able ask for anything.
Getting approval for whatever he needed and fast-tracking the
engineering of the four-wheel-drive rally was not an issue in
reaching one simple objective - victory! This book tells the
detailed story of all the cars, the influences, and the
personalities behind a magnificent success story. No sooner had the
new turbocharged, transverse-mid-engined car started competing,
than it was ready to win, yet its dominant career was cut short at
the end of 1986 by an abrupt change in rallying regulations. This
is the engineering story laid out in great detail, as well as the
interaction between company personalities, superstar drivers
(including Ari Vatanen) and the highly-charged atmosphere of
motorsport at this time. Because Group B was cancelled even before
the 205 T16 had reached maturity, it went on to have a successful
career in desert raid rallies, and at Pike Peak in the USA, all of
which is described in this amazingly authoritative study. Packed
with illustrations, technical details, facts, figures and successes
of this innovative car, this book is a must for any rally fan.
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