Racing and Rallying for Rootes

An invitation to drive in the Tulip Rally of 1959 led to my meeting Norman Garrad, manager of the Rootes Competitions Department. He was a rather gruff old chap, known to many as the “Fuehrer.” On reflection, with the aforementioned description, it was rather naïve of me to approach him with a dilemma. However, I did. I told him of my invitation and the fact that I was undecided whether to use a Sunbeam Rapier or a Volvo for the event. Naturally, it came as no surprise that Norman was very miffed that I chose to utter the word Volvo in his presence, an insult I suppose. Despite his sternness, he was very good and offered to help, where he could, with spares and bits. With this in mind, and the fact that I had already competed with a Rapier in the Monte Carlo Rally earlier that year, I chose to buy a Sunbeam. Many drivers of the day would enter just one rally a year, hoping they would do well and get noticed by a team manager. This, in turn, would hopefully lead to a works drive in the not-too-distant future. My idea was to enter two or three events, and see how successful I was. More to the point, did I enjoy it? I put an entry in for the Alpine and RAC Rally later in the year and thought that would be a good enough challenge. If, at the end, I didn’t get anywhere I would call it a day. My racing experience up to that point had started in 1954 with cars from a DB2-4 Aston Martin to a 500 Cooper Norton.

The Tulip Rally was quite successful for my teammate, a friend from Rotherham, and I as we finished 3rd in class. We did well against the works Rapiers, and I think Norman must have taken notice of me. By coincidence, for the Alpine Rally we stayed in the same hotel as the Rootes works team. At that time, Ronnie Adams, Les Leston, Peter Jopp, Paddy Hopkirk and Jack Scott were the drivers. Peter Harper had been injured, breaking his arm, in the Safari Rally earlier that year. He had broken his arm and therefore was not with the team. Giving a good account of ourselves, in the Alpine, led to Norman Garrad approaching me and offering me a position as Peter’s co-driver. This was a rather unusual step as, up to that point, Peter had selected his own co-driver. Understandably, Peter was apprehensive as he didn’t know me at all. I had the utmost respect for Peter as, at that time, I considered him one of the best drivers we had. Anyway we did the “reckie” for the RAC Rally, spending sometime together in Scotland, and that became the start of our racing partnership. Of course, this was the “proper RAC Rally” going right up to Inverness, before the special stages and the likes of today. Over the next couple of years, we did a number of events together, both rallying and racing. After a somewhat “frosty” start, the relationship between Peter and myself grew. We had much the same driving styles, not over stressing the car mechanically. Apart from a wheel falling off in one year’s Tour de France, we never broke a car.