The second annual London to Lisbon rally was flagged off from London’s Hampton Court on October 5, kicking off nine days of arduous driving through the twisting back roads and mountain passes of Northern Spain and Portugal. Organized by the Historic Endurance Rallying Organization – better known as HERO – the event was broken down into two categories: a competitive Historic Reliability Trial for those who wanted to test their car, their driving and their navigation to the limits; and a non-competitive Touring Challenge competition.
Surprisingly, after a full week’s driving, the top two cars ended up being separated by just a second’s worth of penalty. The overall winners David Gidden and Bill Granger, in a 1965 Lotus Elan S3, finished with 190 penalties, just ahead of John Criswell and Robin Whiteside, in a 1964 Austin-Healey 3000, with 191.
Other HERO events scheduled for this year include LE JOG (Land’s End to John O’Groats) in December, Arctic Winter Trial in March and Scottish Malts in May. For more details, go to www.hero.org.uk or telephone (44) 01886 833144.
