The 1970
London-Mexico World Cup Rally was a marathon
motor rallyRallying is a form of motor competition that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. This motorsport is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive...
that started at Wembley Stadium in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
on 19 April 1970 and finished in
Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
on 27 May 1970, covering approximately 16,000 miles (25,750 km) through
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
. It was won by
Hannu MikkolaHannu Olavi Mikkola is a retired world champion rally driver. He was a seven time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times.- Career :...
and Gunnar Palm, driving a
FordThe Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands, Ford also owns Volvo Cars of Sweden, and a small stake...
EscortThe Ford Escort is a small family car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company from 1968 to 2003. Although it was originally a European model, the Escort badge has also been applied to several different designs in North America over the years .The first use of the Ford Escort name was in the 1950s...
.
The event was the brainchild of Wylton Dickson, possibly inspired by the earlier 1968
London-Sydney MarathonThe London-Sydney Marathon was a car rally from the United Kingdom to Australia. It was first run in 1968, a second event was organised in 1977 and a third in 1993 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original. Two further rallies have subsequently been contested in 2000 and 2004.The original...
, and was to mark the fact that the
1966 FIFA World CupThe 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England was chosen as hosts by FIFA in August 1960 to celebrate the centenary of the codification of football in England...
had been held in London and that the upcoming
1970 FIFA World CupThe 1970 FIFA World Cup, the ninth staging of the World Cup, was held in Mexico, from 31 May to 21 June. Mexico was chosen as hosts by FIFA in October 1964. The 1970 tournament was the first World Cup hosted in North America, and the first held outside South America and Europe. In a match-up of...
was to be held in Mexico.
The 1970
London-Mexico World Cup Rally was a marathon
motor rallyRallying is a form of motor competition that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. This motorsport is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive...
that started at Wembley Stadium in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
on 19 April 1970 and finished in
Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
on 27 May 1970, covering approximately 16,000 miles (25,750 km) through
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
. It was won by
Hannu MikkolaHannu Olavi Mikkola is a retired world champion rally driver. He was a seven time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times.- Career :...
and Gunnar Palm, driving a
FordThe Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands, Ford also owns Volvo Cars of Sweden, and a small stake...
EscortThe Ford Escort is a small family car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company from 1968 to 2003. Although it was originally a European model, the Escort badge has also been applied to several different designs in North America over the years .The first use of the Ford Escort name was in the 1950s...
.
Organisation
The event was the brainchild of Wylton Dickson, possibly inspired by the earlier 1968
London-Sydney MarathonThe London-Sydney Marathon was a car rally from the United Kingdom to Australia. It was first run in 1968, a second event was organised in 1977 and a third in 1993 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original. Two further rallies have subsequently been contested in 2000 and 2004.The original...
, and was to mark the fact that the
1966 FIFA World CupThe 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England was chosen as hosts by FIFA in August 1960 to celebrate the centenary of the codification of football in England...
had been held in London and that the upcoming
1970 FIFA World CupThe 1970 FIFA World Cup, the ninth staging of the World Cup, was held in Mexico, from 31 May to 21 June. Mexico was chosen as hosts by FIFA in October 1964. The 1970 tournament was the first World Cup hosted in North America, and the first held outside South America and Europe. In a match-up of...
was to be held in Mexico. Dickson approached the renowned British rally driver
Paddy HopkirkPatrick Barron "Paddy" Hopkirk is a former rally driver from Northern Ireland. Alongside Henry Liddon he won the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally in a Mini Cooper S car number 37, license plate/registration tag 33 EJB...
and together they went to the
The Daily MirrorThe Daily Mirror is a British tabloid newspaper founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is usually referred to in popular parlance.- Early years :The Daily Mirror was...
for sponsorship.
The event was organised by members of the
RACThe Royal Automobile Club is a private club and is not to be confused with RAC plc, a motorists' organisation, which it formerly owned.It has two club houses, one in London at 89-91 Pall Mall, and the other in the countryside at Woodcote Park, Surrey, next to the City of London Freemen's School...
and the
MSAThe Motor Sports Association , is the official governing body of motorsport in the United Kingdom.-Responsibilities:...
.
Route and scoring
The course covered approximately through Europe, South America and
Central AmericaManagua
Guatemala City
San Salvador
San Pedro Sula
Panama City
San José, Costa Rica
Santa Ana, El Salvador
León
San Miguel|-|}...
. Some of the principal towns and cities visited were, in order :
- London, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
- Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; west of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
, England
- Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer is a city in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city was 44,859 in the 1999 census, whereas that of the whole metropolitan area was 135,116.-Name:...
, FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
- Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
, GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
- Munich
Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
, Germany
- Vienna
Vienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
, AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
- Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
, HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
- Belgrade
Belgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...
, then in YugoslaviaThe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the second half of World War II until it was formally dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,...
, now in SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country located in both Central and Southeastern Europe. Its territory covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and central part of the Balkans...
- Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city by population in the European Union, with 1.4 million people living in the Capital Municipality...
, BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
- Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in north eastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south, east and north of the city...
, ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
- Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
, Italy
- Genoa
Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000...
, Italy
- Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in southwest France on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. With 1,102,882 inhabitants as of Jan...
, France
- Pau, France
- Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,000 inhabitants in the city proper and another 15,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and Léon...
, SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
- Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, the capital of the province of Salamanca, which belongs to the autonomous community of Castile and Leon...
, Spain
- Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the district of Lisbon and the main city of the Lisbon region...
, PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
- Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and...
, BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
- Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital and chief port of Uruguay. Montevideo is the only city in the country with a population over 1,000,000...
, UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
- Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
- Bariloche, Argentina
- Santiago, Chile
Santiago , is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the centre of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of 520 m AMSL...
, ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
- La Paz
La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of La Paz Department. Located at an elevation of , it is the world's highest capital city. La Paz sits in a bowl surrounded by the high altiplano. As it grows, La Paz climbs the hills, resulting in varying...
, BoliviaBolivia, officially Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west....
- Lima
Lima is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, on a coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It forms a contiguous urban area with the seaport of Callao...
, PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
- Cali
Santiago de Cali , simply referred to as Cali, is a city in western Colombia and the capital of the Valle del Cauca Department. With a population of 2,068,386, Cali is the third largest city in the country. It has one of the fastest growing economies and infrastructure in the country because of its...
, ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
- Panama City
Panama City is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 813,097, with a total metro population of 1,206,792, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, at...
, PanamaPanama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of both Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the...
- San José
San is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation....
, Costa RicaCosta Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally...
- Mexico City, Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
The course included many special stages, some over long. Time penalties were given for exceeding set times on the special stages, as well as for other infractions of the rules, and the cars' positions determined by the penalties awarded rather than lowest cumulative times.
Cars
Over one hundred cars started the event. The rules about what cars could be entered were not restrictive but due to the demanding nature of the course most competitors were conservative and used modified versions of standard models. That did not prevent there being a wide variety of cars, from
VolkswagenThe Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft , also known as Volkswagen Group or as VW, is an automobile manufacturer and mobility organisation based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany and is the pioneer brand within the Volkswagen Group, which contains the car brands Audi AG, Bentley Motors Ltd.,...
BeetleThe Volkswagen Type 1 is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003. It used an air cooled rear engined rear wheel drive ....
s to
Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce Limited was a British car and, from 1914, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904. In 1971, Rolls-Royce was crippled by the development of the advanced RB211 jet engine, resulting...
s. There were works (officially sanctioned and prepared) entries from Ford,
British LeylandBritish Leyland was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd . It was partly nationalised in 1975 with the government creating a new holding company called British Leyland Ltd which became BL Ltd in 1978...
and
MoskvitchMoskvitch was an automobile brand from Russia.-Early history:...
, and semi-works entries from
CitroënCitroën is a French automobile manufacturer. Founded in 1919 by André Citroën, it was the world's first mass-production car company outside of the USA. Since 1976 it has been part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, and its headquarters is on rue Fructidor, Paris...
.
The Ford team ran modified Escort Mk Is, fitted with an 1850 cc version of the crossflow
Kent engineborder=0 align=right|-|The Ford Kent is an internal combustion engine from Ford of Europe. Originally developed in 1959 for the Ford Anglia, it is an in-line four cylinder overhead valve type engine with a cast iron cylinder head and block....
and uprated with various other parts from other Ford models. Each Ford car had two drivers. The British Leyland team entered two teams. The first team ran three
TriumphThe Triumph Motor Company is a defunct British motor manufacturer. The Triumph marque is currently owned by BMW. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann and Moritz Schulte from Germany founded Bettmann & Co and started selling Triumph bicycles from premises in London and from...
2.5PI Mark 2The Triumph 2000 was a mid-sized automobile produced in Coventry by the Triumph Motor Company between 1963 and 1977.Using the six cylinder engine first seen in the Standard Vanguard at the end of 1960 and 4 speed manual gearbox , the monocoque body had independent suspension all round using coil...
s, which were more powerful than the Fords but were significantly heavier; two cars carried a three man crew, Brian Culcheth preferring to stick with a conventional two man crew. The second Leyland team ran
Austin MaxiThe Austin Maxi was a medium sized 5-door hatchback car from British Leyland for the 1970s. It was the first British five speed five-door hatchback....
s,
Austin 1800BMC ADO17 was the name used by the British Motor Corporation for its range of cars produced from September 1964 to 1975 and sold initially under its Austin marque as the Austin 1800. Colloquially known as the "Landcrab", the car was also sold as Morris and Wolseley variants, and later as the...
s (some badged
MorrisThe Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque.-Early...
) and a lone
MiniThe Mini is a small car that was produced by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered an icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...
Clubman. Citroën used the venerable
DS21The Citroën DS is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1955 and 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni, the DS is known for its futuristic body design and innovative technology, including a hydropneumatic self-levelling...
.
Other cars run in the event included:
- BMW
, is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company. Founded in 1916, it is known for its performance and luxury vehicles. It owns and produces the MINI brand, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.-Company history:...
2002ti
- Datsun
Datsun was an automobile marque. The name was created in 1931 by the DAT Motorcar Co. for a new car model, spelling it as "Datson" to indicate its smaller size when compared to the existing, larger DAT car. Later, in 1933 after Nissan Motor Co., Ltd...
1600SSS
- Ford Lotus Cortina
The Lotus-Cortina was a high-performance car, the result of collaboration between Ford and Lotus.-Mk1:The start of the Lotus Cortina story begins around 1961, when the best of Ford and Lotus got together. Colin Chapman had been looking to build his own engines for Lotus for quite some time...
- Ford Escort Mk I
- Hillman
Hillman is a British automobile marque created by the Hillman Motor Car Company, founded in 1907. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had built bicycles...
HunterRootes Arrow was the manufacturer's name for a range of cars produced under several badge-engineered marques by the Rootes Group from 1966 to 1979...
- Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler. It is the oldest off-road vehicle brand, with Land Rover coming in second. The original vehicle which first appeared as the prototype Bantam BRC became the primary light 4-wheel-drive vehicle of the US Army and allies during the World War II and postwar...
WagoneerThe Jeep Wagoneer was an early sport utility vehicle , produced under varying marques from 1963 to 1991. It was noteworthy for being in production for more than 28 years with only minor mechanical changes...
- Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of luxury automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. It is currently a division of the parent company, Daimler AG , after previously being owned by Daimler-Benz...
280SEThe Mercedes-Benz W108/W109 model series was a large luxury car line built by Mercedes-Benz from 1965 through 1972. The W108/W109 was a replacement for the higher end of the "Fintail" sedan range, with three-box styling similar to the W111/W112 coupes...
- Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest European carmaker.Peugeot's roots go back to 19th-century coffee mill and bicycle manufacturing. The Peugeot company and family is originally from Sochaux, France. Peugeot retains a large manufacturing plant and...
404The Peugeot 404 is a large family car produced by French automobile manufacturer Peugeot from 1960 to 1975, with the exception of the truck which was sold until 1988. It was also made under licence in various African countries until 1991 ....
- Porsche
Porsche SE is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury high performance automobiles, which is majority-owned by the Piëch and Porsche families. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG , often shortened to Porsche AG, is responsible and manufacturer of the Porsche automobile line...
911The Porsche 911 is a sports car made by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. The famous, distinctive, and durable design is notable for being rear engined like the Porsche-designed Volkswagen Beetle it had been based on. The car was also air-cooled until the introduction of the all-new Type 996 in 1998...
- Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud
The Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud was the core model of the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars range from April 1955 until March 1966. It replaced the Silver Dawn and was, in turn, replaced by the Silver Shadow....
- Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow
The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is a luxury car produced in Great Britain in various forms from 1965 to 1980. The car was the manufacturer's response to claims that it was falling behind the times, and had lost contact with modern developments...
- Trident
Trident Cars Ltd was a British car manufacturer based originally in Woodbridge then in Ipswich, Suffolk between 1966 and 1974 and again after being restarted in 1976 from premises in Ipswich...
Venturer
- VW-based beach buggy
Competitors
Many rally drivers of the day entered the event, including:
- Rauno Aaltonen
Rauno August Aaltonen , also known as "The Rally Professor", is a Finnish former professional rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship throughout the 1970s. Before WRC was established Aaltonen competed in the European Rally Championship. He won the championship in 1965, with Tony...
- Andrew Cowan
Andrew Cowan is a Scottish former rally driver, and the founder and senior director of Mitsubishi Ralliart until his retirement on 30 November 2005.-Early years:...
(winner of the 1968 London-Sydney marathon)
- Brian Culcheth
- Tony Fall
Richard Anthony Fall was a British rally driver. He was born in Bradford. He began his rallying career as a club rally driver in a Mini. He was considerably better than his peers, however, and was soon spotted by the BMC team, this lead to a drive in their works team alongside Paddy Hopkirk, Timo...
- Paddy Hopkirk
Patrick Barron "Paddy" Hopkirk is a former rally driver from Northern Ireland. Alongside Henry Liddon he won the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally in a Mini Cooper S car number 37, license plate/registration tag 33 EJB...
- Timo Mäkinen
Timo Mäkinen, born 18 March 1938, in Helsinki, Finland, was one of the original "Flying Finns" of motor rallying. He is most famous for his hat-trick of wins in the RAC Rally, at the wheel of a Ford Escort, preceded only by Erik Carlsson in that feat....
- Hannu Mikkola
Hannu Olavi Mikkola is a retired world champion rally driver. He was a seven time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times.- Career :...
- Rene Trautmann
- Guy Verrier
- Gastón Perkins
Gastón Carlos Perkins was an Argentine racing driver.. He won the Turismo Carretera championship in 1969....
- Jose Migliorehttp://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Migliore
As well as professional rally drivers, the event attracted a number of well known people, including the footballer
Jimmy GreavesJames Peter 'Jimmy' Greaves is an English former football player, England's third highest international goalscorer, the highest goalscorer in the history of English top flight football and more recently a television pundit...
, who finished a very creditable sixth, and HRH
Prince Michael of KentPrince Michael of Kent is a member of the British Royal Family and a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary....
, who failed to finish.
Classification
1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally results
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time Penalties |
|---|
| 1 |
H. Mikkola/G. Palm |
Ford Escort 1850GT |
9hr 7min |
| 2 |
B. Culcheth/J. Syer |
Triumph 2.5PI |
10hr 25min |
| 3 |
R. Aaltonen/H. Liddon |
Ford Escort 1850GT |
10hr 46min |
| 4 |
P. Hopkirk/A. Nash/N. Johnston |
Triumph 2.5PI |
12hr 26min |
| 5 |
T. Makinen/G.Staepelaere |
Ford Escort 1850GT |
14hr 31min |
| 6 |
J. Greaves/A. Fall |
Ford Escort 1850GT |
19hr 31min |
| 7 |
P. Vanson/O. Turcat/A. Leprince |
Citroën DS21 |
22hr 3min |
| 8 |
S. Zasada/M. Wachowski |
Ford Escort 1850GT |
23hr 59min |
| 9 |
R. Redgrave/P. Cooper/R. Freeborough |
Morris 1800 |
24hr 42min |
| 10 |
Ms. R. Smith/Ms A Watson/Ms G. Derolland |
Austin Maxi |
30hr 35min |
| 11 |
K. Tubman/A. Welenski/R. McAuley |
Austin 1800 |
32hr 36min |
| 12 |
L. Potapchik/E. Bazhenov/Y. Lesovski |
Moskvitch |
34hr 6min |
| 13 |
W. Bendeck/D. Hubner/J. Burgoa |
BMW 2002ti |
35hr 14min |
| 14 |
R. Channon/R. Cooper |
Ford Lotus Cortina |
36hr 43min |
| 15 |
A. Rees/H. Thomas/W. James |
Hillman Hunter |
37hr 50min |
| 16 |
A. Katz/A. Kling/A. Pfuhl |
Mercedes-Benz 280SE |
38hr 5min |
| 17 |
G. Holm/V. Boubnov/K.Guirdauskas |
Moskvitch |
38hr 52min |
| 18 |
Ms. J. Denton/Ms. P Wright/Ms. E. Crellin |
Morris 1800 |
39hr 16min |
| 19 |
G. Perkins/J. Greene |
Peugeot 404 |
40hr 46min |
| 20 |
S. Tenishev/V. Kislykh/V. Chirochenkov |
Moskvitch |
41hr 5min |
| 21 |
R. Janssen/J. Dik |
Datsun 1600SSS |
46hr 1min |
| 22 |
T. Kingsley/P. Evans/M.Scarlett |
Austin Maxi |
46hr 25min |
| 23 |
D. Harris/M. Butler |
Ford Escort GT |
66hr 8min |
Only 23 cars finished the event.
External links