Having A Blast On The Loose

How two racing experts took to the stages on the R.A.C. Rally

- Paul Lawrence

Last November, historic racers David Gathercole and Martyn Donn left their comfort zone far behind them to tackle the Roger Albert Clark Rally.

Gathercole and Donn teamed up for a series of one-day events through the year as a lead-in to tackling the Roger Albert Clark in Gathercole’s Ford Escort Mk1.

He’s one of the leading engine builders in historic racing, so the supply of a two-litre BDA unit was never going to be a problem.

“I started racing in karts when I was 16 so I’ve been racing for the better part of 40 years, although I had a fairly big gap in the middle of it,” says Gathercole. “When I was a kid I was totally fascinated by watching the RAC Rally highlights on the TV. I followed the rally when I was an apprentice. It was always my dream to go rallying but it was just too expensive and racing was more accessible.”

When he was 21 years old, David and a friend bought a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, which they were going to prepare for rallying but it was a stillborn project because by the time they’d got all the rot and rust out of the car, they’d run out of money.

“We looked at twin-cam Escorts and it was just more than we could afford. So I started racing an MG Midget and somehow we managed it.”

In more recent times, Gathercole has successfully raced a range of historic single-seaters and sports racing cars. Donn, meanwhile, raced in Formula Vee before switching to historics where he won the 2016 Derek Bell Trophy in a Formula Atlantic Lola T760. However, he did some rallying in his younger days and jumped at the chance to co-drive for Gathercole.