It's 4.00am and I'm standing on a lonely gravel road near Mt Arden outside of Quorn, 300 kilometres North of Adelaide in the Flinders Ranges. It's December 15, 1968, the eve of my 13th Birthday and my dad has driven us here in our Mk II Cortina to see the world's best race and rally drivers at speed on what is one of the final days of the London to Sydney Marathon, the biggest event of its kind the world has ever seen.
The crews have come from all over the world, rally drivers like Roger Clark, Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk, Le Mans Winner Lucien Bianchi, as well as Australia's best and the 1200-strong population of Quorn has more than doubled for the event.
I hadn't grasped at the time the madness I was watching. 5660 kilometres in three days. Do you want me to say that again? Frankly, it's incomprehensible, even by today's standards of hi-tech machinery. Neither did I realize that I was watching a pivotal event, an event that would affect the lives of so many motorsport enthusiasts.
A few years later at Flinders Uni, I met some blokes who had also been to Quorn to watch the event. We became friends and within a year we were crewing on another student's rally car. Before long two of us were contesting the local championship. We were an example of how much the experience had affected those who witnessed it. One of those blokes - Ed Ordynski - went on to become Australian Rally Champion. It was therefore no surprise when I travelled to Quorn again this year for the Perth to Sydney Marathon to find so many others who had been directly impacted by that 1968 experience.
Esta historia es de la edición Issue 477 de Unique Cars.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición Issue 477 de Unique Cars.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
SHANNONS HOT LAPS AT NÜRBURGRING
SHANNONS latest promotion has something any car enthusiast can only dream of.
READER RIDES
HAS THERE EVER BEEN A CONCEPT CAR SO UNLIKELY TO REACH PRODUCTION? THIS AUSSIE-BASED PLYMOUTH PROWLER IS PROOF THEY TRULY EXIST
GM'S JEWEL
ROB HAS DISCOVERED THERE’S MUCH MORE TO CADILLAC’S EARLY HISTORY THAN V16 ENGINES, TAIL FINS AND ELVIS PRESLEY’S PINK FLEET
UNDER THE WEATHER
RUST NEVER SLEEPS, SO AT LONG LAST GLENN TORRENS PROTECTS HIS BOMBODORE'S PATINA
CLASSIC CLUBMAN
MARK CURREY FOUND HIMSELF JUMPING IN THE PROVERBIAL DEEP END WHEN HE AND HIS BROTHER CRAIG TACKLED THE RESTO
MUSEUM OF VEHICLE EVOLUTION
NESTLED IN the Goulbourn Valley in Central Victoria, just south of Shepparton, is the Museum of Vehicle Evolution or MOVE for short. Recognised as one of the leading museums in the country.
TAKE A DASH!
DESIGN-FOR-MANUFACTURE GIVES NO THOUGHT TO THOSE WHO HAVE TO WORK ON THE DAMN THINGS
The LITTLE BULL
LAMBORGHINI V12S WERE THE BEDROOM POSTER FAVOURITES, BUT SANT AGATA'S V8 URRACO IS THE LESSER-KNOWN BABY SUPERMODEL
SHELBY MUSTANG MARKET REVIEW
Carroll Shelby created the business model, followed in the early 1980s by Peter Brock, for selling modified versions of popular road cars with the blessing of, but no direct involvement from the manufacturer.
SNAKE CATCHER!
SHELBY AND FORD GO HAND IN HAND, BUT THE 69 GT MODELS WERE THE END OF THE ROAD AS CARROLL WAVED GOODBYE, TO THE BLUE OVAL BRAND
