RAC Rally – a retrospective of various years
Report by David Harbey – Part One
20 January 2025
For many a motorsport fan of a certain vintage, the mere mention of the Lombard Royal Automobile Club (RAC) Rally, or indeed hearing Jewelled, a remix of Duel by Propaganda on the radio brings on a warm, nostalgic feeling for rallying’s classic mid-80s years.
Yes, your modern Circuit Rally is a good day out and may even include tail sliding Escorts, but it isn’t quite the same as crisscrossing the country, walking miles into the forest in your Barbour and wellies. To see the RAC Rally, and importantly, hear the most potent rally weapons of the day.
Introduction
I was privileged to witness two of the finest years of rallying on the RAC – namely 1985 and 1986 which will form the second part of this report. However, there’s a bit of history to cover first.
We were a four-wheeled motorsport household – Autosport was delivered every week. My late father was a keen enthusiast, although church commitments limited the opportunity to get out and see the action. After all, what British chap in the late 50s and early 60s couldn’t fail to be inspired by the success of Moss, Hopkirk, Surtees, Hill and the like ?
Here’s the TR3A of Titterington and MacCalden who finished 8th in the 1958 Coupe des Alpes on display at the Grand Prix that year.
Brailsford and District Motor Club
As an inveterate organiser, Dad was chair of the Brailsford and District Motor Club a group like-minded enthusiasts in the village halfway between Derby and Ashbourne. Drawing in the local chaps and their other halves for rallies and the like.
He also designed the label badge which I proudly wore on my trips to Goodwood over the years. No less than Mike Nicholson (who went on to run GM Dealer Sport) mentions the B&DMC in his autobiography when he and a friend turned up for a few of their rallies from a neighbouring motor club.
There’s no mention of the chair in the book, however. Here they are setting off for a local rally from the yard at Dairy House where milk from local farmers was collected and where my grandfather worked.
When working my way through my Dad’s stuff, I came across this photo of a Herald at a rakish angle from a press photographer. Research shows that it is from the Regent Rally in 1961.
Dad worked at the local Standard Triumph dealer, and we had a Herald saloon, but not this colour. A mystery. Suffice it to say, alongside the Methodist Church and Derby County, motorsport ranked highly in our house. For his first motorsport action photography, we need to go back a year or so, though.
Monte Carlo Rally
In the 1960s, the Monte Carlo Rally started from cities across Europe. Glasgow, Oslo, Lisbon, Athens – and competitors had to simply get to Monte Carlo before the final loop of stages starting and finishing in Monaco.
The Glasgow leg in 1960 had a checkpoint on the A1 at Barnby Moor near Doncaster – so off we went to see the cars and drivers. You can still find the Olde Bell Hotel on Google Maps, but the A1 now bypasses the village.
Of note is the presence of the “grid boy” in front of the Herald #239. Yes, he has his reins to keep him under control in a dangerous location with cars arriving and heading off to the next checkpoint. And yes, he has been left to wander around and have his picture taken. It must have had some effect because, dear reader, that young boy is me …
RAC Rally 1965
Come 1965, Dad has moved on from a Box Brownie to an Ilford Sportsman. Colour slide film, and slide shows for the relatives of holidays and the like (don’t tempt me !). That year, older brother, me, was at school, but younger brother wasn’t quite old enough. So he got to see the RAC Rally at Oulton Park with Dad and Uncle Sid.
At the grand age of seven, I had already decided I was a Jim Clark, thus Lotus, thus Ford fan (in a Triumph household …). So I was very pleased when Soderstrom and Palm won on the #16 Cortina. Less pleased that I had to go to school, though. Uncle Sid had a VW, so he had to have his photo taken with the competing car from Sweden.
RAC Rally 1968
Move on to the 1968 RAC Rally, and we are probably somewhere like Clipstone Forest followed by Mallory Park.
RAC Rally 1969
1969 might have been the year we headed north to Yorkshire on the Saturday of the RAC Rally. This was the first appearance of Per Eklund in the Saab #46.
And of course, there was a Triumph 2.5PI – we had a 2000 estate by then. That loyalty was to change, however …
RAC Rally 1982 Oulton Park
For some bizarre reason, Eklund is now a regular subject. He appears at Oulton Park in 1982 in Toyota #14 alongside Dad’s beloved Martini Lancias.
Dad had a Beta 2000ES as a company car. 80,000 miles in two years and nary a problem with a lovely twin-cam engine, alloy wheels, sunroof. I was allowed to drive it on the company car policy. It could go a bit (ahem …). The camera has improved from the Ilford Sportsman to a Canon, I think.
RAC Rally 1984 Loton Park
One of the reasons for the popularity of the rallying was that it was regularly featured on TV. Superbly produced BHP (Barrie Hinchcliffe) highlights packages that really encapsulated the events.
You can find some excellent coverage on YouTube under VHS Rallies. Added to that, for the RAC Rally, the BBC had a late evening Rally Report hosted by William Woollard or Tony Mason (with the aforementioned Duel theme tune) with highlights of the day’s action.
Moving down to Bedfordshire in 1983 meant I was further away from the action than Derbyshire. However, I did meet up with a similarly keen rally fan, Chris, where I worked.
For 1984, Dad and I had a day out. Loton Park (yes, that Loton Park where the British Hillclimb visits) in the morning, and I took my camera.
The first of the ultimate Group B cars were emerging – the Audi Sport quattro and the Peugeot 205T16. The old stagers – two-wheel drive Opel Mantas and Toyota Celicas – were well and truly outgunned.
The afternoon we were there, I think, was at Speech House in the Forest of Dean. No doubt we stopped at a Little Chef for an Olympic Breakfast and pancakes with cherry pie filling and ice cream on the way home … IYKYK.
RAC Rally – a retrospective of various years camera equipment
A word on kit for this RAC Rally – a retrospective of various years report. By then, I was using an Olympus OM2n typically paired with a Tamron 80-210 zoom. I hadn’t had any training, so all this depth of field, slow shutter speed for blurry wheels, aperture stuff wasn’t really an issue.
Simply pre-focusing on the desired spot and hitting the shutter at about the right time was the aim … then waiting a week or two for the 35mm slides to come back and see how well, or badly, you had fared. I think my photography has come on since, but oh, to go back with current kit !
What was to follow was perhaps the greatest years of rallying …
RAC Rally – a retrospective of various years Part Two 1986 – 1986 can be found here.
Photos are 35mm slides scanned from David Harbey and Albert Harbey archives.
Thanks to David Harbey for this report RAC Rally – a retrospective of various years. You can contact David via the links below.
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