27-488: Jack Sears (16 February 1930 – 6 August 2016) was a British race and rally driver, and was one of the principal organisers of the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon . Sears was popularly known as "Gentleman Jack". His son David is also involved in motorsport. He won the inaugural British Saloon Car Championship in 1958, driving an Austin Westminster . After finishing on joint maximum points with Tommy Sopwith , it
54-583: A Porsche 911 , ahead of the Ford Falcon GT of Ian Vaughan who finished third in 1968. Kenya 's Mike Kirkland , a stalwart of the Safari Rally , took the final place on the podium in a Peugeot 504 . A second rerun was organised in 2000 as a "Millennium celebration of [the] first epic event." Again, much of Asia was inaccessible for political reasons, with two airlifts instead of the single one of 1993. Now, after crossing Europe and Turkey in
81-626: A former racing driver, plotted a 7,000 miles (11,000 km) course covering eleven countries in as many days, and arranged that the P&;O liner S.S. Chusan would ferry the first 72 cars and their crews on the nine-day voyage from India, before the final 2,600 miles (4,200 km) across Australia: The remaining crews departed Bombay at 03:00 on Thursday 5 December, arriving in Fremantle at 10:00 on Friday 13 December before they restarted in Perth
108-463: A similar car. Paddy Hopkirk , this time driving a Citroën CX , took the final podium spot. Nick Brittan , a competitor in the original event in a Lotus Cortina , established his company as an organiser of modern endurance rallies with a 25th anniversary re-run of the marathon in 1993. He persuaded 21 drivers who had competed in 1968 to return, including Andrew Cowan and Roger Clark , and altogether 106 teams from 17 countries entered. Cowan drove
135-540: A terminal rear differential failure. Encountering a Cortina by the roadside, he persuaded the initially reluctant owner to sell his rear axle and resumed once more, although at the cost of 80 minutes' delay while it was replaced. This left Lucien Bianchi and co-driver Jean-Claude Ogier in the Citroën DS in the lead ahead of Gilbert Staepelaere/Simo Lampinen in the German Ford Taunus, with Andrew Cowan in
162-526: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . London-Sydney Marathon The London–Sydney Marathon was a car rally from the United Kingdom to Australia. It was first run in 1968, a second event by the same organizers was run in 1977 and a third in 1993 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original. Three further rallies have subsequently been contested in 2000, 2004 and 2014. The 1968 event inspired different organizers to create
189-471: The Daily Express and two of his editorial executives, Jocelyn Stevens and Tommy Sopwith , decided to create an event which their newspaper could sponsor, and which would serve to raise the country's spirits. Such an event would, it was felt, act as a showcase for British engineering and would boost export sales in the countries through which it passed. The initial UK£10,000 winner's prize offered by
216-511: The 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours , the best result in the abbreviated racing history of the LMB. Sears died on 6 August 2016 from lung cancer. He had previously survived a heart attack. ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes. ‡ Event with 3 races staged for the different classes. This biographical article related to English motor racing
243-460: The 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours , the best result in the abbreviated racing history of the LMB. Sears died on 6 August 2016 from lung cancer. He had previously survived a heart attack. ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes. ‡ Event with 3 races staged for the different classes. This biographical article related to English motor racing
270-603: The 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally , the 1974 London-Sahara-Munich World Cup Rally , and the Dakar Rally . The original 1968 event was won by Andrew Cowan , Colin Malkin and Brian Coyle, driving a Hillman Hunter . Fifty-six cars finished. The original Marathon was the result of a lunch in late 1967, during a period of despondency in Britain caused by the devaluation of the pound . Sir Max Aitken , proprietor of
297-517: The Chrysler factory on the assumption that only half a dozen drivers would even reach Sydney, took victory in his Hillman Hunter and claimed the £10,000 prize. Hopkirk finished second, while Australian Ian Vaughan was third in a factory-entered Ford XT Falcon GT . Ford Australia won the Teams' Prize with their three Falcons GTs, placing 3rd, 6th and 8th. The success of the 1968 marathon spawned
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#1732787325171324-655: The Daily Express was soon joined by a £3,000 runners-up award and two £2,000 prizes for the third-placed team and for the highest-placed Australians, all of which were underwritten by the Daily Telegraph newspaper and its proprietor Sir Frank Packer , who was eager to promote the Antipodean leg of the rally. An eight-man organising committee was established to create a suitably challenging but navigable route. Jack Sears , organising secretary and himself
351-598: The World Cup rallies , although after the controversial 1974 event, no further World Cup event would be held. While the original event was to prove a triumph for the Rootes Group , the 1977 edition, this time sponsored by Singapore Airlines , was dominated by Mercedes-Benz . The German marque claimed a 1–2 finish and had two other cars in the top eight, with Andrew Cowan in a 280E repeating his success of nine years previous, followed home by teammate Tony Fowkes in
378-618: The Hillman Hunter 3rd. Then Staepelaere's Taunus hit a gate post, breaking a track rod. This left Cowan in second position and Paddy Hopkirk 's Austin 1800 in third place. Approaching the Nowra checkpoint at the end of the penultimate stage with only 98 miles (158 km) to Sydney, the Frenchmen were involved in a head-on collision with a motorist who mistakenly entered a closed course, wrecking their Citroën DS and hospitalising
405-403: The champion would be decided by the toss of a coin. The idea was very unpopular with both drivers and at the final meeting at Brands Hatch , with a draw being a likely possibility, two identical looking Marcus Chambers-owned Riley One-Point-Five works rally cars were brought along for a five lap shoot-out. To make the race fair, they raced five laps, switched cars, then raced five laps again with
432-402: The driver who had the quickest combined time being crowned champion. In pouring rain, Sears became the first ever champion by 1.6 seconds. He regained the title in 1963, driving a variety of cars including a Ford Cortina GT , a seven-litre Ford Galaxie and a Lotus Cortina , which was used for the final two races. Sears also co-drove a Ferrari 330 LMB with Mike Salmon to a fifth place in
459-400: The driver who had the quickest combined time being crowned champion. In pouring rain, Sears became the first ever champion by 1.6 seconds. He regained the title in 1963, driving a variety of cars including a Ford Cortina GT , a seven-litre Ford Galaxie and a Lotus Cortina , which was used for the final two races. Sears also co-drove a Ferrari 330 LMB with Mike Salmon to a fifth place in
486-531: The end of the Asian section in Bombay , with Simo Lampinen 's Ford Taunus second and Lucien Bianchi 's DS21 in third. However, once into Australia, Clark suffered several setbacks. A piston failure dropped him to third, and would have cost him a finish had he not been able to cannibalise fellow Ford Motor Company driver Eric Jackson's car for parts. After repairs were effected, he suffered what should have been
513-484: The first fourteen days, the competitors would be loaded on to the Antonovs for the trip to northern Thailand , driving south through the country and into Malaysia for twelve days before being flown to Australia for the last eight days of the rally. Of the 100 starters who left London 78 reached Sydney, with Stig Blomqvist and Ben Rainsford scoring victory ahead of Michèle Mouton in a Porsche 911 , whose co-driver
540-519: The following evening. Any repairs attempted on the car during the voyage would lead to the crew's exclusion. Roger Clark established an early lead through the first genuinely treacherous leg, from Sivas to Erzincan in Turkey, averaging almost 60 mph (100 km/h) in his Lotus Cortina for the 170 miles (270 km) stage. Despite losing time in Pakistan and India , he maintained his lead to
567-482: The original route was retraced. Also, the old scheduled open road sections were replaced with more modern timed special stages for safety reasons. Finally, with the demise of the great passenger liners there would be no great voyage across the Indian Ocean to Australia, Brittan instead negotiating for two Antonov An-124 cargo planes to take the vehicles to Australia. The winning driver was Francis Tuthill in
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#1732787325171594-449: The pair. Hopkirk, the first driver on the scene (ahead of Cowan on the road, but behind on penalties) stopped to tend to the injured and extinguish the flames in the burning cars. Andrew Cowan, next on the scene, also slowed but was waved through with the message that everything was under control. Hopkirk rejoined the rally, and neither he nor Cowan lost penalties in this stage. So Andrew Cowan , who had requested "a car to come last" from
621-706: The same car as the first time, having his Hillman Hunter loaned to him by the Scottish Automobile Club museum, while other competitors drove pre-1970 era cars. The entry fee was £ 12,900, and the estimated cost of participating was put at £45,000. The 16,000 km rally had three major differences to its ancestor. First, the changing political climate in the Middle East meant that several countries such as Iran and Afghanistan were now out of bounds, although in Europe, Turkey and Australia much of
648-603: Was 1993 winner Francis Tuthill . Rick Bates and Jenny Brittan in another 911 took third. The third re-run was a combination of modern Group N (showroom-class) cars, and pre-1977 classics, all limited to two wheel drive and a sub-two-litre engine. New Zealand, in tandem with Lincolnshire , England race-preparation specialists Langworth Motorsport, scored a 1–2–3 podium clean sweep with three Kiwi-piloted Honda Integras ; overall winners Joe McAndrew and Murray Cole, runners-up Mike Montgomery and Roy Wilson, and Shane Murland and John Benton in third. The highest-placed classic car
675-472: Was a Ford Escort RS1600 driven by Britain's Anthony Ward and Mark Solloway, which finished sixth overall. Ten years later a sixth Marathon was run. Differing from its five predecessors it was run in the reverse direction, starting in Sydney and travelling to London with an airlift linking the west coast of Australia to Turkey. Jack Sears Jack Sears (16 February 1930 – 6 August 2016)
702-400: Was a British race and rally driver, and was one of the principal organisers of the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon . Sears was popularly known as "Gentleman Jack". His son David is also involved in motorsport. He won the inaugural British Saloon Car Championship in 1958, driving an Austin Westminster . After finishing on joint maximum points with Tommy Sopwith , it was initially suggested
729-427: Was initially suggested the champion would be decided by the toss of a coin. The idea was very unpopular with both drivers and at the final meeting at Brands Hatch , with a draw being a likely possibility, two identical looking Marcus Chambers-owned Riley One-Point-Five works rally cars were brought along for a five lap shoot-out. To make the race fair, they raced five laps, switched cars, then raced five laps again with
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