By Jeff Glucker
The Camel Trophy is long gone. For 19 years, between 1980 and 2000, an insane off-road competition was held all over the globe. It pitted people and machines against truly wicked elements. It would’ve been a true adventure to compete in such a thing. And I would’ve loved to give it a go even though it would be a whole lot of hell for most of the journey.
Land Rover is trying to recapture a little bit of that magic with a new off-road challenge event. And I’m extremely curious to learn how that all unfolds.
Today though, I’m daydreaming about sandglow-colored Defenders attempting to cross through the uncrossable. What’s an automotive event you wish you got to compete in?
Dakar as co-driver for Carlos Sainz.
Monte Carlo rally in a Group B Lancia Stratos.
NASCAR race at Martinsville or Bristol.
F1 at Suzuka.
Hypermiling competition. As a teenager, I would swing like a metronome between the typical hooning craziness or driving as efficiently as possible. I still enjoy both, but they’re kind of incompatible on the same tank/charge…
The 1909 Ocean to Ocean Endurance Contest, the first transcontinental auto race. The winning car, a Ford, made it from New York to Seattle in a mere 23 days (only to later be disqualified for having its engine replaced along the route). A pair of Oldsmobiles had made it to Oregon in 1905, but this was the first real competitive event. It must have been amazing. Miserable, slow, wet, dirty and exhausting, but amazing.
Cannonball Run
Yes the Cannonball Run in it’s earliest days (against Dan Gurney)
The around Australia reliability trials (against Gelignite Jack and maybe later, Peter Brock)
Isle of Man TT – any class and hopefully survive
Should have also added the London to Sydney marathons
The Peking to Paris, last time won by, of all things, a Leyland P76.
And the driver was 87 !
/petrolicious.com/articles/the-gruelling-8500-mile-peking-to-paris-motor-challenge-was-won-by-an-87-year-old-in-a-1974-leyland-p76
” “Our third win in the Leyland was the toughest yet but it was also very enjoyable. What we really needed though was a few more 87-year olds in the field to keep me company. ”
Yepp, nothing to add there.
The P76 remains a very under-rated car. We had one on a building company fleet longer ago than I like to admit, and to be fair, it was much nicer to drive than the XA Falcon and VJ Valiant that were also on the fleet at the time. And they were better made than the Rover SD1 which the MD bought to replace his Triumph 2500. Of course the P76 already had an international competition history, winning the Targa Florio stage of the 1974 World Cup Rally, which led to the release of the Targa Florio edition P76.
87 is a good age isn’t it? Something to look forward to.
LeMans….Porsche 962