17th/21st Lancers Land Rover in the London–Sydney Marathon
ALSO KNOWN AS DAILY EXPRESS LONDON–SYDNEY MARATHON 1968, CAR 99 · THE LANCERS' LAND ROVER
In the first London–Sydney Marathon of November–December 1968 — 10,373 miles from Crystal Palace to Sydney through eleven countries and across Australia, with the P&O liner Chusan carrying the cars from Bombay to Fremantle — a four-man army crew from the 17th/21st Lancers, Lieutenants Gavin Thompson and Christopher Marriott with Corporal Charles Skelton and Trooper Melvin Lewis, drove the only Land Rover in the field, car 99, listed as a 'Land Rover 2WD'. Of 98 starters 56 finished; the Lancers were 49th, on 6,787 penalty points.
WAYPOINTS ARE THE MARATHON'S OFFICIAL CONTROLS FROM THE WIKIPEDIA TIMETABLE AND THE PERTH–SYDNEY RESULTS SHEET; THE LINE BETWEEN THEM IS THE RALLY ROUTE, NOT THE LAND ROVER'S OWN TRACK.
THE JOURNEY IN SIX MOMENTS
24 November 1968Crystal Palace98 cars away at 11 p.m.; the Lancers' Land Rover is number 9928 November 1968Sivas–ErzincanThe first treacherous section, 170 miles unsurfaced30 November 1968Kabul and the KhyberOver the Lataband Pass and into Pakistan2 December 1968Bombay3,384 points against the Land Rover after 7,000 road miles13 December 1968FremantleThe Chusan docks after nine days at sea17 December 1968Warwick FarmCowan's Hillman Hunter wins; the Lancers finish 49th of 56
30 WAYPOINTS · 11 COUNTRIES
DEPARTED24 November 1968 Crystal Palace, LondonARRIVED17 December 1968 Warwick Farm, SydneyDISTANCE10,373 miles for the whole event: about 7,000 road miles London–Bombay, the sea passage to Fremantle, and 2,900 miles Perth–Sydney
The Marathon was born at a lunch in late 1967, when Sir Max Aitken of the Daily Express and his executives Jocelyn Stevens and Tommy Sopwith decided to answer the gloom of the devalued pound with a race from London to Sydney that would show off British engineering and boost exports along the way; Frank Packer's Daily Telegraph underwrote the Australian prizes. Jack Sears plotted a 7,000-mile course through eleven countries in as many days, and arranged for the liner Chusan to take the first 72 cars from Bombay on a nine-day voyage to Fremantle, with any repair aboard meaning exclusion, before 2,900 miles across Australia. Motor Sport had heard rumours in March 1968 of a Land Rover being fitted with a 320 bhp Chevrolet V8 for the event; the one that actually ran was entered by the 17th/21st Lancers, a cavalry regiment, and is recorded in the results simply as a Land Rover 2WD, number 99, crewed by Lt Gavin Thompson, Lt Christopher Marriott, Cpl Charles Skelton and Tpr Melvin Lewis.
Ninety-eight crews left Crystal Palace at 11 p.m. on Sunday 24 November 1968, took the 4 a.m. Dover ferry and were at Le Bourget by late morning, then ran through the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Turin, down the autostrada towards Venice and into Yugoslavia to Belgrade, through Bulgaria by night to Istanbul, across the Bosphorus by ferry and through Ankara and the Bolu Pass to Sivas, where the first genuinely treacherous section began: 170 miles of unsurfaced road to Erzincan, on which Roger Clark's Lotus Cortina averaged almost 60 mph. Then Iran and Tehran, a choice between the Elburz mountains by the Caspian shore or the north edge of the Great Salt Desert to Islam Qala, Kabul with a six-and-a-half-hour rest before the Khyber Pass opened, the loose old road over the Lataband Pass to Sarobi, Pakistan in a day, Delhi, and Agra and Indore to Bombay on 2 December. The Chusan sailed at 3 a.m. on 5 December and docked at Fremantle at 10 a.m. on Friday 13 December.
The Australian division restarted from Perth on the evening of 14 December and ran through the controls at Youanmi, Marvel Loch and Lake King in Western Australia, Ceduna, Quorn, Moralana, Brachina and Mingary in South Australia, Menindee and Gunbar in New South Wales, Edi, Brookside, Omeo and Murrindal in Victoria and Ingebyra, Numeralla, Hindmarsh and Nowra to the finish at Warwick Farm, Sydney, on 17 December. Andrew Cowan's Hillman Hunter won after Lucien Bianchi's leading Citroën DS was wrecked in a head-on collision near Nowra, with Paddy Hopkirk's Austin 1800 second and Ian Vaughan's Ford Falcon GT third. The Lancers' Land Rover took a 1,440-point missed-control penalty at Lake King and another at Brachina, but kept going through every section to Warwick Farm: 3,403 points in Australia on top of 3,384 from London to Bombay, 6,787 in all, 49th of the 56 finishers and 55th on the Australian division. It was the only Land Rover to start or finish the first Marathon; in the 1977 event the marque was represented by Range Rovers.
The winning Hillman Hunter, car 75 of Andrew Cowan, Brian Coyle and Colin Malkin, in Daily Express–Sydney Telegraph Marathon livery at a show in 2015. The Lancers' Land Rover, car 99, finished 49th in the same event. IAIN CAMERON, FLICKR VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS · CC BY 2.0 ↗
The team
Lt Gavin ThompsonDriver, 17th/21st LancersLt Christopher MarriottCo-driver, 17th/21st LancersCpl Charles SkeltonCrew, 17th/21st LancersTpr Melvin LewisCrew, 17th/21st Lancers
Organised by Daily Express and Daily Telegraph (Sydney) and Royal Automobile Club and Confederation of Australian Motor Sport. Supported by 17th/21st Lancers (entrant).
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