John Fitzpatrick recalls the Austin Monte Carlo Rally adventure which ended on foot

I never particularly warmed to rallying, but after some persuasion I agreed to enter the Monte. What was the worst that could happen?

The most unusual car I drove competitively was undoubtedly the Austin 1800. In 1964 and ’65 I was racing Minis and Stuart Turner was the competitions manager at BMC. In December 1964 he called me and asked if I would drive the recently announced Austin 1800 – later nicknamed the Landcrab – on the Monte Carlo Rally. With front-wheel drive and a transverse engine, it was basically a giant Mini. BMC prepared two cars for the Rally to gain some publicity for the new model.

Stuart thought my experience racing the front-wheel-drive Mini Coopers would hold me in good stead. I had competed in a few rallies previously, including the 1964 RAC with an MGB, but was never a fan of staying up all night to thrash around in a Welsh forest. But I had been driving for Cooper with Paddy Hopkirk, who had won the Monte the year before in a Mini Cooper, and he had told me what a great event it was.

I was joined in the 1800 by a producer with Birmingham television company ATV. A cameraman came with us so there were three of us in the car. We started from London and set off on a fairly leisurely drive down through France to Chambery where the cars from various starting points around Europe converged and the Rally started.

The fun began when we encountered horrendous snow conditions over the mountains to Monte Carlo. We were one of only 35 cars to make it through and were classified as finishers, which was no mean feat in our Landcrab. I had enjoyed the car and had got the hang of left-foot braking, which I had never done before. However, the Rally was not over and the following evening we set off on a tiebraking test around the mountains behind Monaco.

I was enjoying the 1800 over the mountain stage. However, we had decided to leave the cameraman back in Monte Carlo and the Landcrab was very tail happy without his weight in the back. My left-foot braking cooked the anchors on a steep downhill section, and we plunged over the edge. The car balanced on the edge for a moment with the headlights shining into the blackness of the valley below, then over we went. Thankfully the drop was only 60 feet or so. We landed on our side with a stream running through the open windows.

The producer and I scrambled out but it took us a long time to scale the snowcovered precipice back up to the road. By the time we got up we were freezing but all the rally cars had passed so we set off on foot down the mountain road. Eventually we managed to hitch a lift back to Monte Carlo with a farmer, us in the back of his 2CV van among the vegetables he was delivering. Despite no longer being in possession of a car, later that day we took part in the prize presentation – which we had to attend on foot. We were classified 29th and received our finishers medal, of which I am not proud. Stuart Turner wasn’t too upset because Timo Mäkinen won the rally in a Mini Cooper. That was the end of my rallying career.

The Austin 1800 was retrieved as John sheepishly collected his finisher’s medal... on foot

John Fitzpatrick began his racing career in the British Saloon Car Championship, winning it in 1966. He was European GT Champion in 1972 and 1974, and became a team owner in 1981.