RACE ACROSS THE WORLD

By John Smailes Published 2018 by Allen and Unwin Reviewer’s own copy

ISBN 978-1-76063-253-3 Review by Mark Holman

This 352-page softcover book has the accurate subtitle of The Incredible Story of the World’s Greatest Road Race — The 1968 London to Sydney Marathon. John Smailes was a young Australian reporter who had been part of the small reporting team during that incredible event. Here, he recounts the full story, from the first glimpse of the idea to the finish at Warwick Farm circuit, using his notes and interviews from the time, alongside recent conversations with some of the key people involved.

Probably the most amazing thing about the event is that it happened at all. In the days before fax machines, mobile phones, the internet, and GPS, the task for the organizers, as well as the competitors, was daunting. Exploring possible routes was extremely difficult, and the political situation in various countries in Europe and Asia added to the stress. Australia may not have had border or currency-exchange issues, but it constituted an immensely difficult terrain for the remaining competitors.

But, once the two major sponsoring newspapers in London and Sydney had been brought on board, things started to fall into place. The full entry list is reproduced in the book — there were 100 cars, of which the organizers needed to lose a fair few because the SS Chusan carrying the cars from Bombay to Perth only had capacity for 70.

The Hillman Hunter victory looked unlikely until the last day or two of this lengthy event — a number of entrants suffered very late turns of fortune, including Citroën, Ford Taunus, and Austin 1800. A real coup achieved by Smailes is to have interviewed the co-driver of the Citroën that was crashed out of the rally by a non-competing car when within sight of victory, as well as a passenger in the Mini Cooper that crashed into them.

I’ll leave you to decide where the blame lay, because you really should read this enjoyable book.