The Cortina had proved its strength on rough rallies and victory in one on the (mainly!) tarmac Alpine Rally went to Vic Elford. The eventual winner of the RAC (which started that year in central London, at Chelsea Barracks) was Tom Trana’s “upright” Volvo PV544, with the Cortina 4th.

1965

The event is remembered for Rauno Aaltonen’s Cooper S overtaking Timo Makinen’s Healey 3000 on ice during the final night in Wales. Vic Elford’s Lotus Cortina would have been competitive but for a stage maximum earlier in the event.

1966

With BMC making an ultra-conservative choice of the standard “510”cam on 7 of its 8 works-prepared Cooper S’s (based on experience of the snow in 1965 and losing 12% of power at the wheels?), only Timo Makinen’s “S” could beat the works Lotus Cortinas on speed. When Makinen retired from the lead, Bengt Soderstrom’s Cortina inherited the win. Initially, before going off and retiring, Roger Clark’s Cortina had been fastest on every stage (was this the peak of his career in terms of speed, despite later Escort wins?) and only on one of those stages was Makinen slowed by a puncture. Jim Clark in the third works Lotus Cortina proved to be spectacularly fast, given his limited rally experience, before crashing out. Vic Elford was in another works Lotus Cortina but had engine problems. Would he otherwise have been faster than Soderstrom and been first at the finish?

1967

The foot and mouth outbreak forced Jack Kemsley to cancel the rally the night before the start. Of all the cars sitting frost-covered and silent in the car park of the Heathrow Excelsior hotel the next morning, the Porsche 911 of Vic Elford attracted little attention – but could it have won the event? The Swedish Scania Vabis team (drivers Ake Andersson and Bjorn Waldegard) had made the 911 work in British forests and challenged for the lead on David Siegle-Morris’ Gulf London International Rally (the now largely forgotten “summer RAC”) in June of that year (and would win the “Gulf” in 1968). Two months on from this cancelled RAC, Vic Elford would win the Monte Carlo Rally in a 911.

1968

With the exception of Saab (who eventually finished first and second) the major works teams were not out on this RAC because the London to Sydney marathon was about to start. Timo Makinen held the lead in the first David Sutton (Twincam) Escort before retiring with head gasket failure. Vic Elford’s 911 took over. Did Porsche “works” preparation that did not take full advantage of the previous forest experience of the “private” Swedish Scania Vabis 911 team cost him victory?