Thursday 28th October 2021

BOOK REVIEW  By Ken Davies 

Memory Lanes……rally tales 5  

Without doubt, the 1960s and '70s were the most evocative eras in rallying and the latest book in Peter Robinson’s popular pentalogy is another cornucopia of ripping rally yarns, arranged in a series of eight easy-to-read chapters, written from the vivid recollections of those at the sharp-end of the stories.

Tales include Supersport engines and the Cooper brothers. The talented Kevin Gormley who carved a successful career co-driving with several front-running manufacturer teams in over 250 rallies. There’s a fascinating chapter on BMC’s inter-team Healey 3000 v Mini Cooper rivalry to win the 1965 RAC rally. Then the redoubtable Martin Holmes follows the first six months of 1974, post oil crisis and political winter of discontent. Road rally doyen Don Barrow quite rightly deserves his own chapter as most successful Motoring News navigator, followed by the history of Bob Beale’s enduring rally VW Beetle – Bertie. There’s even a chapter on perhaps the worst ever MN rally, and lessons learnt from numerous inherent mistakes.

Peter’s collaborators in recalling this golden period of rallying include John Davenport, Rauno Aaltonen, Andy Dawson, Paul Easter, Terry Kaby, Kevin Gormley and Don Barrow and the layout makes it possible to dip in and out at will, one chapter at a time.

There’s really nothing not to like about this latest collection of rally tales and the book provides great reading. Published in 2020 by Peter Robinson Publishing, this 127-page A5 size soft-back book carries a number of hitherto unseen black and white rally images.

Memory Lanes …… rally tales 5
Written by Peter Robinson
Available direct from Peter Robinson memorylanes@live.com
Price £12.50 (inc. UK P&P)