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NEWS
Leyland P76 wins class in transcontinental rally
Nearly 40 years after its first motor sport outing, Leyland's much derided P76 proves the pundits wrongBeijing in the 21st century is a long way from home for a Leyland P76. And Paris is even further from the Sydney suburb of Zetland where the P76 first rolled off the line in 1973.
Yet one of Leyland's orphans – originally conceived to snatch market share in Australia from large cars being built locally by Chrysler, Ford and GM-Holden – has left its mark on the 2013 running of the Peking to Paris Rally.
Crewed by a pair of Aussies, 81-year old driver Gerry Crown and his co-driver Matt Bryson, the P76 has crossed the line ahead of its nearest Classics division rival, a 1965 Porsche 911 manned by the British team of Peter Lovett and Tim Smith.
“I’ve competed in the Peking to Paris four times and this one was the most demanding and the most competitive”, said Crown at the finish.
“The victory is all down to the car. Every night Matt got under the car, checking and fixing everything to make sure we kept going hard. It’s the best rally car I’ve ever driven!”
On the car's 40th anniversary it's vindication of sorts for the design team that built the conventionally-engineered large sedan specifically for the Australian market. And naturally it's a thrill for Crown and his co-driver, who is the son of John Bryson – co-driver to journalist Evan Green in the 1974 London to Munich World Cup Rally. Bryson Senior and Green entered a P76 in the event – now in Crown's possession, but sitting at home rather than taking part in the Peking to Paris.
The 1974 event ran from the UK through France, Spain and the inhospitable Sahara of North Africa before turning back in the direction of Munich via Italy, Turkey and Austria. While the P76 finished 13th outright after taking a wrong turn in the Sahara, it won the Italian 'Targa Florio' leg, prompting Leyland to build a limited edition model of the P76, named after the famous Italian race. Green and Bryson's exploits in the London to Munich were later recounted in Green's book 'A boot full of right arms', the title referring at once to the Leyland's massive boot and the flood of offers from friends and acquaintances to take part.
Matt Bryson's vicarious interest in the 1974 event, through his father and the P76, wasn't the only link between Aussies participating in the original marathon and the Peking to Paris of 2013. The car that won the London to Munich Rally all those years ago was a Citroen DS23 driven by Australian Ken Tubman – one of the original Redex Rally winners from the 1950s. His Citroen, entered by Robbie Sherrard and Peter Washington, was back in the action for the Peking to Paris, this time missing out on a win, but still taking third place.
The cars in the Classics Division were among a field of 96 that left the start at the Great Wall of China at the end of May. All bar 10 of them finished the event at Place Vendome in Paris, having covered 8000 miles (nearly 13,000km). Organisers of the event are gearing up for the next one, in 2016, to take in a route via Nepal and Tibet.
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