All this bickering !

display_5689f27b5a

The Monte Carlo Rally unresolved, the doubt as to who had won at Indianapolis, the protest over the Acropolis Rally, and now Surtees’ fuss with Ferrari and the disqualification of a Ford driver before Le Mans. All this bickering, the result of commercialism contaminating motor racing and rallying, is undermining the Sport.

Before the war I borrowed an H.R.G. and drove it in a Bugatti O.C. Lewes Speed Trial. Because it was a “works” car I felt I had to do as well as possible with it, even in this minor event. In my opinion we were sent to the start in the wrong order, which caused me to be placed in my class behind a Frazer Nash. I wrote to the Club to complain. The late Col. C.M. Giles, C.B.E., M.C., T.D. replied, in effect :—

“Dear Boddy,
We run these things for fun.. . .”

It taught me a lesson I have never forgotten. Present-day participants should try to define the difference between fun and commercialism, before racing and rallies become the laughing stock of the sporting world.—W.B.