Description
By: Bill Price, Paddy Hopkirk .
Our best-loved rally driver, Paddy Hopkirk, shot to fame when he won the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally in a Mini — the first in a stream of Monte victories for the legendary BMC car. The cheery Ulsterman went on to be as emblematic of the 1960s as the Mini, ending the decade as one of the most successful names in British motor sport.
But Paddy Hopkirk was more than just a David-versus-Goliath Mini-man: he competed at Le Mans in Sunbeam Alpines and MGBs, rallied the big Austin-Healey, and came second in the 1968 Londonto-Sydney Marathon in an Austin 1800. Whatever car he drove, he drove it fast but with intelligence, rather than being a car-wrecker in the style of some of his more flamboyant team-mates. The result was a string of successes in everything from driving tests and hill climbs to circuit racing — and an extraordinary come-back when he entered the 1994 Monte Carlo in a brand-new Mini-Cooper.
Paddy Hopkirk's career stretches back to the early post-war days of competition motoring in Northern Ireland, and encompasses a rich mixture of cars, from VW Beetles to Triumph TRs — not to mention a bizarre foray into the Safari Rally in a Hillman Husky. As a 'works' driver for Rootes and Triumph as well as BMC and BL, his career has been as colourful as it has been successful, and has been matched by an enterprising business life.
This is his story, as told to one of his closest collaborators, former competitions manager Bill Price. It's a fascinating insider's look at the golden age of international rallying, at a time when Britain was on the top of the world, the BMC competitions department was the best in the business, and everything seemed possible for the cheeky little redand-white Mini-Coopers.
