MINIS ON THE LIEGE
With the possible exception of the East African Safari Rally, it's hard to imagine a rally less suitable for the all-conquering Mini. The classic Liege, organised by the Belgian Motor Union, was a long-range, high-speed endurance nightmare...
Starting in 1931, the Liege-Rome-Liege, later the Liege- Sofia-Liege, rallies were closer to road races than modern day rallies. From Spa, after rather cursory scrutineering at Liege, cars were sent on a 96-hour race around a 3000 mile “circuit” consisting of the most challenging roads to be found in Europe at the time. The timing was arranged so that the car's schedule looked reasonable on paper, in compliance with the laws of the countries through which the rally passed. In fact, the necessary average speed was highly unreasonable, only just bordering on what was possible for cars and crews alike. If the published speed was maintained over the rally route a car would take one day longer to return to Liege than the organisers had allowed for! The Liege was the only rally of its day to issue starter's awards. So few crews finished that it was deemed inappropriate to make finisher's awards!
The post-war editions of what was officially called the Marathon de la Route, were full of tales of heroism. In 1953 band leader Johnny Claes won the event in a Mercedes despite his navigator (one Monsieur Traesenter) being taken ill and having to receive medical attention at each time control. The 1960 event was won by “Les Girls” Pat Moss and Ann Wisdom in a works Austin Healey. An astounding win that really impressed the masculine world of international rallying. The very last Marathon, the 1964 event, was won by Rauno Aaltonen and Tony Ambrose in another works Austin Healey. Tony later recalled how he and Rauno had only been able to drive for 20 minutes at a time on the last day of the rally, as they were so tired. To keep up the necessary average speed they changed driver whilst travelling at high speed using a complicated series of in-car acrobatics to maintain reasonable control of the vehicle!
There were no less than 19 Mini attempts on the Marathon de la Route. Entries to the 1960 event included Messrs Wyndham & Avery in a Morris of unspecified type. It is possible that this was the first Mini entry to this famous event. Whether it was or not the Morris, unfortunately, failed to get to the finish.
The Liege-Sofia-Liege rally, as it had become by 1961, was the fastest run to date. No fewer than five Minis were entered including the works supported entry of David Hiam and Derrick Astle in a Morris 850. In an Austin Mini Seven were two young and inexperienced lads from Buckinghamshire, Paul Easter and Bob Freeborough. Bob decided that in order to save time on the event they would carry their own food. Bizarrely he chose to take along nothing but Limits, a kind of biscuit eaten primarily by women who wanted to lose weight! Whether Bob thought that they would make up time by reducing Paul to a skeleton is not known, but Paul recalls the dreadful taste of Limits to this day!
Uniquely, the controls that year were only open for the appropriate time for the first car in the rally. As starting places were drawn out of a hat, cars from competition number two onwards were late before they started the event! This meant that the rally became an out and out road race with anything up to 11 cars starting on the same minute from controls. The start from the control leaving Sofia was nicknamed the “Yugoslavian Grand Prix” as competitors raced each other to get ahead of the pack and avoid the infamous Yugoslavian road dust.
David Hiam and Derrick Astle came very close to finishing that 1961 event in David's famous 850 Mini, 16 BOJ. BOJwas fitted with a mildly tuned engine and experimental Dunlop disc brakes especially for this rally. David worked for Dunlop and so “got the nod” to use these completely unhomologated items. The Liege organisers didn't bother too much about eligibility in those days. Despite BMC team leader John Gott's assertion that “a Mini will never complete the Liege”, the Hiam/Astle Mini got very close, failing only when they got to the bottom of the Stelvio Pass at Trafoi. The unlucky duo found that the control had closed just two minutes earlier. The little 850 just hadn't been able to maintain the insane average speed required to meet the “real” schedule so they were out.
Paul Easter and Bob Freeborough were driving Paul's 850, tuned by Don Moore. Paul recalls that the car went well for an 850 and would rev to 7200rpm in top gear. A cruising speed of 87mph could be held on the flat, which made the car potentially fast enough to complete the course, but the inexperienced crew took a wrong turning on the Adriatic coast and ended up in an army camp. The Yugoslavian army was not that happy to see two young men from the wrong side of the Iron Curtain and the ensuing explanations and retracing of their route meant that the Easter/Freeborough Mini got to the Split control after it had closed and they were disqualified.
None of the Minis finished in 1961. In fact only 8 cars from the 90 entered completed the course within the time allowed. The winners were Bianchi and Harris, in a Citroen DS21, who lost 40mins and 58 seconds.
For 1962 only two Minis were entered for the Liege-Sofia-Liege; a 997 Cooper driven by Meunier & Cachet and the redoubtable Austin Mini Seven driven by Easter and Freeborough once again. This year the control opening times were lengthened to give all entries the same chance of completing the course. However, to compensate, the average speeds were raised and the rest time in Sofia reduced from four hours to one. Paul and Bob set themselves the target of equalling David Hiam's times on the 1961 rally and were on course to do so. With more experience under their belts they beat David's time over the Moistrocca Pass section by a full minute and were an amazing 70 minutes ahead of the French 997 Cooper by the time they reached the control at Skopje. However, disaster struck on the way to Novi. Bob was driving, while Paul slept, when the car met a step as the road surface changed from dirt to tarmac. The sump hit the step and cracked from one end to the other. They repaired the car with plaster liberated from a local hospital, but unfortunately they’d missed their chance and were once again out. Meunier and Cachet failed to reach Split in time and were also disqualified. The 1962 winners were Bohringer & Egger, in a Mercedes 220SE, who lost 53 minutes. Only 18 cars finished from the 108 that had started the event.
1963 was a bumper year for Minis on the Marathon de la Route. No fewer than six were entered, of which four were 1071cc Cooper S types, one was a 997cc Cooper and one was the seemingly indestructible Austin Seven 850 of Easter and Freeborough. For this year Paul bored out the 850 engine to its limit and fitted a pair of SU carburettors from Doc Shephard's racing Austin A40, with the result that the car “went like stink”. A violent storm hit the rally convoy as it crossed the Moistrocca Pass. Lightening strikes caused rocks to break free from the mountains and hit cars as they passed, breaking windows. Despite their extra power and speed, all of the Coopers retired before returning to Italy. The Austin Seven ran out of tyres having as it had three punctures but only two spare wheels. Limping along, Paul and Bob met Timo Makinen and Geoff Mabbs who had hit a timber lorry in their works Austin Healey and were similarly stuck. Having freed and repaired both cars, they returned to Pec where they stopped at a night club to let off a bit of steam. Paul recalls Timo tipping the nightclub's singer by plunging an Italian banknote down her cleavage, unsurprisingly causing something of a stir. From then on, Paul and Timo became firm friends and were later to become a rally crew of international repute in their own right.
Once again the Mini crews had failed to finish, adding to the growing weight of opinion that the Liege just wasn't “on” in a Mini. For the record, the 1963 winners were Bohringer & Kaiser, this time in a Mercedes 230SL. They lost just 8 minutes and 20 cars finished from the intrepid 129-strong entry list.
The last roadgoing Marathon de la Route, the 1964 event, was the Mini's final chance of a finish in this epic rally. Five Minis were entered, all of them Cooper S-types. John Wadsworth and Mike Wood achieved the impossible with an epic drive in works 1275 Cooper S, 570 FMO. Despite average speeds of around 60mph (100kph), the fatigue, the dust, a collapsing driveshaft coupling and a broken sumpguard that had to be held on with rope, they made it back to Spa within the time allowed and finished 19th.
From 1965 onwards the Marathon de la Route was banished from the roads of Europe. Insane speeds and growing traffic density didn't mix and the event became an 84-hour race around the Nurburgring circuit in Germany. The classic Liege was history but, at the last minute, a Mini had finally made it's mark.
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