Taunus in Motorsport
For a car designed for the German middle classes, the Taunus in it generations had a remarkably successful record in motorsport, especially in rallying in rough environments. Some of the highlights can be seen here
1968 London to Sydney Marathon
The 1968 London Sydney Marathon was a gruelling event, the likes of which had never before been attempted, both in distance & the stress it placed on both the cars & the crews. These were the first steps in the Rallye Sport programme the became so globally successful in the 1970's. The lesson learnt from this event led to the successful entry in the Safari Rally in 1969, giving the RS badge its first of many wins over the following years
1969 Safari Rally
In 1969, although Ford had shown a significant manufacturer presence on the East African Safari several times, This year to were represented by Hughes Limited, their local distributors, who were given a Boreham-prepared Cortina Lotus and two Cologne-prepared V6 20Ms to form a team. Ford team were having much more success that the other factory teams, in Kampala. Their three cars headed the field and, more importantly, Bengt Söderström and Gunnar Palm were in the lead. An overseas driver winning seemed very probable, and that would really capture some good publicity. But it was not to be, for on a very fast, wide, murram road half-way through the second leg the Swedes’ Taunus hit a series of corrugations deeper than all the rest and split the rear axle casing. This put Preston’s Cortina Lotus into the lead, but that evening the Boreham car crashed into the concrete parapet of a bridge and went no further. Only one works Ford remained, the 20M of Robin Hillyar and Jock Aird, and that went on to win by half an hour or so.
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