The Yorkshire Elegance event earlier this year was a gathering of some of the finest historic cars seen in Yorkshire. It is hard to pick a favourite, but I have always been a sucker for competition cars, especially rally cars.
If the car has a period history it is even more appealing. On the Healey club stand was an Austin Healey 3 000 in works colours (red and white). A quick chat with the owner, John Smith, established that this car, BMO 93B is a famous ex works car. It is one of four cars prepared for the 1964 season and it won the gruelling 1964 Spa-Sofia-Liege rally.
The car no longer haunts the rally stages and is reserved for special outings. Whilst it would be great to see the car at full chat on the rally stage, the rarity and value of the car make it unwise. At least its not in a dusty museum.
BMO’ completed two events as a works team car, finishing 1st overall in the 1964 Spa-Sofia-Liège (driven by Rauno Aaltonen and Tony Ambrose) and 21st overall in the ’64 RAC Rally (driven by Don and Erle Morley).
Although the Big Healey retained a separate chassis and body in traditional sports car fashion, these two components were welded together to form a structure of greatly increased strength and rigidity. Wherever possible, body panels – wings, doors, and bonnet included – were fabricated in aluminium rather than steel to save weight, the boot lid was also made of aluminium and gained a distinctive upward extension to accommodate twin spare wheels.
To protect the low-slung under-body, ‘bash’ plates were employed. The lack of ground clearance was the car’s greatest weakness, explaining the works’ policy of running them ‘nose up’ to avoid grounding the sump. Lack of rear suspension travel was another disadvantage, not addressed until the introduction of dipped rear chassis rails from 1961. Other essential competition modifications included four-wheel disc brakes, close-ratio gears, and a limited-slip differential.
The 1964 ‘Liège’ was the last to be run to the original road race regulations, as after that event Germany and Austria withdrew their permission for cars to run at unlimited speeds through their countries. The route took competitors from Belgium through Germany, Austria, Italy and several of the Adriatic countries before arriving in Bulgaria. The roads deteriorated dramatically after Italy, with loose rock and pothole damage to suspension, and punctures causing problems for all competitors.
Rauno Aaltonen (‘The Professor’) was extremely quick and mechanically very sympathetic, nonetheless he suffered many rear tyre punctures, and once the two spare wheels had been used, the car sometimes had to run on the wheel rims to reach the next service point. At Sofia, the halfway point, Rauno, Tony, and ‘BMO’ were leading, and despite continuing punctures held the lead to the finish. This was the fourth and final outright victory by an Austin-Healey on an international event forming part of the European Rally Championship, which prior to 1978 was the only FIA-approved championship for rally drivers.
The 1964 RAC Rally started and finished in Central London to attract added publicity; the furthest points reached were Somerset, Wales, and Perthshire. The special stages were rough and hard on the cars, which suited the Big Healeys, that of Makinen/Barrow fishing 2nd overall. After an off-road excursion that delayed them for some time, the Morley twins still managed a creditable 21st overall in ‘BMO’.
It was a real pleasure to see such an important car out and about in Yorkshire and nice to chat to John about his ownership.
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An excellent feature, thank you.