The People

Like many competitors of The Caravan Club British Caravan Road Rally, Ed Ainley’s first experience of caravanning was gained through family holidays.

On leaving school, little did Ed know that a part-time job would lead to a brush with the world of motor sport. While working as a delivery driver for a Derby Fishmonger, Derek Williams, he was asked by his boss to navigate in the1964 Caravan Road Rally. Heading off to Lincoln in a Ford Zodiac and Eccles Moonstone outfit, Ed thoroughly enjoyed the experience and was keen to return.

The following year, Ed entered with his brother and became a regular at the events into the 70s. Recalling the competitions, he stated that practising manoeuvring skills was important before a rally.

Ainley also competed in the Yorkshire Trophy Road Rally, a similar event to the British Caravan Road Rally, which was organised by the Yorkshire Centre of The Caravan Club. Smaller competitive rallies in local areas became a popular offshoot of the Road Rallies and provided an excellent opportunity to practice caravanning skills.

Ed is still a keen leisure caravanner today, returning to the pursuit following his retirement.

Throughout the 1960s and early 70s, Peter Bennion gained a string of successes at The Caravan Club British Caravan Road Rally events.

Bennion had grown up going on caravan holidays with his parents and at the age of 20 was invited by Lionel ‘Lee’ Davey of the Lee Davey Caravan Group go as a third man on the 1961 Caravan Road Rally. Peter later went on to work for Lee Davey’s business, one of Europe’s leading caravan and car distributors.

By 1964 Bennion was driving in the competitions. The Caravan Club’s En Route magazine reported how ‘it was a treat to see young Bennion … park his Morris Mini-Cooper / Bluebird Europe in exactly 15 seconds’.

In the 1960s and early 70s, Peter Bennion won a string of awards in the rallies. He notched up several Bronze Medals, the Concours d’Elegance class D prize for caravans under £300, a success in the Night Road Section, the National Caravan Council Challenge Cup, National Benzole Caravan Proficiency Trophy, George Hollingbery Memorial Challenge Cup and finally the Esso Challenge Cup as part of both the Ecurie Taurus and Caravans International Pinetops teams.

In the 1969 Caravan Club British Caravan Road Rally was the first taste Lyle Cathcart ever had of caravanning.

Lyle was experienced at car rallies and was invited by Lee Davey to act as his co-driver in the ’69 Caravan Road Rally. Lionel ‘Lee’ Davey knew all the ropes, having been a regular face at the events since its earliest days. He was also the owner of one of Europe’s leading caravan distributors, the Lee Davey Caravan Group.

The following year Lyle returned to the competition held at Snetterton, but this time he was behind the wheel. 1970 saw his first major success at the event while supported by co-driver G. Austin. Here they took the National Caravan Council Challenge Cup.

In 1972 Cathcart formed part of the Caravan International Pinetops team which carried off the Esso Challenge Cup. It was reported that ‘his drive was a highlight of the rally’. He finished against all odds after ‘creating extensive damage to the caravan body after hitting a tree on an off-the-road stage’. Cathcart commented ‘It was a fantastic route- I have never seen such narrow twisting roads before. At times the Range Rover was brushing both banks- and the caravan was wider’.

He also formed the Esso Challenge Cup winning team in 1975 after ‘hitting 70-plus on the forest tracks’.

It was 1976, however, that was the pinnacle of Lyle’s Caravan Road Rally career. While ‘driving a Vauxhall Victor Estate towing a CI Sprint caravan’ Lyle scooped The Caravan Trophy along with ‘the first prize of £500’ and ‘a special £1,000 award from Caravans International’. It was reported that ‘this outright victory is a culmination of years of effort … they obviously know a thing or two’.

Lyle later put the towing experience he gained during his Road Rally victories to good use, hitching up a van for family holidays.

We must make a special mention to the first ever winner of The Caravan Club’s British Caravan Road Rally event. Driving an Austin A70 and towing a brand new two-berth Winchester Special caravan, Fellows stormed home with 105 marks in 1954.

Fellows, then 36, of Stourbridge, West Midlands, took home the magnificent silver Caravan Trophy, sponsored by The Caravan Magazine. However, if it were not for his determined father, J.R. Fellows, a veteran caravanner and trials driver, he might have never competed. Fellows originally decided that he was too busy to take part in the event, yet his father secretly sent in the entry form. After finally agreeing to compete, the pair entered as driver and co-driver.

Mr Fellows commented that he ‘thoroughly enjoyed the rally’ and praised the organisers who ‘worked magnificently to make it great fun for the competitors’. However, he found that the secret checks were ‘too much like having the police on one’s tail’. Despite high expectations, having won The Caravan Club’s cup for reversing tests some years ago, Fellows floundered in that section. He believed the reversing tests were made ‘too difficult’ and suggested that in future ‘It should be made easier and based on the stopwatch for best times’.

The following year Fellows returned in the same car and caravan combination and fiercely defended his title. Were it not for losing points through scraping past another van The Caravan Trophy could have returned to him. His father had better luck in the 1956 event. Competing in a Wolseley 6/90 and a Winchester Pipit, he formed part of the team which won the Esso Challenge Cup.

Pat Moss-Carlsson (1934 – 2008), probably the best female rally driver of her time, hitched up to sweep the Electrolux Ladies’ Trophy at the 1972 and 1973 Caravan Road Rally events.

With a driving career spanning twenty-one years, the five times Ladies European Rally Champion, eight times Monte Carlo Rally Ladies Cup winner and the four Major International Rally outright winner had only a few hours towing practice before embarking on the 1972 Caravan Club British Caravan Road Rally.

The sister of Sir Stirling Moss, often recognised as the greatest all-round racing driver, and wife of Swedish rally champion Erik Carlsson, she represented the Surrey Caravan Group in a Saab 99 and Lynton Scamp outfit. Finishing 13th overall Moss-Carlsson commented that she ‘found towing a caravan made surprisingly little difference’ in the ‘beautiful road rally’ which was ‘really tight and well planned’.

Pat realised the comfort benefits of caravan rallying which stopped the need to use ‘the car door as a pillow’ and left the event keen to take part in the following year.

In 1973 she once again took the Electrolux Ladies’ Trophy to thunderous applause, finishing 19th overall. The champion of the ‘73 event, Tony Peatfield, commented on his opponent’s performance ‘I used to do a lot of rallying but these last few years I’ve only rallied with caravans. That’s what gave me the edge on Pat, I suppose. Handling an outfit’s a rather special form of driving’.

If quizzed on the subject of competing in a male-dominated sport, Pat explained that she always regarded it as a level playing field.

Competitor spends first anniversary on road rally!

Having practically learned to drive on social caravan rallies, David Parr jumped at the chance of being a co-driver for the 1965 British Caravan Road Rally.

From the age of six, Parr regularly went on caravan holidays and Caravan Club social rallies with his parents. Eventually, he joined a local car club, using the family motor car to take part in driving tests and trials.

Between 1965 and 1968 his driving experience attracted him to Caravan Club member Ken Gribbon who asked David to become his co-driver in the Road Rally competitions. The pair had limited success due to Gribbon’s outfit of a Land Rover and Stirling caravan being extremely heavy. However, it proved the perfect combination to win the section for the slowest hill climb where many others burned out their clutch.

Parr’s new wife was supportive of his rallying ventures, and she even spent her first anniversary sat on the sofa in the back of the Land Rover as her husband navigated around the rally.

By the 1970s, David had bought an Audi motor car with enough power to compete. He returned to the competition, this time as a driver. Initially using his own family caravan to compete, he was later sponsored by Times caravans and was loaned a van for the event.

Parr also took part in many of the Caravan Road Rallies which had sprung up as an offshoot around local areas of The Caravan Club.

Rally driver Tony Pond (1945–2002) failed to add a success at the 1976 Caravan Club International Road Rally to his string of other achievements.

Best known for rallying with British Leyland and Rover to considerable success throughout the 1970s and 80s, Pond hitched up a caravan in 1976 and headed to the Silverstone circuit. Before the event, he admitted to having ‘never driven a car with anything hitched to it, let alone a caravan’, which made the Caravan Road Rally a learning curve for this experienced driver.

Determined to win the rally, Pond practised in Yorkshire before setting off for the main event. With a modified ABI caravan and Triumph 2500 motor car he soon discovered he could reach 90mph/144.84kph comfortably as long as he could ‘ignore this great big swaying beast peering in through your back window’.

There was a fierce battle for the top spot between the rally drivers Tony Pond and Dan Grewer until both competitors clipped a log pile. Each incurred a 30–minute penalty for damage to the vans leaving Pond trailing in joint 35th place. Lyle Cathcart, the overall winner of the event, proved beyond all doubt that driving skill combined with towing experience was the key to Caravan Road Rally success.

On seeing an appeal for volunteers to marshal the 1973 Caravan Club British Caravan Road Rally, Club member Ray Smith jumped into action.

Smith’s interest in motor sport led him to volunteer at the event. He soon received an invitation to attend a briefing session in a South Wales pub where he was selected to man the time controls during the road section. Being at his post from six in the evening to three the next morning he decided to take his father-in-law along to make the tea. A friend who also joined Ray did not find the experience quite so enjoyable, disappearing after a few hours, never to return.

When recalling the safety measures put in place for marshals, Smith commented that it was in the days before high-vis jackets were used. Marshals relied on the bright halogen lights from the competing cars to ensure they were spotted while manning the night-time country roads.

Smith was mostly impressed at the strong‑stomachs of the competing co‑drivers who, despite being bounced around the roads while focussing on Ordnance Survey maps, did not suffer from car sickness.

Once his stint as a marshal was complete, Ray grabbed a few hours sleep in a car park before heading off to Silverstone where he watched the track tests and the first ever caravan race.

The Caravan Club relied on hundreds of volunteer members to act as marshals at the events. It was reported how they played a ‘vital part in the rally’s excellent organisation’.

Swift caravans scooped the team award at the 1976 Caravan Club International Road Rally using Triumph tow cars, despite Peter Smith’s outfit being pushed to the limit on the track tests.

Smith hit a spot of bother when one of the caravan wheels parted from the road, yet the only damage was a burst tyre. However, he still obtained the joint fastest time for the track event along with professional rally driver Tony Pond. Taking the Esso Challenge Cup for best team performance, Swift caravans of Cottingham near Hull were able to confidently advertise their vans as having ‘proven reliability road holding and towability’.

Peter Smith’s caravan rallying skills were a result of both working for Swift, a business set up by his father, and an involvement in car rallying competitions. Taking part in the Caravan Road Rallies seemed a natural progression for him. However, he did not reach instant success, burning out the clutch on his Ford Escort while climbing hills on his first attempt at the rally.

When asked about the rules of the competition, Smith explained how competitors pushed them as far as possible in order to keep weights down. When asked to prove that the van was equipped with a toilet and food supplies he produced a shovel and tin of beans.

Although the events were an excellent publicity opportunity for the roadworthiness of Swift caravans, Smith commented that this was not the main draw for competing. The enjoyment of the rally and the social aspect behind the scenes was his main reason for taking part.

Hitching up his family holiday van, Caravan Club member Edgar Thorne became a regular competitor of the Road Rallies in the 1950s and 60s.

Thorne first competed in the 1958 British Caravan Road Rally event, setting off from his home town of Bristol for the road section. Owning a butcher’s shop in Almondsbury, he was an active member of The Caravan Club Somerset and Bristol Centre which organised social rallies in his local area.

Edgar had gained car rallying experience as a member of the Bristol Motor Cycle and Light Car Club. He combined these skills with knowledge of towing he had developed during family holidays with his wife and young son Austin. Despite being a competent caravanner he found his first attempt at the event challenging admitting that ‘the reversing tests I botched completely, we did fairly well on the others’.

Thorne reported his first bash of the event in his local car club magazine to dispel a rumour among members that the Caravan Road Rally would be ‘a nightmare of snaking outfits being heaved around’. Commenting that at the end of the event ‘it only remained to park up, get the frying pan working … and attend the Mayor’s reception and Dance’ he was enthusiastic to return again.

Edgar Thorne summed up his first experience as ‘a rattling good week‑end with as hard‑working a crew as could be wished for, and the laughs were many more than curses at the weather’. 

John Wright of Leicester hitched up with his brother to compete in the first-ever Caravan Club British Caravan Road Rally competition in 1954.

Before the event, The Caravan Magazine reported that the Wright’s high-performance entry of a Charnwood Bluebell and Jaguar Mk7 would pose a threat to other competitors.

To John Wright, caravanning was second nature as his father W.E. ‘Jimmie’ Wright was the owner of Charnwood caravans, earlier trading under the name of Rite. With beginnings building motor caravans in the 1920s, Jimmie Wright switched to trailer caravans by the 1930s, often building bespoke vans for friends from The Caravan Club East Midland Centre. At Club gatherings, the sons would have witnessed many of the light-hearted caravan manoeuvre tests, elements of which later featured at the Road Rally events.

Recalling the highlights of the competition, John commented that he relished the opportunity to drive a caravan around the Silverstone circuit. Competing at low speeds limited the threat of damage so the Wrights were confident to enter in the same car and caravan used for family holidays. By the 1970s the competitions had become more commercialised and vans were often borrowed from manufacturers as accidents were common.

The brothers were unsuccessful in the prize list but enjoyed their experience of this historic event. Their father returned to the rally the following year as a volunteer scrutineer, using his trade experience to check the roadworthiness of competing vans.