The Morris 1100
Sydney Telegraph Entry
'The Galloping Tortoise'
The Galloping Tortoise car 41 showing signs of damage in the Marathon
Photo courtesy John Smailes and David McKay
Eileen Westley, of the Daily Telegraph's Morris 1100 team, was looking for her makeup and showed reporters a teapot and tiny electric stove to heat up water en route. The girl's treasured their mascot, a tiny tortoise, sitting on the back window sill. They named their car 'Galloping Tortise' (GT) because, according to the fable, it was the tortoise who won the race.
The Telegraph's women's team in their Morris 1100 struck fuel tank trouble which made them 12 minutes late into Paris. Lack of an air hole in the petrol cap prevented gravity feeding from their main 20 gallon tank to the auxiliary eight gallon tank. BMC mechanics at Le Bourget control borrowed a pen-knife from Marion Macdonald, one of the crew, and punched a hole in the cap.
While armed guards watched over the cars in a floodlit, barbed-wire enclosure, crews slept in local hotels.
The next morning, when the Khyber Pass opened at dawn, the Marathon was on its way again. It was Saturday, November 30th. 1968. The cars had been on the road six days.
The Telegraph's Galloping Tortoise arrived at Warwick Farm at 11.35pm with the three girls who had battled suspension trouble all the way across Australia declaring that they were willing to do it again.
They were third last of the 56 cars to finish in Sydney, but they had made it, which could not be said for all the men who started out from London.
Although they did not win the women's prize which went to Elsie Gadd's Volvo Team their overall position was 50th when the final points were totalled, with a loss of 8,111 points .
They paid tribute to the BMC back up work for their Morris 1100, "Without it we would still be stuck in the Iranian desert".
And to their gallant rivals, "Everyone tried to help each other," they said. "We tried to help the Russians out of a bog, but we couldn't."
Alan Sawyer
At 11.35 pm the 'Galloping Tortoise' cantered into Warwick Farm carrying three very tired girls. Eileen Westley, Marion Macdonald and Jenny Gates had finished 50th outright in front of six men, and third in the Women's Category. "But we finished," Eileen said. "The old tortoise is still going sweetly. I'd like to drive her for the rest of my life."
Said Marion Macdonald: "I'd do it all over again - given half the chance."
John Smailes.
Marion Macdonald, Jenny Gates and Eileen Westley
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A few miles from the Turkish border, the brakes of the Telegraph's girl's Morris 1100 failed and they crawled over into Turkey using the gears. Their chances of making Istanbul without a loss seemed remote.
A Dutch TV crew, following their country's DAF team, spotted the damsels in distress. They made repairs to the brakes in return for a 10 minute filmed interview with the girls.
The Galloping Tortoise was lagging a bit, but the girls showed few signs of fatigue and were determined to confound the sceptics who said they could not get to Bombay, let alone Sydney.
They arrived in Tehran on time but lost themselves in Tehran's maze of streets. Later their suspension failed but a BMC back up vehicle saved the day for them.
The Telegraph's Galloping Tortoise crawled nearly 600 miles at 20 mph into Kabul to lose 2,880 points. Suspension trouble was dogging them but with temporary repairs, they headed for Bombay.
"We mightn't be first, but we'll get there," the girls said.
Alan Sawyer
Photo courtesy Ken Green
