In 1974 motoring journalist/rally driver Evan Green entered a P76 V8 as a privateer in the second World Cup Rally from London to Munich via the Sahara (for the full story of this motoring adventure of the lifetime, grab a copy - if you can find one - of Green's book on the event, A boot full or right arms). This event was timed to fit in with that year’s Football World Cup taking place in Germany. The desert detour was simply an excuse to give the competitors some challenging terrain and Green, who had competed in the famous London Sydney Marathon, knew that something big and powerful was the only way to go.
The Brut P76 suffered fuel starvation problems at the start but once that was fixed he moved up from third last to eighth place by the time they reached North Africa. Only the leading Porsche was faster on the special stages and Evan Green took the lead through the Sahara stages. By the In Salah rest stop the Australian Leyland was two hours in front.
“With its high clearance and lusty power it churned through the sand more like a beach buggy than a well-equipped rally car,” wrote Green. Then trouble struck. They got lost in the sand dunes and cracked a front strut. The replacement part also broke, forcing a coil spring into the engine compartment. It took six hours to repair the damage.
Green managed to finish 13th of only 19 survivors but the big Aussie V8 impressed everyone in what Green described as the toughest international rally he ever took part in.
“A couple of crews were lucky to escape death – not from accident but from thirst,” he wrote. “We went where we would never have ventured but for the rally, and mostly swore never to return.”
Evan Green also competed in the 1975 Southern Cross Rally in the P76 but by that stage Leyland’s muscle car was a lost cause.
.jpg&q=70&h=226&w=176&c=1&s=1)
