Rallying Mini Coopers in the 1965 RAC International

The Pathe News archives are a gold mine for car bores like us and hark back to a time when gravelly-voiced toffs would bring tales of derring-do from the Continent and Colonies to expectant cinema goers just before the feature flick was put on. In the Golden Age of British motorsport and car manufacturing the International rallies (the forerunner to the WRC) were big news and characters like Paddy Hopkirk, Pat Moss and Erik Carlsson were household names. This was a time when rallying success could really help sell saloons, probably because the Works cars on the big screen weren’t that different to ones for sale in the showrooms; do excited young schoolboys drool over Hyundai i20 today, because it ‘did good’ in the mud last season? Sadly, I think not.

This short film features Mk1 Mini Coopers being prepared for the 1965 RAC International Rally, narrated in a glorious public school twang of received pronunciation. Crack open the HobNobs, grab a mug of steaming Twinings Breakfast and take 6 minutes of ‘me time’ to escape back to the lost age of rallying with The Rally Men.