A land crab jumping
03/26/2018
The Austin 1800 was not exactly the kind of car that had rally victories written into its specifications. With its transverse front engine and front-wheel drive, it was mainly geared towards optimum use of space, while its well-behaved four-cylinder engines provided sufficient, but certainly not overly sporty, propulsion.
Nevertheless, the Austin 1800, popularly known as the "Landkrabbe", appeared on the rally tracks. After all, the car had the most stable body in Austin's history. As early as 1965, a works car with 136 hp took part in a rally in Romania and surprisingly won, which only encouraged the PR managers to give the family car a rally image.
In 1968, three cars took part in the Monte Carlo Rally, but did not finish higher than 24th. So they tried their luck at the Safari Rally, when none of the three cars finished despite careful preparation (see picture above).
The London-Sidney cross-country rally was more successful, with eight (!) cars at the start and Paddy Hopkirk/Tony Nash/Alec Poole finishing second.
Eventually, the racing department pulled the plug and no more works cars were produced.
