Online - 70th Anniversary of the BMC Comps Department

For a quarter of a century, BMC, later British Leyland, used motorsport in order to improve their cars and raise their profiles. Opened in 1955 and based in Abingdon, next door to the MG factory, the ‘Comps Department’ entered events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the British Saloon Car Championship, and many, many rallies.

Their first ever event was the Rallye de Monte Carlo in January 1955 with three MG Magnettes and three Austin Westminsters. The Magnettes  were nicknamed ‘Aramis’, ‘Athos’ and ‘Porthos’ after the Three Musketeers - a tradition begun when trialing MGs in the 1930s. One of the Austins, driven by Mrs W. Wisdom and Joan Johns, was the highest finisher for BMC - 68th overall and 5th in the Ladies’ standings. 

The 1960s brought improved fortunes with many podiums including wins at the Alpine, Liege, Tulip, and German Rallies. 1964 marked the first win at the Rallye de Monte Carlo, 9 years on from the team’s debut, with Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon in the Mini Cooper S ‘33 EJB’.

The feat was repeated in 1965 with the number 52 Mini Cooper S ‘AJB 44B’ driven by Timo Mäkinen with co-driver Paul Easter. The Museum celebrated the 60th anniversary of this win recently and spoke to Paul Easter - he said the event went ‘very smoothly for us’ thanks to ‘the genius at the wheel’ Timo Mäkinen. In 1966, Mäkinen would have won the event again had he and the other Mini Cooper team members not been disqualified on a rather controversial technicality. 

After threatening to boycott in 1967, BMC did return to Monte Carlo and won the event again, this time with the number 177 car ‘LBL 6D’ driven by Rauno Aaltonen and Henry Liddon. They won the rally by just 13 seconds, facing stiff competition from the Porsche 911 and Lancia Fulvia.

In January 1968, BMC merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation to form British Leyland - the new name features on the side of this Austin 1800 ‘Landcrab’ which drove at the London - Sydney Marathon in November of that year. Four 1800s were entered, each with a tuned engine, reinforced suspension, perspex windows, and aluminium bonnet, boot and door panels. This car, crewed by Paddy Hopkirk, Tony Nash and Alec Poole, finished second in the 10,000+ mile event, six minutes behind the winning Hillman Hunter.

In 1976 British Leyland decided to field a team of Triumph TR7s in international rallying. The cars were prepared by BL Motorsport at Abingdon, the team effectively the successor to the BMC Comps Department. The car on display at the Museum (SJW 540S) was one of the most successful of the BL TR7 V8 rally cars, and was driven by Tony Pond and Fred Gallagher. In 1978 they won the 24 Hours of Ypres and the Manx Trophy Rallies as well as achieving fourth place in the RAC British Rally. Tony Pond and the TR7 V8 would also record the last win for British Leyland Motorsport at the 1980 Manx Rally before the TR7 was ‘retired’ from rallying.

Make sure to join us on Sunday 13th July for the BMC & Leyland Show, as it will mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the BMC Competitions Department. The Abingdon Works Motorsport Celebration, supported by Mini Cooper Register and the Historic Marathon Rally Group, will be putting on a display of 100 cars to recognise the success of BMC and British Leyland rally and sports cars across three decades.

Much of the research for this piece was done using ‘The BMC/BL Competitions Department’ by Bill Price which is available to read in the British Motor Museum reading room. 

Challenge: Mini Cooper S Colouring sheet – recreate one of our Mini Coopers or design your own racing livery. Don’t forget to add your race numbers!

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