The origins of Team Rubbish

Team Rubbish originated in the latter part of the 1960’s. At that time a large number of members of the now defunct Basingstoke Car Club were involved in autocross, driving tests, sprints, hill climbs and rallying.

In 1968 Neville Cook with co-driver John Brundle entered the RAC rally in Neville’s 105E Ford Anglia as part of the CSMA rally team.

The car was originally fitted with a 1200cc engine, but as the date of the rally approached it was thought that the car may not be quick enough. In September of 1968 (the rally being in late November) Neville wrote off the Anglia in a club rally.

A quick search found another body shell, and through the good contacts of John Brundle who was a member of the AWRE Aldermaston Car Club, the use of their club garage and workshop was put at our disposal. First the replacement body shell was seam welded, resprayed white, and then everything that had been stripped from the written off car was transferred into the replacement shell. Many BCC members assisted in the task, Trevor Collins, Len Bridge, Mike Crockford, Di Brundle and Roy Reynolds to name but a few.

By late October we were looking like we had a rally car again, however thoughts returned to improving the power unit. Neville in the meantime had purchased an ex Borham Wood (Ford competitions department) Mk1 Cortina GT fitted with an over bored 1560, and a large valved head engine that was quite quick. The engine and gearbox were removed from the Cortina and the 1200 engine and gearbox fitted to keep it on the road. The GT engine and gearbox were overhauled prior to being installed in the 105E Anglia. This combination led to a very quick car and stopping on the drum brakes proved to be a problem. Roy Reynolds at that time had a 105E Anglia fitted with a 1340cc engine, that he had grafted the front suspension and disc brakes from a Ford Corsair on to.

This arrangement was removed from Roy’s car and fitted into the rally car, together with fitting the 5 1/2J wheels and tyres from Neville’s GT, it was now mid November. Because of the modifications the car was entered in Group 6, which was a no holds barred for works prototype cars etc.

There were 10 entries in Group 6 that year, 2 privateers and the remainder works, the other privateer team were the Cooper brothers in (if memory serves us right) a well sorted Cortina Mk1.  The RAC rally in 1968 lasted for 5 days with one overnight stop. None of the works entries in Group 6 finished, the Cooper brothers won the class with Neville and John second.

In the discussions over a few pints of ale after the rally it was thought we should have a team name, something unique to us, after going over the lead up to the rally and our experiences, one of our number stated that we had built the car from a load of  “rubbish”, the name stuck and we became “Team Rubbish” entering club and national (RAC, Welsh, Circuit of Ireland, Scottish) rally’s over the next 10 or so years, our logo being a dustbin full of engine and car components. The team expanded with the addition of CSMA members Geoff and Jenny Eatson together with Ernst Golding from the Reading group, and Colin Reynolds who had become motor sport minded.

Our only real claim to fame came during the 1969 Circuit of Ireland, when our service barge was waiting at the end of a special stage waiting for their three team cars to appear. When out of the stage limped Paddy Hopkirk and Tony Fall in their BL works mini, which at that time was in contention with Roger Clarke’s Ford twin cam Escort. The front wheels of the mini were pointing in opposite directions, and he had no service crew available at that location.

A quick investigation showed a broken tie rod on the front suspension, as one of the cars in our team was a mini we were carrying spare tie rods (a common failure in those days). We set to and fitted the new tie rod and Paddy went on to win the rally, where at the finish we personally received thanks from Lord Stokes then the chairman of British Leyland.