Continuing for six weeks, and covering 16,000 miles from London to Mexico City via some of the most varying, tortuous and difficult terrain on three continents, the 1970 World Cup Rally was a unique high-speed event, attracting many serious works teams such as Ford, British Leyland and Citroen. 

As part of the 1970 organising team, automotive historian and author, Graham Robson, was best placed to produce the definitive account of this 'toughest rally of all time' and his retrospective account is now available from Veloce Publishing in the form of a beautifully illustrated 208-page hardback book.

Despite the tremendous amounts of money spent choosing and developing new cars, completing months-long route surveys, and analysing every detail of diets, oxygen provision, and the number of crew members, out of an entry of more than 100 cars, only 23 cars made it to the finish.

It was then, and remains now, the toughest rally of all time.

After the first ever intercontinental rally – the London-Sydney in 1968 – there was widespread enthusiasm for an even more difficult test. With the Football World Cup being held in Mexico in 1970, it was the perfect opportunity to hold a parallel, much tougher challenge – the World Cup Rally. 

Organisers John Sprinzel and John Brown secured sponsorship from the Daily Mirror and planned a unique high-speed event, and this painstakingly-researched book, which provides the complete story of that epic rally and provides detailed insight into the 1970 automotive world, is available now from bookshops or from www.velocebooks.com 

If any members of the motoring press would like to meet some of the colourful characters from this book, there will be an informal gathering of about 20-30 of the original participants and organisers to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the start of the rally at Dagenham Motors, Alperton, 374 Ealing Road, Wembley Middlesex HA0 1HG (close to Wembley Stadium) from 3.30 to 5.30pm on Tuesday 20th April. The book will be officially launched at that event, and the winning Ford Escort, and one of the highly placed Triumph 2.5 PIs, will also be on display in the Dagenham Motors car showroom at Alperton that afternoon. Attendance by invitation only, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 01305 260068 if you would like to come along.

Among those whose attendance is confirmed so far are … team bosses: Stuart Turner,  Bill Barnett from Ford and Peter Browning, Bill Price from British Leyland; competitors: Brian Culcheth (2nd Overall), Paddy Hopkirk (4th Overall) and Patrick Vanson (Private Owners' award); organisers: Graham Robson, Val Morley (travelling controller) and Tony Mason (travelling controller). Many more are expected to make an appearance on the day.