I had both 1100 and Maxi's never a spot of bother.BL also ran this rally car.The Landcrab as it went sideways a great deal
The 1800’s finest hour was to be the 1968 London – Sydney Marathon. Freed of the usual minefield of rally regulations, Marathon rules boiled down to any two wheel drive car with a maximum height stipulation so that the cars would fit a ship’s hold. The final specification of the Marathon cars was based on the newly introduced Mk2 1800S models but with some major modifications. Built up from bare shells, the engine was not highly tuned, its capacity was increased to 1894cc, the camshaft was standard MGB and the head was re-worked by Downton, with twin 1¾ SUs and a special exhaust. A competition clutch to standard gearbox ratios coped with a reliable 100bhp at the flywheel (about 77 at the wheels) – not much for such a heavy car. Seven cars were prepared (five Works cars and two prepared by special tuning for the RAF and the Navy). All the Works cars completed the event and SMO 226G, crewed by Paddy Hopkirk/Tony Nash/Alec Poole, was placed 2nd overall. It was during the London – Sydney that the ‘Landcrab’ nickname for the 1800 was first coined, an Australian photojournalist, whilst photographing the event from a helicopter, casually observing that the Austins looked like ‘Land Crabs’ as they cornered sideways!
