Throwback Thursday – Ian Walker and Brian Culcheth sitting in an Elan 26R on loan from Lotus at the start line for the 1966 Stuttgart to Charbonniere rally. Ian had somehow convinced Colin Chapman of Lotus to lend him the car for rally competition and after rather impressive performance in several rally’s with Brian behind the wheel, Ian saw the huge potential in his driving ability.

For the Stuttgart rally, Ian planned to split the driving between himself and Brian, a good friend and employee. Over half way through the race, out of the 90+ entries (60 of which were Porches), Brian ended up running in 4^th place so Ian decided to just let him carry on whilst he assisted as co-driver. Despite the effort and skill put in to the race, the Elan sprung a considerable oil leak on day three and blew up before Ian got a chance to get behind the wheel. This was Ian Walkers last ever major rally as a competitor but Brian followed his passion and went on to be a legend on the international rally scene.

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