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Qualifying – From The Savoy Grill to Sydney Australia edition
Parc Ferme at Gloucester Park in Perth, Australia during the
1968 London-Sydney Marathon. Photo from the Ken Devine
collection.  It was late 1967, and Great Britain’s economic
fortunes had hit the skids.   The pound sterling had been
devalued, auto sales were down, and unemployment was up.  Tired
of the doom and gloom in his newspaper, Sir Max Aitken, owner of
London’s Daily Express, wanted to create an event to lift the
spirits of his readers…..and increase his circulation. Over a
late afternoon, roast beef lunch at The Savoy Grill, Aitken and
two of his editors, Tommy Sopwith (of the aviation Sopwiths) and
Jocelyn Stevens, hit upon an idea.   Why not create a race going
half way around the world for “ordinary showroom cars”, as a
show case for the British motor industry.  Such an event would
buoy the public’s spirits, and create export demand in the
countries through which the race passed.