VICTORS ON PARADE

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31866, 19 December 1968, Page 19

VICTORS ON PARADE

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) SYDNEY.

Like a file of war casualties, the battered, dust-caked survivors of the classic London-to-Sydney car rally threaded through the crowded streets of Sydney in a victory procession yesterday.

About 60 cars, with warning sirens blaring and stillweary drivers waving ackknowledgement of the cheering masses lining pavements, wound slowly from the finish line at the Warwick Farm motor-racing, circuit to Hyde Park in the centre of the city. To the thousands of people who mobbed the rally drivers, the cars represented the glamour of a 23-day incidentpacked trek across three continents. POSITIONS CONFIRMED As the historic rally drew to a close, the marathon control centre announced that the Scot, A. Cowan, driving a Hillman Hunter, was the official winner. All other provisional placings were confirmed. The 31-year-old Cowan, a Berwickshire farmer, will receive his winning prize of £lO,OOO tonight. With his brother-in-law, B. Coyle, aged 27, of Glasgow, and C. Amlkin, 25, of Coventry, Cowan lost 50 penalty points on the drive. They finished six points ahead of the Irishman, P. Hopkirk, in his B.M.C. 1800, with the Australian, I. Vaughan, third on 62 points in a Ford Falcon. FIRST OF WOMEN Among the finishers were three women's teams. In another close finish, the four British girls led by Miss Elsie Gadd, in their Volvo, just pipped the M.G. of Mrs Jean

Denton. The Volvo station waggon had 2399 penalty points, just nine points ahead of the M.G.’s 2408.

The German driver, E. Herrmann, won the £5OO private entrants’ prize when he finished in fifteenth place. His Porsche collected 195 penalty points.