August 2008 Centenary Year - Plymouth Motor Club

Letters to the EditorDear Alf,Firstly, may I congratulate all concerned for a truly memorable eveningon the occasion of The Centenary Ball on June 28th.at TheDukeof Cornwall Hotel.However, without wishing to appear churlish, may I take this opportunityto correct and `fill-in` some of the information given during theevening regarding past members of The PMC who have competed inInternational Rallies in their day.I was very pleased to hear reference made to my late Father, RonaldHarper, who competed in a number of Rallies in the 1950`s with hisbusiness partner, George Turnbull. These included the Monte-CarloRally (several times), The Alpine Rally, and the RAC Rally in whichthey won their class in 1951.However there were other PMC memberswho were competing at International level at that time, (now referredto by many observers as `The Golden age of Rallying`); LeonFredman and Peter Weeks, Managing Director of the Vauxhall Dealers,Allens of Plymouth, (incorrectly referred to as Peter Allen duringthe evening) ,to name but two, but there were others, most sadly nolonger with us. George Turnbull was for many years considered to be`The Father of The Plymouth Motor Club`, even to the point of Guaranteeinga substantial loan taken out by the Club to purchase our ownClubhouse in Mannamead, which had to be resold when Planningpermission for change of use was refused. Just think what that wouldhave been worth today!!Moving on to later years;Mike Lane, who must surely have been themost successful Rally Driver the PMC has ever produced , was competingin numerous International events in the 1960`s both in the UK,( RAC,Welsh, Scottish Rallies) and in Europe ( Monte-Carlo and TulipRallies). His navigator on most of these events was Roger Doidge,a PMC member who was also a very skilled driver in his own right.Roger also navigated for me on a number of events at that time;TheScottish,The RAC, and The Monte-Carlo Rally of 1968 when we werepart of the Semi- Works NSU team driving NSU TTS `s ( an amazingcar incidentally!!) Also, when the RAC Rally of 1967 was cancelled atPage 22 www.plymouthmotorclub.co.uk August 2008