Copy of Article Text Below
.....Louise, who admitted to not liking the close contact of tarmac racing, then shook everyone by winning the Faberge section of the Scarborough Stages only 11 seconds ahead of Geunda. There was no doubt that a new star had been born and she was loving it. Everyone from Stuart Turner downwards was impressed and the object of the Championship had been achieved. Geunda would be loaned a 1.6-litre Fiesta for the RAC Rally, but Ford now had big plans for Louise in 1980.
The final race of the season was at Thruxton where no-one had anything left to prove. Geunda won her fifth event of 12. Anne King was second and Jayne Neate took third place. Louise was well down the list, but had no need to over-drive on tarmac with her 1980 programme already in place.
Geunda, as promised, got a 1.6-litre works Fiesta for the RAC rally and set many class-competitive stage times before damaging her car's sump guard and gearchange mechanism. Louise took her Faberge car on the same event but it failed under her in the Keilder forest.
The Faberge series had been a great success. Ford had discovered Aitken, the Fiesta's profile had been raised and every driver had been competitive.
When Stuart Turner was asked whether he would repeat the exercise in 1980 he now had the perfect retort. "Why should we? I've found my future world Champion." And he had.
Captions -
Top-Left - Tests were run to choose 15 women from hundreds of applicants. This was one was in Yorkshire in mid-1978, using one of the Rally School RS2000s.
Bottom-Left - Geunda poses on the famous Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford F1 car. Her English's of Bournemouth Fiesta is in the background.
|
