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Three Citroën DS 21s were entered; two by the factory crewed by Bianchi/Ogier and Neyret/Terramorsi and the third, crewed by Vanson,Turcat/Lemerle was sponsored by the Automobile Club de France.
The three cars were lightly modified compared to the production vehicles - the engines were detuned to enable them to cope with low ocatane fuels, rear wings featured cutaway wheelarches to enable rear wheels to be changed without removing the wings, hydraulic pipes were mounted inside the cabin, modified dashboards were fitted with additional instrumentation and the obligatory `roo bars'.
On November 24th 1968, at Crystal Palace in London, Miss Australia flagged away the first car, a Ford driven by Bill Bengry. The Marathon had started! A total of 92 cars were entered.
The first leg of the great adventure was the run from Crystal Palace in South London to the Channel port of Dover.
Cheering crowds lined the London streets to catch the unforgettable sight of the most international rallying event yet to be staged.
The cars were loaded onto the Maid Of Kent ferry and 75 minutes later, disembarked at Calais where the reception hall was jammed with photographers, journalists and well wishers - a phenomenon that was to be repeated across the world.
Leaving at 1 minute intervals, the 98 contestants sped off into the night towards Paris. An unexpected hazard on the road to Paris was thick fog which at times reduced the cars to a walking pace.
Ice and freezing fog continued to be a hazard on the early morning run to Turin. French customs men decided to enforce currency export rules and checked all the crews' money at the Mont Blanc tunnel.
A number of cars suffered mechanical problems on the Italian leg but the three Citroëns stormed on although one of the teams had their passports given to another team in an hotel in Turin which caused some anguish.
Yet another hazard awaited the contestants - in Turkey, children threw rocks at the cars, denting the bodywork and smashing windscreens.
By the time the leading cars had reached Sivas, several competitors had dropped out. The first `big killer' stage, the route from Sivas to Erzincan lay ahead. 170 miles/272 km of twisting mountain trail, at night in driving sleet.
Roger Clark broke away from the rest of the field, covering the stage at an average speed of very close to 60 mph/100 kph.
The competitors had a break at Teheran while the cars were handed over to the mechanics prior to the longest single stage of the Marathon, the 1500 miles/2400 km stretch to Kabul through the Elburz mountains.
First into Kabul was Harry Firth in a Holden entered by the Sydney Telegraph. Only 33 cars managed to arrive within the allotted time.
The next stage, Kabul - Sairobi - Delhi, added a new hazard - dust. Paddy Hopkirk in his works BMC 1800 lost five minutes on this stage as did Roger Clark who still remained in the lead. The well tarmaced road through the Khyber Pass and into Pakistan presented few problems and surprisingly, both Pakistan and India chose to forget their political differences and co-operate in allowing the competitors to cross the border that had been closed for the previous three years.
The last Asian stage - Delhi to Bombay, brought more crashes and breakdowns but at last, 72 cars were loaded onto the P & O Lines ss Chusan for the nine day voyage to Fremantle. Still leading the field was Roger Clark in his Ford Lotus Cortina, second was Staepalaere in a Ford Taunus 20 MRS and third was Bianchi in the DS 21.
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