Sunday 16th June 2024

DRAWN TO THE WHEEL - The rallying biography of Margaret Mackenzie  Review by Peter Barker

Pablo Raybould is a remarkable person. Unaided and seemingly self-motivated he has sought out some of the characters of mid-20th century British production car motorsport, researched their stories and published a number of wonderfully engaging biographies as a result. The list of personalities featured includes Willy Cave, Christabel Carlisle, Brian Culcheth and now Margaret Mackenzie.

Margaret was born in Sheffield in 1932 and grew up in Nottinghamshire but always considered herself as Scottish because of her father's ancestry and her mother's family links to Aberdeen. The young Margaret took a course in medical illustration at Edinburgh University and on graduation had a career as a specialist illustrator, her work appearing in medical journals of the day.

In 1955 Margaret joined the '55 Car Club of Dundee, Scotland and began rallying an Austin A30 which her father gave her as a present. Margaret soon proved her ability as both a driver and navigator (rallies were still highly navigational in 1955) and came to the notice of other club members such as Patricia 'Tish' Ozanne, one of Britain's foremost lady drivers of the day. The A30 was entered for the Scottish Rally of 1958 and Margaret completed her first international status rally (although still on home ground). In 1959 the Mini was announced and Margaret exchanged her long suffering A30 for a brand new red Austin Mini Seven registered SCT 505. With this little car Margaret's long rally career took off as she competed in every event she could get to, including the 1961 Coupe des Alpes which must have been pretty hard going in an 850cc Mini with drum brakes.

Having started her career as both driver and navigator, Margaret had all the qualities of an excellent co-driver and she soon found herself partnered with the best lady drivers of the day. Her friend Tish Ozanne was an early team mate in a Mini Cooper and then she was sat alongside Irish legend Rosemary Smith, with whom she had a successful career in works-entered Rootes cars. By the mid-1960s her factory rally career was in full swing and she was spending a fair amount of her time on the continent of Europe either preparing for a rally, recceing the route or actually competing.

In 1966 Margaret married motoring journalist Joseph Lowrey, who she had met at a dinner after the Alpine Rally. They competed together on some events in Margaret's Mini Cooper and other models which, in addition to Margaret's works commitments, must have made for a very intense schedule. Eventually, though, the desire to settle down and start a family became paramount and she wound down her international rally career. She competed in selected events (particularly the Hants & Berks Motor Club's annual round Britain Economy Run in which she excelled) throughout the 1970s but rallying had moved on by now and a new generation was in charge. Margaret's final recorded motorsport event was the 1981 Hants & Berks Motor Club's Economy Run in which she finished 11th overall and 2nd in class accompanied by her long-time co-driver Pat Smith.

Pablo's meticulously researched book is full of fascinating items including rally plates, name badges and some of the letters and postcards that Margaret wrote home while away rallying. These give his book a personal quality and reading it you feel that you get to know Margaret a little bit. Margaret Mackenzie's motorsport career was wonderful and she took full advantage of a period in which international motorsport was open to anyone in Europe with the drive and resources to take part, a golden age indeed.

Written and published by Pablo Raybould pabloraybould@blueyonder.co.uk, this book and others in the series are available from Pablo at around £30.00, including postage and packing within the UK. Contact Pablo for overseas costs.