Tony Pond

Tony Pond ( born November 23, 1945 in Uxbridge; † 7 February 2002 in London) was a successful British rally driver.

Athletic career

Tony Pond collected in the early 1960s, his first rally experience at smaller rallies around London on a Mini Cooper S. After that, he was in the Lotus Cortina in the Lombard RAC Round Britain Rally place among the top 20 riders. Other achievements include placings among the top 10 drivers in the Scottish International Rally and the British Rally Championship. The success he achieved mainly with the Ford Escort RS1600. In 1973 he finished third in the Welsh International Rally. In 1976, he signed a contract with British Leyland.

His greatest successes he has experienced as a works driver of the British Leyland group on the Triumph Dolomite Sprint and TR7 V8. Although the true TR7 V8 power but only had poor traction, Pond developed his reputation as an extravagant, fantastic driver. With this car he won with his co pilot Fred Gallagher 1977 Manx rally. By 1986, the end of the Group B rally cars, Pond could achieve even more success with the MG Metro 6R4. After 1986 he was involved with Austin Rover, among others, the development of the MGF and drove occasionally in historic rallies. His greatest achievement outside of rallying came in 1990, when he rounded the Isle of Man TT track with an almost standard Rover 827 Vitesse with an average speed of over 100 miles / hour. So he set the lap record for four-wheeled vehicle, which previously could not be broken.

Swell

Obituary for Tony Pond in Classic & Sports Cars, 3/2002 by Mark Walton newspaper article in The Guardian of 2 April 2002