Whilst often being held late in the season with a good chance of inclement weather, Four-Wheel Drive racing machinery has seldom been seen in the Birkett Relay - despite an unlikely success story achieved in one of the first editions of this classic event.
The third running of the Birkett Six-Hour Relay Race in 1953 was the victim of continual heavy downpours, with contemporary reports describing the rain as teeming down in ‘demoralising bucketfuls.’ These difficult conditions allowed the ‘Surrey Sporting Motley’ team to challenge for an unlikely handicap victory thanks in no small part to the efforts of one Arthur Baker and his Series 1 Land Rover.
Baker - a farmer from nearby Great Missenden - had only that morning used his Land Rover for the task of hauling in corn from the fields before setting off for Silverstone. The Land Rover, fitted with a 54bhp four-cylinder petrol engine was virtually standard with modifications for track use being limited to the balanced wheels fitted with Michelin tyres, the replacement of the windscreen with a makeshift aero screen and a straight through exhaust.
In the unpleasant conditions, Baker’s speed and steadiness enabled the Motley’s to progress up the order and in the final stages were challenging for victory; when the heavens opened once more with just an hour remaining it looked like Baker might well steal the win. Sadly, with just 30 minutes of the race remaining the clutch on the Land Rover cried enough and Baker had to return to the pits to hand over to teammate Epstein; driving a 1931 MG Magna. This allowed the ‘King MG’s’ squad back in to the lead and they held on to take victory by a solitary lap from Baker’s equipe.
Baker continued to compete with his Land Rover and in July of 1954 took victory at Silverstone in a five-lap handicap race. Describing the Land Rover, Motorsport Magazine stated that it “cornered as if on rails . . . its driver sitting high up, like the Captain on the bridge of a ship, before a dashboard equipped for rally-driving, his person held steady by straps each side of his seat.”
Later in the year he returned once again to Silverstone in August for a second attempt at the Birkett Relay. Tragically, Arthur Baker was killed during practice when he rolled the Land Rover at Copse Corner. Recently, in 2017 the remains of Baker’s celebrated Land Rover resurfaced on an internet auction site and sold for £4700, leading to speculation of a possible restoration.
It would take some 57 years for a Four-Wheel-Drive car to better Baker’s second place of 1953 when the 2010 winning ‘OX4R’ Team featured a pair of Mitsubishi Lancer Evos, driven by Steve Liquorish and Mark Harrison.