1:43 Talbot Sunbeam 1.6 Newtown Stages Rally, Wales 14th May 1988 Richard Burns/John King
Product Code: VA11307
As a child Richard Burns was car
obsessed and read car magazines avidly. Obviously bright, he didn't
enjoy school so his parents encouraged their son's passion, realising
that his future would be in some way automotive. He learnt to drive
around their yard in a Triumph 2000 and by the time he was eight he was
spending his sister's pony-club meetings neatly reverse-parking
horse-trailers.
By 1984, aged 13, he was Under-17s Car
Club 'Driver of the Year' and retained the trophy in 1985 and 1986. He
attended Jan Churchill's Forest Rally School as a 15th Birthday present
(which took persuasion and special insurance) and became infatuated with
rallying. His parents bought a Talbot Sunbeam 1.6 automatic for £400
as a 16th Birthday present through Craven Motor Club friend Gordon
Jarvis. Richard then offered Gordon free storage for his rally Sunbeam
in his family's garage so he could use it as a template and turn his own
Sunbeam into a rally car. The pair then spent evenings building the
car and bought components, at the going rate, from Talbot-Sport Special
Tuning, run by Gordon's old friend Des O'Dell. Eventually it lacked
only an engine and gearbox so Richard persuaded Gordon to loan him the
Ti spec unit from his rally Sunbeam!
Burns' first rally in the now completed
Sunbeam, modelled here, was in May 1988 with experienced navigator John
King, an unflappable dentist from Wokingham, providing a steadying hand
and the entrance fee. The pair did far better than anyone could have
expected; the slow rise to stardom had begun.
England’s one and only World Rally
Champion, Richard Burns, was born to drive. The Richard Burns
Foundation and Corgi have teamed up to create a series of six highly
detailed 1:43 scale quality die-cast collectable models representing the
most memorable rally cars in Richard’s illustrious career. Each model
is presented in a display case and comes complete with a collector card
listing the story of that particular car. Every model sold will provide a
contribution to the Richard Burns Foundation to help support its
continuing charitable work in the 2001 champion’s name.
