Marathon, around the world in a cloud of dust
By Nick Brittan.

Motor Racing Publications, hardcover, photo’s.


Introduction
THE LONDON-SYDNEY Marathon is a unique event. It's not a race, nor a rally, but a true Marathon. This, the first one, made history because it was the first. There will be more to come, but none can make history in quite the same way.
That was the reason I wanted to be part of it. As a writer and an observer of the motoring scene there is nothing quite so valuable as being involved in a 'first'. And for all the same reasons I wanted to write a book recording the event. The Paris-Peking race at the turn of the century was a classic motoring first about which comparatively little is known. Classic events should always be recorded.
For the competitors and the thousands who followed the Marathon's progress through newspaper and radio reports it was a new Elizabethan adventure. The men and women who took part in
the event were adventurers; those who finished were heroes. With my wife Jenny as co-driver I started in the event as a competitor, and up to the point where we crashed in Persia this story is a first-hand behind-the-wheel report. After that we travelled as privileged onlookers, giving me a unique opportunity to chronicle the progress of the Marathon as it moved towards its climax before Sydney.
In addition to recording the simple facts of the event I set out to try and recreate some of the atmosphere, the excitement and the adventure. The snow storms at night in Turkey, the waiting vultures in the open wastes of Iran, the mystique of the Khyber Pass at dawn, the vast uncharted wastes of Australia.
In an effort to give you some idea of the time sequence of the events I have listed at the beginning of each chapter the distances between the controls, the time allowed, and the scheduled arrival …………………………….