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The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/deepvoicednerd on 2024-02-09 11:04:34.
It was a sight that had never been seen before. Jaws hit the floor. People stopped in their tracks doing double takes. British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, a formidable, ruthless, emotionless, stone-cold woman did something that was almost unthinkable. She, get this, wait for it…showed some emotion!
It was in a London hotel lobby on the 13th of January 1982 and Thatcher was about to give a speech before the National Federation of Self-employed & Small Business when she tearfully told reporters “I am very concerned. My husband will arrive there this afternoon.”
So how did this come about? Why did the Iron Lady break down?
The answer was somewhere in the Sahara Desert.
Perhaps I should start this story from the beginning…
Everyone, meet Mark Thatcher.
Mark Thatcher is ah…umm…how can I put this politely?
A bit of a spoilt rich boy?
Proof that you don’t need a long neck and a beak to be a goose?
Dumber than a box of rocks? (And that’s probably an insult to a box of rocks)
Okay, okay, I’ll stick to the facts. Here goes…
Mark Thatcher is the only son of former British PM Margret and her husband Dennis Thatcher. Along with twin sister Carrol, Mark was born in 1953. He grew up to bail out of school and still somehow get offered a spot at Oxford University (his mother was the education secretary at the time. But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence…) which he then declined much to his father’s frustration before going on to fail his accountancy exam a grand total of three times.
Young Mark was a magnet for attracting trouble and making his mother’s life as Prime Minister as hard as possible (although to be fair Margret didn’t exactly endear herself to the British public either…). Mark’s questionable business dealings and friendships with Sultans were often brought to light in British Parliament. Even at the height of his mother’s rule, her own Tory Party frequently discussed ‘The Mark Problem’. When he asked his mother’s press secretary how he could help with her re-election campaign in 1987, the secretary told him to “leave the country”.
Now being a reasonably well-off young aristocrat and with a life of luxury seemingly handed to him on a platter, young Mark did indeed leave the country on multiple occasions for both business and pleasure. One of his biggest pleasures was of course, motor racing.
It all kicked off in 1979, shortly after his mother became British PM, when Mark started racing a little 1.6 litre Sunbeam in club events in the UK. So at least he started properly. Just start with a little car in a couple of small club events. A great way to learn the ropes. The important is to not do anything rash straight away and enter an incredibly difficult motor race…
Except he did. Barely 4 months after getting behind the wheel of a racing car for the first time, Thatcher lined up on the grid for the Bathurst 1000 in Australia, the toughest touring car race in the world.
“Oh dear” everyone went “A British aristocrat with barely any driving experience at Bathurst. This is going to be interesting…”
“Mummy had a sense of humour loss when I announced that I was going motor racing” he announced to the press before adding that “I’ve won couple of things, set a couple of lap records and also had one very nice crash!”
To the shock of many though, Mark did alright. From 54th on the grid, he was leading his class after 20 laps. Then the car broke on him and that was that.
“That’s motor racing but I’m glad I had the chance to run here” he told reporters.
Now in young Mark’s mind, his reasonable run at Bathurst may have convinced him, that he was a pretty damn good racing driver. I say that because the next year, 1980, he was on the grid at the Le Mans 24 Hour. (co-driving with Leila Lombardi, the only woman to have scored points in a Formula 1 race) And he was back again in 1981. He was a non-finisher both times but competing at Le Mans opened another door for Mark that would kick off a diplomatic incident and the subject of this post.
It was at the 1980 race, that a sponsor approached Mark about running in the Paris-Dakar Rally. The sponsor would be running 3 Peugeot 504’s in the 1982 event. Mark eagerly accepted. January 1982 was 18 months away. 18 months to prepare for what is arguably the most brutal, challenging and difficult motor race on the planet. Now go back and read the quote I put in the headline.
Oh boy…
So, what is the Paris-Dakar Rally?
The brainchild of French motorcycle racer Thierry Sabine, the event was created as part race, part adventure. Competitors, most of whom were enthusiastic amateurs with bikes, cars and trucks would have the opportunity of a lifetime. To race, to explore, to see the world! Sabine’s motto for the event was “A challenge for those who go. A dream for those who stay behind.”
It began in 1979 when competitors set out from the heart of Paris, headed south, ferried across to northern Africa and then charged south to the port of Dakar in Senegal. 3 weeks of intense rallying in some of the most picturesque albeit inhospitable terrains and places on earth. It didn’t take long for the professionals to join in. Belgian Le Mans legend Jackie Ickx was one of the first big name drivers in compete in 1981 and became a regular competitor.
From humble beginnings, the rally has changed a lot over the years. Unrest in northern Africa in 2008 forced the cancelation of the event. It moved to South America before more recently finding a home in Saudi Arabia. The Dakar, as it is simply known now is unrecognisable from what it started as but despite the growing professionalism of the teams and entrants, it remains an incredibly gruelling and difficult event. Simply finishing is an achievement in its own right.
For 1982, the Rally would leave Paris on New Year’s Day, travel south through France for 2 days, be ferried across to Algiers in Northern Algeria and then the rally would kick off in earnest, racing through Algeria, Mali and on to the west coast of Senegal where the finish line at the port of Dakar awaited.
Now when Mark agreed to enter the 1982 race in June 1980, he promptly forgot all about it until December 1981 when he was called about coming to Paris for the pre-event press conference. He has claimed that his co-driver called and reminded him 4 months after he signed up, but regardless, he did not treat the event with the reverence that it deserved. He thought it would be simple: drive through France, onto a ferry, get off a ferry, have a little jaunt through the Sahara and pop up in Dakar. To quote Jeremy Clarkson: “How hard can it be?”
Before the rally kicked off, Thatcher did a grand total of half a day of testing on New Year’s Eve. The rally started the next day.
Before things got underway, Mark arrogantly told reporters “I’ve now raced in Le Mans and other things. This rally is no problem.” (r/agedlikemilk would have a field day with this if Reddit was around in 1982)
Nevertheless, Mark drove out of Paris on the 1st of January as one of 382 competitors. With him in his Peugeot 504 was mechanic Jacky Garnier and co-driver Anne-Charlotte Verney. Verney was a highly skilled driver with multiple Le Mans starts to her name.
Things went fine at first. Mark made it onto the ferry to Africa with no problems and along with the rest of the competitors began the gruelling charge through the Sahara.
It’s hard to picture now, but just try to imagine being Anne-Charlotte Verney. You’re a highly skilled and respected racing driver and your co-driver is a playboy aristocrat who’s a few cents shy of a dollar. You’re driving through Algeria heading for Mali, in the Sahara Desert. Only the occasional marker to act as a checkpoint here and there. Scorching hot days and freezing nights. I do not envy that young lady.
Even Mark would admit later “We are in the desert on long, long stages, spending hours aiming at something very small on the horizon. This could all go very badly.”
On the 9th of January, close to the Algeria-Mali border, it did.
Thatcher’s Peugeot 504 was travelling in a convoy with the two sister team cars. It was a good idea. A lot of teams do this on Rallies like the Dakar. Your team cars all form up and basically daisy-chain their way through the rally. Teammates can travel in close company to render aid to each other if needed. Audi did this to great effect to win the recent 2024 Dakar.
According to Mark “We didn’t want to be driving like idiots. On the section between Tamanrasset and Timiaouine we were running in convoy. It was flat and fast and we were running on a track so you wouldn’t expect anything to go wrong. Except . . . we must have hit something.”
The Peugeot ground to a halt. The trailing arm links had both broken causing the rear axle to break away. Not exactly an easy fix. They were out.
The two teammate 504’s stopped and noted the location of their stranded teammate. As did several other competitors. Once they reached the end of the stage, they, being good teammates and competitors passed this information onto event organisers so Thatcher & Verney could be rescued. There was only one small, tiny, teeny-weeny, little problem with this.
They gave the wrong location.
According to Mark “the silly bastards - instead of telling everyone we were 25 miles east when they finished the section, they told them we were 25 miles west."
Oops…
Now if this happened in the Dak…
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