ALCHEMY. A look at the many variations of the Mini and the people who helped make the car “A Legend”
Lion Tamer.
In a previous issue we recalled the contribution of Stuart Turner to the making of the Mini legend.
Australia had Gus Staunton, a man who had continued the making of the legend by carefully gathering a group of motorsport people under the Leyland banner to attack each category of racing.
Having an interest in sport, during his college days Gus Staunton made his presence felt at many sporting clubs, usually by way of organising roles. This eventually led to him becoming the secretary of the Cronulla Surf Club.
Although not in a committee position, as a member of the MG car club, Gus took part in, and enjoyed, several rallies.
He was approached to attend a meeting by a Mini enthusiast to help set up a new car club. He assisted, and was able to provide advice relating to the establishment of a constitution after his involvement with the surf club, and was then give the responsibility of chairing the initial meeting. Gus had invited representatives from British Leyland prior to the event, and was surprised by their presence: other clubs had previously issued similar invitations without success.
One day while Staunton was in the deputy managing director’s office at the British Leyland plant, he was asked about the possibility of the Club running an event to enable the factory to gain publicity for the soon-to-be-released hydrolastic Minis. After three Mini Montes had been run successfully, Gus was offered the job of arranging the service for the team in the London to Sydney Marathon, as well as the support for the factory team during the Australian leg of the rally.
After this success, he was offered the position of competition manager, which he accepted. One of his first projects was the formation of the Young Lions racing team, which was basically arranged around the sports car range. With the Mini’s success in road racing, drivers such as John French, John Leffler and Lakis Manticas were signed on. Evan Green was retained to run and drive in the rally program as well as in Rally-Cross, which was in its infancy. Andrew Cowan was retained for the international rallies.
The idea of the young lions was to promote promising young drivers alongside the professionals was successful, with many of these youngsters spurred on to future good results.
One of Gus Staunton’s more obvious trademarks was a large bus which was used as a promotional tool for British Leyland, attending many major race meetings. This probably started the trend to corporate sites at major events, and allowed potential sponsors and interested spectators access to both drivers and company representatives.
Gus Staunton continued his involvement in the car industry until his retirement. Although it isn’t widely known now, his involvement in the Young Lions program and the influence it had on the success of the Mini ensured the Mini’s future success in both motorsport and in the market.
March 2001
In a previous issue we recalled the contribution of Stuart Turner to the making of the Mini legend.
