Tony Pond and the Triumph TR7
The British rally driver who led BL's works TR7 team: its first win and its first international win with 16-valve engines in 1976–77, then, in the TR7 V8, wins at Ypres and on the Manx in 1978 and again in the team's last season, 1980.
About the pictureHis 1978 car, with his name on it; he is in the picture at the top of the people page.
Fred Gallagher, Tony Pond's co-driver in the works TR7s, also read the notes for world champions, and in 2019 he told Motor Sport how Pond compared:
Tony was as good as any of the world champions I sat beside, certainly from the driving side. He was a bit of an enigma, though.
Pond drove for BL's team from its first season to its last, except 1979. His results are listed below, event by event.source 1source 2source 3
Before Leyland
Sources for Tony Pond
Jeremy Walton, "Tony Pond" (interview), Motor Sport, Jan 1976, p. 21source 4; John Davenport, "Public face, private man" (Tony Pond), Motor Sport, Apr 2002, p. 60source 3; Motor Sport, News, editorials and short items on the TR7 (group), Jul 1975 – Aug 1981; Apr 2002source 5; Motor Sport, "Lunch with Fred Gallagher", Apr 2019, p. 53source 1; Chris Turner (credited by the club), "The Works Triumph TR7 V8 Rally Cars" and the car pages (group), TR Drivers Clubsource 2; Aaron Severson, "Way of the Wedge: The Triumph TR7 and TR8", Ate Up With Motor, 5 Feb 2012, pp. 1–5source 6
Pond rallied on the roads from 1968 and won his first stage rally in 1969, in a Mini Cooper 1275S. He was 2nd in the Escort Mexico Championship of 1972, drove a works Ford on the Scottish Rally of 1973, finishing 7th, and then joined Dealer Opel Team, 4th in a Kadett with Dave Richards on the RAC Rally of 1975.
Leyland ST signed him that autumn for the 1976 season, and in January Motor Sport's Jeremy Walton asked him about his new team:
I've got no reservations about the Leyland team's ability to win at all. They have the equipment, the building, the men and the know-how to win, and they've got the enthusiasm to see it all through.
The 16-valve cars, 1976–77
Pond's first TR7 win came in October 1976 on the Raylor, a national rally, with Mike Nicholson as his co-driver; that autumn he was also 3rd on the Manx and on Castrol '76. His RAC Rally ended with broken suspension after he had been 3rd at half-way.
For 1977 Gallagher joined him, and their first rally together, the Boucles de Spa in February, was the works TR7's first international win. Third places on the Mintex and the Tour of Elba followed, then a 2nd on the Scottish, and in November he brought his TR7 home 8th on the RAC Rally, where none of the team's three other cars did better.source 2source 7source 8source 1source 9
The V8, 1978
John Davenport, who ran BL's motor sport from 1977, wrote after Pond's death of what the TR7 V8 changed:
It was not until 1978, and the arrival of the V8-engined TR7, that Tony found himself in a truly competitive car.
In April 1978 Pond took the V8 to 2nd behind Hannu Mikkola on a televised rallysprint and then won the Granite City Rally in OOM 512R. He retired on the Circuit of Ireland, the Welsh and the Scottish, but in SJW 540S he and Gallagher won the 24 Hours of Ypres in June and the Manx in September, and they were 4th on the RAC Rally in November.
At the end of the year he moved to Chrysler and Talbot. The TR Drivers Club puts his going down above all to the car's handling in the forests, and Motor Sport's Walton had warned that September that he was "talented enough to have to move elsewhere if the Triumph does not show itself to be competitive on the loose"; Gallagher remembered a deal with Talbot.source 3source 2source 7source 9source 5source 1
1979 and 1980
Pond drove Talbot's Sunbeam Lotus in 1979 while Gallagher stayed at Abingdon, and he was back with BL for 1980. His 1980 with Gallagher brought four wins: in May the Rothmans Manx Stages, then a second Ypres and a second Manx, both in TUD 683T, a new car built for him, and in October the Eaton Yale rallysprint on television; he was also 4th on the Scottish. On the team's last rally, the RAC in November, he finished 7th.
BL kept him under contract when the rallying stopped. Late in 1980, Gallagher recalled, Pond turned down a works drive with Toyota because it would not build him a right-hand-drive car, and Davenport wrote that talks with Fiat later foundered, officially, on the same point.source 3source 2source 7source 6source 1
Later
Pond was called a tarmac specialist, which Davenport thought untrue, pointing to his results on gravel for Vauxhall in 1981. The Metro 6R4 took him to 3rd on the RAC Rally of 1985, and in 1987 he won the Manx for a fourth time.
In July 1998 he drove TUD 683T again, at the Coys Festival, and won its historic rallysprint.source 3source 5source 2
Roles
- 1976
Works driver
1976–1978. Hired by Leyland ST in the autumn of 1975 to drive its 16-valve TR7, "the youngest works rally driver in Britain" (Motor Sport); Bill Price signed him in a day. His co-drivers were Dave Richards in 1976 and Fred Gallagher from 1977
Jeremy Walton, "Tony Pond" (interview), Motor Sport, Jan 1976, p. 21source 4; John Davenport, "Public face, private man" (Tony Pond), Motor Sport, Apr 2002, p. 60source 3; Chris Turner (credited by the club), "The Works Triumph TR7 V8 Rally Cars" and the car pages (group), TR Drivers Clubsource 2
- 1980
Works driver
1980–1980. Returned to BL for 1980 after a year with Chrysler/Talbot in the Sunbeam Lotus (a "sabbatical from the Triumph", in John Davenport's word), and stayed under contract after "Leyland canned the TR7 at the end of 1980"
John Davenport, "Public face, private man" (Tony Pond), Motor Sport, Apr 2002, p. 60source 3; Motor Sport, "Lunch with Fred Gallagher", Apr 2019, p. 53source 1; Motor Sport, News, editorials and short items on the TR7 (group), Jul 1975 – Aug 1981; Apr 2002source 5; Chris Turner (credited by the club), "The Works Triumph TR7 V8 Rally Cars" and the car pages (group), TR Drivers Clubsource 2
Results
A yellow year marks a win.
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
- 1998
Sources
Every source the site cites is on the sources page.
- Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
- Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
- Motor Sport, "Lunch with Fred Gallagher", Apr 2019, p. 53, p. 53, "Tony was as good as any …"; p. 53; p. 53, Spa 1977; p. 53, Pond's deal with Talbot; p. 53, Toyota and right-hand drive. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-2019/53/lunch-with-fred-gallagher Reference
- Chris Turner (credited by the club), "The Works Triumph TR7 V8 Rally Cars" and the car pages (group), TR Drivers Club, rally history; the car pages; rally history; rally history, 1976–77; car pages, KDU 498N, OOE 938R, OOM 514R; rally history, 1978: the results; the forest handling and Pond's leaving; rally history, 1980; car pages, UYH 863S, HRW 250V, TUD 683T; car page, TUD 683T: the Coys rallysprint, 1998; car page, KDU 498N; car page, OOE 938R; car page, OOM 513R; car page, OOM 514R; car page, SJW 533S; car page, OOM 512R; car page, SJW 540S; car page, HRW 250V; car page, UYH 863S; car page, TUD 683T; car page, JJO 931W. trdrivers.com/articles21/rallyhistory.html Reference
- John Davenport, "Public face, private man" (Tony Pond), Motor Sport, Apr 2002, p. 60, p. 60; p. 60, the early years; the works Ford outing; Price's signing; p. 60, "It was not until 1978 …"; the RAC 1978; p. 60, 1979 with the Sunbeam Lotus; the return; Fiat; p. 60, the tarmac label and the 1981 gravel results; the Metro 6R4; the Manx for the fourth time, 1987; his death. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-2002/60/public-face-private-man Reference
- Jeremy Walton, "Tony Pond" (interview), Motor Sport, Jan 1976, p. 21, p. 21; p. 21: road rallies from 1968; 1969; the Escort Mexico Championship, 1972; Dealer Opel Team; the Avon Tour; "I've got no reservations …". motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/january-1976/21/tony-pond Primary
- Motor Sport, News, editorials and short items on the TR7 (group), Jul 1975 – Aug 1981; Apr 2002, Apr 2002, p. 7; Nov 1975, p. 23, the signing; Nov 1978, p. 69, Pond to Talbot; Nov 1978, p. 69, Around and About. motorsportmagazine.com/archive Primary
- Aaron Severson, "Way of the Wedge: The Triumph TR7 and TR8", Ate Up With Motor, 5 Feb 2012, pp. 1–5, p. 3; p. 3, the 1980 wins. ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/triumph-tr7-tr8 Reference
- Motor Sport, Rally reports on the works TR7s (group), Jun 1976 – Jan 1981, Jul 1976, the Scottish; Nov 1976, the Manx; Jan 1977, the RAC; Jan 1978, p. 43, the RAC 1977; Dec 1978, the rallysprint, the Granite City and the Manx; Jul 1980, the Scottish; Oct 1980, the Manx; Jan 1981, the RAC; Jun 1976, p. 32; Jul 1976, p. 32; Nov 1976, p. 33; Jan 1977, p. 24; Dec 1977, p. 25; Jan 1978, p. 43; May 1978, p. 49; Dec 1978, p. 68; Jun 1978, p. 32; Dec 1978, p. 62; Jan 1979, p. 47; Apr 1980, p. 54; Aug 1980, p. 92; Jul 1980, p. 111; Oct 1980, p. 102; Jan 1981, p. 67. motorsportmagazine.com/archive Primary
- Jeremy Walton ("J.W."), "It's a long way to Ajaccio…", Motor Sport, Jan 1978, p. 55, p. 55, Spa, Elba and the Scottish; p. 55. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/january-1978/55/it-s-long-way-ajacciao-long-long-way-tow Primary
- Jeremy Walton, "Abingdon finds a new Healey called Triumph", Motor Sport, Sep 1978, p. 30, p. 30, "second overall in 1976"; p. 30, Ypres; "talented enough to have to move elsewhere …"; p. 30. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/september-1978/30/abingdon-finds-new-healey-called-triumph Primary
- Keith Cox, "Gaydon cars with a TR7 connection", TR Drivers Club, rally car. trdrivers.com/articles21/gaydoncars.html Reference