Corgi VA11307 Talbot Sunbeam 1.6 Newtown Stages Rally 14 May 1988 Richard Burns/John King 1/43

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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.
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