Gathering no moss

In the 1981 New Zealand Motorsport Annual, the ‘Who’s who?’ section describes Ray Stone as being one of the few people to “… have a national reputation without having ever competed” and that that public recognition was “… built on many years as a racing mechanic and more recently as a rally preparation expert.” It was into the world of rallying that Ray was heading after acknowledging his ambition of a business doing just motor racing engineering was premature. He sold his share of the business to partner Dennis Marwood. Looking back half a century on he reflects: “It was a big ask and a bit early to build my dream.”

Meanwhile Paul Fahey had been engaged by PDL to drive the Mach I Mustang but that wasn’t for Ray. “I