WRC rally winning co-driver Terry Harryman passes away

Multiple World Rally Championship round winning co-driver Terry Harryman has died aged 87.    

The Northern Irishman was one of the finest co-drivers of his generation, enjoying a career that spanned five decades, scoring six WRC wins and nine podiums.

Harryman called pacenotes for some of rallying’s most iconic drivers, including Paddy Hopkirk, Vic Elford, Malcolm Wilson, Jimmy McRae, Tony Pond, Michele Mouton and Ari Vatanen.

He died peacefully in the Beverly Lodge Care Home where he was being looked after and cared for during his last few months while suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.  

Beginning his career in Ireland, Harryman enjoyed success winning the 1962 Circuit of Munster before going on to win the famous Circuit of Ireland on three occasions, twice alongside compatriot and Monte Carlo rally winner Hopkirk, behind the wheel of the game changing Austin Mini Cooper S.

Harryman also completed a hat-trick of wins at the Donegal International Rally, twice navigating for Cathal Curley and once in the passenger seat for Mark Lovell.  

After enjoying success at a national level, Harryman made his WRC debut at the 1974 RAC Rally alongside Ronnie McCartney. A partnership with a young Malcom Wilson, now FIA deputy president for sport, followed across 1980 and 1981, which helped establish the Bangor-based co-driver at the top level of the sport.

But it was his stint calling pacenotes for 1981 world rally champion Vatanen that resulted in Harryman’s most successful period of his career.

The partnership delivered all six of his WRC victories and visits to the rostrum. The first silverware came on the snow of Sweden when the pair combined to take a David Sutton Motorsport prepared Ford Escort RS1800 Mk2 to second.  

Harryman would climb the next step of the WRC podium the following year in a particularly brutal Safari Rally Kenya. Behind the wheel of a Rothmans-liveried Opel Manta, the pair managed to see off the contingent of four-wheel drive Audi Quattros and Safari hardened Nissan 240RS, to beat Audi’s Hannu Mikkola and Mouton to the win.

It was also alongside Vatanen that produced perhaps one of most famous video clips that has since gone viral on social media. During the 1983 Manx Rally the pair were in full flight travelling down narrow asphalt road in their factory Opel Manta with Harryman belting out the pacenotes.

While traversing across a cattle grid Vatanen got slightly out of shape and just about  hung onto the car, which then squeezed through an ever decreasing gap between gate posts.

The sketchy moment prompted Harryman to briefly stop calling the note and exclaim “dear god” before continuing to navigate through the remainder of the stage.

While the catchphrase has rightly earned a place among rally folklore, Harryman and Vatanen developed into a formidable partnership when they joined the factory Peugeot squad where they tamed the mind blowing 205 T16 Group B monster.    

After a difficult start, the pair ended the 1984 season claiming three consecutive wins on Vatanen’s home soil in Finland, Rallye Sanremo, Italy and the RAC Rally. It was enough to climb to fourth in the championship behind champion Stig Blomqvist of Audi.

The streak of victories continued in 1985 as the duo achieved an unbelievable recovery drive from an eight-minute penalty to win in Monte Carlo. Victory in Sweden followed and with it a title bid was in full swing before four consecutive DNFs in Portugal, Kenya, Corsica and Greece.

Ari Vatanen and Terry Harryman, Peugeot 205 T16

Photo by: Peugeot Sport

A second place finish in New Zealand breathed life back into the campaign only for a huge accident when their 205 T16 was launched into a series of rolls in Argentina that put Vatanen and Harryman in hospital, the latter breaking his back, shoulder, ribs, and knee. Both were fortunate to eventually make a full recovery. Harryman returned for the RAC Rally season finale alongside Kalle Grundel.

While a WRC title eluded Harryman, championship success arrived in the form of the 1986 German Rally Championship. Back in the passenger seat of the familiar 205 T16, he guided Mouton to the title, with the pair taking six wins.

As the Group B era came to an abrupt end, Harryman found himself in a factory Ford Sierra RS Cosworth for the start of the WRC’s new Group A regulations. It didn’t yield the same success as before, but it did serve up one memorable, and ultimately final visit to a WRC podium. Reunited with Vatanen, the pair finished an impressive second behind Markku Alen at the Rally of 1000 Lakes in Finland.    

By the time the 1990s dawned, Harryman had effectively called time on his WRC career and regular rally outings.

That was until an opportunity to join rising star Robbie Head arrived in a factory Renault Clio Williams in the British Rally Championship. Pacenotes were then swapped for team management with a spell at the helm of the Renault Dealer Team in the series.

Before announcing his retirement, Terry capped off a career that spanned almost 60 years by co-driving a Race Truck in the Dakar and appearing at the 2003 Syrian International Rally with Mohammed Hamsho.

The Harryman name remains in the rally scene today with Terry’s son Allan proudly following in his father’s co-driver footsteps, having racked up 293 starts and counting.

Motorsport.com sends its condolences to the Harryman family. 

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