THE BRIGHT EYES OF DANGER

David McKay. Motoring editor of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Australia’s first Touring Car Champion, Australian Sports Car Champion, owner of the powerful Scuderia Veloce, and I collaborated to write my first book on the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon. The Bright Eyes of Danger.

David wrote it from behind the wheel, not just a position in the car but also the title of his weekly newspaper column, and I covered the other 97 competitors.

The choice of book title was David’s, from a boyhood poem he’d learned at school which had become his guiding principle in life, his constant pursuit of adventure: “My mistress still the open road, and the bright eyes of danger”.

Five books were written on the Marathon in the months after it raced into Sydney. Marathon winner Andrew Cowan’s Why Finish Last is the most insightful of them: a text book on how to drive in an ultra-marathon.

Bright Eyes, though, was perhaps the most comprehensive in terms of event coverage. The others all contained personal perspective without overview. Detail was missing from all of them.

The sequel, Race Across the World, written half a century later, seeks to redress the issue of missing facts.

You can still buy a copy of The Bright Eyes of Danger. Its available, occasionally on e-bay. The last one sold for in excess of $1500.