World’s oldest active rally navigator takes part in New Zealand Haka Classic Rally at age 98

98-year old Dorothy will be navigating for her son, Alastair Caldwell in his 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III.

Guinness World Record holder navigates for son, 73-year old ex-Formula 1 McLaren team manager, Alastair Caldwell in Oct/Nov Haka Rally.

Dorothy Caldwell, who lives in Flagstaff, New Zealand, and is the Guinness World Record holder as the world’s oldest active rally navigator, is to take to the roads again in the New Zealand Haka Classic Rally, a 5,354 kilometer classic car competition on the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The rally starts in Auckland on October 30th and heads to Wanaka before coming back to Auckland again, ending on 25th November. 98-year old Dorothy will be navigating for her son, Alastair Caldwell in his 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III. The same team and car took part in the TransAm rally from New York to Alaska four years ago and Dorothy won the “Spirit of the Rally” award and her team came 5th overall.

Alastair Caldwell grew up in New Zealand and in 1966 attended the Tasman series racing, where the mechanics encouraged him to come to England to work in motor racing. He did so and became a notable part of the multi-national McLaren Formula 1 racing team. In the 1970s he became team manager, managing world champions such as Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and James Hunt. In fact, this week, October 24th, marks the 40th anniversary of James Hunt winning the F1 World Championship at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1976, with Alastair as team manager, an event immortalized in the 2013 movie, Rush. Alastair has recently done an interview on Sky TV and a talk at London’s RAC Club to commemorate this anniversary.

Despite having retired from Formula 1, Alastair continues his colourful life both on the road and in business. In 1983 he established the United Kingdom’s first self storage company, Space Station.

Under increasing demand, Space Station is now the longest-running self storage company in the UK, operating in Berkshire, London and Birmingham, for domestic, business and student use – where Alastair can be found hard at work when not hard-rallying classic cars and taking part in public engagements in the racing world.

For more information or interviews with Dorothy or Alastair, please contact:
PR Agency (Insight Group)
Maureen Robson
+44 845 643 6182 (direct line)
+44 7785 395 498 (mobile)
maureenr@insightgroup.co.uk

Notes to editors
Alastair Caldwell was McLaren’s Team Manager in their most successful years of ’74 and ’76, a time of great change and excitement. Alastair spent his childhood in New Zealand, evading the police after illegal street races and skipping school to play pool and work on cars. In 1967 Alastair returned to England and took a job as a cleaner at McLaren, ascending to Team Manager and the boss of racing legends such as Nelson Piquet and James Hunt. He has recently been consultant advisor to Ron Howard, director of the movie, Rush, about the great rivalry between James Hunt and Nikki Lauda on the racetrack. Stephen Mangan plays Alastair in the movie.

In 1983, Alastair started his company Space Station, the longest established self storage company in the UK. In a quarter of an acre of land at the back of a friend’s rubbish tip, Alastair put several shipping containers in rows for people to rent. Demand grew, he opened more sites with more containers, and continues to expand, running the success that Space Station is today.


Photographs for Download:

Dorothy Caldwell, Ace Navigator

Dorothy Caldwell with son, Alastair

Dorothy Caldwell at the TransAm Rally


Reference Links:

James Hunt 40th anniversary

Alastair Caldwell

The Haka Classic Rally

World Records, Dorothy Caldwell, Oldest active rally co-driver/navigator