The much-anticipated life story of the late Geoff Portman has been released, and more than lives up to the hype.
The hardcover book has been written by rally historian, Bruce Keys, and features 274 pages and over 220 photographs.
A two-time Australian Rally Champion, Geoff Portman died last April after a long battle with cancer, but leaves behind a legion of fans.
The book tells the story of Portman’s life in great detail, and we found the book extremely hard to put down.
Readers are taken through Portman’s early life, his first forays into rallying, and introduces us to the group of very supporting friends who were labelled the “Coalition of the faithful”.
There are chapters on his career with the Datsun / Nissan Rally Team, his tremendous success in the Alpine Rally, his famous Datsun 1600 ‘IYK 250’, the Repco Reliability Trial, Southern Cross Rallies, Mazda RX7s, Australian Safaris, Swampy Marsh’s Commodore, New Zealand adventures, and much, much more.
If you’re an Australian rallying fan then this book is a must have for your collection.
The book has been self-published by Keys and is a credit to him, and brings together many untold Portman stories.
If we were to have one criticism, it’s that the book is written in current tense, rather than past tense, even though its release is nearly 12 months since Geoff Portman sadly passed away.
Still, that’s only nit picking and it certainly takes little away from a quality publication.
Its text is high class, and it delves into all the areas you want to read about. A distinct history of Australian rallying is rare, and this book of one of the country’s favourite champions is worth the purchase and worth reading.
RallySport Magazine still have VERY limited copies of the limited edition books for sale, so if you want a copy, you’d better get in fast.
