Les was so good he dominated the Australian Off Road Championship in a modified Nissan Patrol for 14 consecutive years between 1983 and 1998 and 17 championships in total.
He came to the gruelling sport by accident in 1982 when, as a spectator, he undertook an exhibition lap of the rally racing stages – in his wife’s standard GQ Patrol.
The only problem? Despite having never seen the off-road course before, and the fact that he was driving a standard Patrol with no racing modifications, the lead-footed rice farmer was clocking times that would have put him alongside the pro drivers on race day.
Everyone there told Les “you should race this thing”. So the next day, he put some numbers on it, ripped the back seat out and went out and won his class.
That was it; Les was hooked and for the next couple of decades he spent his time off-road racing and prepping the Patrol out of his farm shed while continuing his day job as a Griffith-based rice farmer in the Riverina region of NSW.
Les was engaged at many Nissan events during his reign at the top of off-road racing to help launch various models and to burnish the qualities of Nissan four-wheel drive vehicles into the minds of those who attended including dealers, journalists and lucky members of the public.
It was his job to “ham it up” in the big Patrol and give people a thrill, which he certainly did.
This writer had the good fortune to sit in with Les on a number of occasions on demonstration rides over difficult rally stages.
It was a humbling experience to see the stocky rice farmer replete with open-face helmet virtually standing up as he punted the big 2.0-tonne plus Nisan Patrol at warp speed over the gravel – and through the air.
Yep, his favourite party trick was to get ‘big air’ in the Patrol, at times putting a couple of clear metres under the heavy vehicle. That certainly focuses your attention.
Then, just for fun, Les would rumble up to a tight cattle grid on a 90 degree turn with strainer posts each side, perform a Scandinavian flick turn on entry and drift sideways across the grid at 140km/h. It was something he did all the time in races and always an awesome sight to behold.
He wasn’t a household name here but to those in the know, Les really was a legend. He would strip his racing Patrols to the bare ladder chassis after each event, check everything and then put them back together ready for the next onslaught.
His workshop was a mix of farm shed and V8 Supercars garage with turbos hanging from peg boards on the wall, engines in various stages of rebuild on stainless steel benches and hydraulic hoists – interspersed with rice farming equipment in for maintenance or repairs.
Nissan Australia marked Patrol’s 70th year Down Under early this year and to celebrate, they trotted out people who had done incredible things with their Patrol.
The series was dubbed Patrol Legends, which was particularly fitting as back in the day, Les was known by his nickname “Legend Les”.
He might now be ranked among the most successful off-road drivers in Australian history.
While the tracks might have changed every year, he always stuck with the Patrol.
“We’ve raced Patrols for 20 years and we’ve won 17 Australian Championships in them. You can put these things up against any other 4WD, and they won’t match it,” Les said earlier this year.
“They’re built like a bloody tank. If I can’t break them, nobody will.”
Off-road racing entails circuits at least 15km long that are more often than not narrow, twisting, tree-lined tracks filled with corrugations, ruts, jumps and river crossings.
The stress on the car is unimaginable.
But Les wasn’t worried, he had it covered.
The racing icon hung up his driving gloves in the early 2000s, keeping his Patrol stored safely in a shed on his property.
Sadly, Les passed away on September 8 and Australia lost a truly humble, hugely talented racing legend.
By Peter Barnwell
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