Sergey Tenishev

Sergey Tenishev was one of the Soviet Union’s best-known rally drivers. His many achievements included winning the country’s first multi-day rally. A NAMI test driver and Honoured Master of Sport of the USSR, he was also Soviet champion in 1959, runner-up in the 1961 and 1967 Soviet rally championships, Soviet autocross champion in 1961, runner-up in the 1970 hippodrome racing championship and bronze medallist in the 1955 road circuit championship.

Here is a closer look at his achievements.

In 1955, the USSR’s first road circuit racing championship took place near Minsk on a 44.1 km course. Driving a Pobeda with a production body, Tenishev finished third, behind only two GAZ drivers in purpose-built racing cars.

On 31 May 1957, the first Soviet multi-day rally started in Tushino near the V. P. Chkalov flying club. The Moscow–Mozhaysk–Minsk–Pskov–Vitebsk–Moscow route was scheduled for three days. Tenishev drove a GAZ-69 with navigator P. Vasyukov. Their Torpedo-NAMI crew won the Grand Prix in the Pobeda and GAZ-69 classes.

In 1958, Soviet drivers competed abroad for the first time, entering Finland’s 1000 Lakes Rally. Unfortunately, Tenishev did not finish.

In 1959, crew No. 117, Tenishev and B. Konev in a Moskvitch-407, placed 33rd among 81 starters and twelfth in class. In 1961, Sergey entered the “For Peace and Friendship” rally in a Moskvitch-407. First held in 1960, it covered 5,000 km through five “people’s democracies”, from Lake Balaton to Dresden. Of 59 starting crews, only 22 finished. With navigator N. Ionkin, Sergey took victory. Fellow Torpedo-NAMI competitors Anatoly Dmitriyevsky and navigator V. Loktionov finished second. In 1963, Tenishev navigated for Dmitriyevsky in the Acropolis Rally, still regarded as one of the toughest because of its broken, rocky roads. In their Moskvitch-407, they finished 24th overall and fifth in the team classification.

In 1964, Dmitriyevsky and Tenishev entered the Monte Carlo Rally in a GAZ-21 Volga, registration АВ 00-53. It involved 84 hours of continuous driving and roughly 4,500 km. Their adventure included two star-shaped fractures in the windscreen caused by the competitors striking it with their heads. Nevertheless, crew No. 31 finished, one of only 168 finishers from 342 starters. In 1967, a new pairing formed: Sergey Tenishev and Valentin Kislykh. In December they competed in the high-altitude Ethiopia Rally in a Volga M-21-3000, taking second overall and first in class.

Another outstanding achievement was the 16,000 km London–Sydney Rally, where Sergey was the highest-placed Soviet driver, finishing twentieth overall.

In 1970, crew No. 40, S. Tenishev, V. Kislykh and V. Shirochenkov, entered the 26,000 km London–Mexico Rally. They finished twentieth among the 23 crews that completed the event out of 96 starters, and third in the team classification.