[MG Rover Sport]

Oh my god - what have I started!?

I've dug out some cuttings from the March 1985 Silverstone meeting and this is what I have learnt...

Autosport 21 March 1985 states - We heard on Monday that Steve Soper would probably compete in this weekend's opening Trimoco Brtish Saloon Car Championship race at the wheel of one of Roger Dowson's rapid MG Metro Turbos. The car will not receive any assistance from the factory - Soper is, of course, a contracted Austin Rover Group driver - but he is still optimistic of upsetting the applecart. "I've done a 1m 39s round there with one of the Metros before," said Soper, "and I'm sure it's capable, on paper at least, of being very competitive."

Motoring News 27 March 1985 states - "It all started in the Kentagon last weekend," coomented Roger Dowson last week. "I still had the car, which is nothing to do with the works now, and Steve (Soper) reckoned he could persuade Howley Engines to build a motor, so we decided to do it." The car - a Metro Turbo - appeared at the weekend bearing allegiance to Howley and to Herbie Clips, a new type of plastic rachet hose clip, marketed by Tom Walkinshaw Racing. The deal is only a one off and sadly the practice promise remained unfulfilled after a screw fell out of the carburettor on lap two. It was all the more frustrating for the team and its temporary pilot when the hoped for rain materialised in mid race. "I could stay with them for the first lap and a half without even being brutal, apart from the balls up at the chicane on the first lap, and I think we might have won," said Soper afterwards.

Motoring News 27 March 1985 also stated - If a Rover pole was perhaps predictable the occupant of the second slot was less so for several reasons. The possibility of a Metro pole had been an indignity feared by many of the big cars during 1983 and the beginning of '84, and there were some who heaved a sigh of relief when Leyland pulled out, but here was former Metro expert Steve Soper at the wheel of Roger Dowson's ex-works car and only a second slower than Neil McGrath's Rover in the dry. Rivals knew that the 200bhp brick would eat its tyres at that pace over 20 laps but then of course the second session was wet, and Soper was nearly six seconds faster than anyone else!

Autosport 28 March 1985 states - Fastest of all in that second soggy session was Steve Soper - in a Class B car remember - hurling the blue projectile around with verve. "I'm not interested in a class win," he commented, "I'm going for it!" Gor for it he did, and second spot on the grid in a small class car is a tribute to that - a mighty performance.