Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesper OH
What a "sad" thing to loose the turbo because of compartment problems, so you had to replace the engine with the M88! Thanks for the research, KA.
Here's a link to the 1983 Kyalami 1000 kms World Sports Car Championship race: http://wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1983.html#7
Viana and Bianco both present - Bianco racing for Alfa Romeo.
Look for retired entry #81. Roffino Fontes mentioned as an South African. Around this time he raced a Group A GTV in the Portugese saloon car championship and was/is likely Portugese. Can't find the Vila Real-site for now, but this site has a few pictures from Rufino Fontes' Portugese exploitations.
Jesper
PS! Here's the Portugese link: http://cvc4.no.sapo.pt/1983.htm |
Thanks Jesper- the Fontes GTV6 (and a later 75 Turbo) are still around in Portugal in original condition and livery- think there are some pics of the GTV6 taken at a classic car event in the last couple of years earlier in the thread
Looking at some of the references I've found to it, that South African-spec non-turbo 745 seems to have been a very successful and highly-regarded car on the local racing scene. I do wonder how much the engine choice might have owed to local racing regs, as opposed to the 'official' difficulty of fitting the turbo into the engine bay..
The local saloon racing regs seem to have spawned some very interesting limited-production stuff- IIRC, the South-African market GTV6 might have got the 'big' 3-litre version of the V6 before we did in Europe, and Ford SA built a couple of hundred Sierra XR8s- a 5-door Sierra with the bi-plane rear spoiler from the XR4, a distinctive slotted front panel, Ronal alloys- and a 5-litre Mustang V8 under the bonnet...