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Old 28 Jan 2010, 09:46 (Ref:2620869)   #11
VIVA GT
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Originally Posted by KA View Post
As 1989 is well under way, and Jesper has started the thread, I'll get this one rolling. I'll post some results later tonight, but for now I'll do a quick overview of the season entry

As Jesper said, 1990 was the first stage of transition from Group A to the new 2-litre regs that became Supertouring. The 'big' class over 3000cc Group A cars stayed for one final fling, but the remaining three classes were swept away to be replaced by a single new 2-litre class. At this stage, the cars looked very much like their Group A predecessors- in fact, some of the M3s would have been existing cars converted to the new engine regs.

Class A- All RS500 this year- the Maserati project having been abandoned at the end of '89. The Sierras were fewer in number this year, but the 'big four' teams, Rouse, Trakstar, Graham Goode, and the Rouse-run Team Labatt's were still present with a pair of cars each.

The Kaliber sponsorship deal had ended, and Rouse was back in ICS colours. Team-mate would be Sean Walker, moving over from running a third Goode car, and bringing his regular FAI Automotive sponsorship

Graham Goode reverted to running just a pair of cars, otherwise nothing else changed- Goode and Mike Newman, with Listerine sponsorship again in what would turn out to be the final BTCC season as drivers for both- Mike missing several races mid-season, and Andy Middlehurst stepping in for one of them.

The Bristow/Harvey/Team Labatt's combination continued unchanged, apart from a new paintjob, the cars carrying a prominent 'Don't Drink & Drive' message

Trakstar also continued with the same driver pairing- Gravett and Smith, but the cars would look very different to 1989. The Cartel/NEC backing from '89 had gone- and there was no title sponsor to replace it. Robb Gravett starting the season in a pristine white (a new car I think?) RS500, with only a few Shell decals. Smith wouldn't appear until round 2- and then his car wore the previous year's red and white paintscheme, but with no more sponsorship than Robb's. Moreover, for his debut at the Donington 1-hour race, Mike was sharing with Graham Hathaway- the car's new owner. Hathaway would continue to run the ex-Trakstar car himself, but the next time we'd see Smith in an RS500 would be Silverstone- in July...This was a far cry from 1989's well-funded effort, with various one-off sponsors appearing from time to time- Qubie Computers,Champion, Dianetics...Ford Credit stepped in late season. Fortunately, although the team's finances were uncertain, the car was as effective as it had been in '89

That was it for regular Sierras- Graham Hathaway did about half a season in his ex-Trakstar car, as did Dennis Leech in his new RS500 (sadly in plain white, rather than the distinctive black and dayglo orange of his Rover)

The others the others were occasional visitors, only doing a few races. Dave Brodie did a few rounds in the second half of the year, ), Italian Amato Ferrari visited a couple of times with a car run by F3000 team Crypton Engineering, and Stuart Donnan appeared once
Just to be strictly pedantic here. Mike Newman started the year without sponsorship, running the car in plain black (and a "Mad Mike" sunstrip in reference to a televiesd comment from Dave Brodie!), his Listerine sponsorship re-appeared later in the season...
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