Quote:
Originally Posted by KA
Found my '84 results out, such as they are, and I can add the following- (I'll put my info in bold) The results I've added are based on notes taken about 20 years ago from the original Autosport race reports, and 'Art on A' article by Art Markus in Performance car magaine. I'm fairly sure about the top 6 and class placings, but bottom half of the top 10 might not be 100% accurate, so might be worth checking against another source. I'll add more later if I can find them
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The PC articles I've looked at so far for 1984 aren't particularly helpful -they don't have results tables even for the top 6, and seem to pay more attention to the background (particularly the off-track arguing and the ARG withdrawal- I'll come back to this later, as some of what's written is quite interesting- and very hard-hitting, describing it as 'without doubt the most sordid episode in modern British motor racing'...)
A few extra details on
Round 10, September 16, 1984 at Donington Park
1./ #7 Andy Rouse / Rouse / A / Rover Vitesse
2./ #14 / Win Percy / Hughes of Beaconsfield / A / Toyota Celica Supra, beaten by 0.23 seconds after starting from pole
Class B winner- Graham Goode/Goode/Nissan Bluebird Turbo
Most of the report concentrates on the dramas surrounding the Goode Nissan, which are probably worth telling here:
Basically, the story was that they tested at Donington on the Tuesday before the race, and with representatives of AP Lockheed on hand to advise, went home with some upgrades for the Bluebird's brakes.
These proved troublesome to fit, needing much adaptation of existing parts, and the job, (and fitting a new engine) took until midnight on Saturday to finish. Graham then fired up the Nissan -already on the transporter- for a final check, only to discover the new engine had a head-gasket failure....
The team loaded up anyway, and by 2:30 am were working an all-nighter in the Donington pit garage to change the engine. Graham went out for the first practice session at 9:00am, but within 3 laps (and a multiple spin at Redgate) discovered the car was virtually undriveable- the upgraded rear brakes were locking solid...
He opted to stay out and cautiously do just enough laps to qualify, only for the gearbox to break...!
Between the two practice sessions, while the team changed the gearbox, Graham was changing the brake master cylinder to sort the braking issues- both jobs being finished with only minutes to spare, enabling him to go out and qualify on class pole, before going on to take the class win in the race
Top few grid positions:
1: Win Percy (Supra)
2: Andy Rouse (Rover)
3: Dave Brodie (Starion)
4: James Weaver (635CSi)
5: Frank Sytner (635CSi) - Ted Grace's crew, who prepared the Sytner car having grafted a new rear end onto the shell, after Barrie Williams had been ended up as part of the infamous multiple car pile-up at Woodcote in the TT the previous weekend