Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesper OH
Two quite informative posts there, KA. Impressive stuff about what it took for Goode to win this round of the series.
As for Kirby, named Roberto Kirby in one of the BTCC standings on the official site, did continue but he was the guy eventually to be sponsored by John West Salmon?
Jesper
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Good work again guys
Yes I recall Rob being referred to as Roberto back then, more humourous affection I think. Yes you're right Jesper Kirby went from 'Salmon Can' to John West Salmon' logo's although it was essentially the same sponsor. Dooley's car also sported that later in 1985.
Got to be worth mentioning again just how well engineered that Datsun/Nissan Bluebird was as well. The mind really boggles as what that car could have achieved with some proper factory money and support behind it. Graham and his team must've worked miracles to get that car running so strongly, particulary later in the season and on into 1985.
Thanks to some footage that has recently become available to me, it really brought home the huge void left after the withdrawal of ARG and BMW, Rouse had no rivals aprt from when Percy ran and The Brode got the Starion reliable towards the end of the season.
The '84 season showed so much promise for the future it really would've acted as a magnate for further manufacturers had it retained the works teams in the 2 upper classes. With apart from Andy Rouse and Dave Brodie there wasn't really much to compete against in '85 and anyone thinking of it would've looked at Andy's performances and thought twice I suspect!
It would certainly have been interesting to see how some proper Rovers would've gone against Rouse's Sierra and also with the latent promise of the Supra whether Percy would've been tempted to stay on in some capacity if the competition was worth it and dovetail that with ETC action - Barry Sheene could've done with a lead car/driver to learn from.
What if CC had continued, or another crack team had come in to prep the BMW's, with all the info gained from '84, the cars could've been more consistently competitive in 1985.