Who remember's....

[Snapper Baz]

Who remember's the British Touring Car Championship when it had the likes of Stuart Graham in the Faberge Chevy Camaro, or the healthy Production Saloon's with Camaro's. The silver Pirana sponsored Dolomite Sprints of Andy Rouse that often did giant killing acts...Patrick Watts in that nimble Prod' Saloon Uno Turbo-saloons aint what they used to be!...what do you remember?

[ghinzani]

I recall a certain class b Nissan Bluebird that used to frighten the A class cars in 1985 - it was so quick that the powers that be ganged up and banned Goodey!!

[Beardy359]

Dealer Team Moscvitch!

[gfm]

Remember it? We were in it.
Actually, slighty after the V8s and Dollys. Capris Rovers and Mazda days.
But the mighty days Baz IMHO, were the Falcons, Camaros and Mustangs. They're on earlier posts on this board. All still there with super pics too.

[verglas]

...the astonishing drive by rally driver Michael Sundstrom in a Peugeot 205 at a very wet Brands Hatch in a one off BTCC drive. Started from the pit lane and drove like a demon throughout the race, left foot braking through Paddock and finishing well up the order, humbling many saloon stars. One of those rare drives that linger in the memory for ever...

[Craner Curves]

Sundstrom is sadly no longer with us.

I'd really love to have seen the races and the cars from back then. Especially as my knowledge of it only comes from 1988 onwards. I liked the look and sound of Dennis Leech's big Rover in 88 and can imagine how the TWR/Rouse cars went!

[KA]

Originally posted by verglas
...the astonishing drive by rally driver Michael Sundstrom in a Peugeot 205 at a very wet Brands Hatch in a one off BTCC drive. Started from the pit lane and drove like a demon throughout the race, left foot braking through Paddock and finishing well up the order, humbling many saloon stars. One of those rare drives that linger in the memory for ever...

Finished something like 3rd or 5th overall I think- the 205 was actually one of the team's rally cars borrowed for the occasion....

Baz mentioned Patrick Watts in the Fiat Uno turbo prodsaloon- didn't Patrick take an outright win once in that?- think it was somewhere like Cadwell, in the rain

[KA]

Originally posted by ghinzani
I recall a certain class b Nissan Bluebird that used to frighten the A class cars in 1985 - it was so quick that the powers that be ganged up and banned Goodey!!

the Bluebird did make a brief comeback in 87, driven by a guy named Kevin Eaton(?)- sure I've got a photo somewhere of it at Donington that year, running in a plain white livery with just the names of Eaton's sponsor/business (something like East Midlands Transport), rather than Goode's red/white/blue colourscheme

[KA]

Originally posted by Craner Curves
I'd really love to have seen the races and the cars from back then. Especially as my knowledge of it only comes from 1988 onwards. I liked the look and sound of Dennis Leech's big Rover in 88 and can imagine how the TWR/Rouse cars went!

I saw my first touring car race in 85, so those mid-80's Group A races made a big impression on me (my first ever race meting was ETCC at Donington with the British series on the same bill- (one or two British teams doubled up and ran both races).

Great cars and some brilliant memories- Andy Rouse's Sierras, Dave Brodie's Starion, Chris Hodgetts in a 1600cc Corolla- (usually on 2 wheels everywhere....), Frank Sytner in a 635CSI, a young Tim Harvey making his touring car debut in the Istel Rover, MG Metro turbos.....

Production saloon racing was huge at that time as well- no less than 2 separate championships (although most teams seemed to do both from memory), with grids big enough to run separate races for some classes at times, and a lot of the names who would go on to touring car success in the 90's- John Cleland, Tim Harvey, Patrick Watts, Will Hoy (in a tiny 1-litre Daihatsu Charade turbo....), James Kaye in a Vauxhall Nova etc

[Aysedasi]

I loved those times as well KA. I saw many a BTCC race (and the TT) between 1985 and 1988 (when I got married and my circuit visits were dramatically reduced!). Loved those big Rovers particularly......

[Nordic]

The TT at Silverstone always used to fall around mine or my brothers birthday, so a visit to the TT was alawys a treat. Sadly i only have vague memroies of the camero's, BMW's etc. At the time we where the proud owners of a Alfa Sud, and always followed to Alfa dealer (Jon Dooly where are you now?) team with a great deal of intrest.
I have lots of photos from the Crapri/twr Rover battles that I am hopeful that SL will scan for me one day.

[glyn parham]

I'm with gfm on this one, the sixties really did have variety and many different winners each season. Good entries as well which also helped.
The group 2 races of the seventies started a downward trend in the quality of racing as costs soared so that by 1973 there were very few "pony cars" turning out (even Dennis Leach, yes the same one, was an occasional entry in his Mustang), the speeds escalated at frightening pace and accidents were becoming bigger and more frightening.
Most notably those suffered by Dave Matthews and Dave Brodie in the 73 GP race (not their fault either) and those that claimed the lives of three drivers at the Spa 24 hour race just two weeks later proved that things were getting out of hand, something to with homologtation specials coming on the scene.
The eighties Group A races were very good after a slow start as were the first few years of the 2 litre formula, but I find todays cars remind me a bit of seventies Super Saloons but with extremely low standards of driving (ie-Brands Hatch three weeks ago).
Favourite memories of forty years of Touring car spectating include listening to the comments made by Frank Gardner before the start of many a race and deciding if he was going to be rude to the commentator. Of Brian Muir going off at Woodcote in the 1973 TT in his BMW and instead of doing a Jody Scheckter, he kept his foot in and got back on to the track in time to take Copse corner and not lose too many places in the pack.
Andy Rouse and Steve Soper dicing at Brands in 1988 in their Sierras, probably the best, cleanest dice ever seen in the BTCC.
Dennis Leach chosing to drive through cars rather than round them in his early days in a Falcon (god I must be old to remember that, it was in 1969) and making his Rover Vitesse go incredibly fast in 1987, and finally rolling a Sierra at Thruxton after just two laps of racing, sorry Dennis but I had to laugh at that one.
Abroad there was the sight of Jean-Pierre Jarier hurling a BMW 635 around a saturated Spa to rise from at least 20th to lead in just two hours. James Weaver and Manfred Winkelhock dicing in the fog at the same race the following morning and using all the track and a lot more besides in their efforts to have a huge accident, and finally (I promise) the three works TWR Rovers opposite locking their way through Eau Rouge (in the wet) in line astern for lap after lap until pit stops broke up the battle.
Happy days

[KA]

Originally posted by glyn parham
The eighties Group A races were very good after a slow start as were the first few years of the 2 litre formula, but I find todays cars remind me a bit of seventies Super Saloons but with extremely low standards of driving (ie-Brands Hatch three weeks ago).

I know what you mean- I find myself taking far less interest in touring cars now than I've ever done- mainly because I really don't like the look of the cars with that ridiculous GT-sized wing on the back

Andy Rouse and Steve Soper dicing at Brands in 1988 in their Sierras, probably the best, cleanest dice ever seen in the BTCC.

I never get tired of watching the video of that- if there's one BTCC race in the last 20 years I wish I'd been at it's that one (I lived practically at the other end of the country at the time- barely a year later I moved to Kent and Brands became my local circuit, so it was a near miss...)

[KA]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
Loved those big Rovers particularly......

Definitely with you on that one- all i need is a lottery win before July 5th and I can have one as well....

http://www.wyles-hardy.co.uk/equipment2.html#twr1

(keep going past the 747 and the Jag Group C cars, to the heading 'other museum cars'- there's some pretty impressive machinery listed for that sale.....)