Thunder Saloons

[Gareth Walker]

The classic Thunder Series boasts a few of the older cars, ive seen a few rounds, including Silverstone last year when they were on the same bill as the Formula Saloons. Big Ford Capris, Escorts, Firenza, Rover V8 and BMWs all involved.
Anyone know if a Chatfield Mercedes will be appearing this Year in Formula Sallons????

[Gareth Walker]

The classic Thunder Series boasts a few of the older cars, ive seen a few rounds, including Silverstone last year when they were on the same bill as the Formula Saloons. Big Ford Capris, Escorts, Firenza, Rover V8 and BMWs all involved.
Anyone know if a Chatfield Mercedes will be appearing this Year in Formula Saloons????
The Thundersaloon stars & stripes Manta, Vauxhall Senator and Carlton, Honda Legend, plus many more unique cars,any pictures out their, to refresh the memory? are they in storage? Can they be raced again? can a series be recreated?

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Posts: 3 | From: | Registered: Mar 2002

[Tony_Simpson]

As I have said before I very much doubt that a series for thundersaloons would happen, mainly as the FS series is around, and I guess not enough cars are still around.

I do not know of any more pictures of TS around, other than ones that I have taken myself or out of Autosport, I do not have access to these for a week or two anyway. Have a look here for a video or two of some of the latter TS races http://www.vfsvideos.co.uk/homeframe.htm and early FS races.

Here is a link to that classic Thunder rules and regs. http://www.csccgb.co.uk/

[Peter Mallett]

The Classic Thunder championship was started to give the guys in the old Classic Touring Cars somewhere to run. The cars got so expensive and the TOCA requirements so difficult that many of the owner drivers just faded away. I like to see them and they compliment the CSCC meetings. In fact the club changed the rules to allow anything up to Group A in. That gives us the opportunity to see Group 2 cars such as the Batmobile BMWs and the Group A cars like the Rover 3500.

[Gareth Walker]

The 'Classics' magazine Thunder Saloons story was an enjoyable read. Thanks to A. Charman for that trip down memory lane.

A Thundersaloon style Mazada 121 appeared on the front of CCC a few years ago, has this car ever raced, can anyone shed any light on it, because i beleive it was one of the last Thunder Saloons ever built.

Cheers!

[Lewis]

Does anyone know what happened to the stars and stripes opel manta?

[garry]

The Mazda was built too light for the Formula Saloon Car Championship but was allowed out in the invitation class when we had one . It failed to appear after many assurances that it would and we have not heard anything since.
Gareth your calendar will be on its way this week, sorry for the delay.
For those of you who do not know I am the club secretary for the Formula Saloons and it is great that so many people are writing nice this about us. Reading the postings it seems that there are quite a few unanswered questions about what can race and why certain cars aren,t out there and why we have made certain rules. If you would like to post me or Rod Birely specific questions then we will try to answer them as best as possible without boring you too much.

Cheers.

[Tony_Simpson]

Hello Garry, and welcome to this Forum.

For info on that Mazda have a look at http://www.essexracing.co.uk/

I think from memory some of the last Thundersaloons built were the Pontiac of Andrew Chester, the Mazda and old Stuart Morton V8 Escort, as well as a couple of Cosworths that were upgraded to Thundersaloon spec.

[Rod Birley]

The Mazda you refer to did appear at a Formula Saloon press day at Snetterton. The car was minus an engine at that time and Karl Jones was scheduled to drive it. Since then nothing has been seen of it.
The Stars and Stripes Opel Manta belonged to Nick Oatway who raced it with a Pontiac V8 engine. The co-driver was Holman (Les)Blackburn. The cars whereabouts is now a mystery. Nick moved down to Devon to run a hotel I believe, but I dont think he took the car with him.

[Stephen Green]

I must say that I miss the old Thundersaloons, they were always great to watch especially at Brands with Pete Stevens Bertec Vauxhall Carlton being one of my favourites. Time to go and sit in the corner and dream of days gone by...ho hum.

[apguy]

Well I'm also glad that Formula Saloons is the current topic as my car is eligible and our team is anticipating entering selected rounds.

Peter Challis had a level of success with his 3.6 M5 last year and I know he's moved permanently to FS so we're hoping to run a pair of M5's in FS as well. Mine is a 3.8 and my partner has a 3.6

We're running a full season of Kumho BMWs but hope to stick some 17" slicks on and run in FS when finances permit. I'm not sure how competitive they will be, as we have only just finished building them and have no comparative lap times with the cars we raced last year but I figure our weight will be a disadvantage.

It's a shame that FS has a high membership cost, as it makes it quite expensive to merely enter the odd race (I know you can pay 60GBP temporary membership per race). I would be keen to do more rounds especially as the Kumhos run on the same day as many of the FS races but cost is a factor - especially as we are completely unsponsored.

[KA]

Originally posted by Rod Birley
The Sierra Porsche was a joint project between Terry Nicholls and myself. Gartrac built the body shell and grafted a Porsche Flat 6 962 turbo engine - air cooled. The air-cooled factor proved to be a problem, which manifested itself dramatically at Oulton Park...

Rod- thanks for the info on the Sierra-Porsche. I was a big Thundersaloon fan at the time, and particularly remember that car as it's appearance at Brands was my first visit there.

There were some incredible machines around in Thundersaloons at that time- another that comes to mind was the Cosworth-powered Mazda RX7

[Gareth Walker]

The Mazda RX7 did come out and play again in Formula Saloons a couple of years ago. I know it was aso for sale in Autosport just after.

Good to have you with us Gary!, Is your old RS500 going to appear in 2002? Are the Woodcocks racing in FS again this season, ive heard a Audi A4 mentioned on the FS website!

[garry]

My old RS500 has been taken north of the border to act as a spare car so I doubt if it will be seen out with us, which is a shame as it is a very good car. Both myself and my brother will be racing again this year. i will be in my 98 Nissan and Michael in his new 97 Nissan meaning that we are in the same class.
Steve Hirst has a 95 Audi A4 and has been going well in testing. We should have the 2000 Mondeo's out and hopefully a 98 Alpha at certain meetings.
Apguy, the reason the registration fee is so high is that it cost a lot of money to run the Club and promote it. We have to buy our own trophies pay for our own technical officers travel costs etc, buy club scales and equiptment, end of season awards dinner, stand at the autosport show,
hospitality motorhome and awning at selected meetings etc.
If we could reduce the registration fee we would but we need a sponsor. Hope you do manage one or two meetings with us as it is always good to have new people out with us.
To answer questions about ex-Thundersaloons, both Rod and myself have been trying to track these cars down as it would be great to have them out, but they just do not seem to be out there. Those type of cars took quite alot of money to look after and the running cost may be above the average clubmans budget.
As to BHP, after 2 years of trying to get cars out in the championship it became evident ( by a lot of phone calls ) that it was the big powered cars that numbered only a few where putting of the lower powered cars ( under 500bhp )
from coming out, so we tried to get a fair restrictor regulation that would cap BHP at 500. That was good in theory but as I found out with my RS500 we could get almost 600BHP out of a T5 turbo and 47.2mm restrictor. However the engine could not substain this and 560 was used at the start of the season but we ended up with 530 ( and went quicker ) because we could get the power down easier. Most of the top cossie boys are running approx 530, with some lower spec ones running 450. Dave brodie runs with around 450 but will beat a 530bhp car because his car is designed to go around corners and has the right breaks on it. Most people think that the more power you have the qucker you will go, this is only true to a certain extent. There's no point in having 600bhp if you cannot stop properly, get the power down or go around corners. This is why a 300bhp Touring cars will beat a car with almost twice the power, because it was made to go around corners.
HoweverRod has proved that if you have power and a car that handles it will beat a Super Tourer. This is what makes our Championship attractive, we have a class for any Saloon Car and most people are interested in at least one type of car racing with us.
We have worked hard to try and get the balance right and we feel we are almost there but we are always looking at ways to improve the series and are always open to suggestions and constructive critisism.

[RollingThunder]

I've been following the thread with interest. When I was doing 'Rolling Thunder' I took hundreds of pictures, but being these days a busy motoring journo I hadn't had time to attach any. But with Ka recalling the Cosworth Mazda I can resist no longer!

I hope you all enjoy the attached, it was taken from the press box at Oulton Park in April 1989, just as the field got the green light from the rolling start. The cars are from the back the famed Stars 'n' Stripes Manta, the Vauxhall Carlton - then the official Vauxhall Dealersport car with John Cleland (yes that one) and Vince Woodman doing the driving, the Cossie Mazda RX7 and just peeping into the picture Rod's Sierra-Porsche.

Hopefully I'll find time to send some more at some point, but don't hold your breath!

Andrew Charman

[Peter Mallett]

Blimey.

Holman (Les) Blackburn. Now there's a name from the history books. He was the man who made Ford use the Capri for racing.

Rod B also turns out in a Capri at times. Want to tell us about it?

[Rod Birley]

The Mazda in Andrews picture had a Cosworth GAA V6 beautiful sounding engine. This week's Autosport has a 2 page feature on Formula Saloons. With regard to Capris it is Dave Thomas's fault. He has three plus his Thundersaloon Sapphire and he very generously lets me play with them at various times. This year we are returning to the Nurburgring for another go at the 1000kms race on the full Nordschleife circuit with the Mk.3. Hopefully we will have the result on our website. Dave does most of his racing abroad now but he will be bringing the Sapphire out,probably at Brands in August for the BRSCC 5o mile event.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by Rod Birley
The Mazda in Andrews picture had a Cosworth GAA V6 beautiful sounding engine. This week's Autosport has a 2 page feature on Formula Saloons. With regard to Capris it is Dave Thomas's fault. He has three plus his Thundersaloon Sapphire and he very generously lets me play with them at various times. This year we are returning to the Nurburgring for another go at the 1000kms race on the full Nordschleife circuit with the Mk.3. Hopefully we will have the result on our website. Dave does most of his racing abroad now but he will be bringing the Sapphire out,probably at Brands in August for the BRSCC 5o mile event.

Rod, you're doing it again. Holman Blackburn and GAA V6 gets me thinking Group 2 and Cologne Capri!!! Sorry, I just loved those cars.

[Stephen Green]

Rod, Don't forget to wave to the English Marshals while you are there!

[Tony_Simpson]

This months CCC magazine also has a few page report on two cars in the Formula Saloon series.

Was there two Mazda RX7's built then. One with the GAA engine an I think one had a cosworth turbo in. Is it the same car with different engines or two separte entries?

[Rod Birley]

There was only one Mazda RX7 in class A. Oridinally the car had the V6 engine which I sold to Mike Wilson. Then when I drove the car we fitted my Cosworth Turbo unit. There was a Mazda which ran in class B driveen by Jeff Williamson and a certain Chuck Nicholson who alledgedly now owns a Formula 1 team.
With regard to this year's FS championship the first round is now Rockingham April 28 only. An alternative end of year date has now been scheduled at Brands 19/20 October at the Formula Ford festival.

[Stephen Green]

Well that should add some excitement to the Festival! Let's hope the weather is better this year Rod.

[Shawn]

Hello everyone. It has been a few weeks since I pointed Rod in this direction,I have been reading all your messages with interest and now is the moment I have been waiting for.
I have a (blurred) photo of Rods Mazda.
I have no idea when it was taken but it looked like a nice day. Perhaps we could have a few more days like it this year, if you could arrange it Rod. My quilted, wind/rain proof jacket can't take much more.

[Tomgreen]

I used to love David Enderbys VW Karman Ghia that used to race in special saloons. Anyone else remember the car?
PS Rod, why don't Asquiths run any of your cars anymore?
I live in Australia now and they LOVE racing big V8 Holden Commodores and Falcons. It is almost like watching a thundersaloon when you watch the touring cars out here except there is loads of overtaking and sideways action.

[Derek Johnson]

Hi people
Nice to see a few comments about the Thunder Saloons & Formula Saloons.
Having had a quite spell over the winter months with very little happening, and these damn drivers playing their cards close to the chest, is primarily the main reason that the FS site has not been updated recently. This should soon be rectified!!
The comments about running Thunder against Tourers...great lets have a few more Thunders out there then. How about encouraging a few people that still own 'em to dig the mothbolls out coat of paint/polish & give it a go. If the cars are out on the circuit then the Tourers CAN be beaten, but they don't become very competitive in the garage or barn!
There's a strong rumour that the Ric Wood V8 Calibra will be out again this season as well as the Holden, & sorry Tony, they're not restricted to 500bhp specifically, but are held back with air restrictors in order to achieve some form of balance and equality to the Championship which appears to have worked reasonably successfully over the past 3 years as the Formula Saloon series has become very popular with drivers & spectators alike. I think as had already been stated, Rod Birley has shown that he can still give the Tourers a damn good thrashing AND the car runs a restrictor, but then it is difficult to please everyone all of the time.
Thanks