Andy Rouse 86 BTCC XR4Ti

Mikelee · 12 Jun 2006, 08:45 (Ref:1632220)

I'm looking for footage,photos anything on Andy Rouse's merkur xr4ti in which he ran in ICS sponsorship for the 86 BTCC. It also ran Wellington Street in 86 and then Bathurst later that year run buy Mark Petch Motorsport and driven buy Leo Leonard and Robbie Francovic.Anything would be greatful. Thanks Mike

**Peter Mallett** · 12 Jun 2006, 11:58 (Ref:1632384)

You might get better luck in the History forum. I'll move it there.

Al Weyman · 12 Jun 2006, 13:54 (Ref:1632492)

Also search for Ford Mercury Merkur, same car and very dominate in the US for a short period. I know a bit on these as I was going to build one for ModProds years ago as Cossies were not allowed and did a fair bit of research even had a caged shell, Roland Hayes was going to do me the engine, I wish I had gone ahead now as I reckon it would have been very quick, I may have even got around to winning a race instead of bubberling around in a V8 I can't hear but everyone else seems to like :-(.

Frank de Jong · 12 Jun 2006, 14:34 (Ref:1632519)

There's one here for a start: http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...Donington.html

racer69 · 14 Jun 2006, 10:02 (Ref:1634168)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikelee

I'm looking for footage,photos anything on Andy Rouse's merkur xr4ti in which he ran in ICS sponsorship for the 86 BTCC. It also ran Wellington Street in 86 and then Bathurst later that year run buy Mark Petch Motorsport and driven buy Leo Leonard and Robbie Francovic.Anything would be greatful. Thanks Mike

The car that raced at Wellington in 1986 (driven by Rouse and David Oxton), which was Rouse's 1985 BTCC car, stayed in this part of the world in 1986, Oxton running it in a few ATCC rounds (Surfers Paradise and Calder come to mind, maybe some others too, i'll check up on that), then went to Petch for the enduro's.

I'd assume Rouse had a new car for the 1986 BTCC.

**chunterer** · 14 Jun 2006, 12:33 (Ref:1634267)

I think Rouse built two cars.

His and a spare which was wheeled out for GP supporters and end of season races I think. IIRC David Sears (the Supernova GP2 boss) pedalled it.

Rouse also entered one car for him and Sears in the 1985 Donington and Silverstone ETC rounds and then I think he entered 2 cars for the 1986 rounds.

Vern Schuppan drove one of them not sure about the 4th man though?

HWRT and Wolf also ran XR4Ti's in Germany and the ETC and then Eggenberger got the works ETC deal for '86 as a precursor to the Cossies.

KA · 14 Jun 2006, 16:13 (Ref:1634417)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunterer

I think Rouse built two cars.

His and a spare which was wheeled out for GP supporters and end of season races I think. IIRC David Sears (the Supernova GP2 boss) pedalled it.

Rouse also entered one car for him and Sears in the 1985 Donington and Silverstone ETC rounds and then I think he entered 2 cars for the 1986 rounds.

Vern Schuppan drove one of them not sure about the 4th man though?

HWRT and Wolf also ran XR4Ti's in Germany and the ETC and then Eggenberger got the works ETC deal for '86 as a precursor to the Cossies.

Rouse definitely had a second car in 85- ran at the British GP support (Klaus Niezwiedz from memory) and the TT (Rex Greenslade/Tony Trimmer) with BT Radiopaging sponsorship. Sears shared Rouse's ICS car at the TT.
I could be wrong, but I don't recall Schuppan ever driving it, although he did drive Dave Brodie's Starion at the TT.

I don't remember Rouse running a regular second Sierra until the Cosworths appeared in 87- the second ICS car in 85/6 was Pete Hall's Rover. I can't remember whether there was a second XR4Ti at the GP meeting in 86, but I think his Donington/TT entries that year were single cars- bearing in mind the car that went to Australia at the end of 85, if a second car appeared at all in 86, then there must have been a third chassis built

**ghinzani** · 14 Jun 2006, 21:32 (Ref:1634669)

VIVA GT may remember better than I, but I am sure one of the XR4's was converted to either a test hack or a proper race car version of a Sierra Cosworth at the ned of 86 wasnt it?

Steve Holmes · 15 Jun 2006, 03:31 (Ref:1634780)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikelee

I'm looking for footage,photos anything on Andy Rouse's merkur xr4ti in which he ran in ICS sponsorship for the 86 BTCC. It also ran Wellington Street in 86 and then Bathurst later that year run buy Mark Petch Motorsport and driven buy Leo Leonard and Robbie Francovic.Anything would be greatful. Thanks Mike

Hi Mike, do you know where the Rouse/Oxton Sierra is now?

Mikelee · 15 Jun 2006, 08:06 (Ref:1634850)

No, but I would like too. I keep coming to dead ends with the people I have spoken too.

VIVA GT · 15 Jun 2006, 08:36 (Ref:1634870)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghinzani

VIVA GT may remember better than I, but I am sure one of the XR4's was converted to either a test hack or a proper race car version of a Sierra Cosworth at the ned of 86 wasnt it?

Ghinz, you have a good memory!

I'm sure that one of the 1987 Rouse Group A Cosworths used an ex-XR4ti bodyshell from 1986. Suspension-wise they were the same thing, it was simply a case of modifying the rear quarters as the windows were one piece, not split.
I'm sure also that ARE used an XR4ti bodyshell as a jig for making the Group A Cosworth roll cages, but don't think that was an ex- race car.
I too seem to remember a second ICS XR4ti appearing occasionally, but I'm maybe confused, and thinking of the following Cosworth years...

Mikelee · 15 Jun 2006, 08:51 (Ref:1634872)

I have spoken with Mark Petch recently he had Rouses xr4ti and an Eggen xr4ti. He said that they removed the pillar on the rear side windows and turned it into a cossie but doesn't know where it is now.He also thought that the other one was turn into a rally car.He said that it was a long time ago and hard to remember.

davyboy · 15 Jun 2006, 09:08 (Ref:1634876)

I never quite understood the origins of the Sierra XR4ti during the 1980s as there were none on the streets in UK/Ireland, but when I moved to the US in the early 1990s I saw quite a few Mercury Merkur XR4ti's around. Was there a rhd Ford Sierra XR4ti roadcar ever produced ? In fact was there ever Ford Sierra rather than Mercury Merkur XR4ti road car produced, if so, where was it sold and under what rules did Rousey manage to race this thing in Group A ? Its always been a conundrum for me.

KA · 15 Jun 2006, 09:22 (Ref:1634880)

Quote:

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I too seem to remember a second ICS XR4ti appearing occasionally, but I'm maybe confused, and thinking of the following Cosworth years...

The second XR4Ti in 85 carried the same colour scheme as Rouse's ICS car, but with the BT Radiopaging signwriting replacing 'Industrial Control Services' (at the Silverstone GP race with Niedzwiedz and the TT anyway- no idea from memory what sponsorship it carried at the Brands Euro GP support with Sears- maybe ICS?)

Weren't there 2 ICS Cosworths in 87? Pete Hall upgraded from his Rover to an ICS- liveried Cossie, and didn't Rouse do at least some of the BTCC rounds that year, when WTCC commitments allowed- Win Percy driving the car on occasion when Rouse was on WTCC duty?

KA · 15 Jun 2006, 09:25 (Ref:1634884)

Quote:

Originally Posted by davyboy

I never quite understood the origins of the Sierra XR4ti during the 1980s as there were none on the streets in UK/Ireland, but when I moved to the US in the early 1990s I saw quite a few Mercury Merkur XR4ti's around. Was there a rhd Ford Sierra XR4ti roadcar ever produced ? In fact was there ever Ford Sierra rather than Mercury Merkur XR4ti road car produced, if so, where was it sold and under what rules did Rousey manage to race this thing in Group A ? Its always been a conundrum for me.

It was certainly never available in the UK- could it have been the case that it was homologated in Group A as the Merkur, but European teams raced it under the 'Sierra XR4Ti' branding for marketing purposes, if that was allowed? The rhd/lhd question probably wouldn't matter, as HWRT, Eggenberger etc would have built lhd cars anyway.

Mikelee · 15 Jun 2006, 09:31 (Ref:1634889)

Ford produced a sierra xr4i firstly i think which ran a 2.8 v6 fuel injected.Then they made The Merkur for the USA market and put in a 2.3 turbo engine.They had to change the front and rear bumpers to comply with their standards. Other than that there was not much difference.

**ghinzani** · 15 Jun 2006, 09:34 (Ref:1634892)

Rouse had two cars for UK and Europe didnt he? Didier Theys drove with him in Europe IIRC, the car was red even, maybe due to Belgians fags. The 2nd British ICS car had the same Blue colour scheme which led me to believe it might have been a converted Merkur.

Dint the South Africans have a similar car with a big Ford v8 of over 5 litres in? They would have been RHD.

VIVA GT · 15 Jun 2006, 09:41 (Ref:1634899)

Quote:

Originally Posted by KA

Weren't there 2 ICS Cosworths in 87? Pete Hall upgraded from his Rover to an ICS- liveried Cossie, and didn't Rouse do at least some of the BTCC rounds that year, when WTCC commitments allowed- Win Percy driving the car on occasion when Rouse was on WTCC duty?

As far as I remember, Pete Hall ran solo in many races due to Andy's WTCC commitments (also, running a second car stretched the team as mechanics would also have been with Andy).
I'm sure that there was a second ICS car at the British GP support race that year though, and I do think that Win drove it then.

I'm sure one of the 'programme archivists' on the forum will confirm the details. It's a long while ago for me to remember!

Mikelee · 15 Jun 2006, 09:42 (Ref:1634900)

Yes they made a sierra xr8 4 door and only made 250 of them.They need 200 for homolagation.

davyboy · 15 Jun 2006, 09:44 (Ref:1634901)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikelee

Ford produced a sierra xr4i firstly i think which ran a 2.8 v6 fuel injected.Then they made The Merkur for the USA market and put in a 2.3 turbo engine.They had to change the front and rear bumpers to comply with their standards. Other than that there was not much difference.

Ya the XR4is were quite common in the UK, but I don't ever remember a Ford Sierra XR4ti at all. So did Group A rules allow you to rebadge an 'equivalent model' from another country ?

**Peter Mallett** · 15 Jun 2006, 10:01 (Ref:1634907)

Yes.

The Merkur was homologated in Brazil(?) and ran as an XR4ti in the UK as a Ford rename exercise. It wasn't an official homologation name IIRC.

davyboy · 15 Jun 2006, 10:18 (Ref:1634917)

Cheers for clearing that up Peter... sounds like a crafty one for sure.

**chunterer** · 15 Jun 2006, 10:32 (Ref:1634925)

IIRC The Red Rouse car Ghinzani refers to was an '87 Cosworth (not an XR4Ti) which Rouse ran with Thierry Tassin in the WTCC. Think it was sponsored by a TV company or something to do with Thierry. 'Tele Moustique' or something? Not quite sure without recourse to a picture.

Yep Niedzwiedz was the '85 second driver at BGP, thanks for confirming that KA. Sears drove in '86 at one or two BTCC events I think, as well as Andy's co driver in the TT.

I could've sworn Schuppan was down as one of the drivers for the TT one year?? You're right about him partnering the Brode in his Starion one year though.

KA · 15 Jun 2006, 10:36 (Ref:1634927)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Rouse had two cars for UK and Europe didnt he? Didier Theys drove with him in Europe IIRC, the car was red even, maybe due to Belgians fags. The 2nd British ICS car had the same Blue colour scheme which led me to believe it might have been a converted Merkur.

Rouse's WTCC car was red, as you said- shared with Thierry Tassin

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-08-02-008.jpg

There was a second Rouse car at a couple of WTCC races- a white one at Spa..

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-08-02-017.jpg

..and the TT,-Pete Hall's ICS car, shared with Win Percy.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-09-06-011.jpg

For Bathurst, Rouse's car was white, and had Allan Moffatt on board with his ANZ backing- the history of that car has been discussed on here before- maybe in the Aussie touring car forums- from memory, it found its' way back to the UK a few years back, and the owner (who also had an Eggenberger and a Rouse/Labatts car) was trying to confirm its' history- I've got a vague recollection that the conclusion might have been that it had been the 'white' car from Spa, but would have to search out the original thread to be sure....

**chunterer** · 15 Jun 2006, 10:41 (Ref:1634929)

Ahh brilliant stuff KA!!

Thread's like this are heaven for us touring car nuts!! (next thread has surely got to be the 635 CSI??)

Back to the Oxton ownership, if he had a second ex Eggenberger car I wonder who drove it in Europe prior to him getting hold of it?

The '86 ETCC guys were Soper Niedzwiedz Dieudonne and Muller Jnr (a long time Eggenberger favourite probably due to his dad's original involvement)

I'm guessing that Dave and Rudi did a deal wherby he sent the car along with one of his 'star' drivers for the long distance races in NZ/Aus then left it behind afterwards?

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