Racing Estates

[FIRE]

In the late 90s there was a Suzuki Baleno estate entered in the Dutch Touring Car Championship. If I remember well it was not very succesful and disapeared after one or two seasons.

See for photo of the car this website:
http://www.suzukituningclub.nl/forum....php?tid=22737
I understand the car will be entered in Time Attack this year.

[KA]

Originally Posted by KA

...and from vague memory, in the early 2000s, someone ran an estate in one of the Scandinavian touring car series (Denmark?), although I'm struggling to remember what it was- Renault Megane perhaps?

Originally Posted by FIRE

In the late 90s there was a Suzuki Baleno estate entered in the Dutch Touring Car Championship. If I remember well it was not very succesful and disapeared after one or two seasons.

See for photo of the car this website:
http://www.suzukituningclub.nl/forum....php?tid=22737
I understand the car will be entered in Time Attack this year.

I thought that was the one I was trying to remember, rather than some mythical Scandinavian Renault Megane....

....until I just found this. Philippe Favre, 2001 DTC apparently
http://www.motorsporten.dk/galleri_2...n-Alstrup].jpg
http://www.motorsporten.dk/news.asp?aID=11404

[Zandbak]

A VW Bora Tdi in the Belcar, after the Belcar the car appeared in the VLN.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-08-24-063.jpg

In the Dutch Supercar Challenge we saw sometimes a BMW 3?? Wagon a few years ago.

[Robin Marriott]

I think vans can count here too, especially of they are car derived, it only some metal 'windows' setting them apart in a lot of cases!

I really like the look of the Impreza, those JTCC regs seem slightly more slack on the bodywork front when compared to our own 1998 cars!

[GTRMagic]

One of the wagons raced here in Oz was the Mazda 808 Improved Production model, complete with rotary 13B aboard..



.. for pilot Wayne Wakefield..

[Andy Turnock]

I raced this in the late sixties with my mate Pete,until the day we were on the grid at Mallory Park the scrutineer came over and told us if we did any good we would be excluded as they considered it to be a commercial vehicle,and back then you couldn't race against saloons.We decided to rebuild it into accident damaged ex doctors Mini shell.Later owners took it to success in the Mini Miglia Championship.


These other two pictures are lifted from i think a Danish site,i could be wrong but it appears the idea carries on.

[rallycrosscraig]

I think there's been quite a few Mini Estates raced over the years.
My dad raced and then rallycrossed a couple of mini estates (travellers) with cooper S engines and autocross a pick up

[D-Type]

Back in the day, Eric Carlsson once competed in the Monte Carlo Rally in a Saab estate. I've seen different reasons mooted:
(1) It was heavier so had a better handicap
(2) It had better gearing - either a 4-speed 'box or better ratios.

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by D-Type

Back in the day, Eric Carlsson once competed in the Monte Carlo Rally in a Saab estate. I've seen different reasons mooted:

Since you've mentioned rallying estates, back in the late 1960s we rallied, of all things, a Ford Cortina estate!

Reasons? It's what my mate had at the time!

[brookesy]

Originally Posted by expaddockrunner

Like the ford supervan,
The Supervan first appeared at the Easter 1971 meeting at Brands Hatch. A GT40 chassis and its mid-engined 400 bhp Ford V8 gave a standard pressed-steel Mark 1 Transit bodyshell a claimed top speed of around 150 mph. The vehicle had been built for Ford by Terry Drury Racing.[1] Externally the van appeared very like a standard Transit, in Ford's racing livery of white with low horizontal triple blue stripes.[2] The wheel arches were flared to almost cover the wider wheels, but this was barely more noticeable than the extensions fitted to the production long-wheelbase Transit. Aerodynamics of the high-mounted bodyshell were crude though, and although the van was usually demonstrated with drag starts, body lift limited its top speed on a track.
In 1978 the Transit was redesigned as the Mark 2, with quite different looks. Supervan's appearance now looked dated and no longer suitable for promoting the 'New' Transit.
[edit] Supervan 2

In 1984 a new Supervan 2 was constructed. The bodyshell was a fibreglass replica of the Mark 2 Transit, although slightly lowered and fitted with a front airdam, large side air inlets and a high-mounted rear spoiler. The chassis was a Ford C100 Group C car, fitted with a Cosworth DFL engine. It was built by Auto Racing Technology of Woolaston. Supervan 2's debut was at Donnington Park for the first British truck racing Grand Prix. During tests at Silverstone, it was timed at 174 mph.[1]
Supervan 2's promotional lifespan was even shorter than the first Supervan. Just over a year later, the Mark 3 Transit was released, with a very different outline. Supervan 2 retired to the Leyland Motors museum.[1]
[edit] Supervan 3

In 1994, to promote the new Mark 5 Transit, Supervan 2 was rebuilt as Supervan 3.[1] This was the first time that Supervan had been used to promote a new model, rather than a model already nearing its end of life. A seven-eighths scale reduced replica of the new bodyshell was fitted, together with a new engine, a Cosworth HB.[1] The work was carried out by DRL Engineering of Suffolk.[3] This version also had the longest promotional lifespan, appearing in public until 2001.[2] With several liveries in Ford's blue and white over the years, its final appearance was in Royal Mail red, celebrating Ford's new contract to supply their vans, taking over from a long arrangement with Leyland DAF Vans.
In 2004 a refurbishment was announced. The engine was replaced with a more practical Ford-Cosworth Pro Sports 3000 V6 engine, and the 1984 Ford Motorsport blue and white livery was restored. This work was carried out by Sporting and Historic Car Engineers of Bicester.[3]
In 2007 it was suggested that Supervan 3's chassis might be rebuilt into a C100 and used for historic sports car racing.[1]

When visiting the Nike workshops of Ken Nicholls last week a very unusual Cooper based chassis was nearing completion with GT40 engine and ZFbox bracketing to revive the Supervan Ford Transit, commisioned I was told by one of its original owners.

[Planty]

as far as i know there was an Audi Combi running the VLN championship...and there was Opel Zafira too.

http://www.vln.de/fotoalbum.de.php?r...06-11&count=48

try to check up other seasons photos...there was also TDi Volkswagen Golf if im right.

[Robin Marriott]

The audi looks great, any idea on engine? Looks like it has RS4 wheel arches, does that hint at the engine?

[barnettracing]

Originally Posted by brookesy

When visiting the Nike workshops of Ken Nicholls last week a very unusual Cooper based chassis was nearing completion with GT40 engine and ZFbox bracketing to revive the Supervan Ford Transit, commisioned I was told by one of its original owners.

I can certainly confirm this. We were down at Ken's a few weeks ago and started talking about it. A quite amazing project.

[andy97]

There's a few Relaint Scimiter GTEs racing in CSCC, HSCC etc. Does that count.

I remember the Alfa 156 Sportwagon race car, i think it might have done the 'Ring 24?

I think that there are several 5 door Audi S3s racing in VLN (albeit in 2WD trim). I think they count as estates.

Are there any inherent advantages/ disadvantages to racing an estate?

I think the Mini travellers had longer wheelbases hence why they were developed by Ginger Marshall etc as they were considered a bit more stable. ISTR that Volvo (or TWR) claimed the Volvo estate was better aerodynamically than the saloon, but then switched to the saloon later!

I have thought that an Audi RS/S4 Avant might make a cheap basis for a club racer!

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by andy97

ISTR that Volvo (or TWR) claimed the Volvo estate was better aerodynamically than the saloon, but then switched to the saloon later!

If it hadn't been for the new aero regulations in 95, it would have continued, but you couldn't mount a wing above the roofline, so that was the end.

[John Elwin]

I have a feeling TWR started out with the Volvo Esate for publicity purposes, reasoning that they probably wouldn't be fully competitive in the first season, but the Estate would attract a lot of media attention. At Snetterton they even capitalised on the Volvo Estate image by having a large (stuffed!) dog in the back for the pre-race parade!

But yes, it probably did have aero advantages as is often the case with estate vs saloon. That leads me to wonder - did anyone ever race an Astra Estate/van? Certainly with the earlier models the van was always devilishly quick on the road!

[kimbo]

Originally Posted by Alan Morgan

There used to be a drag racing minivan called Earschplittenloudenboomer.

A pretender to the crown of 'Stripteaser', a Jaguar 3.8 powered mini funny car!
A fantastic crowd pleaser back in the day and apparently still about - http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co...er/page_1.html

Kim

[KA]

Originally Posted by kimbo

A pretender to the crown of 'Stripteaser', a Jaguar 3.8 powered mini funny car!
A fantastic crowd pleaser back in the day and apparently still about - http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co...er/page_1.html

Kim

Funnily enough, I think 'Stripteaser' has been featured in either one of the custom car/drag racing mags, or one of the Mini mags in the last couple of months- now back in the UK and restored after a spell sitting in a garage in France, as discussed in the article you linked to

[KA]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

But yes, it probably did have aero advantages as is often the case with estate vs saloon. That leads me to wonder - did anyone ever race an Astra Estate/van? Certainly with the earlier models the van was always devilishly quick on the road!

There was a spoof in a sportscar test (Lotus Esprit) during the early Clarkson (1990's) period of 'Top Gear' where he raced it against the fastest vehicle on British roads- the Astramax van....

IIRC the Clarkson line was something like 'you can be doing 150mph in a Lamborghini and the one thing you can be sure of is that sooner or later, there will be a 19-year-old apprentice plumber in an Astramax van right up your bootlid flashing his lights at you to let him overtake'.

http://imcdb.org/vehicle_324213-Vaux...amax-1992.html

[NewYankee01]

subaru forrestor

front running rally car


just thought i'd include a small picture!

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by NewYankee01

just thought i'd include a small picture!

No No, we need a BIG picture! (Well, within the rules big anyway!)

Where was the pic taken- doesn't look like Dalby or Dallgelau

[andy97]

I'm pretty sure there was a feature on the Forester in Motorsport News a year or two back

[KA]

Here's another one- apparently it's a Wartburg...

http://www.gyorsasagi.hu/fenykepalbu...hiv/124992#top

[Mike Bell]

Wartburg 312 ! How cool would it be to turn up at Goodwood with one of those....
Some other facinating (non estate) pics on there as well. Cheers, Ka, started me googling! Finished up finding a link to info about the Moskvich GpB mid-engined rally car.......

[KA]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Wartburg 312 ! How cool would it be to turn up at Goodwood with one of those....
Some other facinating (non estate) pics on there as well. Cheers, Ka, started me googling! Finished up finding a link to info about the Moskvich GpB mid-engined rally car.......

You probably don't have to worry until you find yourself searching EBay for a 312 and Wartburg tuning parts, with thoughts of Goodwood next year...

Definitely has to be the 5-door 'Camping' with windows in the roof though,
http://dn3xvn5nu3tgm.cloudfront.net/...859936573t.jpg
and not the ordinary 3-door estate that we seem to have got for the UK market...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trigger...ff/4687928873/