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Old 2 Jul 2011, 16:02 (Ref:2913963)   #736
KA
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Originally Posted by Jesper OH View Post
Interesting! Dennis Leech would be my first guess, but perhaps an ex-Rouse car with unknown driver. Is that a road registration plate at the back?

It looks like an ex-Alpina BMW M3 in the back of the picture, very likely Brian Chatfield.

Jesper
That's a thought- The Leech car was certainly white, and Combe is the right part of the world for him to be taking in a local Thundersaloon race on top of his BTCC appearances. Don't know the date of this race, but Leech's RS500 didn't appear until a few races into the 1990 BTCC season, so if it's an early-season race, is it Dennis using the Thundersaloon race as an early-season shake-down or test outing with an as yet unsignwritten car?

Alternatively, maybe one of the various ex-BTCC RS500s that went into Thundersaloons and club racing- Both Nigel Mustill (though according to the pic captions, he was still using his Mk1 Escort up to 1991) or Stuart Donnan (the ex-JQF/Fina car) were Combe regulars I think?
http://www.motorsport-fanatic.co.uk/...ersaloons.html
Looking at the RS500 in the video, and original BTCC pics of the Leech and JQF cars, it could easily be either- Donnan's car was still in 'original' Group A condition in 1990 (IIRC he raced it in a late-season BTCC round), rather than the wide-arched Thundersaloon guise of the pic I linked to

Yes, I'm sure the M3 is Chatfield- I remember seeing the Alpina green M3 at Brands around that period- there's a pic of it (though a bit more modified) on here:
http://www.motorsport-fanatic.co.uk/...ialGT-bmw.html

There seem to be quite a few Group A or ex-Group A cars in the entry for this one- the RS500 and M3, one of the ex-MIL Supras (though RS500-powered by then) and that 635...(which also appears in the gallery of Combe BMW pics above)
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