|
1987 points and class reviews
Point distribution according to 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top-6 finishers in each class depending of a minimum of four starters. 6, 4, 3 points for the top-3 finisher if three starters were present and 4, 3 points if two starters were presents. 0 points if one or less starters were present. 1 bonus point for fastest lap in each lap.
The best nine scores from twelve races will count towards the championship. This is a far as I can deduce the points regulations and how to decide the championship. I'm swimming in murky waters regarding drivers scoring in different classes could transfer their points for overall position and if there were a registration of BTCC drivers and non registrated drivers receiving no points for their effort.
1987 Class A review:
Close fought championship among newcomer Tim Harvey and old hand Dennis Leech winning all four Rover victories betwin them. Harvey showed speed from the very first go winning three races within the first seven rounds but also had his share of technical issues and loosing out with a bit of over excuberance on a few occasions. Leech on the other hand was solid throughout the year and showed a lot of feistiness throughout. A gardening accident early on and the final round exit into the new woodcote gravel pit proved very costly. David Carvell and Graham Scarborough was never far from the two top Rover men but ultimately failed in winning races. Carvell was very much on the pace in the early rounds, but DNFs in the second half did cost him a likely third in class. Scarborough came on strong in the second half of the year, but at a time the new evolution Sierra had arrived restrickting ”Skid” to a single podium finish.
Despite only starting half the rounds Andy Rouse still managed third in class and top Ford Sierra runner. Notably he and Rouse' GP support stand-in Win Percy were the only Sierra drivers to win races before the new RS500 evolution arrived in August. Graham Goode in his own car and Pete Hall in the second Rouse car was usually second tier runners through most of the year, but then at Donington in August he was class winner in the new RS500 only to loose the car in a huge crash before the TT a few weeks later. Pete Hall seemed to be a bit out of his depth at times but came good at the Silverstone finale winning the race convincingly.
Mikes O'Brien and Newman made the Holden Commodore and BMW 635CSi races winners in 1987 too. The Alan Docking run Holden was late in arriving and only had the car set up properly well into the summer winning a nice victory at Snetterton. Newman participated in most rounds but never with intensions of outright succes. Thus his and Robert Speak's victory in the 1-hour 2-driver Oulton Park event was a surprise of the year thanks to the right tires in tricky wet and dry conditions.
Most other class A drivers were gridfillers in a variety of older or less delelopet group A cars or production saloons with one exception. At the Silverstone Grand Prix support race David Brodie brought his Mitsubishi Starion Turbo out and finished an excellent second. Historic race Chris Aylett then had a go in the same car only to retire without showing any of the same sort of speed.
Class A points:
1.Tim Harvey / 45 points / 12 starts
2.Dennis Leech / 43 (44) points / 11 starts
3.Andy Rouse / 35 points / 6 starts
4.Graham Goode / 34 points / 10 starts
5.David Carvell / 34 points / 12 starts
6.Pete Hall / 33 points / 12 starts
7.Mike O'Brien / 27 points / 10 starts
8.Mike Newman / 22 points / 10 starts
9.Graham Scarborough / 16 points / 12 starts
10.Win Percy / 10 points / 2 starts
11.Robert Speak / 9 points / 1 start
12.Jeff Allam / 7 points / 1 start
13.Dave Brodie / 6 points / 1 start
14.Lionel Abbott / 4 points / 1 start
15.? Innes / 3 points / 1 start
16.Brian Chatfield / 1 point / 3 starts
17.Rex Muldoon / 1 points / 1 start
Not classified
Graham Rose / 1 non-start
Bill Griffin / 2 starts
Mike Smith / 1 start
Jerry Mahony / 2 starts
Robb Gravett / 1 start
Dave Morgan / 1 start
David Leslie / 1 start
Gary Brabham / 1 start
Chris Aylett / 1 start
1987 Class B review:
Mark Hales had little trouble dominating this class for the first half of the season in his Terry Drury Escort winning the first five races on the trot. But competition hotted up with the new BMW M3 simply out of reach, but it was also at this point that Drury entered a second car for Lionel Wiffen to asure that a minimum number of starters were at hand. Alongsiden Wiffen this brought Hales a final victory. With class victory secured and second overall in the box too, Graham Hathaway took over the Hales car and won at the Silverstone finale. Karl Jones proved quick in a limited programme in the rival Asquith Escort RS Turbo, but had little to show for it in the end.
The two Alfa Romeo Dealer Team 75 Turbos proved quite troublesome, with Jon Dooley and Rob Kirby usually in close company as long as it lasted. Dooley kept the car running on most occations winning a couple of mid-season rounds while Kirby had a multitude of often turbo- or transmissions related retirements. For the GP support race he had a 2.5 V6 normally aspirated engine installed only to write the car off at the very next meeting at Brands Hatch.
Frank Sytner was clearly the class of the field and while his fellow class B contenders usually had fight with Chris Hodgetts and his class D Toyota, Frank ran with the top class A men, even winning the Donington August meeting overall adding another two class wins during a limited season. Another to run on a limited schedule was Kevin Eaton in the ex-Graham Goode Nissan Bluebird Turbo, but was usually well on the pace whenever he appeared.
Class B points:
1.Mark Hales / 51 points / 10 starts
2.Jon Dooley / 47 points / 10 starts
3.Frank Sytner / 32 points / 5 starts
4.Lionel Wiffen / 14 points / 4 starts
5.Kevin Eaton / 12 points / 5 starts
6.Rob Kirby / 10 points / 6 starts
7.Karl Jones / 6 points / 4 starts
Not classified
Graham Hathaway / 0 points / 1 start
Mike Smith / 0 points / 1 start
Phil Dowsett / 0 point / 0 starts
1987 Class C review:
A class with one genuine group A car among half a dusin Renault 5 GT Turbo cup cars and a pair of production saloons didn't do much for this new 1601-2000 cc class. Colin Pearcy won with his ex-Austin Rover Sport MG Metro Turbo, but only when he started to race the car regularly from midseason. He thus won six from his seven starts only loosing out to Roger Saunders at the Silverstone GP support race. Saunders had his Renault in a sort of Group A trim by then, winning his fifth and final race of the season seriously happered by only two of these had netted any points! For three races Saunders were lonely starter and thus no points gained. Of the rest only Alan Minshaw seemed to there for any other reason than being a grid filler. His VW Golf was still a production saloon GTI 16V while he had proper Group A car being build by Richard Lloyd.
Class C:
1.Colin Pearcy / 42 points / 7 starts
2.Roger Saunders / 28 points / 10 starts
3.Alan Minshaw / 14 points / 4 starts
4.Vic Lee / 4 points / 1 start
5.Alex Postan / 3 points / 1 start
5.Peter Gottlieb / 3 points / 1 start
5.Holman Blackburn / 3 points / 1 start
8.Paul Harmer / 2 points / 2 starts
9.David Grimshaw / 2 points / 2 starts
10.Niki Phillips / 1 point / 1 start
Not classified
Les Germain / 0 points / 3 starts
Anthony Pownall / 0 points / 1 start
David Kay / 0 points / 1 start
Paul Taft / 0 points / 0 starts
1987 Class D review:
Deserving champion for a second year running, Chris Hodgetts was the class of the field. Committed to a part time schedule of international events with Alex Moss, the CHMS team was kept busy running at both BTCC events and abroad on about a hand full of occasions. Nevertheless Chris would go on to win 10 from his 11 starts in his spectacular curb jumbing best. As a rare luxury he had the back-up of two team cars with a variety of drivers to bolster the sometimes lacking grid. At the first Thruxton race one the exstra cars were drafted in when Hodgetts crashed his regular car in a practice shunt and at the very next round, also at Thruxton, he suffered only his second defeat in two years with the Toyota Corolla.
Geoff Kimber-Smith was the proud achiever of this feat, but had to settle for second on most occasions in his self run Corolla. Phil Dowsett gave the North Essex Racing Ford Escort RS1600i a handfull of goes throughout the season netting him a somewhat lucky third in class. Not even when Patrick Watts had a sole run in the car he could bring more than third and last. Richard Belcher and Mark Goddard had good sole runs in the second Escort brought out by Alan Gaunt, Goddard finishing a fine second in the Silverstone finale.
Tiff Needell was unlucky not to add a second victory as co-driver to Chris Hodgetts in the 1-hour Oulton Park race. At the GP support race he debuted a Japanese spec FWD Toyota Corolla but a lack of proper set-up kept him from challenging Chris Hodgetts for victory. Technical issues kept him from away from victory lane in his two other starts in the boxy little Corolla, but would have been welcome on a full time scale. Tony Crudgington also ended as a part-timer but well off the pace of the leading Toyotas in his private effort while no other than eight different drivers, including Tiff Needell, had guest appearences with the CHMS team. Besides the Needell victory mentioned above, class B champion Mark Hales made it 11 CHMS victories from 12 races with a win at the Silverstone finale. For the remaining six drivers they were mainly there to make up numbers to assure Chris Hodgetts of a fighting chance from the start of the season.
Class D:
1.Chris Hodgetts / 78 (90) points / 10 starts
2.Geoff Kimber-Smith / 48 points / 10 starts
3.Phil Dowsett / 16 points / 5 starts
4.Tiff Needell / 15 points / 4 starts
5.Mark Hales / 10 points / 1 start
6.Tony Crudgington / 8 points / 4 starts
7.Paul Longfield / 7 points / 2 starts
8.Alan Minshaw / 6 points / 1 start
8.Mark Goddard / 6 points / 1 start
10.Alex Moss / 6 points / 2 starts
11.Chuck Nicholson / 4 points / 1 start
12.Will Hoy / 4 points / 1 start
12.Tony Dron / 4 points / 1 start
14.Patrick Watts / 3 points / 1 start
14.Gerry Marshall / 3 points / 1 start
14.Richard Belcher / 3 points / 1 start
17.Keith Norman / 2 points / 1 start
Note on class B: Graham Hathaway seems to have been a non-scorer for his victory at the Silverstone finale. When I'm moving all other finishers up the points seems to fit with the BTCC page.
Jesper
|