1986 RAC British Saloon Car Championship - Discussion & Results

[bigears]

Originally Posted by KA

1986 BTCC Round 5- Brands Hatch GP circuit- British GP meeting, July 13 1986. 20 laps

More tweaking here.

[bigears]

Now I do realise I am lost where is the most updated results from round 6 to the end of the season so I can update it myself.

So could anyone kindly point out to the posts where the most updated information are please?

[KA]

Originally Posted by bigears

Now I do realise I am lost where is the most updated results from round 6 to the end of the season so I can update it myself.

So could anyone kindly point out to the posts where the most updated information are please?

Looking back, I think your best bet is to put the updates into the tables Jesper posted on page 5-
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...=120493&page=5 We added a few updates after that, but they happened in a bit of a random order....
Once you've finished, I'll tidy the whole lot up and repost the completed results. I've got a few odds and ends to add myself, but I'll hold off until you've finished

Thanks- this really is a great help, and apart from tricky stuff like race numbers, that really needs pics or entry lists to sort them, 1986 is coming together really well

[bigears]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Update
Round 7 of 9 of the 1986 Trimoco RAC British Touring Car Championship
Date: 25 August 1986
Track: Brands Hatch "Indy" Circuit (1.938 kms)
Distance: 20 laps (38.760 kms) - shortened from 40 laps due to heavy rain


Incredible only one retirement - and that caused by mechanical failure.

*The Brands Hatch Escort likely running outside the championship.

Jesper

Some more updates.

[bigears]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Update
Round 6 of 9 of the 1986 Trimoco RAC British Touring Car Championship
Date: 10 August 1986
Track: Snetterton (3.084 kms)
Distance: 25 laps (77.100 kms)


As noted earlier, Andy Rouse retiring on the last lap.

Jesper

Just an one tiny correction there!

EDIT>> Seems like I can't edit my Round 7 updates as I accidentally clicked "post" instead of "preview" too early. How can I quote or even edit my post? Anyway, I will do the 8th round for the meantime.

[bigears]

Originally Posted by bigears

Some more updates.

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Update
Round 8 of 9 of the 1986 Trimoco RAC British Touring Car Championship
Date: 14 September 1986
Track: Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit (4.020 kms)
Distance: 12 laps (48.240 kms)


The 10 second penalty for Pete Hall means he must have finished second on the road.

Was this race shortened from, say, 15 laps, for some reason?

Jesper

Just Round 7 and 9 to go!

[bigears]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Update
Round 9 of 9 of the 1986 Trimoco RAC British Touring Car Championship
Date: 5 October 1986
Track: Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit (4.718 kms)
Distance: 15 laps (70.770 kms)


Dave Brodie running outside the championship.

1/3 of this years races has been held on the Silverstone GP circuit.

Jesper

Nearly there!

[KA]

OK, I'll repost all of these, to incorporate the updates Bigears posted plus a few other odds and ends I've got.

Updated result
Race 1 of 9 of the 1986 Trimoco RAC British Touring Car Championship.
Date: 13 April 1986
Circuit: Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit (4.718 kms)
Distance: 15 laps (70.770 kms)

Pos.	Cat.	#	Driver	Team/sponsor	Cat.	Car	Grid	Q-time	FL	Laps	Time	Notes
1.	1.	1	Andy Rouse	Rouse/ICS	A	Ford Sierra XR4Ti	1.	01:37.22	1m38.42	15	24m58.95	fastest lap Class A
2.	2.	4	Dennis Leech	Dennis Leech	A	Rover 3500 Vitesse	2.	01:38.51	1m38.69	15	25m00.02
3.	3.	2	Peter Hall	Rouse/ICS	A	Rover 3500 Vitesse	3.	01:40.69	1m41.42	15	25m47.86
4.	4.	9	Peter Lovett	Hughes of Beaconsfield	A	Toyota Celica Supra	4.	1m42.08	1m41.85	15	25m47.94
5.	1.	44	Richard Longman	Longman/Datapost	B	Ford Escort RS Turbo	9.	1m45.32	1m41.84	15	25m52.81	fastest lap Class B
6.	5.	5	Mike Newman	Burlington Wallcoverings	A	BMW 635CSi	5	1m42.47	1m41.78	15	25m53.17
7.	2.	30	Rob Kirby	Alfa Romeo Dealer Team/John West	B	Alfa Romeo GTV6 2.5	7.	1m45.10	1m44.47	15	26m24.25
8.	6.	13	Barry Barnes	Mann's Garage	A	BMW 635CSi	10.	1m45.72	1m44.61	15	26m28.70
9.	1.	66	Chris Hodgetts	CHMS/Toyota GB	C	Toyota Corolla GT	6.	1m42.59	1m44.43	14	25m03.01	fastest lap Class C- lap record
10.	2.	62	Tony Crudgington	Tony Crudgington/Clausthaler	C	Toyota Corolla GT	8.	1m45.29	1m45.86	14	25:10.98
11.	3.	77	Geoff Kimber-Smith	AGK Motorsport	C	Toyota Corolla GT	13.	1m47.41	1m46.22	14	25:11.94
12.	4.	69	Paul Taft	Brooklyn Motorsport/ECS	C	Ford Escort RS1600i	12.	1m46.78	1m46.48	14	25:12.34
DNF	DNF	38	Mark Hales	Terry Drury Racing/Duckhams+Motor	B	Ford Escort RS Turbo	14	2m07.43	1m53.44	5		Only did 6 laps in qualifying with engine problems. DNF-engine
DNF	DNF	33	Alan Curnow	Longman/Datapost	B	Ford Escort RS Turbo	11.	1m46.29	2m05.10	3		DNF- engine

Found another source for results- a monthly magazine called Motor Racing published by the same company that produced Rally Sport. Don't think it lasted for long, maybe 1985/6, and I've only got a few of issues- the only one I seem to have with a BTCC report was for this race, but it did give the fastest laps for all cars, and confirmed Barry Barnes' race number

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by KA

Found another source for results- a monthly magazine called Motor Racing published by the same company that produced Rally Sport. Don't think it lasted for long, maybe 1985/6, and I've only got a few of issues- the only one I seem to have with a BTCC report was for this race, but it did give the fastest laps for all cars, and confirmed Barry Barnes' race number

Yeah I had a few of those. The title ran from late 1984 into 1985, or from late 1985 and into 1986. They're around the house somewhere! IIRC, i've certainly got ones covering the Brit GP round, The Walkinshaw guest round from Brands and the last couple of rounds, maybe one covering the opening rounds of 1986. God only knows what i've done with them.

They had an interesting reporting style. A qualy and race report, results table and then a run down of the fortunes of every competitor from a race, which was markedly different from MN and Autosport?

[KA]

Update
Round 2 of 9 of the 1986 Trimoco RAC British Touring Car Championship
Date: 26 May 1986
Circuit: Thruxton (3.791 kms)
Distance: 20 laps (75.820 kms)

Pos.	Cat.	#	Driver	Team/sponsor	Cat.	Car	Grid	Q-Time	FL	Laps	Time	Notes
1	1	5	Mike Newman	Burlington Wallcoverings	A	BMW 635CSi	3		01:28.79	20	30:19.83
2.	2.	1	Andy Rouse	Rouse/ICS	A	Ford Sierra XR4Ti	1.	01:24.70	01:28.59	20	30:20.04
3.	1.	30	Rob Kirby	Alfa Romeo Dealer Team/John West	B	Alfa Romeo 75 V6	9.		01:31.72	20	31:02.98
4.	1	66	Chris Hodgetts	CHMS/Toyota GB+Duckhams	C	Toyota Corolla GT	8.		01:31.61	20	31:03.17
5.	2.	69	Paul Taft	Brooklyn Motorsport/ECS	C	Ford Escort RS1600i	11.		01:32.69	20	31:17.47
6	2	31	Jon Dooley	Alfa Romeo Dealer Team/John West	B	Alfa Romeo 75 V6	12		01:32.07	20	31:26.31
7	3	44	Richard Longman	Longman/Datapost	B	Ford Escort RS Turbo	4		01:28.56	20	31:28.71
8	4	33	Alan Curnow	Longman/Datapost	B	Ford Escort RS Turbo	7		01.30.09	20	31:38.50
9	3	2	Peter Hall	Rouse/ICS	A	Rover 3500 Vitesse	5		01.28.03	19	30:33.97
10	3		Lionel Abbott	Abbott Racing	C	Ford Escort RS1600i	14			18	31.42.74	Including a 1 min. penalty for jump start
11	4		Alastair Davidson	Davidson/Troy Ambisonics	C	Ford Fiesta XR2	15		01:44.45	17	30:22.56
DNF	DNF	38	Mark Hales	Terry Drury Racing/Duckhams+Motor	B	Ford Escort RS Turbo	10		01.32.22	13		DNF- broken diff & puncture
DNF	DNF	4	Dennis Leech	Dennis Leech	A	Rover 3500 Vitesse	2		01:25.90	8		DNF-blown engine
DNF	DNF	7	Mike O'Brien	Linden Racing/Connells	A	Rover 3500 Vitesse	6		01:28.68	2		DNF- broken gear linkage
DNQ	DNQ	62	Tony Curdgington	Crudgington/Clausthaler	C	Toyota Corolla GT						DNQ- crashed in 2nd practice

[KA]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Yeah I had a few of those. The title ran from late 1984 into 1985, or from late 1985 and into 1986. They're around the house somewhere! IIRC, i've certainly got ones covering the Brit GP round, The Walkinshaw guest round from Brands and the last couple of rounds, maybe one covering the opening rounds of 1986. God only knows what i've done with them.

They had an interesting reporting style. A qualy and race report, results table and then a run down of the fortunes of every competitor from a race, which was markedly different from MN and Autosport?

That's the one- I've got a couple of 1985/6 issues here ('85 TT, 86 San Marino GP/BTCC Round 1 Silverstone & Donington ETC) and a couple of others. Thinking about it, it might have lasted into early '87- I maybe have the '87 Donington ETC report issue somewhere.
I guess the reporting style came from sister magazine Rally Sport, who used to do much the same for their reports of UK events- listing the fortunes of every competitor (their RAC Rally reports used to be epic, as they attempted to report and publish a pic of every single competitor....)

The Silverstone report in this issue is more of a conventional race report, with a results table and table of qualifying times- all of the single-seater reports (F3, FF2000, FF1600) in the same issue follow the 'reporting every competitor' pattern.

This issue has an interview with Tom Walkinshaw as well- including some interesting thoughts on the way in which Group A regs were administered....I'll come back to that later perhaps

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by KA

That's the one- I've got a couple of 1985/6 issues here ('85 TT, 86 San Marino GP/BTCC Round 1 Silverstone & Donington ETC) and a couple of others. Thinking about it, it might have lasted into early '87- I maybe have the '87 Donington ETC report issue somewhere.

Discovered that I have some issues of Motor Racing as well covering late 1986/early 1987. Found no BTCC results in any of the issues I bought, but results of the support races from the 1986 Silverstone ..supplied on volunteer basis with a bonus from the magazine!

Good efforts on updating the various years, I have to say. Unfortunately I have run dry on additions a long time ago. I will re-check the point distribution at some point to see if we can establish something matching the particular years, and at some time in the future I would like to do something about BTCC driver bios. Except for the international drivers info regarding the "regular guys" are hard to come by. I know the subject has already been addressed in some of the early posts on this and other years, but like to do it more thorougly. Mayby a similar thing for teams would be appropriate?

Jesper

[bigears]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Update
Round 7 of 9 of the 1986 Trimoco RAC British Touring Car Championship
Date: 25 August 1986
Track: Brands Hatch "Indy" Circuit (1.938 kms)
Distance: 20 laps (38.760 kms) - shortened from 40 laps due to heavy rain


Incredible only one retirement - and that caused by mechanical failure.

*The Brands Hatch Escort likely running outside the championship.

Jesper

Decided to do this post again, this is my last race.

According to the 1986 Motoring News BSCC review, 46 drivers in total took part in the season.

[bigears]

1)Chris Hodgetts: 85
2)Richard Longman: 70
3)Andy Rouse: 57:
4)Rob Kirby: 42
5)Mike Newman: 39
6) Pete Hall: 36
7) Paul Taft and Alan Curnow: 33
9) Tony Lanfranchi: 26
10) Jon Dooley and Tony Crudington: 23
12) Mark Hales: 21
13) Mikael Sundstrom: 14
15) Mike O'Brien: 11
15) Dennis Leech, James Kaye and Alan Minshaw: 10
18) Jeff Allam: 10
19) Alastair Davidson: 8
20) J.L Schlesser and Colin Pearcy: 7
22) Neil McGrath: 6
23) Geoff K-Smith, Lionel Abbott and David Sears: 4
26) Pete Lovett, Neil Sismey and Roger Saunders: 3
29) Brian Chatfield and Richard Belcher: 2
31) Barry Barnes: 1

Other drivers:
Anthony Pownall, David Grimshaw, David Gibson, Martin Carroll, Barrie Robinson, Barry Sheene, Dave Brodie, Stuart Cole, Chris Cresswell, Rick Shortle, Pete Rogers, Peter Argetsinger, Ben Edwards, Lucy Rogers and Pete King.

I don't know if we should know from an earlier post, it is noticed that Richard Belcher drove in Julian May's Escort Rs1600i.

[KA]

Great stuff thanks

Some 1986 pics- Brendan McFarlane has now got pics from the Silverstone International Trophy meeting on his site, including a gallery from the BTCC round.
Pics feature all of the usual suspects- Andy Rouse, Mike Newman, Dennis Leech, Chris Hodgetts etc, and a couple of the more occasional entries can be seen in them- Peter Lovett's Hughes Supra (in several pics), and the Barry Barnes 635 (in the background of the Hodgetts Corolla pic)

http://www.brendanmcfarlane.co.uk/20...986/#btcc-gall

[KA]

Originally Posted by bigears

I believe Brodie was sponsored by Philips Car Stereo or something like that at Silverstone. I will dig up my newspapers to confirm soon.

Yes- Silverstone seems to have been one of the few rounds with TV coverage- there's a video of it on
http://www.motorsportmad.com/view/75...lverstone-1986

Brodie's Starion has sponsorship from Philips Car Stereo, Tandata and Mobil 1- He's also changed race number from #3 at the Brands GP meeting to #6 here.

[KA]

Updated the entry lists for 1986 in light of the video clip on motorsportmad.com and the Brendan McFarlane Silverstone International Trophy meeting pics...

No	Driver	Team	Sponsors	Car	Notes
1	Andy Rouse	Rouse Engineering	Industrial Control Services	Ford Sierra XR4Ti
2	Pete Hall	Rouse Engineering	Industrial Control Services	Rover Vitesse
3	Dave Brodie	BBW Motorsport	'Bruno for Champ'+Mobil+Armstong World Industries	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	the 'Bruno for Champ' signwriting was only seen at the GP meeting
4	Dennis Leech	Leech		Rover Vitesse
5	Mike Newman	Newman	Burlington Wallcoverings+Craven Garage	BMW 635CSi
6	Neil McGrath	Linden Racing	Connells+Castrol	Rover Vitesse
6	Dave Brodie	BBW Motorsport	Philips Car Stereo+Tandata+Mobil	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	change of sponsor and race number for last round at Silverstone
7	Mike O'Brien	Linden Racing	Connells+Castrol	Rover Vitesse
9	Peter Lovett	Hughes of Beaconsfield		Toyota Celica Supra
9?	David Sears	Hughes of Beaconsfield		Toyota Celica Supra	the car had Vodafone sponsorship at the TT- was this present on it's GP meeting appearance?
13	Barry Barnes	Manns Garage		BMW 635CSi
20	Jeff Allam	TWR	Herbie Clips	Rover Vitesse
22	Jean-Louis Schlesser	TWR	Herbie Clips	Rover Vitesse
25	Barry Robinson	CS Engineering	TW Robinson Demolition+SDC Builders	BMW 635CSi

All we're really missing for class A is confirmation that David Sears' GP meeting Hughes Supra appearance ran with the same #9 as Lovett's early-season outing in the car- and whether there was any sponsor for the Brands GP appearance

[KA]

Class B

No	Driver	Team/Entrant	Sponsor	Car	Notes
30	Rob Kirby	ARDT	John West	Alfa Romeo GTV6	Kirby ran a GTV6 until the 75 was homologated
30	Rob Kirby	ARDT	John West	Alfa Romeo 75 V6
31	Jon Dooley	ARDT	John West	Alfa Romeo 75 V6
33	Alan Curnow	Longman	Datapost	Ford Escort RS Turbo
36	Martin Carroll	Carroll's Transport	Burlington Air Express	Mercedes 190E 2.3/16	Prodsaloon at Brands GP meeting
38	Mark Hales	Terry Drury Racing	Duckhams+Motor	Ford Escort RS Turbo
44	Richard Longman	Longman	Datapost	Ford Escort RS Turbo
55	Colin Pearcy	Pearcy		MG Metro Turbo	Car was still in full Computervision colours
??	Roger Saunders	Saunders	Bedford Tyres?	Renault 5GT Turbo	R5 Turbo Cup car
??	David Grimshaw	Grimshaw		Renault 5GT Turbo	R5 Turbo Cup car
??	David Gibson	Gibson		Renault 5GT Turbo	R5 Turbo Cup car
??	Anthony Pownall	Pownall		Renault 5GT Turbo	R5 Turbo Cup car
35?				Renault 5 GT Turbo	seen in a pic from the Brands GP meeting yellow-fronted dark-coloured car- can we match this to any of the names above?
45?				Renault 5GT Turbo	seen in a pic from the Brands GP meeting- white car with blue diagonal stripe- can we match it to any of the names above?

The motorsportmad video confirms that the Pearcy Metro turbo was still in full Computervision colours at the end of the season

The Renaults are still a bit of a mystery- got pics of a couple though...

First, this Phil Rainford pic showing a Renault with what looks like #35 being lapped by the Dennis Leech Rover
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._6552769_n.jpg

and this Rupert Lowes shot of the Rouse XR4Ti having a moment with a white/blue Renault #45 entering from stage right
http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/p4780796.html
(I think this is 1986, but won't swear to it....)

Any ID on these? I can't make out anything that obviously picks out which of to the four known 1986 Renaults they might be

[KA]

Class C

No	Driver	Team/Entrant	Sponsor	Car	Notes
61	Mikael Sundstrom	Peugeot Talbot Sport UK	Shell + Finnair	Peugeot 205GTi
62	Tony Crudgington	Crudgington	Clausthaler	Toyota Corolla GT
66	Chris Hodgetts	CHMS	Toyota GB+Duckhams	Toyota Corolla GT	drove the red 'Demon Tweeks' car at the last round
69	Paul Taft	Brooklyn	ECS+Mobil 1	Ford Escort RS1600i
74	Richard Belcher	Julian May-North Essex Motorsport		Ford Escort RS1600i
74?	Phil Dowsett	Julian May-North Essex Motorsport		Ford Escort RS1600i	presumably kept the same race number?
77	Alan Minshaw	CHMS	Demon Tweeks	Toyota Corolla GT
77	Barry Sheene	CHMS	Toyota GB+Duckhams	Toyota Corolla GT	drove the white 'Toyota GB' car at the last round
??	Geoff Kimber-Smith	AGK Motorsport	Mr Chips- Hot Chip Vending	Toyota Corolla GT
??	Lionel Abbott	Abbott Racing		Ford Escort RS1600i
??	Alastair Davidson	Davidson	Troy Ambisonics	Ford Fiesta XR2	Fiesta Challenge car
??	Nick Sismey	Sismey		Alfa Romeo Alfasud	ex-Dooley ARDT car at Brands GP- still in Napolina colours

Class D

No	Driver	Team/Entrant	Sponsor	Car	Notes
??	Tony Lanfranchi	Monorep		Vauxhall Nova Sport	Prodsaloon
??	James Kaye		Containerships	Vauxhall Nova Sport	Group A rally car at Brands GP

Escort XR3i- August Brands meeting only

No	Driver	Team/Entrant	Sponsor	Car	Notes
??	Stuart Cole	Brands Hatch Racing School		Ford Escort XR3i	think they ran with their regular race school numbers, rather than being numbered as Class C entries
??	Peter Rogers	Brands Hatch Racing School		Ford Escort XR3i
??	Lucy Rogers	Brands Hatch Racing School		Ford Escort XR3i
??	Ben Edwards	Brands Hatch Racing School		Ford Escort XR3i
??	Peter Argetsinger	Brands Hatch Racing School		Ford Escort XR3i
??	Chris Creswell	Brands Hatch Racing School		Ford Escort XR3i
??	Rick Shortle	Brands Hatch Racing School		Ford Escort XR3i
??	Pete King	Brands Hatch Racing School		Ford Escort XR3i

The #74 Richard Belcher RS1600i is seen on the motorsportmad video. It also shows Hodgetts in the red Minshaw/Demon Tweeks car with his regular race #66, after the pre-race swap with Barry Sheene

Going back to Class A, the Brodie Starion in Philips/Tandata colours and the Hughes/Vodafone Supra can be seen in these TT pics.
http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...lverstone.html

[KA]

One obvious error in those- I missed the Brian Chatfield Capri out of the Class A list....

Chatfield's couple of 1986 appearances were certainly the final BTCC appearances by a Capri (can't swear to it, but think the homologation of the 3-litre expired at the end of the year?), but were any other Capris still occasionally appearing in touring car races overseas- Macau maybe?

[Jesper OH]

I have just been revisiting the 1986 season reading the race reports provided by Frank de Jong on his site and looking at the results. A couple of questions and reflectiongs popped up reading like this:

1) Dennis Leech was very competitive over the first half of the season, but dropped out after the Brands Hatch GP race to make one final effort at the finals at Silverstone. In terms of results though his year was rotten, but thankfully he carried the speed with him into 1987, when he did the full season. Was there any announced any specific reason why he missed a third of the 1986 season?

2) Had Dave Brodie lost the Colt Cars Mitsubishi support by 1986? He only raced the TT euro encounter and the Silverstone finals.

3) Why was there so little interest in the class C Ford Escort RS1600is by 1986. This was the car that had the most wins in class over the previous three seasons, but only Paul Taft in the Brooklyn car was a regular ..and he was no match to Chris Hodgetts. A drastic cut by Brooklyn from three to one car in 1986, by the way.

4) Surprised to learn that Graham Goode didn't show up with his Nissan Bluebird Turbo, but raced a Renault 5 GT Turbo cup car by 1986?
For that matter, what did drivers like John Morris, Rob Hall, Phil Dowsett (nursing a serious injury?), and why did Alan Minshaw restricted his CHMS build Corolla to very few outings?

5) Looking at the number of entries for each race and who did the complete season looks very disappointing, but the race reports suggest that under the circumstances the racing was decent.

6) Lucas seems to have been the expected championship sponsor, but instead elected to sponsor the British F3 championship. Was Trimoco dragged back in to sponsor the BTCC and where they indeed on from the first round?

Jesper

[chunterer]

Jesper I think, but am no means absolutely certain about the following points.

1/ Leech had a very limited budget and might have done an engine early in the season....

2/ Brodie had lost works support and also had a very limited budget if any at all...

3/ The Corolla had already arrived in Europe and it was just a matter of time when it came here. Early testing would've shown that the Corolla was a lot quicker so no serious entrants bothered with the Escort as a result?

4/ Goode's time with the Bluebird had ended, he was actively selling it in 1986. I think the other guys went off to other things. Morris, prodsaloons, Hall, one make racing, Dowsett (not sure?)

5/ Entry was poor although not as bad as 1985 IIRC? The Lucas withdrawal (and expected prize monies?) may have had a bearing?

6/ No sponsor came on it was just run as the RAC series.

[KA]

To add a few more thoughts to that

1/ As you say, Dennis Leech was perennially underfunded- I don't remember any sponsorship appearing on the car at that time. As he had a bit of a nightmare year (only 2 finishes from about 6 starts), so his budget could well have taken a hammering early-season...

2/ After the loss of the Mitsubishi backing, as you say, Brodie was left high and dry. The Starion only came out three times all year, on race-to-race deals- the most prominent feature of the car at the Brands GP meeting was the 'Bruno for Champ!' slogan along the side (IIRC the GP was a week or two before one of Frank Bruno's world title bids), suggesting the sponsorship was pretty small-scale. Phillips came on board for the TT entry with Barry Sheene, and maybe stayed on for Silverstone.

[KA]

Another thought...

3/ I'd agree the arrival of the Corolla hit the RS1600i entries hard- especially with Hodgetts defecting to Toyota.
Not sure why Brooklyn cut back to from 2/3 cars to 1, though was Alex Moss involved in the CHMS deal? He certainly shared the Hodgetts Corolla at the TT.
Apart from that, of the other regular RS1600i runners from 1985, Datapost stepped up to 2x RS Turbos, after running one of each in '85, and Richard Belcher & John Jeffreys Engineering stepped back to Prodsaloons. Even then, you maybe could have expected the Datapost and Jeffreys cars to be sold on to other potential BTCC competitors, but both went to Australia/NZ instead.
Julian May's North Essex car went from running most of the season to just occasional appearances, but that was probably down to a lack of budget

6/ As you say, Lucas were in the frame to replace Trimoco, but bailed and sponsored F3 instead. The RAC weren't able to line up a replacement until Dunlop came on board for 1987

[KA]

Originally Posted by KA

There was a slightly nostalgic look to a couple of entries down the grid- Colin Pearcy's Metro turbo still in original works 'Computervision' colours, and Nick Sismey's ex-Jon Dooley Alfasud still in ARDT/Napolina colours

Just dragging this out of the archives- Looking for old BTCC pics on the net earlier this morning, I tripped over an interesting BTCC 'barn find' I'd missed at the time- the ex-Jon Dooley ARDT/Napolina Sud turned up at a Silverstone Auctions Spring sale a couple of years back (May 2012), apparently untouched since Nick Sismey used it in 1.5 litre Group A form at the 1986 Brands GP support.

http://www.silverstoneauctions.com/alfasud-ti

https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/...-pulses-racing

Apparently it didn't sell- Any idea where it went after that? It's a car with quite a history in the BTCC (apparently built up during the 1980 season from a roadgoing Sud with 90k on the clock!), and it would be nice to see it restored and back on the track...