1986 RAC British Saloon Car Championship - Discussion & Results

[carrera]

Just found Autosport 18-25 December 1986 and the British group A seasonal review which makes for an interesting read.

"one of Whitaker's triumphs was to round up 32 cars for the GP supporting round.." 32 cars seems to suggest no Maries or Smith.

"Donington.. was a pitiful display for the spectators... 13 cars practised... " Leech fell out before the start, his V8 ingesting some metal. O'Brien halfshaft broke on the startline. Crudgington and Dooley collided at Redgate, the latter retired soon after. Curnow's clutch blew apart. And then we had the disqualification of Hodgetts and Rouse. Both appealed. The exclusions were dropped after it was found the organising club had not followed the correct procedures.

Rouse at Snetterton - a puncture while leading, pitted. "There then followed a magnificent drive back up the field that ended on the last lap at Coram" Thinking he had another lap to go and with a failing drivetrain he drove into pit road instead of taking the flag.

"The ex Kennedy BMW appeared twice, Barnes at the first round and Robinson at the last."

"At the first round Kirby ran last year's GTV6 ... as the 75 was not yet homologated".

Pearcy was in ex Watts Metro.

Final round Hodgetts was in maroon Minshaw car and Sheene in white Toyota GB one. Sheene started from back of grid with 10 sec penalty as he had missed official qualifying due to business commitments. Hodgetts joined him at the back to help show him the way round.

Championship table does list Brodie 6th in A. Allam has 9 points and JLS 7 with fastest lap. Seven best scores to count.


Hope this is of interest.

Gary

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by carrera

Final round Hodgetts was in maroon Minshaw car and Sheene in white Toyota GB one. Sheene started from back of grid with 10 sec penalty as he had missed official qualifying due to business commitments. Hodgetts joined him at the back to help show him the way round.

Championship table does list Brodie 6th in A. Allam has 9 points and JLS 7 with fastest lap. Seven best scores to count.


Hope this is of interest.

Gary

I was a bit confused by the video link I posted a while ago that Hodgetts raced the Demon Tweeks car, but your post support it. Still haven't found the Autosport race of my life race of Barry Sheene as he tells the story of this very race. A b/w picture shows a white AE86 with Clausthaler lettering from memory.

The seven best results would alter the points situation a bit ..don't know how much by now, but the official BTCC version won't hold up.

Of interest.

Jesper

[KA]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

I was a bit confused by the video link I posted a while ago that Hodgetts raced the Demon Tweeks car, but your post support it. Still haven't found the Autosport race of my life race of Barry Sheene as he tells the story of this very race. A b/w picture shows a white AE86 with Clausthaler lettering from memory.

The seven best results would alter the points situation a bit ..don't know how much by now, but the official BTCC version won't hold up.

Of interest.

Jesper

The white Clausthaler Corolla was Tony Crudgington's car, rather than a CHMS one.

Sheene would have raced the white/red striped Toyota GB car usually used by Hodgetts (it might have had additional sponsorship from 'Bennie Hire' on the doors, though I think this was a one-off deal for the TT- it doesn't seem to have been on the car when Chris took it to Zolder for the ETC round a week before the last BTCC round)

Thanks for confirming the car swap story- I had it in mind, but didn't have the race report to hand to confirm it.

[KA]

Originally Posted by carrera

"At the first round Kirby ran last year's GTV6 ... as the 75 was not yet homologated".

The 75 wasn't homologated until May or thereabouts- Dooley and Kirby used the old GTV6 for the Donington ETC round as well, where I think they were the only Alfa- none of the European Alfa teams turned up, as they sat out the first couple of ETC rounds for the same reason

[KA]

Just took another look at Brendan McFarlane's 1986 TT pics, as seen on the Volvo thread, and found a shot of one of the occasional 1986 BTCC entries- the Barry Robinson TW Robinson Demolition/SDC Builders 635 which appeared at one late-season BTCC race and the TT.

I'm pretty sure this is the first pic I've ever seen of the car in Robinson's colours!

Can't link to individual pics AFAIK, but it's about half-way through the set, pic #50, between pics of the #45 Linder BMW 325 and the Grice Commodore- a head-on shot in b/w, the car has #37 and a 'CS Engineering' sunstrip on the windscreen
http://www.brendanmcfarlane.co.uk/ga...verstone_tt86/

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by KA

I'm pretty sure this is the first pic I've ever seen of the car in Robinson's colours!

I didn't remember the car actually being at that race!!! I suspect I didn't think that it could've changed colour!

[KA]

Originally Posted by chunterer

I didn't remember the car actually being at that race!!! I suspect I didn't think that it could've changed colour!

I don't think it lasted long in the race, even if it made the start- it definitely qualified, but I've got a very vague memory of maybe only seeing it in the morning warm-up session, or on the green flag lap at the start of the race.

Another find from the same source- an album of 1986 Oulton Thundersaloon pics, including the #31 ARDT Alfa 75! If the 75 wasn't homologated until after the start of the BTCC season (as we know, they ran a single GTV6 in the first round and the Donington ETC race), looks like Dooley & Kirby gave the new car a tryout by running it in an early season Thundersaloon race

Pic #18 shows it in the race, #31 & #32, showing the car at the driver change, #54 show it in the pack at the start, and #59 in the background of a shot of the Transpeed Firenza's stop
http://www.brendanmcfarlane.co.uk/ga...ton-thunder86/

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by KA

Just took another look at Brendan McFarlane's 1986 TT pics, as seen on the Volvo thread, and found a shot of one of the occasional 1986 BTCC entries- the Barry Robinson TW Robinson Demolition/SDC Builders 635 which appeared at one late-season BTCC race and the TT.

I'm pretty sure this is the first pic I've ever seen of the car in Robinson's colours!

Can't link to individual pics AFAIK, but it's about half-way through the set, pic #50, between pics of the #45 Linder BMW 325 and the Grice Commodore- a head-on shot in b/w, the car has #37 and a 'CS Engineering' sunstrip on the windscreen
http://www.brendanmcfarlane.co.uk/ga...verstone_tt86/

Wasn't this an ex-Sytner car (or at least had some connection with Sytner), or is this thought just another example of my addled brain?

[KA]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Wasn't this an ex-Sytner car (or at least had some connection with Sytner), or is this thought just another example of my addled brain?

Either that or the ex-Stuck BS Automotive/Cheylesmore car which seemed to then be raced in part-season BTCC campaigns by pretty much everyone over the next few years.... David Kennedy, Brian Chatfield, Barry Barnes, Peter Buxtorf etc
IIRC, Frank bought the 3 CC Motorsport/BMW GB cars at the end of '84 (2 race cars and the spare) and then sold most or all of them on at various times suring '85- Mike Newman had one at the start of the year, I think another went to Charlie O'Brien in Australia later in the year for Bathurst, and the third was either kept by Sytner or sold on, but I don't remember who to (Sytner certainly had two cars at both of the British ETC rounds that year- Hamish Irvine was in the second car at Donington with either Michel Delcourt or John Clark, and a couple of South Africans rented a Sytner 635 for the TT)

The answer is probably somewhere in the 635 thread...

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by KA

Either that or the ex-Stuck BS Automotive/Cheylesmore car which seemed to then be raced in part-season BTCC campaigns by pretty much everyone over the next few years.... David Kennedy, Brian Chatfield, Barry Barnes, Peter Buxtorf etc
IIRC, Frank bought the 3 CC Motorsport/BMW GB cars at the end of '84 (2 race cars and the spare) and then sold most or all of them on at various times suring '85- Mike Newman had one at the start of the year, I think another went to Charlie O'Brien in Australia later in the year for Bathurst, and the third was either kept by Sytner or sold on, but I don't remember who to (Sytner certainly had two cars at both of the British ETC rounds that year- Hamish Irvine was in the second car at Donington with either Michel Delcourt or John Clark, and a couple of South Africans a Sytner 635 for the TT)

The answer is probably somewhere in the 635 thread...

Thanks KA, this all seems familiar, maybe Frank sold the car to Barry Robinson, but it wasn't actually one of his.

Oh, and just a reminder that Mike Newman does still have his ex-CC Motorsport 635...

[KA]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Thanks KA, this all seems familiar, maybe Frank sold the car to Barry Robinson, but it wasn't actually one of his.

Oh, and just a reminder that Mike Newman does still have his ex-CC Motorsport 635...

just looked back a few posts, and Robinson had the ex-Stuck/Cheylesmore & Kennedy/Grundig car.

IIRC, the movements of the various 635s that passed through Sytners' hands in '84/5 got a bit complicated to follow in the 635 thread...Although who they were sold to was pretty clear (As you say, Mike Newman has still got his, and thinking about it, the 3rd ex-CC car might have gone to Belgium?), the timescale was a bit more complicated, given that Frank apparently sold all 3 CC cars over the course of the year, but still managed to enter 2 cars at both ETC rounds, though he only ever ran one in the BTCC

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by KA

IIRC, the movements of the various 635s that passed through Sytners' hands in '84/5 got a bit complicated to follow in the 635 thread...

....given that Frank apparently sold all 3 CC cars over the course of the year, but still managed to enter 2 cars at both ETC rounds, though he only ever ran one in the BTCC

Thinking about it, buying those CC cars was a clever move as unless anyone bought in a Schnitzer car or something, Sytner practically controlled who his 635 opposition might be from 1985 onwards in the Trimoco series!

[ian beckett]

The 635 being discussed above at the '86 Silverstone ETC was the ex- Chatfield/Barnes car bought by Barry Robinson mid way through the season.It was resprayed in white with black/red/yellow flashes and was backed by SDC Builders Ltd of Bedford and T W Robinson Demolition.The car was run by Craig Simmiss Engineering.The car did not start at the ETC race due to a loose flywheel whee Robinson and Martin Birrane should have driven it.Its only other race was at the Silverstone BTCC race where Robinson retired with a broken crankshaft.The car was for sale in Autosport 14/5/87 for £12,000 or £20,000 with a full rebuild!The car was eventually bought by Peter Buxtorf who ran it in black in the '88 BTCC.

[Tim Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by KA

Another find from the same source- an album of 1986 Oulton Thundersaloon pics, including the #31 ARDT Alfa 75! If the 75 wasn't homologated until after the start of the BTCC season (as we know, they ran a single GTV6 in the first round and the Donington ETC race), looks like Dooley & Kirby gave the new car a tryout by running it in an early season Thundersaloon race

It was entered at the Brands TS round in April or May, too. Results scribbled in the programme have it qualifying about 2/3rds of the way down the grid, but no clue on times or finishing position. I haven't checked the corresponding Autosports for the TS '86 rounds yet.

[KA]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Update
Round 4 of 9 of the 1986 Trimoco RAC British Touring Car Championship
Date: 15 June 1986
Track: Donington Park Grand Prix circuit (4.020 kms)
Distance: 15 laps (60.300 kms)


Believed to be the first time the Donington GP circuit was used for a round of the BSCC/BTCC.

Three retirements on the first lap - an accident?

Jesper

Looking through Autosport for 10 July, the issue before the British GP, and there's an interesting story about the Donington race, which poses a question

Headline, under a pic of the Longman Datapost RS Turbo is 'Donington Gp A Discord?'

The article reads:
'As we were closing for press, we received a Donington Park press release from the Clerk of the Course John Felix announcing the exclusion of Andy Rouse and Chris Hodgetts from the June 14/16 RAC British Saloon Car Championship race for alleged technical infringements. However, there seemed some confusion over the matter, and the RACMSA was endeavouring to establish exactly what was happening. The timing has proved somewhat unfortunate though, as the championship lines up for the superbly supported British GP round, but if the exclusions are confirmed, then it would leave Richard Longman leading the series.We hope that the matter is brought to a satisfactory conclusion quickly'

So what was this about?- There obviously seemed to be a lot of confusion over the issue, so what happened? I'll dig out the MN series review again to see if there's any mention.

From the same issue, a few other notes.

Clausthaler were definitely the sponsor of Tony Crudgington's Corolla- the magazine features a full-page colour pic of the car, in plain white with 'Clausthaler Special Low-Alcohol Lager' logos on the doors and bonnet- there's additional sponsorship from 'Simkins & Leeson'. The pic is captioned 'Tony Crudgington- Clausthaler Racing Toyota Corolla'
Autosport often used to run these full-page colour ads in the issues including British GP previews etc- The other side of the page has a similar pic of Mike Newman's Burlington 635

A couple of interesting adverts- Allan Grice's Holden 'Holden Commodore- Full latest specification, as raced by Allan Grice at Monza, Donington & Hockenheim. This car is ready to race and is in England'. Contact phone numbers in the UK (0327 dialling code- no indication of location) and Belgium are given.

The second is for Peter Hall's ICS Rover:
'Industrial Control Services plc offer for sale their championship-winning Group A Rover Vitesse. Built and prepared to latest spec by Andy Rouse Engineering regardless of cost. Immaculate condition, never damaged. Spares available include: 1x '86 specification engine, 16x wheels with Dunlop Kevlars, 8x wheels with Dunlop wets, 16", plus numerous other spares. In the right hands this car is a certain front-runner in ETC/Bathurst and the British Saloon Car Championship. Open to Serious Offers'
Interestingly, the contact given in the advert is neither Hall or Rouse, but Phil Dowsett. He certainly raced the Rover at least once, sharing it with Hall at the '85 Silverstone TT, . I won't swear to this, but I have a vague memory of reading somewhere that Dowsett's 'day job' was working for ICS?

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by KA

Looking through Autosport for 10 July, the issue before the British GP, and there's an interesting story about the Donington race, which poses a question

Headline, under a pic of the Longman Datapost RS Turbo is 'Donington Gp A Discord?'

The article reads:
'As we were closing for press, we received a Donington Park press release from the Clerk of the Course John Felix announcing the exclusion of Andy Rouse and Chris Hodgetts from the June 14/16 RAC British Saloon Car Championship race for alleged technical infringements. However, there seemed some confusion over the matter, and the RACMSA was endeavouring to establish exactly what was happening. The timing has proved somewhat unfortunate though, as the championship lines up for the superbly supported British GP round, but if the exclusions are confirmed, then it would leave Richard Longman leading the series.We hope that the matter is brought to a satisfactory conclusion quickly'

So what was this about?- There obviously seemed to be a lot of confusion over the issue, so what happened? I'll dig out the MN series review again to see if there's any mention.

From the same issue, a few other notes.

Clausthaler were definitely the sponsor of Tony Crudgington's Corolla- the magazine features a full-page colour pic of the car, in plain white with 'Clausthaler Special Low-Alcohol Lager' logos on the doors and bonnet- there's additional sponsorship from 'Simkins & Leeson'. The pic is captioned 'Tony Crudgington- Clausthaler Racing Toyota Corolla'
Autosport often used to run these full-page colour ads in the issues including British GP previews etc- The other side of the page has a similar pic of Mike Newman's Burlington 635

A couple of interesting adverts- Allan Grice's Holden 'Holden Commodore- Full latest specification, as raced by Allan Grice at Monza, Donington & Hockenheim. This car is ready to race and is in England'. Contact phone numbers in the UK (0327 dialling code- no indication of location) and Belgium are given.

The second is for Peter Hall's ICS Rover:
'Industrial Control Services plc offer for sale their championship-winning Group A Rover Vitesse. Built and prepared to latest spec by Andy Rouse Engineering regardless of cost. Immaculate condition, never damaged. Spares available include: 1x '86 specification engine, 16x wheels with Dunlop Kevlars, 8x wheels with Dunlop wets, 16", plus numerous other spares. In the right hands this car is a certain front-runner in ETC/Bathurst and the British Saloon Car Championship. Open to Serious Offers'
Interestingly, the contact given in the advert is neither Hall or Rouse, but Phil Dowsett. He certainly raced the Rover at least once, sharing it with Hall at the '85 Silverstone TT, . I won't swear to this, but I have a vague memory of reading somewhere that Dowsett's 'day job' was working for ICS?

Interesting points. Regarding the Grice VK add, I would guess that the Belgian connection would have been Michel Delcourt, codriving the Grice car on a couple of occasions during the 1986 ETCC and well connected in Australia by this point.

Dowsett was said to have had an 18 month break after a huge accident sometime during this time. I don't suspect Dowsett recuperated during all 18 months but took a break from motor racing doing rather more dealin' than weelin' it seems.

Jesper

[chunterer]

A little random OT post, although related to 1986 is Steve Soper had a small sponsorship from ICS......

I suspect it was the Hertfordshire/Essex connection where Steve and Pete Hall were based, but seems odd that Steve had the same backing as his Ford team's major rival Andy Rouse?

Don't suppose there were moves afoot to try and get Steve to drive the second Rouse car at selected BTCC events by ant chance?

[KA]

Originally Posted by chunterer

A little random OT post, although related to 1986 is Steve Soper had a small sponsorship from ICS......

I suspect it was the Hertfordshire/Essex connection where Steve and Pete Hall were based, but seems odd that Steve had the same backing as his Ford team's major rival Andy Rouse?

Don't suppose there were moves afoot to try and get Steve to drive the second Rouse car at selected BTCC events by any chance?

Now you mention it, yes, I remember I've seen pics of Soper with what looked like an ICS patch on his overalls...

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by KA

Now you mention it, yes, I remember I've seen pics of Soper with what looked like an ICS patch on his overalls...

Yeah, I noticed it on the '86 ETC review recently and thought: 'eh?'

[KA]

Originally Posted by ian beckett

The 635 being discussed above at the '86 Silverstone ETC was the ex- Chatfield/Barnes car bought by Barry Robinson mid way through the season.It was resprayed in white with black/red/yellow flashes and was backed by SDC Builders Ltd of Bedford and T W Robinson Demolition.The car was run by Craig Simmiss Engineering.The car did not start at the ETC race due to a loose flywheel whee Robinson and Martin Birrane should have driven it.Its only other race was at the Silverstone BTCC race where Robinson retired with a broken crankshaft.The car was for sale in Autosport 14/5/87 for £12,000 or £20,000 with a full rebuild!The car was eventually bought by Peter Buxtorf who ran it in black in the '88 BTCC.

Yes, found the advert, although little detail is quoted in it 'Group A BMW 635. Factory built, latest specification. For further details, CS Engineering, (London phone number)'

Quite a bit of Group A hardware for sale in that week's Autosport- over the page, there were also ads for one of the '86 season Carlsson ETC Merc 190s, and a Longman Escort RS Turbo, built for Macau '86

[KA]

Originally Posted by carrera

.

Final round Hodgetts was in maroon Minshaw car and Sheene in white Toyota GB one. Sheene started from back of grid with 10 sec penalty as he had missed official qualifying due to business commitments. Hodgetts joined him at the back to help show him the way round.

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

I was a bit confused by the video link I posted a while ago that Hodgetts raced the Demon Tweeks car, but your post support it. Still haven't found the Autosport race of my life race of Barry Sheene as he tells the story of this very race. A b/w picture shows a white AE86 with Clausthaler lettering from memory.

I recently saw a pic in an Autosport issue (don't recall the date, but end of '86/early '87) which clearly shows the maroon Demon Tweeks car carrying Hodgetts' race number #66

[KA]

Originally Posted by KA

Another find from the same source- an album of 1986 Oulton Thundersaloon pics, including the #31 ARDT Alfa 75! If the 75 wasn't homologated until after the start of the BTCC season (as we know, they ran a single GTV6 in the first round and the Donington ETC race), looks like Dooley & Kirby gave the new car a tryout by running it in an early season Thundersaloon race

Pic #18 shows it in the race, #31 & #32, showing the car at the driver change, #54 show it in the pack at the start, and #59 in the background of a shot of the Transpeed Firenza's stop
http://www.brendanmcfarlane.co.uk/ga...ton-thunder86/

Originally Posted by Tim Wilkinson

It was entered at the Brands TS round in April or May, too. Results scribbled in the programme have it qualifying about 2/3rds of the way down the grid, but no clue on times or finishing position. I haven't checked the corresponding Autosports for the TS '86 rounds yet.

It was May I think- there's a pic in the relevant issue of Autosport, showing the Alfa getting very crossed up behind the Rod Birley/Andy Rouse Sierra-GA

[bigears]

I apologise for my laziness, I am keen to help out and plug in any gaps. I don't have much time to go through the whole thread, but could anyone point out which race results that need completing or filling in?

I got 1986-1990 Motoring News newspapers and I got it with me now. Thank you.

[KA]

Originally Posted by bigears

I apologise for my laziness, I am keen to help out and plug in any gaps. I don't have much time to go through the whole thread, but could anyone point out which race results that need completing or filling in?

I got 1986-1990 Motoring News newspapers and I got it with me now. Thank you.

I think we've got most of the race results tied down now for '86- what we seem to be missing is qualifying times for quite a few races I think?

[Jesper OH]

Thank you for your offer, Bigears. I myself have been off for some time, mainly looking at historical Le Mans results and tid-bits.

As KA mentioned, grid positions is missing for some rounds:
R1: Silverstone (13 April) only pole position known
R5: Brands Hatch (13 July) a few issues at the lower end of the grid
R7: Brands Hatch (25 August) grid positions for the BH Escort XR3s
R9: Silverstone (5 October) incomplete grid

Qualifying times for just about every round bar:
R6: Snetterton (10 August) complete
R7: Brands Hatch (25 August) only the BH Escort XR3s missing

Fastest lap times is in general good shape, except for the odd time missing as follows:
R2: Thruxton (26 May) Lionel Abbott's time missing
R6: Snetterton (10 August) Times for Mike O'Brien, Brian Chatfield and Richard Belcher - all DNFs - missing.

For Round 5, the Brands Hatch GP support race, there's some doubt as to weather Mike Smith and Chris Maries started, qualified or even showed up for that race. Clarification of the matter would be nice.

Finally the points situation is always in need of a bit of tidying up, so if you could add the odd point standings from a few of the races, it would be fine. Dave Brodie won the final round but didn't receive any points, so if you can find clues as to why, that would be nice.

Thats what I can think of for 1986, besides the general discussion about the season.

Jesper