1986/1987 New Zealand Group A and Production Saloon Car Racing - Discussion & Results

[William Dale Jr]

I'm confused, Mark Petch eventually owned both the ex-Rouse and ex-Eggenberger XR4Tis, didn't he? Which one was converted into the BP Thundersaloon? The newer Eggenberger car?

[brown dog]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

I'm confused, Mark Petch eventually owned both the ex-Rouse and ex-Eggenberger XR4Tis, didn't he? Which one was converted into the BP Thundersaloon? The newer Eggenberger car?

Yes he did own them both, first the Rouse car (RHD) then the egg burger (LHD) The egg car was converted first into an RS500 which Garry Croft drove in 1988-1989 then into the BP thundersaloon in 1990 I think, and had a livery change in its last year when I think Greg Lancaster drove it, (1992 I think) which would explain the Noel Leeming Livery. And yes that is the BP car above. Fortunately we now have most of the "trick" Gp.A parts so rebuilding/restoring it won't be too difficult. The Rouse RHD car is still out there somewhere, nobody seems to know where that one went.

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

BTW, nice to hear you're a Grice fan

I think it was 7Sport commentator Mike Raymond who dupped Grice "Australian Car Cowboy #1". Very fitting to Allan's exuberant driving style. His live comments during the 1987 ATCC did no harm either.

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Yep, Tulloch leased the car from Slako for the summer.

Some time ago I put together a race-by-race record for the Slako Rover and interesting to know that another likely handfull of races can be added, when more information emerges. I guess that it was still running in the usual pink/green colours when Tulloch raced it?

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

Found some YouTube Wellington 500-video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOyph36_LfY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYRN8...eature=related

This is obviously an Australian production, but what was the New Zealand TV-situation at the time - chances of other races covered?

Jesper

[racer69]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

For future references of the South Pacific Touring Car Championship, this would be the calender:

Baypark might have been held on December 7 1986.

Glad to see that one of my all-time touring car heroes Allan Grice won this title. To my reckoning he won few races during the Group A era and the SPTCC was his only title during this.

Would the South Pacific Touring Car Championship be an equivalent of the 1960/1970s TASMAN single seater series, but for tin-tops?

Jesper

I'll have to get the tape out to check, but i'm pretty sure Rd1 of the 1986 South Pacific series was at Calder Park (doubled as Rd5 of the Australian Endurance Series), the event was run under the name "Sun South Pacific 300", and i recall the commentators at the AGP referring to the Group A race as Rd2 of the series.

Not sure of what the SPTCC was all about.... the same name was used in the early 1970s for the Production Touring Car races that supported the Australian rounds of the Tasman Series.

An SPTCC was also run in 1987 (Adelaide was Rd1 that year), and of course the Asia-Pacific TCC was run in 1988.

I've also seen reference to the "1987 International Touring Car Championship", which was supposed to incorporate Bathurst, Calder, Wellington, Pukekohe & Macau from late 1987.. but that is for another thread of course.

[brendonwood1]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Found some YouTube Wellington 500-video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOyph36_LfY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYRN8...eature=related

This is obviously an Australian production, but what was the New Zealand TV-situation at the time - chances of other races covered?

Jesper

Hi,
Local TV covered all the Wellington Street Races in full. TVNZ covered the races from 1985 to 1989. The 1990-1993 and 1996 races were covered by the new TV3 network.
The Australian Channel 7 commentary team came over to join the local crew from 1986 to 1987 WTCC race - and the highlights shown on youtube are what were shown to the Australian TV audiences. Pretty sure the race was only live in NZ and Aust TV got these 40 minute highlights packages. The full Australian commentary was probably added to the highlights packages, as I'm pretty sure that TVNZ used both NZ and Australian commentators.
I used to have the 1988-93 races on tape. Not sure how many I taped over and they are in storage in NZ now. Not sure if the tape is any good anyway.

One thing that is interesting about the coverage of the early Wellington street races is that there are no in-car cameras used. I believe they tried with an in car camera with Brock car in the 1987 Jan race, but the tall buildings interfered with the signal. I believe it may have been the 1988 race before in-car camera technology was good enough - as there is in-car camera footage from inside the Johnson Sierra available on Youtube.

[brendonwood1]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

For future references of the South Pacific Touring Car Championship, this would be the calender:

Baypark might have been held on December 7 1986.

Glad to see that one of my all-time touring car heroes Allan Grice won this title. To my reckoning he won few races during the Group A era and the SPTCC was his only title during this.

Would the South Pacific Touring Car Championship be an equivalent of the 1960/1970s TASMAN single seater series, but for tin-tops?

Jesper

There was a South Pacific Touring Car series in the early 1970s for Australian series production cars during the Falcon GTHO/Torana XU1 era. But these races were held in Australia. I believe they were held during the summer as support races to the Tasman series.

As far as I remember, the 1986 South Pacific Touring Car Championship was an attempt by the NZ track organisers to cash in on the popularity of Group A at that time in NZ and to try and link up with a few Australian races to provide an international championship. I think the hope was that Australian teams would run the first few rounds in Australia and then bring their cars over to NZ for the final few rounds and then stay on for the Nissan Mobil series in January 1987.
Of course, only Allan Grice and Charlie O'Brien ended up doing the full series - and Grice drove both a Commodore and a Skyline.
The NZ rounds of the 1986 South Pacific series also replaced the New Zealand Touring Car Championship, which is how Charlie O'Brien & Glen McIntyre - who scored the most points in the three NZ races - ended up as 1986 NZ Touring Car Champions. Whereas Grice won the South Pacific Touring Car Championship by scoring points in all rounds.

This series and the early 1987 Nissan Mobil 500 signalled the height of popularity of Group A in NZ. I think the Simpson series was going to be held again in late 1987, but was cancelled due to a lack of interest from the teams.
For the 1987/88 season (for another thread), there were fewer races, with the WTCC round at Wellington, the Benson & Hedges 500 at Pukekohe a week after Wellington and a return to sprint races for the NZ Touring Car Championship during the NZ summer series over 87/88.
Group A simply became too expensive with the arrival of the Sierra Cosworth and BMW M3 - and few NZ teams could afford either.
As a result, from 1987 until the death of Group A in 1992, the fields were smaller, although there was still some good racing.

I do have extensive material covering the NZ scene from 1987-92 in storage in NZ. It may take some months, but eventually I'll get all of the magazines and reports together and put up the full results on ten-tenths.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by brendonwood1

Hi,
Local TV covered all the Wellington Street Races in full. TVNZ covered the races from 1985 to 1989. The 1990-1993 and 1996 races were covered by the new TV3 network.
The Australian Channel 7 commentary team came over to join the local crew from 1986 to 1987 WTCC race - and the highlights shown on youtube are what were shown to the Australian TV audiences. Pretty sure the race was only live in NZ and Aust TV got these 40 minute highlights packages. The full Australian commentary was probably added to the highlights packages, as I'm pretty sure that TVNZ used both NZ and Australian commentators.

Thats pretty much on the money.

Channel 7 only showed the 1986, 1987 Jan & 1987 WTCC Wellington races properly (in later years they'd show small highlights in the news etc...)

Evan Green commentated on the 1986 race for NZ TV, but Neil Crompton was over there doing interviews 7, and he and Mike Raymond voiced over the highlights for Australian audiences, using the NZ footage.

For 1987 January, Mike Raymond & Neil Crompton were part of the NZ live commentary, and then voiced over highlights later for Channel 7 in Australia.

For the 1987 WTCC race, Raymond, Crompton (when not driving) & Richard Hay joined the live NZ coverage, and the three of them then voiced over highlights for Channel 7

Unfortunatly for 1988 they stopped showing it, a shame as 1988 looked like a competitive race (and had a relatively suprising winner)

[KA]

Unless we did it in another thread, we seem to have stopped short of looking at the two Nissan-Mobil races at Wellington and Pukekohe- though Jesper linked some Youtube video a page or so back, and there have been a few mentions through the thread. Results are on Frank de Jong's site, but incomplete- particularly for Pukekohe.

The Nissan-Mobil series is interesting because it's the last series contested purely by the 'old-school' Group A cars before the Sierra Cosworths and M3s arrived- particularly the Jaguar XJS, as TWR brought the big cat out of retirement for a last tour of duty, taking in the Fuji race in Japan and the two NZ races (running under a dispensation in NZ, as the homologation expired a few weeks earlier)

Found a few pics on 'The Roaring Season' forum and dug out the 1987 Bathurst annual to get an idea of the entry.

To kick off with TWR, two cars appeared at Wellington (Walkinshaw/Percy and Hahne/Hulme) sponsored by Strathmore Group- neither finished at Wellington, and just a single car for Hahne/Percy at Pukekohe- IIRC one car was shunted at Wellington?
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...PercyHahne.jpg

The main BMW entries were 635-mounted; the black Archibalds car for Trevor Crowe and Jim Richards
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...weRichards.jpg

and a pair from Charlie O'Brien
the State Coal car for O'Brien & Glenn McIntyre
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...tyreObrien.jpg
..and a second car leased to Christchurch drivers Allan Milligan and Avon Hyde
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...nMilliganb.jpg

Nissan were represented by the Nissan NZ cars of Kent Baigent and Graeme Bowkett (although I think they only raced one of their two cars) and one of the Australian Peter Jackson cars made the trip for Fury/Seton
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...entBowkett.jpg
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q.../FurySeton.jpg

The Ford presence was a mixture of Sierras and Mustangs. The Sierras, a pair of XR4Tis- Neville Crichton had imported a 1986 Eggenberger car and Steve Soper
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...htonSierra.jpg
while Andrew Miedecke and Michael Hall leased the ex-Andy Rouse car that had gone to NZ at the end of '85
The main Mustang entries were the ex-Dick Johnson car of Robbie Ker, joined by Johnson- although this would be out of contention before the action started, getting caught up in a someone else's shunt during second practice at Wellington...
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....postcount=3407
The Anderson Brothers seem to have had two Pinepac cars, Anderson/Francevic and Anderson/Robertson
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...ustang32sm.jpg
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...ustang33-1.jpg

[Jesper OH]

I think you're right about the second XJS was a non-starter at Pukekohe because of accident damage. I seem to remember that the TWR Jaguars were running 1984 spec tyres because no development had happened. Any confirmation of this?

Jesper

[KA]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

I think you're right about the second XJS was a non-starter at Pukekohe because of accident damage. I seem to remember that the TWR Jaguars were running 1984 spec tyres because no development had happened. Any confirmation of this?

Jesper

The video you posted a link to certainly mentioned tyre problems a couple of times, and the Hahne car certainly looked pretty lurid and sideways at one point. There's also a brief pitlane interview with TW in which he says their tactic had been to sit back early in the race, however, unscheduled pitstops for three punctures had messed the plan up- again does this hint at tyre troubles?

I'm just re-reading the relevant chapter in the Bathurst book, but it's a bit sketchy and jumps about, rather than covering the two races chronologically...

[KA]

To round off the major entries

The Holden entries included Larry Perkins' EnZed car, shared with David Parsons at Wellington, with Denny Hulme replacing Parsons for Pukekohe...
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...rkinsHulme.jpg

a pair of HDT cars (Brock/Moffatt and Harvey/Lowe) which would take a 1-2 finish at Wellington; Graeme Cameron's ex-Roadways car shared with Allan Grice, and the local Graeme Crosby/Wayne Wilkinson car, sponsored by Wang Computers

International visitors, apart from the Jags, included a Volvo for Per-Gunnar Andersson/Garry Croft (just visible in the background of this pic of the Crichton XR4Ti)
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....5&postcount=24

and a Chris Hodgetts Corolla at Wellington, shared with Andrew Bagnall
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...rums/bath2.jpg

Race results for Wellington
http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...llington2.html
and a partial one Pukekohe
http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...February).html

The pics on 'Roaring Season' also include this paddock shot of a VK Commodore, with McLean/Downs on the sunstrip- another 1987 entry? It's certainly got Nissan Mobil 500 decals on the door...
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...evorMcLean.jpg

[racer69]

Regarding only 1 Jag at Pukekohe;

The Hahne/Hulme #52 car from Wellington probably could have been repaired for the following weekend, but they had a driver issue. (Hahne had a tyre let go on the approach to the bridge, the same part of track that claimed Johnson & Longhurst in qualifying, and the Andersson/Croft Volvo & Bowkett/Baigent Nissan early in the race)

Walkinshaw had to go home straight after Wellington (i'll have to check the books, but i think there was a family issue of some sort). At the same time David Parsons had earned Larry Perkins wrath after crashing the Enzed Commodore while in a very strong position at Wellington, and Perkins wasn't keen on the relationship continuing.

Hulme did a deal with Perkins to partner him in the #11 Commodore at Pukekohe, while Hahne moved across to the sole #51 XJS and Tom went home.

Originally Posted by KA

a pair of HDT cars (Brock/Moffatt and Harvey/Lowe) which would take a 1-2 finish at Wellington

It was a wierd finish this one.

The two Dealer Team cars went around in formation for the last two or so laps. Charlie O'Brien caught up to them, but seemed to think the race was over or something as he just cruised around behind them, rather than try and overtake.

Fury/Seton had this one in the bag by half distance, they were getting on to a minute infront when they came in for their scheduled stop, and the car didn't go any further.

Originally Posted by KA

Graeme Cameron's ex-Roadways car shared with Allan Grice, and the local Graeme Crosby/Wayne Wilkinson car, sponsored by Wang Computers

The Cameron/Grice car was the one debuted by Grice at the 1986 AGP, and subsequently went to Mt Fuji at the end of 1986 to be driven by Grice and Crosby. After the Pukekohe 500, the car went back to Australia and was driven by Graeme Crosby in the opening two ATCC rounds at Calder and Symmons Plains

Originally Posted by KA

included a Volvo for Per-Gunnar Andersson/Garry Croft

This car was #4 and sponsored by U-Bix Copiers.... what was the origins of this car? Was it the same car as the one that came 3rd in the 1986 Wellington 500, #4 again, sponsored by "Rock-Gas" and driven by Andersson and Dave McMillan?

[KA]

Originally Posted by racer69

Regarding only 1 Jag at Pukekohe;

The Hahne/Hulme #52 car from Wellington probably could have been repaired for the following weekend, but they had a driver issue. (Hahne had a tyre let go on the approach to the bridge, the same part of track that claimed Johnson & Longhurst in qualifying, and the Andersson/Croft Volvo & Bowkett/Baigent Nissan early in the race)

Walkinshaw had to go home straight after Wellington (i'll have to check the books, but i think there was a family issue of some sort). At the same time David Parsons had earned Larry Perkins wrath after crashing the Enzed Commodore while in a very strong position at Wellington, and Perkins wasn't keen on the relationship continuing.

Hulme did a deal with Perkins to partner him in the #11 Commodore at Pukekohe, while Hahne moved across to the sole #51 XJS and Tom went home.

Yes, the bit about Walkinshaw returning to the UK after Wellington rings a bell with me as well. I had it in my head that it was a business commitment back home, but thinking about it, your suggestion makes more sense- if Tom had always been going to miss Pukekohe because of an existing business commitment, they'd have had another driver lined up to take that seat.

Re: the Volvo, given Andersson's presence at both races, it was almost certainly a car from Europe. Possibly the Soderqvist team?

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by KA

Re: the Volvo, given Andersson's presence at both races, it was almost certainly a car from Europe. Possibly the Soderqvist team?

I'm quite sure this is the much raced 240 that "Peggen" had raced in group A since 1984, mainly in Sweden and Germany. It might even have had a past as a Turbo Cup car before that. The car was advertised in Autosport some time during 1987 with a picture showing it in one of the Nissan 500 races. I even think it became the Zepspeed car in Thailand mentioned at Björn Ohlson's site: http://www.240grupp-a.se/forare_team.htm

Jesper

[brendonwood1]

Originally Posted by KA

Yes, the bit about Walkinshaw returning to the UK after Wellington rings a bell with me as well. I had it in my head that it was a business commitment back home, but thinking about it, your suggestion makes more sense- if Tom had always been going to miss Pukekohe because of an existing business commitment, they'd have had another driver lined up to take that seat.

My memory is that Walkinshaw's father was very ill and he had to get back to the UK for that reason.

[Frank de Jong]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

For future references of the South Pacific Touring Car Championship, this would be the calender:

Baypark might have been held on December 7 1986.

Glad to see that one of my all-time touring car heroes Allan Grice won this title. To my reckoning he won few races during the Group A era and the SPTCC was his only title during this.

Would the South Pacific Touring Car Championship be an equivalent of the 1960/1970s TASMAN single seater series, but for tin-tops?

Jesper

I guess the race at Pukekohe was on Feb 1, 1987: http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...February).html

[MalcolmC]

I have a copy of the Adelaide F1GP programme and above the entry list for the Group A support race it states that it is the 'South Pacific Touring Car Championship Round 2'.

By the time the championship reached NZ it was known as the Simpson Appliances South Pacific Touring Car Championship and the dates in the programme (shared by all the NZ rounds) were:
19/10/86 Calder, Aus.
26/10/86 Adelaide, Aus.
30/11/86 Manfeild, NZ.
7/12/86 Bay Park, NZ.
14/12/86 Pukekohe, NZ.

Around the same time in NZ we had the Benson & Hedges Series:
19/10/86 Manfeild.
26/10/86 Bay Park.
16/11/86 Pukekohe.

... and the NZTCC:
30/11/86 Manfeild.
7/12/86 Bay Park.
14/12/86 Pukekohe.
25/01/87 Wellington Nissan Mobil 500.
1/02/87 Pukekohe Nissan Mobil 500.

I have programmes and some newspaper clippings for all the above except for the Calder SPTCC and Bay Park B&H so if you need more info, I'll see what I have. I've already looked for the 1/02/87 Pukekohe Nissan Mobil 500 results without any luck, sorry.

Cheers, Malcolm.

[Jesper OH]

Thank you for the overview, Malcolm. It clarifies a lot. I have just found a top-10 and bits from the Pukekohe race on 1st February 1987. I'll just have to make some sence of it and will post what I've got.
Entry lists for the various races will be very interesting, if you could scan them or produce them otherwise.

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

1st February 1987 - Pukekohe 500
Pukekohe Grand Prix Circuit, Auckland, New Zealand
Distance: 2.820 kms x 178 laps = 501.960 kms
Round 5 of 5 of the 1986/1987 NZTCC
Round 2 of 2 of the 1987 Nissan Mobil 500 Series

pos.	pos.	#	drivers	”entrant”	cl.	car	grid	time	laps	time
1.	1.	11	Denny Hulme (NZ)/Larry Perkins (AUS)	Larry Perkins	3	Holden Commodore VK	1.		178	3:21:23.80
2.	2.		Armin Hahne (D)/Win Percy (GB)	Tom Walkinshaw	3	Jaguar XJ-S HE	3.		178
3.	3.	05	Peter Brock (AUS)/Allan Moffat (CDN)	Peter Brock	3	Holden Commodore VK	7.	1:34.18?	176
4.	4.		Graeme Crosby (NZ)/Wayne Wilkinson (NZ)	Graeme Crosby	3	Holden Commodore VK	4.		176
5.	5.		John Harvey (AUS)/Neal Lowe (NZ)	Peter Brock	3	Holden Commodore VK	14.		176
6.	6.		Steve Soper (GB)/Neville Crichton (NZ)	Neville Chrichton	3	Ford Sierra XR4Ti			175
3.	3.		Charlie O'Brien (AUS)/Glenn McIntyre (NZ)	Charlie O'Brien	3	BMW 635CSi	13.		173
8.	8.		Per-Gunnar Andersson (S)/Gary Croft (NZ)	Per-Gunnar Andersson	3	Volvo 240 Turbo			173
9.	9.		Andrew Miedecke (AUS)/Michael Hall (AUS?)	Andrew Miedecke (leased)	3	Ford Sierra XR4Ti			171
10.	10.		Trevor McLean (?)/Rod Downs (?)		3	Holden Commodore VK			170
?	1.		Bob Holden (AUS)/Unknown (?)	Bob Holden	1	Toyota Corolla GT
?			Chris Hodgetts (GB)/Andrew Bagnall (NZ)	Chris Hodgetts	1	Toyota Corolla GT
?			Jim Richards (NZ)/Trevor Crowe (NZ)	Trevor Crowe	3	BMW 635CSi	12.
DNF			George Fury (AUS)/Glenn Seton (AUS)	Fred Gibson	3	Nissan Skyline RS Turbo	2.			headgasket
DNF			Allan Grice (AUS)/Graeme Cameron (NZ)	Graeme Cameron	3	Holden Commodore VK	5.			oil pressure
DNF			Graeme Bowkett (NZ)/Kent Baigent (NZ)	Bowkett/Baigent?	3	Nissan Skyline RS Turbo	6.			drive shaft

Most of the information are from the Bathurst 87/88 annual, pages 12-23.

The Larry Perkins pole was said to be his first in a touring car.

A race dominated by the new Perkins/Hulme combo, leading the Fury/Seton Nissan and a bunch of Holdens and the Jaguar away at the start. Technical issues and not least punctures hampered just about every single top team except the winning car.

Jesper

[MalcolmC]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Entry lists for the various races will be very interesting, if you could scan them or produce them otherwise.

Ok, starting with the Benson & Hedges Series.

Round 1, 19-Oct-86, Manfeild.
Entry list from the Manfeild race programme, but it states that it applies to the Bay Park event also.
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...0-86_Entry.jpg
Results probably from the newspaper 'Hawke's Bay Herald Tribune'.
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...86_Results.jpg
Photos also from the 'Hawke's Bay Herald Tribune', which used to be the paper for Hastings (NZ) hence the focus on Mr Bristow.
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...-86_Photo2.jpg
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...-86_Photo1.jpg

Round 2, 26-Oct-86, Bay Park.
Results from the Australian newspaper Auto Action. (Note, I think the photo accompanying the article dates from 1985 in Australia... Sandown maybe ???)
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...86_Results.jpg

Round 3, 16-Nov-86, Pukekohe.
Entry list from the race programme.
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...1-86_Entry.jpg
Photo probably from the 'Sunday Star' newspaper.
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...-86_Photo1.jpg
Preview article. Not sure of the source.
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...86_Preview.jpg
Results from Auto Action.
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...86_Results.jpg
Trevor Crowe's review from the 'Hawke's Bay Herald Tribune' but I think his regular column was wide published in NZ.
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...-86_Review.jpg

That's all I've found for the 1986 Benson & Hedges series. I'll follow up with the other series' over the next few days.

Cheers, Malcolm.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by MalcolmC

I have programmes and some newspaper clippings for all the above except for the Calder SPTCC and Bay Park B&H so if you need more info, I'll see what I have.

As Jesper says, would be great to see the entry lists, and also any of the interesting pictures that the programmes might contain

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

The Larry Perkins pole was said to be his first in a touring car.

That sounds about right.

He is credited with pole for Bathurst 1983, but of course it was Brock who set the lap time.

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

A race dominated by the new Perkins/Hulme combo, leading the Fury/Seton Nissan and a bunch of Holdens and the Jaguar away at the start. Technical issues and not least punctures hampered just about every single top team except the winning car.

I got vision from this race, but it won't play on Windows Media Player so i can't put up any screenshots. Its basically a review of the race, it does have some interested interviews in it, including one with Neville Crichton talking about his new Eggenberger XR4ti Sierra and how he planned to run the car in the entire WTCC....

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by racer69

I got vision from this race, but it won't play on Windows Media Player so i can't put up any screenshots. Its basically a review of the race, it does have some interested interviews in it, including one with Neville Crichton talking about his new Eggenberger XR4ti Sierra and how he planned to run the car in the entire WTCC....

Interesting, I wonder what changed his mind, the exorbitant entry fee of lack of faith in the equipment.

I would've thought an Eggenberger sorted Ti would've given an early Cossie a decent race, it did in Germany IIRC?

[KA]

I hadn't heard that- though it doesn't come as a great surprise- Crichton had done a few races in Europe in '86 as part of the TWR 'South Pacific Racing' Rover entry, maybe a pointer towards him having WTCC aspirations, given the presence of Brock/HDT and Grice for some of the European season. Probably explains the XR4Ti deal as well- he'd have had a pretty fair idea of the potential of the car in his ETC appearances.

As you say, the XR4Ti remained competitive in Germany in '87 (Manuel Reuter, Frank Biela and Klaus Ludwig all winning DTM races in one), though wasn't it helped to some degree by the DTM rules? Certainly all of the German Ford teams stuck with their XR4Tis rather than the new Cosworth until a couple of RS500s right at the end of the season, which suggests the regs might have favoured the older version of the Sierra (iirc weight limits had something to do with it?)

I'd agree that a well run XR4Ti probably wouldn't have been far off the Cosworths at the start of the season at least- things would certainly have changed once the RS500 came on stream mid-year. Funnily enough, I don't think the two types of Sierra variants actually raced against each other much- a couple of late-season DTM races, a few ATCC appearances for Crichton's car, and maybe one or two of the German cars did the 'Ring WTCC round?