1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship - Discussion & Results

[Jesper OH]

Round 11 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship scheduled for Monday 29th August 1988 over 20 laps of the 3.975 km Birmingham street circuit. Race cancelled due to delays in the meeting.

Most information taken from 8W: http://8w.forix.com/bsp-88.html

Grid:

pos.	class	#	Entrant	Driver	Car	Class	Time
1.	1.	6	Eggenberger Motorsport	Steve Soper	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	1:36.48
2.	2.	22	Kaliber Ford	Andy Rouse	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	1:37.97
3.	3.	21	Kaliber Ford	Guy Edwards	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	1:39.96
4.	4.	19	Baynard Cars Limited	Laurence Bristow	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	1:40.07
5.	5.	12	Herbie Clips	Tom Walkinshaw	Holden Commodore VL/SS	A	no info
6.	6.	16	Duckhams Racing with Karl Jones	Karl Jones	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	1:40.35
7.	7.	10	Industrial Control Services plc	Robb Gravett	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	no info
8.	8.	5	Terry Drury Racing	Tim Harvey	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	no info
9.	9.					A	no info
10.	1.	33	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Frank Sytner	BMW M3	B	1:41.94
11.
12.
13.
14.		34	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	James Weaver	BMW M3	B	no info
15.
16.
17.		32	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Mike Smith	BMW M3	B	no info
?	1.	55	John Maguire Racing-David Sutton Motorsport	James Shead	VW Golf GTI 16V	C	no info
?	1.	70	TOM'S GB Limited	Phil Dowsett	Toyota Corolla FX/GT	D	no info
?	2.	69	MIL Motorsport	John Llewellyn	Toyota Corolla GT	D	no info
?	?	36	Godfrey Hall Limited	Godfrey Hall	BMW M3	B	no info
?	?	1	Shell-Toyota-MIL	Mark Hales	Toyota Supra Turbo	A	no info
?	?	7	Autoglass	Mike O'Brien	Holden Commodore VL/SS	A	no info

BTW, I owe you guys a big thank you for keep posting last night. It made for quite a lot of updates to my notes today – wonderfull!

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

Round 12 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 18th September 1988 over x laps of the x.xxx miles/x.xxx kms Donington Park circuit.

Only got a points table as a reference

Class A:
1./ #22 / Andy Rouse / ARE / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / x laps / 25:05.79
2./ #6 / Steve Soper / Eggenberger / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 25:07.63
3./ #11 / Chris Hodgetts / Brooklyn / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 25:18.07
? / #14 / Mike Newman / GGR / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 4th in class
? / #15 / Graham Goode / GGR / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 5th in class
? / #21 / Guy Edwards / ARE / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 6th in class
? / #8 / Jerry Mahony / Dowson / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / ?
? / #19 / Laurence Bristow / ARE / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / ?
? / #7 / Mike O'Brien / Docking / A / Holden Commodore VL-SS / ?
DNF / #5 / Tim Harvey / TDR / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / ?
Fastest lap: Andy Rouse

Class B:
? / #33 / Frank Sytner / Prodrive / B / BMW M3 / 1st in class
? / #34 / James Weaver / Prodrive / B / BMW M3 / 2nd in class
? / #44 / Roland Ratzenberger / Minshaw / B / BMW M3 / 3rd in class
? / #36 / Godfrey Hall / Maguire / B / BMW M3 / 4th in class
? / #32? / Lionel Abbott / Prodrive? / B / BMW M3? / 5th in class
Fastest lap: Roland Ratzenberger

Class C:
? / #55 / James Shead / Maguire / C / VW Golf GTI 16V / 1st in class
? / #48 / Andrew Jeffrey / Specialist Cars / C / VW Golf GTI 16V / 2nd in class
DNF / #50 / Alan Minshaw / Minshaw / C / VW Golf GTI 16V / ?
Fastest lap: Alan Minshaw

Class D:
? / #70 / Phil Dowsett / TOM'S GB / D / Toyota Corolla FXGT / 1st in class
? / #77 / Geoff Kimber-Smith / Kimber-Smith / D / Toyota Corolla GT / 2nd in class
? / #69 / John Llewellyn / MIL / D / Toyota Corolla GT / 3rd in class
DNF / #63 / Tony Crudgington / Crudgington / D / Toyota Corolla GT / ?

Third race for Chris Hodgetts in the Brooklyn Sierra. In the 25 August 1988 issue of Autosport there's an article about Hodgetts giving his view of why he abandoned the MIL Toyota Supra ship. Ecentially it was down to a lack of competitiveness as well as missing or delayed homologation of parts, but also the fact that his family was not welcome in the team. Team owner Alex Moss on the other hand was disappointed that Hodgetts couldn't wait for the evolution version to homologated for 1989. Apparently so couldn't the team itself neither, as the cars seems to have been sold on before the 1989 season as described in other threads.
The RS500 was build in-house by Brooklyn with a view of challenging Andy Rouse for overall honours in 1989 and finishing third here at Donington Park must have been regarded as a good omen for future success.

Mike Smith seems to be missing from this and the final round at Silverstone, presumably replaced by Lionel Abbott here at Donington Park. I guess his helicopter crash was responsible for him missing these two races.

Jesper

[Tim Wilkinson]

Abbott wasn't that much slower than the others in the race, despite only having a handful of laps - best lap only a second off the quickest driver. Makes me think that there were issues in qualifying. We'll probably find out when I get to checking out the rest of the year.

Ill let you guys carry on with the results, and just chip in with the news items and extra info on the races where I can (I may go back to the start of my collection and post bits too, where I can - I have no idea where we started, though!). It's all going to get a bit out of synch - I wonder if there's a way we can put it in chronological order, with additional info and comments? It seems like it might end up being a lot of info for a proper website dedicated to this era.......

[KA]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Round 10 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 21st August 1988 over 15 laps of the x.xxx miles/4.812 kms Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

Also on the bill:
FIA International Formula 3000 Championship
GM/Lotus Euroseries
RAC British Formula Ford 1600 Championship
Pirelli Autofarm Modified Porsche series


Jesper

Jesper- Is that version of the result from Autosport? I'm assuming it is, as it's the same as the version I've got, and there's something odd about it that's puzzled me for a while- If you look at the qualifying times from the bottom half or so of the field, we have:

19th: Abbott
20th: who?
21st: Dowsett
22nd: Jeffrey
23rd: Shead
24th: Crudgington
25th: May
26th: Geoff Kimber-Smith
27th: John Llewellyn
28th: who?
29th: Barbara Cowell
30th: Lionel Wiffen

Any idea who the missing cars in 20th and 28th could be?- presumably another couple of non-starters, or have Autosport just managed to throw a couple of gaps into the qualifying order by mistake?

Most of the 'regular' cars by that stage of the season are present, and correct as far as I can see, so it's one of the occasional entries. I have a suspicion one of them might be Mark Goddard in the AJG Transport RS1600i, but I'm not sure why...If I'm right about Goddard, I might have compared the Autosport and MN race reports to find him- sadly I don't have the latter to hand right now

Anyone got the entry list from the race programme, or the MN report?

[KA]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Round 11 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship scheduled for Monday 29th August 1988 over 20 laps of the 3.975 km Birmingham street circuit. Race cancelled due to delays in the meeting.

Most information taken from 8W: http://8w.forix.com/bsp-88.html

Grid:

BTW, I owe you guys a big thank you for keep posting last night. It made for quite a lot of updates to my notes today – wonderfull!

Jesper

This is the version of the Birmingham grid I've got, based on the Motoring News report of the event. The main problem with MN BTCC reports that year is they don't include a separate table of the grid, or include qualifying times in the result table, but include them in the narrative report of the qualifying session.

This isn't always helpful, as it makes them harder to follow, they don't always discuss the grid in exact order, or give times and precise grid positions for every driver....

I'm fairly confident about the top 17 (with a couple of exceptions- see below), but the order after that might be a bit more approximate- to almost paraphrase Eric Morecambe, 'I've listed all the right cars, just not neccesarily in the right order'

The DNQs I'm pretty certain of, except that I'm not totally sure whether the Maserati and Wiffen's Escort simply missed the qualifying sessions with problems, or were no-shows altogether- I think it's the former, but I'm working from notes made a couple years ago from an original magazine article that's still in my parents' loft 200 miles away

The one big doubt I've got is the Prodrive M3s, as I have them in a different order to you- I'm sure about Sytner, but my notes have Smith in his regular #32 in 14th, and Will Hoy in #34 in 17th. Of course, we've already seen that Autosport and MN's reports of the same race didn't always agree on who was actually on the grid. I don't know which, if either, the Forix piece is based on- it mentions Smith and Hoy rather than Smith and Weaver but has their respective qualifying positions as Hoy 14th and Smith 17th

Main newsworthy item apart from the race being abandoned (from memory there were some very angry quotes from teams and drivers in the MN report) was probably the almost-debut of the TWR Holden in new evolution form (though I think the Mike O'Brien car ran in the new TWR spec at the previous Brands round??)

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by KA

Jesper- Is that version of the result from Autosport? I'm assuming it is, as it's the same as the version I've got, and there's something odd about it that's puzzled me for a while- If you look at the qualifying times from the bottom half or so of the field, we have:

19th: Abbott
20th: who?
21st: Dowsett
22nd: Jeffrey
23rd: Shead
24th: Crudgington
25th: May
26th: Geoff Kimber-Smith
27th: John Llewellyn
28th: who?
29th: Barbara Cowell
30th: Lionel Wiffen

Any idea who the missing cars in 20th and 28th could be?- presumably another couple of non-starters, or have Autosport just managed to throw a couple of gaps into the qualifying order by mistake?

Most of the 'regular' cars by that stage of the season are present, and correct as far as I can see, so it's one of the occasional entries. I have a suspicion one of them might be Mark Goddard in the AJG Transport RS1600i, but I'm not sure why...If I'm right about Goddard, I might have compared the Autosport and MN race reports to find him- sadly I don't have the latter to hand right now

Anyone got the entry list from the race programme, or the MN report?

Didn't spot that, so thank you for reminding, and yes, this is from Autosport. Both Laurence Bristow and James Shead mentioned as non-starters, but there might have been another two non-starters.

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by KA

This is the version of the Birmingham grid I've got, based on the Motoring News report of the event. The main problem with MN BTCC reports that year is they don't include a separate table of the grid, or include qualifying times in the result table, but include them in the narrative report of the qualifying session.

This isn't always helpful, as it makes them harder to follow, they don't always discuss the grid in exact order, or give times and precise grid positions for every driver....

I'm fairly confident about the top 17 (with a couple of exceptions- see below), but the order after that might be a bit more approximate- to almost paraphrase Eric Morecambe, 'I've listed all the right cars, just not neccesarily in the right order'

The DNQs I'm pretty certain of, except that I'm not totally sure whether the Maserati and Wiffen's Escort simply missed the qualifying sessions with problems, or were no-shows altogether- I think it's the former, but I'm working from notes made a couple years ago from an original magazine article that's still in my parents' loft 200 miles away

The one big doubt I've got is the Prodrive M3s, as I have them in a different order to you- I'm sure about Sytner, but my notes have Smith in his regular #32 in 14th, and Will Hoy in #34 in 17th. Of course, we've already seen that Autosport and MN's reports of the same race didn't always agree on who was actually on the grid. I don't know which, if either, the Forix piece is based on- it mentions Smith and Hoy rather than Smith and Weaver but has their respective qualifying positions as Hoy 14th and Smith 17th

Main newsworthy item apart from the race being abandoned (from memory there were some very angry quotes from teams and drivers in the MN report) was probably the almost-debut of the TWR Holden in new evolution form (though I think the Mike O'Brien car ran in the new TWR spec at the previous Brands round??)

We probably need a few other sources to sort the likely grid, but your additions give an idea of who was actually present in Birmingham.

There's a picture of the full evo VL/SS in the Brands Hatch report, so yes.

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

Round 13 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 2nd October 1988 over 15 laps of the 4.778 kms Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.

Grid line-up: 2-2-2-etc.

Pos.	#	Entrant	Driver	Car	Cat.	Laps/time	Notes	Fastest lt	Q-time	Grid
1.	6	Eggenberger Motorsport	Gianfranco Brancatelli	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:41.85		1:37.06	1:36.02	2.
2.	5	Terry Drury Racing	Tim Harvey	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:53.75		1:37.70	1:37.15	4.
3.	19	Baynard Cars Limited	Laurence Bristow	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:59.92		1:38.52	1:37.84	6.
4.	21	Kaliber Ford	Guy Edwards	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/25:04.96		1:38.67	1:37.49	5.
5.	8	Arquati UK Limited	Jerry Mahony	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/25:18.09		1:39.45	1:38.28	7.
6.	30	Brodie Brittain Racing	David Brodie	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/25:42.26		1:40.95	1:41.08	18.
7.	33	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Frank Sytner	BMW M3	B	15/25:51.79		1:41.71	1:40.23	11.
8.	32	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Will Hoy	BMW M3	B	15/25:52.23		1:41.94	1:40.89	15.
9.	44	Alan Minshaw	Roland Ratzenberger	BMW M3	B	15/25:55.33		1:42.18	1:40.54	12.
10.	22	Kaliber Ford	Andy Rouse	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/26:02.63		1:37.11	1:36.02	1.
11.	20	Soans-Ford Dealers	Graham Hathaway	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/26:31.76		1:43.13	1:40.71	13.
12.	70	TOM'S GB Limited	Phil Dowsett	Toyota Corolla FX/GT	D	14 laps		1:49.08	1:48.66	23.
13.	50	Alan Minshaw	Alan Minshaw	VW Golf GTI 16V	C	14 laps		1:49.05	1:48.86	24.
14.	60	CHMS	Mark Goddard	Toyota Corolla GT	D	14 laps		1:49.93	1:50.62	28.
15.	55	John Maguire Racing-David Sutton Motorsport	James Shead	VW Golf GTI 16V	C	14 laps		1:49.22	1:49.55	25.
16.	69	MIL Motorsport	John Llewellyn	Toyota Corolla GT	D	14 laps		1:51.06	1:50.79	29.
17.	63	Tony Crudgington	Tony Crudgington	Toyota Corolla GT	D	13 laps		1:51.86	1:51.40	31.
18.	74	North Essex Racing	Barbara Cowell	Ford Escort RS1600i	D	13 laps		1:54.31	1:54.74	33.
19.	39	Lionel Wiffen?	Lionel Wiffen	Ford Escort RS Turbo	B	13 laps		1:50.75	1:51.59	32.
DNF	10	Industrial Control Services	Mark Hales	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	10 laps	Engine	1:39.44	1:39.10	10.
DNF	15	Listerine-Texaco Racing	Graham Goode	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	7 laps	Engine	1:38.69	1:38.29	8.
DNF	36	John Maguire Racing-FFB Electronics	David Sears	BMW M3	B	5 laps	Clutch	1:41.16	1:41.50	20.
DNF	48	Specialist Cars Aberdeen	Andrew Jeffrey	VW Golf GTI 16V	C	5 laps	Engine	1:49.81	1:50.49	27.
DNF	31	Brookside Garage	Jon Dooley	Alfa Romeo 75 V6	B	4 laps	Vibration	1:49.70	1:49.72	26.
DNF	14	Burlington Wall Coverings Limited	Mike Newman	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	3 laps	Engine	1:38.88	1:38.97	9.
DNF	7	Autoglass	Mike O'Brien	Holden Commodore VL/SS	A	2 laps	Accident	1:42.89	1:40.88	14.
DNF	1	Shell-Toyota-MIL	Ian Flux	Toyota Supra Turbo	A	2 laps	Accident	1:44.20	1:40.93	16.
DNF	?	Godfrey Hall Limited	Godfrey Hall	BMW M3	B	1 lap	Accident	1:55.07	1:41.50	19.
DNF	26	ECM	Tom Bell	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	1 lap	Accident	1:55.36	1:41.84	21.
DNF	77	AJK Motor Sport	Geoff Kimber-Smith	Toyota Corolla GT	D	1 lap	Engine	2:07.58	1:51.00	30.
DNS	24	The Campari Maserati	Nick May	Maserati Biturbo	A		Engine		1:47.22	22.
DNS	11	Brooklyn	Chris Hodgetts	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A		Engine		1:37.08	3.
DNS	16	Duckhams Racing with Karl Jones	Karl Jones	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A		Engine		1:49.99	17.

There's a picture in the Autosport report showing David Sears running #36 which presumably was the Godfrey Hall number, but not here.

The Lionel Wiffen Escort is entered as a Wiffen car in the Autosport report and not the usual Terry Drury Racing entry.

Andy Rouse and Gianfranco Brancatelli leaving the rest of the pack for dead from the start, only for Rouse to have a rear tyre to blow up midway through the race. This left an easy win for ”Branca” (in his only BTCC start?), while Rouse eventually salvaged 10th. Tim Harvey was battling Laurence Bristow and Guy Edwards in the opening laps, before they settled in second to forth in that order, although Graham Goode made it by Edwards only to retire shortly afterwards.
In class B Frank Sytner did what he had to, namely winning the class to win the championship helped by Roland Ratzenberger getting delayed by a pair of class A cars early on, while Godfrey Hall tangled with Tom Bell early on. David Sears, in a second Maguire-M3, took fastest race lap.
Alan Minshaw was victorious in class C in his Golf, while James Shead battled a badly overheating Golf while championship competitor Andrew Jeffrey had to park his car early on with a sick engine.
Phil Dowsett was his usual dominant self in class D winning comfortably from Mark Goddard. Barbara Cowell brought the North Essex Racing Ford Escort RS1600i into fifth in class in the last race for this type of model as its homologation is to expire on 31st December 1988.

Jesper

[KA]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Round 12 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 18th September 1988 over 20 laps of the x.xxx miles/x.xxx kms Donington Park circuit.

Only got a points table as a reference

Class A:
1./ #22 / Andy Rouse / ARE / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 20 laps / 25:05.79
2./ #6 / Steve Soper / Eggenberger / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 25:07.63
3./ #11 / Chris Hodgetts / Brooklyn / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 25:18.07
4 / #14 / Mike Newman / GGR / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 25m34.33
5/ #15 / Graham Goode / GGR / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 25m38.40
6 / #21 / Guy Edwards / ARE / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 25m41.28
7/#16/Karl Jones/Asquith./A/Ford Sierra RS500/25m50.61
8/#20/Graham Hathaway/GHR-Soans/A/Ford Sierra RS500/25m56.60
9 / #8 / Jerry Mahony / Dowson / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 25m59.85
10 / #7 / Mike O'Brien / Docking / A / Holden Commodore VL-SS / 26m01.47
11 / #33 / Frank Sytner / Prodrive / B / BMW M3 / 1st in class/26m02.15
12 / #32 / James Weaver / Prodrive / B / BMW M3 / 2nd in class/26m04.08
13 / #44 / Roland Ratzenberger / Minshaw / B / BMW M3 / 3rd in class/26m07.01
14 / #19 / Laurence Bristow / ARE / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 26m09.81- Last unlapped finisher, but I suspect Bristow had some kind of problem, given that he'd qualified 7th?
15 / #36 / Godfrey Hall / Maguire / B / BMW M3 / 4th in class/19 laps
16 / #34 / Lionel Abbott / Prodrive / B / BMW M3 / 5th in class/19 laps
17/#26/Ray MacDowell/ECM/A/Ford Sierra RS500/19 laps
18/#1/Mark Hales/MIL/A/Toyota Supra Turbo/19 laps
19/ #55 / James Shead / Maguire / C / VW Golf GTI 16V / 1st in class/19 laps
20/ #70 / Phil Dowsett / TOM'S GB / D / Toyota Corolla FXGT / 1st in class/18 laps
21 /#77 / Geoff Kimber-Smith / Kimber-Smith / D / Toyota Corolla GT / 2nd in class/18 laps
22 / #48 / Andrew Jeffrey / Specialist Cars / C / VW Golf GTI 16V / 2nd in class/18 laps
23 / #69 / John Llewellyn / MIL / D / Toyota Corolla GT / 3rd in class/18 laps
24/#24/Nick May/Trident/Maserati Biturbo/A/14 laps- presumably having had a problem and a pitstop to finish 6 laps down...

DNF / #50 / Alan Minshaw / Minshaw / C / VW Golf GTI 16V / 17 laps, fuel- I don't know whether that means he had fuel system problems or just ran out of it....
DNF / #63 / Tony Crudgington / Crudgington / D / Toyota Corolla GT / 9 laps
DNF / #5 / Tim Harvey / TDR / A / Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth / 5 laps
DNF/#36/David Sears/Maguire-FFB Electronics/B/BMW M3/2 laps
DNQ/#31/Jon Dooley/Brookside Garage/B/Alfa Romeo 75 V6/DNQ- 1st reserve

Third race for Chris Hodgetts in the Brooklyn Sierra. In the 25 August 1988 issue of Autosport there's an article about Hodgetts giving his view of why he abandoned the MIL Toyota Supra ship. Ecentially it was down to a lack of competitiveness as well as missing or delayed homologation of parts, but also the fact that his family was not welcome in the team. Team owner Alex Moss on the other hand was disappointed that Hodgetts couldn't wait for the evolution version to homologated for 1989. Apparently so couldn't the team itself neither, as the cars seems to have been sold on before the 1989 season as described in other threads.
The RS500 was build in-house by Brooklyn with a view of challenging Andy Rouse for overall honours in 1989 and finishing third here at Donington Park must have been regarded as a good omen for future success.

Mike Smith seems to be missing from this and the final round at Silverstone, presumably replaced by Lionel Abbott here at Donington Park. I guess his helicopter crash was responsible for him missing these two races.

Jesper

Hodgetts had a really good run in the Brooklyn R500, not just finishing 3rd, but getting between Soper and Rouse at the start and running a strong second for the first lap or so, until Rouse passed him and Chris fell away a little to finish 3rd about 10 seconds back from the lead battle



Smith was, as you say, absent due to his helicopter crash- the resulting leg injuries ending his season (he also had to miss a race mid-season the next year IIRC for further surgery on his leg) Weaver replaced Smith in #32, with Abbott continuing his 'rear-gunner' duties in #34, to support Sytner's championship position

John Maguire's team had a second M3 here for David Sears- the second car they'd run at the TT. I think both cars still carried the 'FFB Electronics' sponsorship from the TT, and it might have also been extended to the Shead Golf

Ray MacDowell made another appearance with the street-legal ECM RS500

An addition to the entry (although a non-starter) was Jon Dooley with his Alfa 75, still in John West colours I think, and back in V6 form. He also appeared at Silverstone

[KA]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Round 13 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 2nd October 1988 over 15 laps of the 4.778 kms Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.

Grid line-up: 2-2-2-etc.


There's a picture in the Autosport report showing David Sears running #36 which presumably was the Godfrey Hall number, but not here.

The Lionel Wiffen Escort is entered as a Wiffen car in the Autosport report and not the usual Terry Drury Racing entry.

Andy Rouse and Gianfranco Brancatelli leaving the rest of the pack for dead from the start, only for Rouse to have a rear tyre to blow up midway through the race. This left an easy win for ”Branca” (in his only BTCC start?), while Rouse eventually salvaged 10th. Tim Harvey was battling Laurence Bristow and Guy Edwards in the opening laps, before they settled in second to forth in that order, although Graham Goode made it by Edwards only to retire shortly afterwards.
In class B Frank Sytner did what he had to, namely winning the class to win the championship helped by Roland Ratzenberger getting delayed by a pair of class A cars early on, while Godfrey Hall tangled with Tom Bell early on. David Sears, in a second Maguire-M3, took fastest race lap.
Alan Minshaw was victorious in class C in his Golf, while James Shead battled a badly overheating Golf while championship competitor Andrew Jeffrey had to park his car early on with a sick engine.
Phil Dowsett was his usual dominant self in class D winning comfortably from Mark Goddard. Barbara Cowell brought the North Essex Racing Ford Escort RS1600i into fifth in class in the last race for this type of model as its homologation is to expire on 31st December 1988.

Jesper

I'm pretty sure it was Brancatelli's only BTCC start as well.

Sears ran with #36 , Hall with his regular #43

One significant addition to the entry- the return of Dave Brodie with his new RS500.

Another change is the appearance of Mark Goddard, not in his usual RS1600i, but in a CHMS Corolla. According to Motoring News the following week, this was due to the Escort having blown it's engine in testing before Donington.

The report says there was some post-race drama for Goddard, as the scrutineers insisted the Corolla's engine was running an illegal airbox. Chris Hodgetts protested that this aspect of the car was exactly as specified in the FIA Yellow Book, that the airbox used gave no advantage, and all but one of the other rwd Corollas were using an identical component, and no further action seems to have been taken.

[Jesper OH]

I think I made a mistake at the beginning of the 1988 season by saying class B was 2001-2500 cc, but in fact the limit was moved up to 3000 cc. Did Jon Dooley take advantage of the exstra 500 ccs available from the newly homologated Alfa 75 3.0 or did he stay with the older 2.5 version?

Jesper

[KA]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

I think I made a mistake at the beginning of the 1988 season by saying class B was 2001-2500 cc, but in fact the limit was moved up to 3000 cc. Did Jon Dooley take advantage of the exstra 500 ccs available from the newly homologated Alfa 75 3.0 or did he stay with the older 2.5 version?

Jesper

Possibly, but I wouldn't swear to it without having proof in front of me...

[Jesper OH]

1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship – unofficial standings

Class A (over 3000 cc)

Pos.	Driver	Points	R01	R02	R03	R04	R05	R06	R07	R08	R09	R10	R11	R12	R13
1.	Andy Rouse	95	2*	9	7*	9	9	10*	10*	10*	9	10*	DNS	10*	[7]
2.	Jerry Mahony	33	9	4	4	NC	4	[8]	3	2	[8]1*	4	DNS	[9]	2
3.	Mike Newman	28	6	2	[9]	2	4*	4	1	DNF	3	3	DNS	3	DNF
4.	Tim Harvey	26	DNF	3	2	6	2	1	[7]	DNF	[7]	6	DNS	DNF	6
4.	Guy Edwards	26	-	-	DNF	4	[9]	2	6	4	4	2	DNS	1	3
6.	Steve Soper	21	-	-	9	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	DNS	6	-
6.	Laurence Bristow	21	DNF	DNF1*	[8]	6	DNF	3	4	3	DNF	DNS	DNS	[11]	4
8.	Robb Gravett	14	-	-	DNF	[8]	[11]	6	2	[8]	6	DNF	DNS	-	-
9.	Gianfranco Brancatelli	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10*
9.	Mike O'Brien	10	DNF	6	3	[7]	1	[10]	[10]	[7]	DSQ	[9]	DNS	[10]	DNF
11.	David Sears	9	-	-	-	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11.	Karl Jones	9	-	DNF	1	DNF	6	[9]	[9]	1	1	DNF	DNS	[7]	DNS
13.	Chris Hodgetts	7	3	DNF	-	DNF	[10]	DNF	-	-	-	[7]	DNS	4	DNS
14.	Bob Sands	5	4	DNF	DNF	1	-	DNS	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14.	Graham Goode	5	DNF	DNF	[7]	DNF	[7]	[7]	[8]	[10]	2	1	DNS	2	DNF
16.	Johnny Dumfries	4	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16.	Win Percy	4	-	-	-	4*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16.	Allan Grice	4	-	-	-	4*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
19.	Peter Buxtorf	3	2	1	DNF	[10]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20.	Robert Speak	2	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
21.	Richard Jones	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
21.	David Brodie	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
NC	Sean Brown	0	-	-	-	[7]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Graham Hathaway	0	DNF	DNS	DNS	[11]	[8]	[12]	[11]	-	DNF	[8]	DNS	[8]	[8]
NC	Gary Ayles	0	-	-	-	[8]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Dennis Leech	0	-	-	DNF	[9]	DNF	[11]	[12]	[9]	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Mark Hales	0	-	-	-	DNF	-	-	DNF	DNF	[9]	-	DNS	[13]	DNF
NC	David Carvell	0	-	-	-	[9]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Ian Flux	0	-	-	-	DNF	-	-	-	-	-	[10]	-	-	DNF
NC	Tom Bell	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	[10]	-	-	-	DNF
NC	Barry Robinson	0	-	-	-	[10]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Vic Lee	0	-	-	-	DNF	[12]	DNF	DNF	[12]	DNF	[11]	-	-	-
NC	Nick May	0	-	-	-	DNF	[13]	DNS	-	[11]	-	DNF	DNS	[14]	DNS
NC	Peter Townsend	0	-	-	-	[11]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Ray MacDowell	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	DNF	-	-	-	[12]	-
NC	John Lepp	0	-	-	-	DNF	-	-	[13]	-	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Pete Hall	0	DNF	DNF	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Alistair Lyall	0	-	-	-	DNF	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Rob Wilson	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	DNF	-	-	-	-	-
NC	Tom Walkinshaw	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	DNS	-	-

Legend:
9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for top-6 positions
* indicates bonus point for fastest race lap
[] indicates position outside top-6 in class
DNF did not finish
DNS did not start
Best 11 from 12 or 13 rounds to be counted

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship – unofficial standings

Class B (2001-3000 cc)

Pos.	Driver	Points	R01	R02	R03	R04	R05	R06	R07	R08	R09	R10	R11	R12	R13
1.	Frank Sytner	103 (107)	10*	10*	9	9	(4)	10*	9	10*	9	9	DNS	9	9
2.	Godfrey Hall	48	4	4	4	7*	6	4	6	DNF	4	6	DNS	3	DNF
3.	Mike Smith	40	6	3	7*	DNF	4*	6	DNF	6	4*	4*	DNS	-	-
4.	Roland Ratzenberger	26	-	-	-	DNF	9	3	DNF1*	-	-	4	DNS	5*	4
5.	Will Hoy	16	-	-	-	DNF	-	-	-	4	6	-	-	-	6
6.	James Weaver	15	-	-	-	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	DNS	6	-
6.	Alan Minshaw	15	3	6	3	DNF	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-
8.	Lionel Wiffen	9	1	DNF	DNS	3	DNF	DNS	-	-	-	2	DNS	-	3
9.	Dave Wallis	8	2	DNF	2	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10.	Barrie Williams	7	-	-	-	7*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11.	Lionel Abbott	6	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	DNF	-	2	-
12.	Robin Parsons	3	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13.	David Sears	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	DNF	DNF1*
NC	Jon Dooley	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	DNQ	DNF
NC	Chris Hodgetts	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	DNF	-	-	-	-

Legend:
9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for top-6 positions
* indicates bonus point for fastest race lap
[] indicates position outside top-6 in class
DNF did not finish
DNS did not start
Best 11 from 12 or 13 rounds to be counted

From the points table I was send Will Hoy, Lionel Abbott and David Sears were not eligeble for points, but as I have no other source for this info I have regarded as everybody eligeble for points. If nothing else it does give an idea of how many races each driver participated in.

Jesper

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by KA

Any idea who the missing cars in 20th and 28th could be?- presumably another couple of non-starters, or have Autosport just managed to throw a couple of gaps into the qualifying order by mistake?

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Didn't spot that, so thank you for reminding, and yes, this is from Autosport. Both Laurence Bristow and James Shead mentioned as non-starters, but there might have been another two non-starters.

Fortunately, this is the other original broadcast I have, and it helps to correct a couple of mistakes Autosport made in their report but doesn't solve who our missing cars are.

Here's a screen capture of the start:


As the picture shows, 20th and 28th were indeed vacant, so the report is missing a couple of names from the grid. The telecast doesn't indicate who they might be.

Meanwhile, Bristow wasn't a non-starter! He is clearly there in 10th on the grid, and he did leave the line. His differential failed on the run to Surtees on the first lap, so I believe he should be listed as having completed 0 laps.

Also, Mike O'Brien started from the pit lane instead of the 13th grid position. It's not mentioned why in the broadcast, but he pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap.

[KA]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Fortunately, this is the other original broadcast I have, and it helps to correct a couple of mistakes Autosport made in their report but doesn't solve who our missing cars are.

Here's a screen capture of the start:


As the picture shows, 20th and 28th were indeed vacant, so the report is missing a couple of names from the grid. The telecast doesn't indicate who they might be.

Meanwhile, Bristow wasn't a non-starter! He is clearly there in 10th on the grid, and he did leave the line. His differential failed on the run to Surtees on the first lap, so I believe he should be listed as having completed 0 laps.

Also, Mike O'Brien started from the pit lane instead of the 13th grid position. It's not mentioned why in the broadcast, but he pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap.

William, that's brilliant- As you say, the pic clearly shows 4 gaps in the grid lineup- 13th (O'Brien, who seems to be clearly visible half-way down the pitlane), 20th, 23rd (the Shead Golf, which we know from the results was sidelined with a broken diff) and 28th- so who is likely to be missing?

Last night I tried to put together the entry for each round based on the results we've posted to see if I could narrow down some likely candidates. All of the gaps are lower-grid (20th or below), we're possibly looking for smaller class cars, or an RS500/M3 that's had problems....

Looking at the entry lists, most of the full-season or regular entries seem to be present and correct- the obvious exceptions look to be:

-the Dennis Leech Rover?- missed the first couple of rounds, joined in at Round 3, then a regular entry- BUT, Dennis had missed the previous round at Snetterton, and AFIAK wasn't seen again that year- I suspect it might not be him
-the Minshaw/Demon Tweeks Golf?- lots of driver changes, but otherwise present at every round but this one and the previous race at Snetterton- and 20th or below is definitely Class C territory...A possibility?
-a CHMS Corolla?- again quite a few driver changes, and only appears sporadically (6/7 rounds I think) Again, this is the right end of the grid to find a Corolla- but if so, then who drove it?

After that, we're getting into the realm of the occasional visitors- We can probably discount the high-profile ones (Eggenberger RS500, the Nissan, the Walkinshaw Commodore, Dave Brodie's new RS500) as if any of these had been present and had a major problem leaving them well down the grid and a non-starter, it would have been reported.

Looking though the classes, in Class A, apart from the Leech Rover the Bob Sands RS500 and Buxtorf 635 hadn't been seen since early season, so seem unlikely- though AFAIK the 635 was repaired in time to enter the TT (a DNQ) in September
The ECM Sierra is a possibility- occasional visitor in the second-half of the year, usually off-the-pace, and normally little reported-so Bell or MacDowell?

In Class B, John Maguire's 2nd M3 didn't appear until the TT- and if it had been at Brands would have probably warranted a mention in the report
The Terry Drury Escort turbos?- Right end of the grid, Wiffen is present, Wallis not seen since early-season. Maybe someone doing a one-off in the Wallis car?
The only other possibility seems to be the Dooley Alfa which appeared in the last couple of rounds?

Class C- apart from Minshaw's Golf, all present and accounted for, unless it's another appearance by Wray's prodsaloon Honda

Class D- the only cars that seem to be missing are the CHMS Corolla, and the AJG Transport RS1600i.
I'm reasonably confident suspect Goddard's Escort is one of them, as my version of the result (transcribed a few years ago) matches Jesper's in every respect except I've got Goddard as a DNS, and it kind of fits the part of the season he appeared in- Debut at Silverstone (DNF); then Brands in July (DNF); missed Snetterton; possibly present but a DNS here at the second Brands; missed Birmingham (where they'd be unlikely to be quick enough get a start); possibly on the entry list for Donington, but a no-show after an engine blowup in testing; then with the RS1600i sidelined Goddard leased a CHMS Corolla for Silverstone

Otherwise, AFAIK, we're looking for a one-off that only appeared here, posted a DNS and wasn't seen again

Anyone got an official result/grid sheet or the race programme?

[KA]

A further thought on our Brands non-starters. Looking at the results posted, class C pole was Jeffrey in 22nd, and Class D Dowsett in 21st. Our two gaps are 20th and 28th, so if 20th was a Class C or D car, then they were quick enough to be on class pole- and likely to have been reported if they didn't make the start of the race
If one of the missing cars is the AJG/Goddard Escort, then unless Mark pulled out a miracle lap, I think he'd most likely be 28th?

Does that suggest 20th is more likely to be something like the Bell/MacDowell Sierra, often seen down amongst the Class C/D cars?

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by KA

A further thought on our Brands non-starters. Looking at the results posted, class C pole was Jeffrey in 22nd, and Class D Dowsett in 21st. Our two gaps are 20th and 28th, so if 20th was a Class C or D car, then they were quick enough to be on class pole- and likely to have been reported if they didn't make the start of the race
If one of the missing cars is the AJG/Goddard Escort, then unless Mark pulled out a miracle lap, I think he'd most likely be 28th?

Does that suggest 20th is more likely to be something like the Bell/MacDowell Sierra, often seen down amongst the Class C/D cars?

From what I remember of the accident Tom Bell had at Silverstone, it was a pretty heavy one (flattening the front end), and I think that was the end of his BTCC appearances in the road registered RS500. This means he wouldn't even have qualified at Brands, so couldn't be responsible for a gap in the grid.

[William Dale Jr]

The Bell accident happened at the season-ending Silverstone round, so it's entirely possible that it was the red-and-white Sierra that's missing from 20th one the grid at Brands.


Also, one thing I forgot from Round 8, Gravett was given a 1 minute penalty for a jumped start. He moved back up to 3rd on the road before spinning on the exit of Druids, falling back to 5th on the road at the end of the race.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

The Bell accident happened at the season-ending Silverstone round, so it's entirely possible that it was the red-and-white Sierra that's missing from 20th one the grid at Brands.


Also, one thing I forgot from Round 8, Gravett was given a 1 minute penalty for a jumped start. He moved back up to 3rd on the road before spinning on the exit of Druids, falling back to 5th on the road at the end of the race.

Thanks William for putting me right in this, my memory is obviously yet another part of my body that's starting to fail!

[chunterer]

Yes, i've got the programme, but not in front of me, and I'm sure the ECM Sierra was on the entry list.

Great to see this thread so full of steam!

Back to the last couple of rounds and the second Maguire M3. KA is right in that it, like the sister Hall car, continued with FB stickers from the TT 2 weeks prior.

But, the significance here is why that car actually appeared in the first place. It has never been confirmed but has been suspected by many that it was actually a ghost Rouse entry to try and get in Sytner's way as he was the main challenger to Andy's title hopes at that stage.

Sears and the car were certainly quick enough, but in both the Donington and Silverstone finale, it retired after only a couple of laps or so?

On the video review the late Will Hoy, who was there to back up Sytner, even remarked after Sears made a rather smoky exit: "And that looks like David Sears pulling off, and that makes my job a whole lot easier!" (or similar).

Sears had qualified a little way back from the Prodrive and Ratzenberger cars, but over the first lap was quickly in the thick of the class action, as was Roland IIRC.

Frank Sytner said once that he was very worried by his class rivals that year, Smithy inadvertently taking points off him, Roland being plain quick in a well sorted car (Frank's '87 one), and has himself suspected that when it appeared Sears' car may well have been a Rouse employed spoiler.

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Round 10 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 21st August 1988 over 15 laps of the x.xxx miles/4.812 kms Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

Also on the bill:
FIA International Formula 3000 Championship
GM/Lotus Euroseries
RAC British Formula Ford 1600 Championship
Pirelli Autofarm Modified Porsche series


Jesper

I think Autosport became decidedly unreliable regarding qualifying positions and times during 1990, but that is for future exploits.

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship – unofficial standings

Class A (over 3000 cc)

Legend:
9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for top-6 positions
* indicates bonus point for fastest race lap
[] indicates position outside top-6 in class
DNF did not finish
DNS did not start
- did not attent
Best 11 from 12 or 13 rounds to be counted

Jesper

Laurence Bristow corrected from a DNS to a DNF at round 10.

Looking at the results, I'm surprised to see Tim Harvey and the Drury RS500 being quite competitive at times, although his round 4 second place was in a Rouse car sharing with Laurence Bristow. Maybe it's simply the fact that Harvey had more talent than his 1989 successors at TDR or the team were closer to the game in 1988.

The performance of Graham Goode and customer Mike Newman seems ad odds and Goode can't be excused for favoring himself. From memory they were a lot closer in performance in both 1989 and 1990, but Goode seems to have been the unlucky GGR driver in 1988. Newman might have been beaten by Jerry Mahony in the points, but seems to have had a more steady season.

Just for the record 40 drivers are listed as class A drivers in 1988.

Jesper

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Laurence Bristow corrected from a DNS to a DNF at round 10.

Looking at the results, I'm surprised to see Tim Harvey and the Drury RS500 being quite competitive at times, although his round 4 second place was in a Rouse car sharing with Laurence Bristow. Maybe it's simply the fact that Harvey had more talent than his 1989 successors at TDR or the team were closer to the game in 1988.

The performance of Graham Goode and customer Mike Newman seems at odds and Goode can't be excused for favoring himself. From memory they were a lot closer in performance in both 1989 and 1990, but Goode seems to have been the unlucky GGR driver in 1988. Newman might have been beaten by Jerry Mahony in the points, but seems to have had a more steady season.

Just for the record 40 drivers are listed as class A drivers in 1988.

Jesper

Hi Jesper, I can answer both of those points regarding Graham Goode and Mike Newman.
Any experimental parts were tried and proven by Goode first before being fitted to the customer car of Mike Newman. This often led to reliability issues...
Although Jerry Mahoney tested significantly more often than Mike Newman (who often didn't even see his car from one meeting to the next due to business commitments), which explains his more steady (and consistent) resuts.

[Jesper OH]

Thank you for your insight, VIVA GT. To clarify matters I meant that Newman actually had a more consistent season than Mahony, looking at the results.

Jesper