Best 80's Touring Car??

[chunder]

chunterer, nearly same as me

I ahve some good ones for worst, the Belmont that Bardy drove, athe Supras that Shell ran, awesomely quick but total barges round the corners.

But best one has to be the Mazda thing that someone tried a few years back, no one ever got it working

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by chunder

chunterer, nearly same as me

I ahve some good ones for worst, the Belmont that Bardy drove, athe Supras that Shell ran, awesomely quick but total barges round the corners.

But best one has to be the Mazda thing that someone tried a few years back, no one ever got it working

I've noticed this!

Don't remember a Belmont, was that an early 90's 2 litre jobby, which I think the Mazda's you're thinking of was as well?

The Shell Supra's were interesting. Chris Hodgetts might have been the driver to do saome damage with them if they ever got properly developed as the Tom's ones in Japan weren't bad against the Cossies>

[chunder]

Yeah I think the Belmont was maybe driven by Jeff Wilson

Mazda was quite recent was just after the Xedos cars, migth have been built by Dynamics or Dowson, not sure

I have also just rememebr the Mitsubishi Galant and Lancer that poor old Halesy drove aswell, they were awful!!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by chunder

Yeah I think the Belmont was maybe driven by Jeff Wilson

Mazda was quite recent was just after the Xedos cars, migth have been built by Dynamics or Dowson, not sure

I have also just rememebr the Mitsubishi Galant and Lancer that poor old Halesy drove aswell, they were awful!!

Go on mate you've just got to start the 'worst touring car' thread with these contenders.

Go on!!

[davyboy]

Not sure whether it was the best ever 80s touring car, but it certainly was incredibly effective in its class - the Toyota Corolla GT. A rather inconspicuous 1980s here, the rear-wheel driven one piloted by Chris Hogetts took the BTCC crown outright half way through the decade. I know its probably been mentioned already on the thread here... but I thought I'd mention it again to be lead us on to something I read a while back. Is it true that the 1600cc engine in that car is almost a direct copy of the Ford BDA [BDD] ? It had a exhaust note that would split your eardrums didn't it. Great car though.

[chunder]

No dont think its a BDA copy though it is Japanese and they had a habit of doing things like that with two stroke bike engines from East Germany in the early days.

Think the motor was around long before the Coroall GT was though.

Its made a resurgence recently as a brilliant car to use in drift competition wheere the small size and rev hound capability makes it ideal for holding a gear through some of the longer manouveres!

[davyboy]

Here's something I found quoting it as a copy of the BDA. I'm sure I read it somewhere else as well. No wonder it went so well in Group A back in the 1980s. Fantastic car for sure.

http://www.s93794199.onlinehome.us/d...a-corolla.html

[greenamex2]

Originally Posted by davyboy

I know its probably been mentioned already on the thread here... but I thought I'd mention it again to be lead us on to something I read a while back. Is it true that the 1600cc engine in that car is almost a direct copy of the Ford BDA [BDD] ? It had a exhaust note that would split your eardrums didn't it. Great car though.

To call it a copy of the BDA is simplifying things. It is more 'inspired' by the BDA. Whilst bore, stroke and valve sizes were all the same, Toyota managed to mess around with enough other bits for it to be different.

The main reason that the Corolla cleaned up was due to the minimum vehicle length rule originally in place. This meant it's main opposition was the Ford Escort RS1600i, whose CVH could never quite match the better Toyota twin cam in group A form.

If you read the Toyota homologation papers, there were also some very 'interesting' bits homologated that I have certainly never come across on any Corolla.

[chunterer]

Well the Escort had it pretty much it's own way for the first few years of Grp A and the Toyota teams in Europe and Denmark didn't really show themselves as serious forces until 1986.

Don't forget that the MK1 Golf GTi was a suitable contender in that class, but not many people ran them which leads me to believe that they were expensive to run or something?

[greenamex2]

I suspect some rule changes and the aforementioned homologation parts had a lot to do with it. Some of the standard bits are absolute junk!

Also the car wasn't available until late 1983.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Denis Bassom

To call it a copy of the BDA is simplifying things. It is more 'inspired' by the BDA. Whilst bore, stroke and valve sizes were all the same, Toyota managed to mess around with enough other bits for it to be different.

Ya of course... they'd have been sued if they'd produced a verbatim version. As you say, its likely that they used the BDA as the basis for the design of the 4A-G motor.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

The Beemer M3

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Nononsensecapeesh

The Beemer M3

Hmmm had it easy in its class? Stil one of my fav ever cars though.

I'd put the 635 above it because of the competition it faced

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Hmmm had it easy in its class? Stil one of my fav ever cars though.

I'd put the 635 above it because of the competition it faced

Or the Rover Vitesse when it wasn't contravening the rules.