Best 80's Touring Car??

[racer69]

One of the DTM-spec Opel Omega's was meant to be brought out to Australia in 1991 for the Bathurst 1000 for Graham Moore and Michel Delcourt (the same one they drove at Spa earlier in the year), as Australian Group A had allowed the German spec cars in to compete.

The Omega never came though, which was a shame.

For some reason, even with the likes of Eggenberger preperation and Klaus Neidzweidz driving, the Omega never became an outright contender, but this is getting into the 90s, not the 80s....

[stuart05]

Originally Posted by johnh875

A couple of questions spring to mind – did GM/Opel ever field a Group A contender in Europe? If not, why not?

GMDS entered an ex-Peter Brock Holden Commodore VK (in full Mobil 1 colours) for John Cleland and Vince Woodman in the 1986 Silverstone TT. As far as I can remember it was a one-off though.

[lj79]

Alan Grice also ran his Holden in 1986 at various ETCC meetings. MHDT (i.e. factory) ran Monza, Donington, Hockenheim and Spa in 1986, Brock amongst the driving crew.

Grice's car was particularly quick.

Holden won the Kings Cup at Spa in 1986.

Don't forget that John Harvey's Rothmans Commodore "won" the first ever WTCC after the works M3's (Schnitzer, Cibiemme, Linder) were excluded. The works Mobil team did Spa in 87 too - ran with curious twin tyres in practice if I remember rightly. The Rotmans car also ran and was 4th (i think)

[lj79]

Originally Posted by racer69

I

It's a pity the Jag's development ended after 1984. It would have been interesting to see how the V12 cat (with continued development) would have handled the Sierra's.

The XJS's did 3 races in 86 (after winning Bathurst in 85):

Wellington, Pukekohe and the Fuji Intertec. The cars qualified up front, but no wins. They were front runners although they were pushed very hard by Volvos and Holdens and XR4Ti's.

Not sure how much more development was left in the cars. Even by 1984, at circuits where they couldn't stretch their legs (Zolder and Nurburgring in particular) they struggled to match the Volvo 240 of Ulf Granberg, and remember how this car compared with Cosworths and RS500's in 87?

[lj79]

Originally Posted by racer69

For some reason, even with the likes of Eggenberger preperation and Klaus Neidzweidz driving, the Omega never became an outright contender, but this is getting into the 90s, not the 80s....

Weren't the Omegas handicapped by weight regs. Not sure of the statistics, but they ran 3ltrs against 2.5ltrs for Merc and BMW - the additional enigne size of 0.5ltr attracted a disporportionate weight hike.

[feri]

Do we talking about the most sucessfull cars or about your favourite car ?
I vote for BMW M3 as the most successfull touring car. my favorite is..hmm... hard to decide... maybe Faltz-Alpina BMW 320i.

[Frank de Jong]

Originally Posted by lj79

Weren't the Omegas handicapped by weight regs. Not sure of the statistics, but they ran 3ltrs against 2.5ltrs for Merc and BMW - the additional enigne size of 0.5ltr attracted a disporportionate weight hike.

Well, yes, but they had a bigger engine. But the Audi V8's were even heavier. Later, the Opels were even permitted 3.6 liter engines IIRC, and that did not help either.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by lj79

The XJS's did 3 races in 86 (after winning Bathurst in 85):

Wellington, Pukekohe and the Fuji Intertec. The cars qualified up front, but no wins. They were front runners although they were pushed very hard by Volvos and Holdens and XR4Ti's.

Not sure how much more development was left in the cars. Even by 1984, at circuits where they couldn't stretch their legs (Zolder and Nurburgring in particular) they struggled to match the Volvo 240 of Ulf Granberg, and remember how this car compared with Cosworths and RS500's in 87?

The Pukekohe and Wellington starts were in the January/February Nissan-Mobil 500 series of 1987. From memory their homologation ended after 1986, but they were given special dispensation to run at these races.

Why TWR ran them there and not the Rovers which they had just finished with in the ETC, or the Commodore's they planned to use in 1987, i'm not sure.

[lj79]

Originally Posted by racer69

The Pukekohe and Wellington starts were in the January/February Nissan-Mobil 500 series of 1987. From memory their homologation ended after 1986, but they were given special dispensation to run at these races.

Why TWR ran them there and not the Rovers which they had just finished with in the ETC, or the Commodore's they planned to use in 1987, i'm not sure.

Jaguar paid for them. The Rover programme finished at the end of 86, so there was no works support - they would have to have been financed privately. I do recall TWR running a rover at the Nissan Wellington event - must have been 86 then.

[racer69]

Yes, TWR ran a Rover for Tom Walkinshaw and Ron Dickson in the 1985 Nissan-Mobil 500 Series.

In 1986 they ran two Rovers in Whittakers Peanut Slab livery for Walkinshaw/Percy and Hahne/Dickson at the Nissan-Mobil Series.

In 1987 these same pairings drove the two Jaguars. The Jags in the Nissan-Mobil '87 series sported signage from Strathmore Group, with which Dickson was involved, maybe they were the one's that paid for the cars, rather than the NZ Importer.

[lj79]

Racer 69 -Cheers - you've svaed me a trip in to my loft...

[d-b]

hi there
loved reading this thread so here goes with my favourites

favourite car= Dennis Leech SD1 (looks lovely,goes great and thankfully still around)
2nd favourite= BMW 635csi (especially Peter Buxtorf's till he totalled it)
3rd favourite= Donnington (1988?) Nissan Skyline (red,white & blue car)
(sounded brilliant and was the only car to take it to the Sierra)


least favourite=Sierra Cosworth (brilliant car but was so good it killed the series,namely if you wanted to win you had to have a Sierra (good for ford but boring to watch as all the cars are the same))

ps i also love Capri's but never saw them race in BTCC etc

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by d-b

hi there
loved reading this thread so here goes with my favourites.........................

............................................................ps i also love Capri's but never saw them race in BTCC etc

There's a couple here

[d-b]

hi there

thanks Peter

God i wish i was born 10 years earlier

[lj79]

[QUOTE=d-b]hi there
loved reading this thread so here goes with my favourites


2nd favourite= BMW 635csi (especially Peter Buxtorf's till he totalled it)

d-b

635s - yep. Superb noise from that straight 6. My faves: the Schnitzer / Eterna car from 83 (Stuck / Brun) and the Garage du Bac / Trio car from 86 (Giroix / Morin).

[Grahame West]

I'd go for any of the cars that raced at Bathurst as that's all I used to get to see on TV in the 80's. Holdens & Ford's were always a favourite so much so that I know own a mark II escort!!

[PRF]

Top of the tree for me is the Hepolite sponsored Vitesse of Steve Soper then Daily Express, Sanyo and JPS Vitesses' used in NZ.

Second choice is the BMW 635 CSi's.

Third would have to be the Capri 3.0.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by PRF

Third would have to be the Capri 3.0.

In fact by the eighties the 3 litre was phased out. Ford had the 2.8 injection by then. The Capri was really a seventies car. nonetheless it still held its own for the tail end of Group 1.

The Rovers were dreadful in thier original spec but with Group A and the injection Vitesse they really came good.

[davyboy]

What about the junior classes ? As a teenager in the 1980s I had two huge posters on my wall, one of Chris Hodgetts' Toyota Corolla GT at a 20 degree angle on the Thruxton chicane and another of Jon Dooley's John West Alfa 75. Remember the Alfas ? One of the cool cars for me was Jon's earlier GTV6... man, that was lovely.

[Woolley]

First race meeting I ever saw was ETCC at Donington in 84ish. Fabulous stuff. i always liked the 635 with the Original Parts 'see-through' paint job. You can't beat the sound of a pack of SD1s at speed though. I also had a soft spot for the 240 Turbos, especially with Brancatelli at the wheel. I don't think I can pick a favourite, it was just a wonderful time for Saloons. Anyone remember the controversy of the Walkinshaw Rovers dodgy rear wings? Can't remember where at, but after a protest they took the wings of some road cars and promptly went faster...

[lj79]

It was Nurburgring 85. Brancatelli / Lindstrom won for Volvo, Soper / Joosen were 2nd. It was an easy victory for Volvo that day - Walkinshaw / Percy retired with an oil leak.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Woolley

First race meeting I ever saw was ETCC at Donington in 84ish. Fabulous stuff. i always liked the 635 with the Original Parts 'see-through' paint job. You can't beat the sound of a pack of SD1s at speed though. I also had a soft spot for the 240 Turbos, especially with Brancatelli at the wheel. I don't think I can pick a favourite, it was just a wonderful time for Saloons. Anyone remember the controversy of the Walkinshaw Rovers dodgy rear wings? Can't remember where at, but after a protest they took the wings of some road cars and promptly went faster...

I was there too.

[PRF]

Not the best by any stretch of the imagination but they did help to add a little more variety. The machines in question were the Toyota Supra of Sheeney and the Colt Starion of Dave Brodie.

[Peter Mallett]

They were under developed. Came along at the time when the bigger teams were ploughing cash into tin tops. I liked the Supra.

[lj79]

Originally Posted by PRF

Not the best by any stretch of the imagination but they did help to add a little more variety. The machines in question were the Toyota Supra of Sheeney and the Colt Starion of Dave Brodie.

Brodie's car demonstrated it's speed at the 85 TT, taking pole ahead of 3 Bastos Rovers and 2 Rouse XR4ti's. The Starion was also, IIRC, the first car to be equipped with real time car to pits telemetry (witness its massive pair of antennae).

The Supra was driven previously by Win Percy, to pretty good effect. One ran at Spa in 84 too, for Gordon Spice and the Martin brother and came home a an excellent 5th - excellent due good pace, but also surviving the first 12 hours when the weather was worse even than in 2003.