1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship - Discussion & Results

[William Dale Jr]

I have full Autosport results for rounds 8 and 9, so I might as well keep going.

Round 9 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 24th July 1988 over 20 laps of the 4.812km Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

Conditions were fine and sunny, apart from a brief rain shower in the early laps. You've got to love English weather

Position	Number	Entrant	Driver	Car	Class	Race Time/Laps	Retirement Cause	Fastest Time	Qualifying Time	Grid Position
1	22	Kaliber Ford	Andy Rouse	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	32m09.69s		1m33.92s	1m34.05s	1
2	6	Eggenberger Motorsport	Steve Soper	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	32m10.39s		1m34.84s	1m34.40s	2
3	21	Kaliber Ford	Guy Edwards	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	32m38.39s		1m35.36s	1m36.70s	6
4	19	Baynard Cars Limited	Laurence Bristow	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	32m39.79s		1m34.87s	1m36.69s	5
5	8	Arquati UK Limited	Jerry Mahony	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	33m03.05s		1m36.14s	1m37.32s	7
6	16	Duckhams Racing with Karl Jones	Karl Jones	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	33m23.42s		1m36.08s	1m36.21s	3
7	33	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Frank Sytner	BMW M3	B	33m29.49s		1m37.38s	1m36.60s	4
8	32	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Mike Smith	BMW M3	B	33m38.54s		1m38.22s	1m41.24s	17
9	34	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Will Hoy	BMW M3	B	33m39.15s		1m37.81s	1m39.60s	15
10	7	Autoglass	Mike O'Brien	Holden Commodore VL (HDT)	A	33m42.17s		1m38.30s	1m38.69s	14
11	10	Industrial Control Services plc	Robb Gravett	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	33m49.60s		1m34.78s	1m38.23s	13
12	4	Dennis Leech	Dennis Leech	Rover Vitesse	A	19 laps		1m39.13s	1m40.88s	16
13	15	Listerine-Texaco Racing	Graham Goode	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	19 laps		1m38.39s	1m37.46s	8
14	24	The Campari Maserati	Nick May	Maserati Biturbo	A	19 laps		1m41.53s	1m43.93s	21
15	48	Specialist Cars Aberdeen Limited	Andrew Jeffrey	Volkswagen Golf GTi 16V	C	19 laps		1m43.17s	1m43.87s	20
16	55	John Maguire Racing-David Sutton Motorsport	James Shead	Volkswagen Golf GTi 16V	C	19 laps		1m42.76s	1m45.34s	25
17	70	TOM'S GB Limited	Phil Dowsett	Toyota Corolla	D	19 laps		1m43.79s	1m44.40s	22
18	2	Shell-Toyota-MIL	Vic Lee	Toyota Supra Turbo	A	19 laps		1m40.81s	1m44.90s	23
19	74	North Essex Motorsport	Barbara Cowell	Ford Escort RS1600i	D	18 laps		1m47.03s	1m46.74s	28
20	69		John Lewellyn	Toyota Corolla	D	18 laps		1m45.72s	1m51.26s	29
21	44		Alan Minshaw	BMW M3	B	17 laps		1m41.43s	1m42.65s	18
22			Martin Wray	Honda Prelude 2.0i	C	17 laps		1m54.96s	1m52.64s	30
DNF	43		Godfrey Hall	BMW M3	B	18 laps		1m38.20s	1m37.51s	9
DNF	63		Tony Crudgington	Toyota Corolla	D	10 laps		1m45.24s	1m45.78s	26
DNF	1	Shell-Toyota-MIL	Mark Hales	Toyota Supra Turbo	A	8 laps		1m39.11s	1m37.96s	11
DNF	20		Rob Wilson	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	4 laps		1m37.14s	1m38.03s	12
DNF	14		Mike Newman	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	4 laps		1m37.24s	1m53.11s	31
DNF	5		Tim Harvey	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	4 laps		1m38.41s	1m37.90s	10
DNF		AJG Transport Limited	Mark Goddard	Ford Escort RS1600i	D	1 lap		2m02.34s	1m45.54s	27
DNF			Ray McDowall	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	0 laps		NTR	1m43.24s	19
DNS	50		John Morris	Volkswagen Golf GTi 16V	C				1m44.99s	24

I only have the results for this race, so I don't have the retirement data normally given in the race report.

The race saw a titanic, race-long battle between Soper and Rouse. The lead changed many times, even during the rain shower! Rouse appeared to have more power than the Eggenberger car, using it to his advantage several times on the run down Pilgrim's Drop. Rouse finally resolved the matter by putting the Kaliber Sierra through a Kaliber Sierra-sized gap down the straight to snatch the lead into Hawthorn's on the last lap. Great race, and great driving from two greats of British touring car racing!

Interestingly, the original broadcast didn't contain too much of their dice, whilst the review video focuses almost exclusively on it.

[William Dale Jr]

Round 9 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 31st July 1988 over 20 laps of the 3.084km Snetterton circuit.

The track was very wet at the start but, with no more rain falling, the track dried throughout the race.

Position	Number	Entrant	Driver	Car	Class	Race Time/Laps	Retirement Cause	Fastest Time	Qualifying Time	Grid Position
1	22	Kaliber Ford	Andy Rouse	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	25m25.15s		1m12.65s	1m08.37s	1
2	10	Industrial Control Services plc	Robb Gravett	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	25m37.92s		1m13.79s	1m10.05s	6
3	21	Kaliber Ford	Guy Edwards	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	25m44.57s		1m14.34s	1m09.42s	2
4	14	Burlington Wall Coverings Limited	Mike Newman	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	26m03.77s		1m15.32s	1m09.86s	4
5	15	Listerine-Texaco Racing	Graham Goode	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	26m16.55s		1m15.56s	1m10.36s	8
6	16	Duckhams Racing with Karl Jones	Karl Jones	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	26m25.61s		1m17.33s	1m09.65s	3
7	5	Terry Drury Racing	Tim Harvey	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	26m39.88s		1m17.53s	1m10.03s	5
8	8	Arquati UK Limited	Jerry Mahony	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	19 laps		1m11.21s	1m10.58s	9
9	33	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Frank Sytner	BMW M3	B	19 laps		1m17.44s	1m10.84s	10
10	34	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Will Hoy	BMW M3	B	19 laps		1m19.88s	1m12.55s	17
11	1	Shell-Toyota-MIL	Mark Hales	Toyota Supra Turbo	A	19 laps		1m21.01s	1m11.49s	11
12	26	ECM	Tom Bell	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	19 laps		1m19.76s	1m13.66s	18
13	43	Godfrey Hall Limited	Godfrey Hall	BMW M3	B	19 laps		1m20.04s	1m11.85s	13
14	70	TOM'S GB Limited	Phil Dowsett	Toyota Corolla	D	19 laps		1m19.87s	1m15.43s	19
15	48	Specialist Cars Aberdeen Limited	Andrew Jeffrey	Volkswagen Golf GTi	C	19 laps		1m21.63s	1m16.36s	21
16	55	John Maguire Racing / David Sutton Motorsport	James Shead	Volkswagen Golf GTi	C	18 laps		1m22.68s	1m15.70s	20
17	63	Tony Crudgington	Tony Crudgington	Toyota Corolla GT	D	18 laps		1m23.58s	1m17.41s	22
18	69	MIL Motorsport	John Llewellyn	Toyota Corolla GT	D	18 laps		1m26.41s	1m19.28s	23
19	32	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Mike Smith	BMW M3	B	17 laps		1m12.73s	1m12.40s	16
DNF	19	Baynard Cars Limited	Lawrence Bristow	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	19 laps	accident	1m13.34s	1m10.23s	7
DNF	20	Soans-Ford Dealers	Graham Hathaway	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	18 laps		1m20.61s	1m12.03s	14
DNF	2	Shell-Toyota-MIL	Vic Lee	Toyota Supra Turbo	A	5 laps	engine	1m23.70s	NTR	25
DNF	44	Alan Minshaw	Chris Hodgetts	BMW M3	B	4 laps	accident damage	1m21.12s	1m12.12s	15
DNF	74	North Essex Motorsport	Barbara Cowell	Ford Escort RS1600i	D	1 lap	engine	1m48.31s	1m20.80s	24
EXC	7	Autoglass	Mike O'Brien	Holden Commodore VL (HDT)	D	19 laps	driving misconduct	1m11.98s	1m11.61s	12

Action-packed race, this one! Sytner made a terrible start, causing drama on the run down to Riches. A fast-starting Mike Smith took to the grass to pass Graham Hathaway, who had swerved to pass the slow Sytner. Smith made contact with the Sierra as he merged back onto the track, firing the Mobil BMW across the his teammate's bows and into Chris Hodgetts in Minshaw's Demon Tweaks M3. Hodgetts, would retire soon afterwards due to the damage, whilst Smith - who blamed Hodgetts for hitting him - would spin down to the tail of the field when he finally reached the first corner! Sytner, meanwhile, miraculously escaped unscathed from the incident with his main rivals out of contention. Smith would pit to rectify the damage and elected to fit slick tyres. Although he would eventually be classified as the final finisher, the tyres allowed him to pinch the Class B fastest lap, leading to a very unhappy Sytner.

At the front of the field, Rouse led the first lap from Jones, Edwards, Gravett and Mahony, with Edwards taking Jones for 2nd into Riches to start lap 2. Mahony then spun the Arquati Sierra at Sear, recovering behind Sytner and Hathaway, only to spin again when he reached the other end of the Revett Straight. He would then spin a third time - once again, under braking into The Esses - before also pitting for grooved slicks. Late in the race Edwards did a Mahony, spinning off at The Esses to gift 2nd to Robb Gravett. Bristow was set to take third, before being punted off entering the Bomb Hole on the last lap by Mike O'Brien, which led to the Commodore driver being fined and excluded from the race. Rouse took what was eventually a comfortable victory, but it was Mahony on the grooved slicks that took the fastest lap.


Points of interest:

• Hodgetts deputised for Ratzenberger in Alan Minshaw's M3 whilst the Austrian drove in the Spa 24 Hours that weekend. Hodgetts, however, had driven in the 24 Hours himself; according to the review video, he drove a total of 10 hours before heading to Norfolk for the BTCC race. Only question I have: why?
• Bristow's accident damaged the car badly enough for it to need a new bodyshell, as confirmed in the for sale ad for the car in Autosport late in the year. I wonder where this car ended up, did it end up getting sold? Did it appear in the BTCC after 1988? This is based on the assumption that Bristow's 1989 Labatt's car was brand new.

[KA]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Yep, that matches what I have on the offical BRDC results sheets I have from this race

I have entrant data for this race, but I'm not sure where I got it from. I thought it was on the sheets, but it isn't. However, I wouldn't have put them there had they not come from what I considered a reliable source, so I believe they are right.

Round 6 full results, qualifying times, and fastest laps from the results sheets as follows (updated thanks to the info from Tim and KA):

The results sheets list John Lepp in the practice results and grid sheet, but the race results only lists the car number as a non-starter without indicating who was in it. Asterisk indicated the 1 minute penalty for Ratzenberger's jumped start.

I have Sands, Wiffen, Jeffrey and Eaton all listed in the practice results, but have no times recorded for either session. I'm assuming that the cars were entered but did not appear and reflected that in the results (ENT), can anyone confirm?

This race only receives about 30 seconds of coverage on the review video, and completely omits any mention of the first lap accident/restart.

Thanks William- Although some of them differ from how we've been describing them, the entrant details look pretty spot-on to me as being how they'd have been listed in the race programme- mainly the differences being down to cars officially entered under the name of the sponsor (ie Hathaway's Sierra entered by his sponsor 'Soans Ford Dealer' rather than his team 'Graham Hathaway Racing' etc)
I've got the programmes for the last couple of rounds at Donington and Silverstone somewhere- I must dig them out and see if there's anything useful in them

[KA]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

I can verify, the weather was indeed mightily wet

Results courtesy of Autosport:


Note the usual British GP meeting one-offs- Jeremy Rossiter in the North Essex Motorsport RS1600i, Dave Loudoun in a CHMS Corolla, and Andy Middlehurst replacing John Brindley in the Minshaw Golf. Also the debut of Mark Goddard in Alan Gaunt's AJG Transport Escort (the ex-Chris Hodgetts/Paul Taft Brooklyn car) and notable changes at MIL Motorsport- Mark Hales replacing Chris Hodgetts in the Supra, and thereturn of their Corolla, absent for a couple of rounds- now back with John Llewellyn replacing Kevin Eaton


Probably after Snetterton, when Smith pinched the Class B fastest lap point by putting on slicks, which led to this reaction from Sytner...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRmTh69PLEU

One of those classic BTCC moments....

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

I have full Autosport results for rounds 8 and 9, so I might as well keep going.

Round 9 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 24th July 1988 over 20 laps of the 4.812km Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

Conditions were fine and sunny, apart from a brief rain shower in the early laps. You've got to love English weather


I only have the results for this race, so I don't have the retirement data normally given in the race report.

The race saw a titanic, race-long battle between Soper and Rouse. The lead changed many times, even during the rain shower! Rouse appeared to have more power than the Eggenberger car, using it to his advantage several times on the run down Pilgrim's Drop. Rouse finally resolved the matter by putting the Kaliber Sierra through a Kaliber Sierra-sized gap down the straight to snatch the lead into Hawthorn's on the last lap. Great race, and great driving from two greats of British touring car racing!

Interestingly, the original broadcast didn't contain too much of their dice, whilst the review video focuses almost exclusively on it.

Added some of the missing entrant details. A couple of interesting changes to the entries here- Rob Wilson substituting for Graham Hathaway in the GHR/Soans Sierra, John Morris in the Demon Tweeks Golf, a one-off appearance by Martin Wray's production saloon Honda Prelude, and the debut of the ECM Vehicle Delivery RS500 of Ray MacDowell- this was an interesting one, although it was the least competitive of the Sierras The ECM car was actually a road-legal (number plates,tax disc and all) RS500 which was also seen in Thundersaloons and club racing. MacDowall and Tom Bell would alternate in the car during a handful of appearances over the rest of the season.

Hadn't realised the original TV coverage didn't show so much of the famous Rouse v Soper duel- it is probably one of the all-time classic BTCC races for that alone. As you say, the review video (haven't watched that for a while- must dig it out) largely concentrated on it- as I remember it also features quite a lot of in-car stuff of Mike Smith's efforts to get past the O'Brien Commodore

[KA]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Round 9 of 13 of the 1988 Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship held on Sunday 31st July 1988 over 20 laps of the 3.084km Snetterton circuit.

Action-packed race, this one! Sytner made a terrible start, causing drama on the run down to Riches. A fast-starting Mike Smith took to the grass to pass Graham Hathaway, who had swerved to pass the slow Sytner. Smith made contact with the Sierra as he merged back onto the track, firing the Mobil BMW across the his teammate's bows and into Chris Hodgetts in Minshaw's Demon Tweaks M3. Hodgetts, would retire soon afterwards due to the damage, whilst Smith - who blamed Hodgetts for hitting him - would spin down to the tail of the field when he finally reached the first corner! Sytner, meanwhile, miraculously escaped unscathed from the incident with his main rivals out of contention. Smith would pit to rectify the damage and elected to fit slick tyres. Although he would eventually be classified as the final finisher, the tyres allowed him to pinch the Class B fastest lap, leading to a very unhappy Sytner.

At the front of the field, Rouse led the first lap from Jones, Edwards, Gravett and Mahony, with Edwards taking Jones for 2nd into Riches to start lap 2. Mahony then spun the Arquati Sierra at Sear, recovering behind Sytner and Hathaway, only to spin again when he reached the other end of the Revett Straight. He would then spin a third time - once again, under braking into The Esses - before also pitting for grooved slicks. Late in the race Edwards did a Mahony, spinning off at The Esses to gift 2nd to Robb Gravett. Bristow was set to take third, before being punted off entering the Bomb Hole on the last lap by Mike O'Brien, which led to the Commodore driver being fined and excluded from the race. Rouse took what was eventually a comfortable victory, but it was Mahony on the grooved slicks that took the fastest lap.


Points of interest:

• Hodgetts deputised for Ratzenberger in Alan Minshaw's M3 whilst the Austrian drove in the Spa 24 Hours that weekend. Hodgetts, however, had driven in the 24 Hours himself; according to the review video, he drove a total of 10 hours before heading to Norfolk for the BTCC race. Only question I have: why?
• Bristow's accident damaged the car badly enough for it to need a new bodyshell, as confirmed in the for sale ad for the car in Autosport late in the year. I wonder where this car ended up, did it end up getting sold? Did it appear in the BTCC after 1988? This is based on the assumption that Bristow's 1989 Labatt's car was brand new.

Some interesting points on this one- as you say, an eventful race. I definitely remember Smith being fairly outspoken on the incident with Hodgetts- not sure if it was on the TV coverage or comments quoted in one of the race reports, but there might have been some suggestion made that Minshaw had brought Hodgetts in with the specific aim of interfering with Prodrive's championship bid- I thought they were doing a pretty good job of that themselves here ....

Hodgetts dropping in to race the Minshaw BMW after doing 10 hours at Spa sounds like the kind of thing you'd never be allowed to do now- it seems to have been a fairly common practice at the time where race commitments clashed- I think Chris did it a few times the previous year during his BTCC/WTCC/ETCC Corolla campaign, commuting between a number of WTCC/ETCC and BTCC races where they fell on the same weekend.

Interesting that Hodgetts was able to do it, while Ratzenberger couldn't- On the other hand, as Ratzenberger was a factory BMW driver, maybe BMW weren't too happy with the idea of being a driver short for part of the 24 hours just so Roland could drive a privateer BMW against the official BMW GB-backed entries in the BTCC....

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

...[*]Hodgetts deputised for Ratzenberger in Alan Minshaw's M3 whilst the Austrian drove in the Spa 24 Hours that weekend. Hodgetts, however, had driven in the 24 Hours himself; according to the review video, he drove a total of 10 hours before heading to Norfolk for the BTCC race. Only question I have: why?[*]Bristow's accident damaged the car badly enough for it to need a new bodyshell, as confirmed in the for sale ad for the car in Autosport late in the year. I wonder where this car ended up, did it end up getting sold? Did it appear in the BTCC after 1988? This is based on the assumption that Bristow's 1989 Labatt's car was brand new.[/LIST]

The Cam Shipping RS500 went to Japan, then turned up in Singapore and finally returned to the UK and was owned by a chap called Martin Wren for a while.
It's now with a new owner (who's name escapes me) who does still occasionally race the car.

[chunterer]

Another interesting aspect from that Brands round, at least in qualy is Sytner's 4th place grid slot....

Do I recall correctly that qualy was in damp conditions, which may have helped him along, and was he heard to comment that he would need to be careful on the opening lap not to get in the way of some bigger cars that would start behind him?

If that is true, it's ironic when you consider what happened to his teammate at the next round in Snetterton!!!

Couple of points re Tim's excellent news snippets.

The Letchworth/Scarborough Rover. Did Tony Strawson borrow or buy the car for a Thundersaloons campaign, as we mentioned its participation in the season opener at Brands that year alongside the ex Marlboro Bill Griffin car? Gerry Marshall was out in one of them too.

Don't know if Tony was based in Surrey?

'Skid' came on a few months back talking about Capris back but we haven't heard from him about his Rover yet, i'm sure he could tell us!

Also I saw something about TWR looking at entering an M3 or Supra from mid season onwards? Strange when they were so heavily commited to the Holden project at that time, and so soon after the much hyped Volvo deal never came off in 1987?

[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

Pos.	#	Entrant	Driver	Car	Cat.	Laps/time	Notes	FL	Q-time	Grid
1.	22	Kaliber Ford	Andy Rouse	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:01.71		1:34.70	1:34.02	1.
2.	5	Terry Drury Racing	Tim Harvey	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:03.82		1:35.22	1:34.01	4.
3.	8	Arquati UK Limited	Jerry Mahony	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:12.34		1:35.67	1:35.32	7.
4.	14	Burlington Wall Coverings Limited	Mike Newman	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:12.57		1:35.10	1:35.32	6.
5.	21	Kaliber Ford	Guy Edwards	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:20.25		1:35.06	1:36.79	15.
6.	15	Listerine-Texaco Racing	Graham Goode	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:23.74		1:35.66	1:35.72	9.
7.	11	Brooklyn/Mr Tomkinson	Chris Hodgetts	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:31.27		1:35.22	1:35.19	5.
8.	33	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Frank Sytner	BMW M3	B	15/24:36.37		1:36.94	1:35.56	8.
9.	36	Godfrey Hall Limited	Godfrey Hall	BMW M3	B	15/24:43.27		1:37.14	1:35.92	12.
10.	20	Soans-Ford Dealers	Graham Hathaway	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	15/24:43.69		1:37.33	1:36.52	14.
11.	44	Alan Minshaw	Roland Ratzenberger	BMW M3	B	15/24:47.14		1:36.78	1:35.76	11.
12.	32	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Mike Smith	BMW M3	B	15/24:47.27		1:36.62	1:37.23	17.
13.	7	Autoglass	Mike O'Brien	Holden Commodore VL/SS	A	15/24:56.55		1:36.54	1:36.42	13.
14.	1	Shell-Toyota-MIL	Ian Flux	Toyota Supra Turbo	A	15/24:57.76		1:37.87	1:37.75	16.
15.	2	Shell-Toyota-MIL	Vic Lee	Toyota Supra Turbo	A	14 laps		1:38.73	1:38.21	18.
16.	70	TOM'S GB Limited	Phil Dowsett	Toyota Corolla FX/GT	D	14 laps		1:42.82	1:42.34	21.
17.	48	Specialist Cars Aberdeen Limited	Andrew Jeffrey	VW Golf GTI 16V	C	14 laps		1:42.55	1:42.53	22.
18.	63	Tony Crudgington	Tony Crudgington	Toyota Corolla GT	D	14 laps		1:44.27	1:43.55	24.
19.	69	MIL Motorsport	John Llewellyn	Toyota Corolla GT	D	14 laps		1:44.41	1:44.95	27.
20.	39	Terry Drury Racing	Lionel Wiffen	Ford Escort RS Turbo	B	10 laps		1:47.84	1:47.37	30.
DNF	74	North Essex Racing	Barbara Cowell	Ford Escort RS1600i	D	8 laps	Misfire	1:45.54	1:47.77	29.
DNF	34	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	Lionel Abbott	BMW M3	B	6 laps	Handling	1:37.55	1:40.95	19.
DNF	16	Duckhams Racing with Karl Jones	Karl Jones	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	3 laps	Turbo	1:35.35	1:34.74	3.
DNF	10	Industrial Control Services plc	Robb Gravett	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A	2 laps	Clutch	1:38.41	1:34.49	2.
DNF	24	The Campari Maserati	Nick May	Maserati Biturbo	A	2 laps	Piston	1:41.33	1:44.33	25.
DNF	77	AJK Motor Sport	Geoff Kimber-Smith	Toyota Corolla GT	D	0/0:00.00	Overheating	no time	1:44.42	26.
DNS	19	Baynard Cars Limited	Laurence Bristow	Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth	A		Differential		1:35.73	10.
DNS	55	John Maguire Racing-David Sutton Motorsport	James Shead	VW Golf GTI 16V	C		Differential		1:42.92	23.

Jesper

[chunterer]

Couple of things worth noting, both M3 related.

Godfrey Hall became increasingly competitive as the season wore on and Lionel Abbott, perhaps in the car due to his Mobil sponsorship in prodsaloons, was nowhere near the pace of the other privateer drivers, let alone the Prodrive cars.

I'm assuming he was picked because Will Hoy had other commitments.

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Couple of things worth noting, both M3 related.

Godfrey Hall became increasingly competitive as the season wore on and Lionel Abbott, perhaps in the car due to his Mobil sponsorship in prodsaloons, was nowhere near the pace of the other privateer drivers, let alone the Prodrive cars.

I'm assuming he was picked because Will Hoy had other commitments.

Will Hoy was busy winning his class in the Japanese Group A series:
http://www.jaf.or.jp/CGI/msports/res..._id=1988000192

I was guessing that the Mobil connection saw Abbott in the third M3 for this race.

Jesper

[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??)