Classic Special Saloons

[driftwood]

Vaughan your right the cars did use what where considered to be obsolete sports cars chevron b19 type cars as the base of a saloon and later a donington gt car
also many march f2 /atalntic cars where cannibilised for the running gear to make a saloon car around either with the steel shell or space frames
can list a few cars DFVW is the duckhams le man car of de cadenet ( see thread else where)
Super chimp was B23?? chevron wth Imp body fitted- that car is now running in historics many donington GT cars where F2 single seaters with clone shell ie Jef wilson BMW M1 was purleys B30 f3000 chevron
will not bore u with more details as the cars are mentioned through many lola march chevron threads in 10 tenths also if you look through all the pages here you will see references to special saloons Gp cars donington GT and you willse that some cars will have disappeared some will have been broken for the parts to re build the historic car and some will be racing in oulton park pembery lydden type sports saloon series and the remainder languishing in garages as owners retired from racing/ the class diappered for them to run in
the logical place for these cars to run is propbaly TOP HAT EVENTS they seem to cater for 60/70`s cars im sure the cars can squeeze into the races or perhaps be run as a retro dem race if u can get 10-20 cars
daff oldsmobile is being rebuilt by tony hazelwood
mick hill vwbeetle is around baby bertha so its possible to get a few cars out and do a retro run for sure

[djinvicta]

Perhaps Im wrong, but dont you have to have original engine to run Top Hat?

[Al Weyman]

I don't think they could run TopHat either the way I read it. I certainly will not bother entering my all steel bodied Chevy Camaro I am putting the finishing touches to if that is the case. I remember when all these over the top (IMHO) things came about, I mean the F5000 race car with a plastic body etc and I sincerely think this spelt the start of the end of Special Saloons and it is a shame it was not nipped in the bud there and then. Before that you had guys squeezing Jag engines in Anglias, V8 Escorts etc and using the original doner car shell. It all got a bit over the top after that.

[djinvicta]

OOOOHH!! Touchy Al! Nothing wrong with a pure meat V8 escort! I object to fibre glass prototypes with V8s in the same race. Aint nowt wrong with a steel chassied V8 Escort!

[Al Weyman]

You might have read me wrong dj, nothing wrong with a V8 Escort at all, what I did not like and what I meant was the mid engined single seater race car with a replica body stuck over the top, sorry that stuff leaves me cold (and bored). I mean that guy in the Skoda clone thing, just how many races and by how big a margin did he want to win, not being funny but to race something like that so domanant for so long must get a bit boring after a while and again IMO this is why this great bit of Motorsport finally faded away, big shame.

[driftwood]

u guys have missed the point slightly
sit down and read though some of the other threads u will see how special saloons have evolved from 1 series into 2 or 3 others
also consider the era and the cars with fibre bodies did not spring up over nght in 1983 they started back in the early 70`s with steel shell- then glas fibre panles where added laterthe shell would have somespace frame front rear ends added on with sports/formula suspension added yet stell the cockpit was stell
when u have gone down this route u then think of re inventing the wheel by makinga fullspace frame
the cars with bodies dropped on where often cheap obsolete cars that where purchased to disect and graft the running gear ont a steel chassis but it was easier cheaper more effiecint to fit a fibre body straight to the sports car or single seater
the death bell was not rung on special saloon gt cars till around the 1990`s
donington gt series was very strong with excellent racing thru the 80`s with very good cars and drivers
wendy wools special saloons was strong thru the late 70`s thru the 80`s
in the 70`s there where 3 uk c/ships plus many local circuit series just like f fords grids where full
there was the modofied saloon sereis in the 80` created due to the fact that some owners had steel shell cars ( original special saloons? ) this was healthy till around the 90`s recession
then there was the 60`s saooln car sereis for the pre 66 cars although tuned cars this became its own nemisis when it joine dthe TOCS package and some big$$ drivers created expensive mustnags etc at £50k plus a car

with the 90`s the sports silouhette saloon series became pure sports car races with radicals and clubman sports racers coming in and saloon cars are rarely seen ( perhaps only at lydden and oulton now?) perhaps its the radical type cars that should be pushe dout as they have theri own series of races to contest and this can encourage petrol heads with saloon cars to dust them of and bring them out again

[Al Weyman]

We are sort of agreeing I think?

The point I was trying to make is if a guy takes say an Escort shell and shoehorns a big v8 up front with apropiate modifications then somehow it retains the character of the original car (IMHO), whereas the plastic body plonked on top of a Formula car retains nothing of the original and is really just still a Formula car. I think it was these incarnations that set in the rot, I believe is it Racing59 has a shoehorned Chevy in a Belmont shell and cars like the Vauxhall CArlton with the big V8 they retain a sense of the original car and are thus to the watching public more interesting.

I know they may be a lot more graft to do but they probably are a lot cheaper to do in actual outlay if your time is free, this was the spirit that disappeared when all the plastic clones/Formula cars came about. I remember being privately shown a truely awesome Mustang racer which was based on the original later model shell (mid 80's?), had the engine and gearbox in the right place (no hi-tech transaxles & mid-engines configurations) . Anyhow the bottom line was this car had and never would turn a wheel because it ended up it had nowhere competitive to race as it would not stand a prayer against the mid engined incarnations that had taken over and the car was sadly dismantled.

[djinvicta]

Yes, sorry Al read you wrong...

[scooby12]

Finally found how to upload pictures i hope.

does anyone remembered this one?

taken 1988 by myself at oulton park on a test day

[Al Weyman]

Finally found how to upload pictures i hope.

Fill us in then cause I can't work it out!

[driftwood]

there is a thread on uploading fotos search the site for it
my guess the car is an escort V6 or V8

[Jeremy Jackson]

scooby,

Looks like Chris Maries' XR3i - Rover to me

[driftwood]

i did think this could be the car/driver but i never saw the car

[scooby12]

that's the man chris (grasstrack)(porking) maries i was a machanic for him from 1987 till 95 and had the pleasure of working this and many quick special saloons
that chris had list includes ben bowby's sc100 brought by john roberts after selling Pete Thurston's mk1 escort to pete's mate , ex btcc/etcc holden commodore ,relaint kitten built by neil walker (one of our machanics) mk2 rs2000 featured in ccc own by john roberts , madza rx7's , westfields , ff1600
and the tvr's tuscans we had and looked after .




here's another took at snetteron 1988 after the race

[peter thurston]

It is also the car that mick tester buried into the tyre wall at lydden on his first time out trying to prove it was quicker than my mkI ,Ha.

[scooby12]

funny enough pete that's what chris did first time out when he got it, malcolm hamlton's jag made a bold move at lodge (oulton) putting chris in the tyre wall
i was trying to think who brought your car off john and who have just answered it for us never thought alan cosby would sell it he loved it even putting it back more or less what it looks like in the photo he lent us a video of when he got it , it was in a house garage in a bad way also he edited all footage that barry one of the team (funny enough he's in the snet picture guy in red coat) had taken over the 1988 season some in car at thuxton with suggy's skoda getting past,
wish i'd got a copy. i hope mick gets it back together ok

[peter thurston]

Scooby , mick had it fixed very quickly and promptly got out of racing having sold it after I beat him at brands ,and from the back of the grid!! I don't think he ever realized just what a difference the 5ltr made to the old car.I think it went back up north.

[djinvicta]

Tee Hee; sorry not laughing.. Mick bought it to beat Pete. There are cheaper ways to beat him, not printable here. Whoops look out!! Shot into the gravel at Lydden, hard luck Mick..

[rcarr]

Hi, I am new to this forum, I noticed on the 3rd page of this forum posting there was a list of special saloons- especially "Michael Luck-Chrysler Californian" made me very happy!

This is my car! I bought it from John Helme in the Wirral in Feb 2004, a fairly unsuccessful season 04' with 7 DNFs but we tracked the problem down to being the car being over clutched with a standard road slave cylinder!
It ran with an Alfa Sud boxer engine and gearbox with a 70s style Formula 1 clutch, now for sale! I am upgrading to a vx xe redtop!

I am trying to create a modsports/special saloons/super saloons register at the moment, I am trying to drum up support for the register 1st of all but maybe a championship at a later date! I am looking for people with Imps/Stilettos etc who would like to race in a class with similar cars to them.

If you or someone you know has a car like this please contact me

r_heinicke_carr@hotmail.com

Cheers

Richard

[driftwood]

Yr Clutch Problem Is Possibly Due To To Much Travel With The Pedal We Ran Imps For Yrs Never Had Problem With Street Car Slave Cyl
U Need To Contact Colin Rooney He Has Stell Rawlson Imp He Race Sat Lydden There Will Be 100 Cars Lying In Sheds From The 70-80`s

[rcarr]

Cheers Driftwood, I am running with a full set of racing pedals with an alfa slave cylinder, even the professional mechanics said it was probably over clutched!

I already have Colin Rooney interested! Simon and I are the only 2 imp owners interested so far!

[driftwood]

get onto imp club as well
i must say some of the cars will have been broken for spares

[rcarr]

I am a member of the imp club, there doesnt seem to be many people with racing imps that post on their forum!

I found Colin through the imp club website forum.

[big andy]

it will be nice if racing59s one of race in august comes off .There must be loads of cars out there a lot of them have been mentioned in this thread.Theres already more than 20 cars on a provisional list if you have a car of the "special saloon type" let rob no and lets make this race work

[DanWray]

Originally Posted by andy wilson

anyone remember these ss drivers
(rufforth 17 april 1976)

jim evans escort turbo 2000 selby

david wray ford 4.7 bolton

kieth bowmaker ford 4.7 chopwell

does anyone have any memories photos etc of these drivers

I have some memories of races of this period, but they are very vague - i was only 4 at the time!

My dad and uncle, Peter and Chris Wray, were probably still racing at this time and Rufforth was the local circuit, being from Harrogate. I'm supprised neither of them is in the entry list. They raced at this time in a Mk1 Escort FVC. Jim (Evans) borrowed their car at the final Rufforth meeting and won, i don't know if it was the final ever race there - but it was certainly the final saloon car race. What year did Rufforth close?

Most of my memories of these times come from stories and a scrap book my dad kept from when him and my uncle started racing in the mid-sixties in a series of Twin-cam Anglias upto the later part of the 70's when they were running an FVC Escort. I'm shortly going to start scanning these photos and paper clippings, over time they've started to fade and should really be kept for these moments of nostalgia

I'll post some up here for anyone whose interested.