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Old 27 Mar 2008, 13:12 (Ref:2163021)   #1
bigears
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1987 - Birmingham Superprix - Mod Saloon IDs

I am currently working on the 1987 article for my Birmingham Superprix website:

http://8w.forix.com/bsp.html

Now I am doing some research into the BRSCC Dunlop Modified Saloon car championship race at the Birmingham Superprix street circuit in 1987.

Unfortunately I haven't got a lot of information, only a small article each from Autosport and Motoring News. I got a rare onboard video from Trevor Lewis' Rover Vitesse from the same race.

At the moment, I am trying to identify an incident that happened on the 3rd/fourth lap of the race at the double apex Ferodo Corner that resulted two cars being stranded on the circuit for the reminder of the Mod Saloon race:



I can't tell who the cars are but perhaps the enty list would help:



I hope anyone out there is able to ID the cars. I would be happy to provide more screenshots and other information.

EDIT>>Perhaps this YouTube link would help.

Thank you.
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Old 28 Mar 2008, 15:43 (Ref:2163937)   #2
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car in second pic is me! wire came off dizzy, didnt hit anyone.
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Old 28 Mar 2008, 17:10 (Ref:2163999)   #3
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Thought you would post in here!

Could you tell me more about your race?

What you mean you had a wire coming off dizzy?

Who/what was the destroyed car as you can see in the first screenshot?
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Old 28 Mar 2008, 18:00 (Ref:2164029)   #4
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it is a long time ago! I can remember the first fast lap round the roundabout corner{halfords} in practice,the corner had very steep camber and as i crossed over it the car reared up ithought it was going to roll! Dave Brunsdon who was following me says he could see my sump,however the effect was to overrev the engine and after a few laps the temp. went up and i stopped at the pits. We got hold of a gasket set and replaced the head gasket but a valve was slightly bent,we just about got the car to the grid and after 3-4 laps the engine cut out on the circuit,i found the problem a wire had come off the distributor, but the marshals made me get over the barrier before i could fix it! I think the other car might be dave brunsdon,i think only two cars finished in my class. If i remember correctly dunlop agreed to sponsor the championship because brscc put them on the superprix bill,also the trevor lewis entry come about because of his sponsorship from the airport,brscc had an entry from mike{tv}smith in an rs turbo,both he and trevor smith were in the prod saloon, entries for this race were based on previous point scoring in the mod saloons,smiths was refused eventually,when it pointed out mod saloon regs excluded turbo cars
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 09:16 (Ref:2166783)   #5
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Thank you for the input about your experience. Shame you didn't complete the whole race but it must have been a great experience.

How did the other cars fared during practice and the race itself?

I hear that there was a lot of incidents and accidents during the practice session but then all of the 26 cars managed to make it for the grid?
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 10:10 (Ref:2166825)   #6
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I seem to recall that at the front there was a big Rover scrap between Mensley, Barnes and Chatfield with Streather's Capri not far behind.

Trevor Lewis circulate on his onw for most of the race IIRC.

One of the nicest cars in the field was Nick Cresswell's silver Golf, a real buzzy little car possibly an ex Grp 2 machine?
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 11:48 (Ref:2166911)   #7
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heres a thought did vw make a 1300cc golf gti? I thought it was orange, the other car at the side of the circle might be mike keen, i dont have a copy of the results
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 13:59 (Ref:2167016)   #8
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According to Motoring News and Autosport, Trevor Lewis was involved in a scrap with Des Wenn's Opel Ascona and they finished half a second apart I believe.

This is the Cresswell Golf at the Gti International Show in 1990/1991?:



Chris Keen crashed his Ford Escort and was out of the race

In the onboard video, there was two abandoned white cars, one at Halfords Corner and other at Bromsgrove Street straight. So do you know who they are?

I will try to make a screenshot as I got some problems with my computer at the moment.
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 17:35 (Ref:2167140)   #9
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i am pretty certain that the golf was orange once,perhaps before it was silver,on the video i certain that the car at halfords would have been chris keen,that is me on the bromsgrove street straight.
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 17:42 (Ref:2167149)   #10
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Hi all, !st post.

Has anybody got pictures / details of the Bill Griffin BMW 325.
The reason I ask is that I think I may have it sitting in my workshop!
My car is ex Kumho and before that we are led to believe was run in Castle Combe saloons, but history is patchy at best. Definately Griffin engine, though.
Any help appreciated.

Kim.
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 17:56 (Ref:2167169)   #11
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Originally Posted by vjay48
i am pretty certain that the golf was orange once,perhaps before it was silver,on the video i certain that the car at halfords would have been chris keen,that is me on the bromsgrove street straight.
I am slightly confused now, I thought your car was blue as you can see in the screenshot whereas an other car that parked up at Bromgrove Street Straight was white. Please bear with me...

Did you retire your car after the right hand corner (the double apexed Ferodo Corner) or parked up at Bromsgrove Street straight? (the straight before the last corner)

How did the Brunsdon accident happen? I had a look at the video and there was some skidmarks before where the car came to rest.

According to Autosport, Chris Keen crashed into the barriers, but the Halfords Corner is very wide unless he messed up his braking or had a suspension failure?

Questions, questions I know!
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 18:01 (Ref:2167176)   #12
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Originally Posted by kimbo
Hi all, !st post.

Has anybody got pictures / details of the Bill Griffin BMW 325.
The reason I ask is that I think I may have it sitting in my workshop!
My car is ex Kumho and before that we are led to believe was run in Castle Combe saloons, but history is patchy at best. Definately Griffin engine, though.
Any help appreciated.

Kim.
Firstly, welcome to this forum!

Although Bill Griffin was the championship leader at the time of the Birmingham Superprix race but he wasn't in the top seven in the Mod Saloon grid line-up. I am not sure what happened to him during qualifying or race.

Sorry I got no photos of the BMW 325 though. But there is a Bill Griffin dealership in Dublin:

http://www.billgriffinmotors.ie/contentv3/

Is he the same person?
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 18:34 (Ref:2167200)   #13
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assuming halfords is the corner which is a roundabout chris keen hit the barriers on the right hander after it,i am stopped on the straight about 3/400 yards after.
bill griffin was based in the castle combe area same as brian chatfield
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 18:52 (Ref:2167217)   #14
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Regular forum poster; Alex E would be a good one to ask about Griffin Bimmers. Alex mentioned that he knows one of Griffin's old engine men in the Rover SD1 discussion thread, as Griffin also ran a Group A Vitesse at one time, so I would imagine Alex or the same engine guy would know something about the old modsaloon 323/325.

From memory I'm not sure that Bill Griffin was even in the B'ham modsaloon race? If he had have been he would have been near the front of the grid surely? However my memory can't be that good as reckoned on Trevor Lewis going round on his own when bigears has quite rightly stated that he had a race long scrap with an Ascona!!
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Old 1 Apr 2008, 19:07 (Ref:2167226)   #15
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I don't think Bill Griffin actually took part in the BSP race as Jim Mensley was the 5th reserve and he managed to get 2nd on the grid.
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Old 8 Sep 2011, 08:26 (Ref:2952541)   #16
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modsaloon photos

Here is links to my photos of the modsaloons from Birmingham 1987. I have used the race list from the earlier post to identify the drivers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/richard...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richard...n/photostream/

Last edited by Richard G Hilsden; 8 Sep 2011 at 08:32. Reason: more info
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Old 24 Feb 2019, 21:44 (Ref:3886391)   #17
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does anyone know any information about other races trevor smith did and whether the rover used competed in any other events? thanks
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Old 25 Feb 2019, 10:52 (Ref:3886487)   #18
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does anyone know any information about other races trevor smith did and whether the rover used competed in any other events? thanks
If you mean Trevor Lewis, iirc it was an ex Colin Davids run Istel Prodsaloon but i'm not 100% on that.

Ken Clarke will probably know if you pm him...
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Old 26 Feb 2019, 22:06 (Ref:3886913)   #19
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many thanks. much appreciated
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If you mean Trevor Lewis, iirc it was an ex Colin Davids run Istel Prodsaloon but i'm not 100% on that.

Ken Clarke will probably know if you pm him...
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Old 7 Mar 2019, 11:24 (Ref:3888890)   #20
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Hi Markymar93,
As Chunterer correctly points out the Trevor Lewis SD1 from that Birmingham Superprix Modsaloon event was an ex-Istel Production Saloon used in Uniroyal and Monroe rounds during 1986.This actual Rover used by Lewis is at present up for sale with current owner Ken Clarke.Needs some work though...
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Old 7 Mar 2019, 22:50 (Ref:3889019)   #21
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hi. thanks for the extra information.
i am actually thinking of buying it, which is why i have been asking about it. thank you for the help. im looking for pics at mo.
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Hi Markymar93,
As Chunterer correctly points out the Trevor Lewis SD1 from that Birmingham Superprix Modsaloon event was an ex-Istel Production Saloon used in Uniroyal and Monroe rounds during 1986.This actual Rover used by Lewis is at present up for sale with current owner Ken Clarke.Needs some work though...
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Old 10 Mar 2019, 10:43 (Ref:3889429)   #22
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hi. does anyone have any pics of the car or know anymore on its history? i have just bought the car.

many thanks mark
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hi. thanks for the extra information.
i am actually thinking of buying it, which is why i have been asking about it. thank you for the help. im looking for pics at mo.
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Old 21 Mar 2019, 21:33 (Ref:3892540)   #23
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after much thought and talking to ken,
we will be rebuilding the car as a group a. now the hunt for parts begins.
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hi. does anyone have any pics of the car or know anymore on its history? i have just bought the car.

many thanks mark
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Old 22 Mar 2019, 00:38 (Ref:3892614)   #24
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Well that’s good. Glad to hear the car still in use
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Old 22 Mar 2019, 21:22 (Ref:3892828)   #25
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not yet. it is a big restoration project.
however, it will be giving an old tired race car. new life.
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Well that’s good. Glad to hear the car still in use
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