RE: Time for Tea? 1980s Rallycross
Discussion
falkster said:
Will Gollop was usually in a 6R4 or Peugeot. The crazy Escorts or RS200 could have been Martin Schanche (sp?).
Correct. Will had that silkolene sponsored 6R4 for many years, then swapped to the peugeot. The RS 200's and later on the Escorts were Mr Rally cross himself, Mr Schanche.Loved it when the red mist would descend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=iBZ62OHT7p...
Two schanche moments stick in my mind:
The first was sometime around 1990ish at Lydden and Martin somehow drove over the bank on the outside of chessons drift and instead of giving up emerged about one lap later having driven round the outside of the bank, must have been a good 45 degree angle.
The second was in October 1995 at the final euro rally cross round at Brands. Martin had a bright yellow escort RS 2000 that had a monster turbo, all the cars went down into paddock hill bend (the circuit was different for a rallycross set up; hard right before the tarmac paddock hill bend and down the hill across gravel to flick left back onto the tarmac half way up the hill) and somehow Martin's bonnet flew up, so he went up the hill into druids completely blind with the bonnet against the windscreen, the next thing, I can recall looking across to Druids hairpin from Paddock and there was a wall of flame about 100ft across by 12 foot tall, he'd crashed and ruptured the tank. Chaos and a red flag ! Good memories
Edited by tylerama on Wednesday 21st November 18:09
Edited by tylerama on Wednesday 21st November 18:10
Edited by tylerama on Wednesday 21st November 18:11
Thanks for the link. Fabulous memories. I used to go to Lydden and Brands for the Rallycross in this era and a few years after. Martin Schanche a fantastic competitor in unobtainable machinery for mere mortals to watch. The speed of the last few frames before the line brought it back how quick those cars were.
Great stuff, never get tired of these clips. It was such good racing, very fan friendly, you could walk all round the pits at Brands, up c;lose to the cars, peer inside engine compartments, talk to the drivers.
Another awesome driver/engineer was John Welch with the STP Xtrac escort, and the Sphere Drake Astra.
Another awesome driver/engineer was John Welch with the STP Xtrac escort, and the Sphere Drake Astra.
Another great link from the mrrallycrossuk channel on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HamXAHh8N4w
The end of this clip is what it's all about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqk4eKTcra0&fea...
The end of this clip is what it's all about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqk4eKTcra0&fea...
Edited by tylerama on Wednesday 21st November 18:55
HDM said:
Another awesome driver/engineer was John Welch with the STP Xtrac escort, and the Sphere Drake Astra.
Remember him so well, he had the side exit exhaust on the Astra that set fire to the side of his car which was made worse when he opened the door to see what the issue was. Still won the race but jumped out of the car whilst stting his pants.
[quote=Flares&Chestwig] Never really got Schanche, whether it was money, passion,talent or if he was just a complete
[/quote]
I think it was just about balls to the wall racing. He just never gave up, always had his foot buried to the floor. He just didn't give a f*** what anyone thought. it was all about winning.
[/quote]
I think it was just about balls to the wall racing. He just never gave up, always had his foot buried to the floor. He just didn't give a f*** what anyone thought. it was all about winning.
coppice said:
Just don't swallow the tired old cliche about getting to 100 quicker than any F1 car. Not on slippy mud and tarmac they don't ...and not with 400kg more and 250bhp less, 4wd or not
And quite frankly, who gives a st? F1 cars have never been as cool or exciting as these things!Mark-C said:
Rallycross? To me that means Keith Ripp, a hump, a Mini and the legendary Murray Walker ....
Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gilxT4wEedM
What - not Trevor Hopkins, John Welch, John Button, John Smith, John Taylor or Paul Rogers?Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gilxT4wEedM
Martin schanche is a lovely man ! His wife has made me many a bacon butty and mug of tea back in the day. I used to help out getting the paddock sorted at lydden and martin was ready with a handshake and a smutty joke .until the tv cameras started to roll then he was the face of rallycross all across europe where the the top drivers were treated like superstars .
All drivers were real gents with very frw exceptions.
The cars were and still are awesome.
Its being promoted in the states and the very pleasant Tanner Faust has been doing the european championship.
All drivers were real gents with very frw exceptions.
The cars were and still are awesome.
Its being promoted in the states and the very pleasant Tanner Faust has been doing the european championship.
crostonian said:
Was it Will Gollop who always had some crazily tuned Escort, did Stig Blomqvist and Per Eklund also take part? Apart from F1 and the RAC rally once a year it was one of the only motorsport events on TV back in the mid 80s.
Could have been John Welch in the Gartrac Escort. I can remember the STP adverts in Cars and Car Conversions magazine (ah, those were the days) in black and white in those days too of course!http://gartrac.com/company/johnwelchmk3.htm
I've been a few times this year and like the WRC it's not a patch on what it was back then.
I used to watch it on the TV as a kid in the 80s and got to see at for the first time at Brands in 2003, loved Pat Dorans RS200 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D37DfAzsZio
I used to watch it on the TV as a kid in the 80s and got to see at for the first time at Brands in 2003, loved Pat Dorans RS200 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D37DfAzsZio
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