Obscure race and rally cars
Discussion
DanielSan said:
1 of 1 4wd Primera Supertourer’s, built for use in Germany, never really worked as well as hoped and the idea was abandoned
That was at the Oulton Park Gold Cup last year (probably where that photo was taken) and it was noticeably slower than the other Super Tourers there. There was also a 4WD Mondeo raced in Germany around the same time, and I think Riccardo Patrese drove it - that didn't work either, only Audi ever made a success of 4WD in Super Touring.pitboard said:
Two rallying oddballs that spring to mind are a turbocharged Anglia van driven by a local lad in the Tour of Mull in about 1981 and, in the early 70s, making a decent fist of it on a road rally, a Vauxhall HA Viva campervan.
British rallying has often been the spawning ground for some real one-offs.I recall seeing a short-chassis Rover SD1 (shortened to a 2-door - it was essentially square in plan view) stuggling to avoid going sideways in a straight line in a Northern forest many years ago.
Or the mid-engined Ferrari-engined Alfa Sprint on similar events.
And let's not forget Darrians and Davrians, common to those of us following rallying but completely alien to the wider population. How many here knew those were/are (sort of) production cars?
Oh and here's another short SD1:
BL themselves also got involved. Who remembers the V8 Morris Marina, built for the World Cup Rally and then later raced in Australia?
Lastinclass said:
Neil Parsec said:
The Rolls Royce which wasn't what it seemed reminded me of this car which shows how flimsy motor racing rules can be.
The Churchill silhouette series raced in the late 80s or early 90s and I remember them from Snetterton. I think the regulations were that cars had to be the silouette of a road car & I think that as long as they adhered to that they could do pretty much what they liked. This car was driven by John Churchill whos company sponsored the series and it looked like the whole series was a way of him showing off his very fancy car. IIRC it was a Formula 2 car under plastic bodywork, he declared it to be Lancia Stratos. It won every race I saw it in & normally held the outright lap record at Snetteton (the next fastest cars that visited were Formula 3). Then Churchill sold the car but it continued to race but the new owner declared it to be a silouette of a different car, an AC 3000ME IIRC. How can the same car be claimed to be two different cars?
I worked on that car for the following owner! He raced it as a Stratos but did own a similar set up with AC ME3000 bodywork on it.The Churchill silhouette series raced in the late 80s or early 90s and I remember them from Snetterton. I think the regulations were that cars had to be the silouette of a road car & I think that as long as they adhered to that they could do pretty much what they liked. This car was driven by John Churchill whos company sponsored the series and it looked like the whole series was a way of him showing off his very fancy car. IIRC it was a Formula 2 car under plastic bodywork, he declared it to be Lancia Stratos. It won every race I saw it in & normally held the outright lap record at Snetteton (the next fastest cars that visited were Formula 3). Then Churchill sold the car but it continued to race but the new owner declared it to be a silouette of a different car, an AC 3000ME IIRC. How can the same car be claimed to be two different cars?
The stratos car was a March 832 chassis with BMW M12 engine and Hewland FG300 (dodgy memory??) gearbox.
The car was later returned to 832 original bodywork with the carbon top section to the tub refitted. I have pictures of before and after somewhere but all on old skool photo paper so will have to scan them!!
grumpy52 said:
Lastinclass said:
Neil Parsec said:
The Rolls Royce which wasn't what it seemed reminded me of this car which shows how flimsy motor racing rules can be.
The Churchill silhouette series raced in the late 80s or early 90s and I remember them from Snetterton. I think the regulations were that cars had to be the silouette of a road car & I think that as long as they adhered to that they could do pretty much what they liked. This car was driven by John Churchill whos company sponsored the series and it looked like the whole series was a way of him showing off his very fancy car. IIRC it was a Formula 2 car under plastic bodywork, he declared it to be Lancia Stratos. It won every race I saw it in & normally held the outright lap record at Snetteton (the next fastest cars that visited were Formula 3). Then Churchill sold the car but it continued to race but the new owner declared it to be a silouette of a different car, an AC 3000ME IIRC. How can the same car be claimed to be two different cars?
I worked on that car for the following owner! He raced it as a Stratos but did own a similar set up with AC ME3000 bodywork on it.The Churchill silhouette series raced in the late 80s or early 90s and I remember them from Snetterton. I think the regulations were that cars had to be the silouette of a road car & I think that as long as they adhered to that they could do pretty much what they liked. This car was driven by John Churchill whos company sponsored the series and it looked like the whole series was a way of him showing off his very fancy car. IIRC it was a Formula 2 car under plastic bodywork, he declared it to be Lancia Stratos. It won every race I saw it in & normally held the outright lap record at Snetteton (the next fastest cars that visited were Formula 3). Then Churchill sold the car but it continued to race but the new owner declared it to be a silouette of a different car, an AC 3000ME IIRC. How can the same car be claimed to be two different cars?
The stratos car was a March 832 chassis with BMW M12 engine and Hewland FG300 (dodgy memory??) gearbox.
The car was later returned to 832 original bodywork with the carbon top section to the tub refitted. I have pictures of before and after somewhere but all on old skool photo paper so will have to scan them!!
DanielSan said:
1 of 1 4wd Primera Supertourer’s, built for use in Germany, never really worked as well as hoped and the idea was abandoned
Not exactly true. It is the only one left but there was 3 built one was written off can’t remember what happened to the 2nd one. An amazing piece of kit. Kept about 5 mins from my house and I know the owner. He also has a collection of other touring cars including a rouse rs500, the rockitcargo accord, a works accord and a motorbase focus aswell as other race/rally cars.
AMD87 said:
DanielSan said:
1 of 1 4wd Primera Supertourer’s, built for use in Germany, never really worked as well as hoped and the idea was abandoned
Not exactly true. It is the only one left but there was 3 built one was written off can’t remember what happened to the 2nd one. An amazing piece of kit. Kept about 5 mins from my house and I know the owner. He also has a collection of other touring cars including a rouse rs500, the rockitcargo accord, a works accord and a motorbase focus aswell as other race/rally cars.
AMD87 said:
Not exactly true. It is the only one left but there was 3 built one was written off can’t remember what happened to the 2nd one.
An amazing piece of kit. Kept about 5 mins from my house and I know the owner. He also has a collection of other touring cars including a rouse rs500, the rockitcargo accord, a works accord and a motorbase focus aswell as other race/rally cars.
I found myself spending a while browsing their FB page not long ago, that's the sort of collection I'd have if my euromillions numbers come up. An amazing piece of kit. Kept about 5 mins from my house and I know the owner. He also has a collection of other touring cars including a rouse rs500, the rockitcargo accord, a works accord and a motorbase focus aswell as other race/rally cars.
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