Tuesday 14th June 2011

Thundersaloons Return - And Baby Bertha's With 'Em

Legendary V8 tin-tops of the 70s and 80s to return to racing this August

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Mallory Park will play host to a very special event this August Bank Holiday (the 29th), as Modsport and Thundersaloon racers - many of which have not been driven in anger for more than a decade - will recreate some of the greatest V8 saloon racing of the 70s and 80s.

Star of the show will undoubtedly be the legendary Vauxhall Firenza 'Baby Bertha', whose drooping snoot will return to Mallory 35 years to the day after the equally legendary Gerry Marshall took it to victory in the 1976 Modsports Championship.

Joining Baby Bertha will be more than 30 cars, including a Daf V8, a V8 Beetle, an MGB GT V8, a 4.0-litre Reliant Kitten, and the famous 'stars and stripes' Opel Manta.

Run by the Classic Sports Car Club, the event is hopefully the start of what could become a full-blown series in 2012.

"This is the first bespoke race series of its kind this century and, with its noise, speed and drama, it's sure to appeal to a younger generation of motorsport enthusiasts," says the CSCC's Richard Wos "as well as those spectators who have fond memories of the original Modsports race series."

Oh, and Vauxhall has offered up one of its latest VXR8s to serve as course car, if you're wondering what that's doing in the pictures...

Any way, it all sounds bloody exciting, and is a great excuse to re-post this video...

 

 

 

[filski666]

Sounds Fantastic! - Miss Jones! - clear my appointments for August bank holiday!

Will the Carlton be there too?

Edited by filski666 on Monday 13th June 17:47

[RINGMEISTER]

Proper CARS

Proper MEN

Proper COMBE-OVERS

none of this "oww I think my hair line is receeding so I better have a grade 1 all over to disguise it"

no sir, real men let them strands of hair GROW, strategically place on head and fool everyone!

[RINGMEISTER]

Proper CARS

Proper MEN

Proper COMBE-OVERS

none of this "oww I think my hair line is receeding so I better have a grade 1 all over to disguise it"

no sir, real men let them strands of hair GROW, strategically place on head and fool everyone!

[P4ROT]

RINGMEISTER said:

Proper CARS

Proper MEN

Proper COMBE-OVERS

none of this "oww I think my hair line is receeding so I better have a grade 1 all over to disguise it"

no sir, real men let them strands of hair GROW, strategically place on head and fool everyone!

+111 Ahh the days when men had proper sideburns...

[Life Saab Itch]

P4ROT said:

+111 Ahh the days when men had proper sideburns...

Maybe they should get Guy Martin to drive...

[FM]

Excellent!

[Chodosh Corvette]

I know the Classic and Sports Car Club well and have raced with them many times. I have no doubt that this will be proper wheel to wheel racing and an excellently organised event.

Cant wait for the chance to see some of these old cars dusted off and brought out for a run - I imagine them sitting in garages with covers on - there aren't many places you can race these cars nowadays...

[mantaray]

Yes my fav era of saloon car racing , happy days indeed .

[dadofbud]

Gerry Marshal, big man, big driver, bless him.

[grumpy52]

Days of my yoof !V8 capri's,victor then firenza,DAF,sunbeam rapier,escorts,corvair and dave brodie in RUN BABY RUN

[morgrp]

Don't forget Rod Birley's Gartrac bodied 700bhp Sierra Porsche:



Rod writes an interesting account of the car on his website - there are also lots of pics of all his other Thunder saloons he raced including the infamous Honda Prelude Cosworth

http://www.rodbirley.com

[vit4]

Oh yes Any ideas how much tickets will cost? That might be worth the trip up to Mallory.

[grahamw48]

Will they be permitted to make genuine 70s noise, or muffled into impotent sniffling like current offerings ?

[frodo_monkey]

My Reliant Kitten?!

[frodo_monkey]

PS 105dB hopefully...

[grahamw48]

Ooooh...I love mad cars like yours.

Remember the V8 Daf ?

There was a mid-engined Skoda too, that I saw racing at Croft.(Tony Sugden ?)

.

Edited by grahamw48 on Tuesday 14th June 00:19

[thunderbelmont]

Fingers crossed, Harry will be there too. I still have much to do - and some of the parts are still the wrong side of the Atlantic!

[andy97]

This is a plan that's been coming to gether for some time. Lots more discussion on this here:

http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1...

There is also a test & PR session planned for 29 June at Mallory Park.

[andy97]

grahamw48 said:

Ooooh...I love mad cars like yours.

Remember the V8 Daf ?

You may notice that the V8 is in the top picture of the article, next to the bonkers V8 Chevy Beetle.

[grahamw48]

Ah yes...got it, thanks.