John Button Rallycross History

[hothatch]

Interesting thing I found out about John Button he was a top rallycross driver in his day? you dont here him mention anything about his raceing when interveiwed,I found this pic of his golf,has anybody got any better ones.
edit check this out http://www.clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9167...
cheers

Edited by hothatch on Saturday 13th February 23:07

[zac510]

Pretty well known fact among the enthusiast circles, particularly rallycross enthusiasts.

[EDLT]

hothatch said:

You don't hear him mention anything about his racing when interviewed.

Probably because nobody asks, rallycross isn't that popular in the UK any more.

[fastfreddy]

EDLT said:

hothatch said:

You don't hear him mention anything about his racing when interviewed.

Probably because nobody asks, rallycross isn't that popular in the UK any more.

Shame really. I remember Grandstand on BBC1 covering the Rallycross at Brands Hatch every winter with Murray Walker commentating and the likes of Martin Schanke and John Welch battling it out.

More of a spectacle than a lot of racing we get these days IMO.

[ph123]

... and before that, Raymond Baxter with the Army, Rapiers and snowy Brands Hatch and Army ranges. On the Photos thread, we have one or two pics of Greasley Porsches and he used to tangle horns with Button Senior. Were those two putting 935 engines in the back of Beetles and stuff?

[hothatch]

found this pic of his beetle,ive been told he used to run his own vw dealership?

[Porlock]

I cant find any pictures but I can remember when he was in Bridgwater and used to take part in the Taunton Autocross's at Stogursey.

[Phil Dicky]

fastfreddy said:

Shame really. I remember Grandstand on BBC1 covering the Rallycross at Brands Hatch every winter with Murray Walker commentating and the likes of Martin Schanke and John Welch battling it out.

More of a spectacle than a lot of racing we get these days IMO.

I remember the old Group B rally cars making it to rally cross, they were a sight

[fastfreddy]

Some nice memories here:

'85 Rallycross final
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GLc8UR2Aag&fea...

'88 Rallycross final
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAq10F_aYXs&fea...

[Dogsey]

fastfreddy said:

Some nice memories here:

'85 Rallycross final
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GLc8UR2Aag&fea...

Dimi Mavropolous - my all time favourite! Although my memories are more of his MkII Escort.

I remember being in the paddock at Lydden as a kid and watching him chucking grapefruit at the crowd assembled around his motorhome.

[Mojocvh]

Dogsey said:

fastfreddy said:

Some nice memories here:

'85 Rallycross final
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GLc8UR2Aag&fea...

Dimi Mavropolous - my all time favourite! Although my memories are more of his MkII Escort.

I remember being in the paddock at Lydden as a kid and watching him chucking grapefruit at the crowd assembled around his motorhome.

What race was it martin schanke lost the plot stopped his car and had the race red flagged?
However, say what you like, they don't make them like that anymore!

Edited by Mojocvh on Saturday 13th February 15:22

[fastfreddy]

Mojocvh said:

What race was it martin schanke lost the plot stopped his car and had the race red flagged?

I seem to remember he wasn't a good loser

[rlw]

Surely most of the BBC coverage was from Lydden as BH didn't do a lot until they started the Rallycross GP events. I used to watch it a lot and finally started going in 1976, seeing the 4wd Volvos and the Stratos driven by Alex Wurz' dad. Best of all were the 4wd twin turbo 911s driven by crazy Finns like Matti Alamakki. It was a truly all inclusive sport and as long as you could build a fast car and drive it, you were in.

Years ago when Martin Schanche was driving in the WSC (in an Argos ?) I spent a very pleasant few minutes with him in the Kentagon talking about Rallycross during the lunch break. A great bloke, funny and very approachable, totally honest and 200% competitive; bad loser? no, a fckuing terrible loser.

[rlw]

ph123 said:

... and before that, Raymond Baxter with the Army, Rapiers and snowy Brands Hatch and Army ranges. On the Photos thread, we have one or two pics of Greasley Porsches and he used to tangle horns with Button Senior. Were those two putting 935 engines in the back of Beetles and stuff?

Most of the Betles ran fancy fuel injected 2.1 and 2.3 tubocharged flat fours I think, although one ran with a turbo 911 engine. I think it was the mad Fimms who ran the 935 engined cars. The maddest of the cars though was usually Martin Schanche's Ford which was always one beat away from a massive explosion.

[aeropilot]

Dogsey said:

I remember being in the paddock at Lydden as a kid and watching him chucking grapefruit at the crowd assembled around his motorhome.

Dimi used to be a very regular visiter to Rippy's shops, and always came in with a tray of oranges.
That '85 Brands final was the last event for his old A2 Quattro, as he debuted his wonderful swb Sport version at Lydden in the first rd of the British championship in Apr 86 IIRC. I was there (as usual) and still vividly remember the sight and sound of that S1 howling and chripping it's way up hairy hill for the first time - terrific stuff.

I was really hoping the UK could have retained it's rd in the Euro championship after all the hard work getting it back to Lydden last year.

[Dogsey]

aeropilot said:

I was really hoping the UK could have retained it's rd in the Euro championship after all the hard work getting it back to Lydden last year.

You mean the one on 30th/31st May this year?

http://www.lyddenhill.co.uk/calendar.php

[aeropilot]

Dogsey said:

aeropilot said:

I was really hoping the UK could have retained it's rd in the Euro championship after all the hard work getting it back to Lydden last year.

You mean the one on 30th/31st May this year?

http://www.lyddenhill.co.uk/calendar.php

Excellent.

When I looked on the provisonal listing for the 2010 championship on one of the euro sites a few months back I couldn't any UK round listed...

[rubystone]

Dogsey said:

Dimi Mavropolous - my all time favourite! Although my memories are more of his MkII Escort.

I remember being in the paddock at Lydden as a kid and watching him chucking grapefruit at the crowd assembled around his motorhome.

Yep Pearl of Cyprus. His old Quattro (ex Mikkola) is the one those of you who visited Autosport Show would have seen in the Autosport display. Restored some years ago back into HB colours.

Did Buton ever Rallycross a Porsche? My dimming memory tells me he may have built a 4wd version, but I could be wrong...

[hothatch]

its amazing what you can find on the internet,have a read of this I found on the Club Gti forum it makes interesting reading. http://www.clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9167... looks like JB`s got a bit of history thats not mentioned in his interveiws

[Mazda Baiter]

hothatch said:

its amazing what you can find on the internet,have a read of this I found on the Club Gti forum it makes interesting reading. http://www.clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9167... looks like JB`s got a bit of history thats not mentioned in his interveiws known about in enthusiast circles, but most people aren't arsed about. As it says in that thread, Button Sr didn't do bird, he paid the fine. It doesn't make what he did any better, but some people should just give up on it. Geoff Thomas has and is a gentleman for not selling to the papers when they came a'calling.