RE: Rickard Rydell's BTCC Mondeo to be sold

[simonigrale]

Saw that car at the Gold Cup but it didn't race on the Bank Holiday Monday though

[gremlin666]

GOD I miss this era!

Can anyone lend me £120K please?

[R66STU]

It was seeing this car race as a youngster that fueled my love of cars and i never forget thinking my dads mondeo zetec s was the nuts at the time.. and whenever we saw an ST version that was something 'special'

[cupofbeans]

Hairbrakes said:

On the subject, does anyone know what happened to the 96 or 97 BTCC Biela Audi that was doing some uk club level touring/supersaloon racing 2 or 3 years ago before disappearing off the radar again? Those 4wd A4s always did look and sound brilliant

Was it this one? http://www.supertouringregister.com/register/vehic... or one of it's sister cars http://www.supertouringregister.com/register/vehic...

Ignore the wide arches on the first link and look at the photos of the earlier liveries. They were both driven by an ex-Audi Sport UK team member in various saloon races with a turbo engine. I never got to see the Quattro in action, but I did get to see Yvan Muller in the FWD car at Knockhill in 98. I have never seen car control in the wet like that ever again, he was unbelievable!

OllieC said:

have a look at Frank Wrathall in car cam in a 1995 spec cavalier from Silverstone, it is really interesting to see the differences in the two types of cars, how much ground the ST cars can make into and through the corners

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXk6tMc0YgE

Also there's a video from onboard the Brooklyn RS500 which gives you the opposite perspective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39ipLm1q2gM

I don't try and compare the modern day BTCC to the old like most people, it's just not a fair comparison. I do miss the N/A engines though, especially the 5 and 6 cylinder cars, which were last heard in 2007 (Martyn Bell's E46 Beemer) and are unlikely to ever be on the track again with the new turbo obsession.

[OllieC]

Excellent vid from the sierra, thanks for sharing that.

[The Wookie]

Bloody hell those look a lot easier to drive than my experience of todays kit!

[anonymous-user]

^^ nice rear wing........ ;-)

[Chris Eyre]

Rear wing familiar eh Paul? When and where do we see the Ibiza?

HDM said:

rossmc88 said:

Is there anywhere you can see pictures of the cool features on them?

Seconded, Chris, do you have any more 'inside scoops'? Thanks

Sure! Engine bare - centre bearing in the vee visible where the driveshaft passes through:



And the front wishbone mount, being used for the stand here, but that is what it is:





On the Prodrive museum car, taken through the right-hand wheel:




And on either the car that's for sale or a sister car - front wishbone mount as attached to engine, slightly obscured:




Driveshaft coming out over top of gearbox, wishbone attached to something non-engine-like on this side!





Enjoy the car being run up through the gears playing fine music, at Silverstone Classic 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i67S2jFz_bc


The Silverstone Classic is absolute quality. Message is simple: just go!

[Chris Eyre]

V8forweekends said:

They all did that acid etching or special panels to save weight. Although they weren't allowed aero, I know one team that did some alterations to the glass (for example the rear window had a "lip" of a few mm at the bottom edge

Do tell! There are some crazy stories of rule bending from this era!

- Audi A4 engines were fakes. Took until a few years ago to figure it out
- Honda Accord heads were specially cast (got that from a Neil Brown employee!)
- Standard Volvo doors rumoured not to fit due to windscreen rake manipulation
- Primeras built on surface plates by Gartrac, again picking away at the margins...

http://www.gartrac.com/company/nissanprimera.htm

[Hairbrakes]

Chris Eyre said:

- Audi A4 engines were fakes. Took until a few years ago to figure it out

What bit was fake about them?

I do remember that Ford soon shut up about Alfa Romeo's wings in '94 when someone pointed out that the Mondeos were running Mazda engines from the Ford-Mazda licence building partnership in the mid 90s

[Matt UK]

Good 'ol Plato @ 1m30s. "he didn't have to hit him, but he did"

Love this era of touring cars.

[Chris Eyre]

Hairbrakes said:

Chris Eyre said:

- Audi A4 engines were fakes. Took until a few years ago to figure it out

What bit was fake about them?

The blocks were machined off at the crank centreline, and fitted with a girdle/dry sump assembly for strength.

Then on top they were running 85mm bores in a block with 88mm bore centres, ie wall thickness of 3mm, instead of the normal 82.5mm production bore. Not a lot to play with from production tolerances ref wall thickness.

On closer inspection of the various blocks available to Audi, it was quite apparent that the engine block castings weren't 100% as they should be. They were casting special blocks to look like standard blocks. No scrutineer would know the finer differences back in the '90s.

[Chris Eyre]

That 30 min Wrathall video posted above is great to watch, dicing with the Sierras, and also when the Honda and Alfa are tripping over themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXk6tMc0YgE

[MonkeyHanger]

I've had some fun pointing the camera at the Mondeo in question...



Oulton Park, Supertourers (and a Sierra or 2)..

[NDT]

Chris Eyre said:

Sure! Engine bare - centre bearing in the vee visible where the driveshaft passes through:

Think this used to sit in the foyer at Fen End.

[carl_w]

V8forweekends said:

Didn't Nigel Mansell race one of those? Crashed out at Donno IIRC (I reserve the right to be 100% wrong).

Was this the occasion when he claimed he was punted off by Tiff Needell?

This video from Donington in 1998 is my favourite though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpL_72hx3Js&fe...

[OllieC]

Chris Eyre said:

V8forweekends said:

They all did that acid etching or special panels to save weight. Although they weren't allowed aero, I know one team that did some alterations to the glass (for example the rear window had a "lip" of a few mm at the bottom edge

Do tell! There are some crazy stories of rule bending from this era!

- Audi A4 engines were fakes. Took until a few years ago to figure it out
- Honda Accord heads were specially cast (got that from a Neil Brown employee!)
- Standard Volvo doors rumoured not to fit due to windscreen rake manipulation
- Primeras built on surface plates by Gartrac, again picking away at the margins...

http://www.gartrac.com/company/nissanprimera.htm

I cant confirm or deny any of the above, but Volvo certainly had some trick engines.

fascinating article here : http://www.motor-talk.de/forum/aktion/Attachment.h...

[fjord]

So much nostalgia in this thread!

[Chris Eyre]

I guess we need these too!

[Chris Eyre]

cupofbeans said:

Hairbrakes said:

On the subject, does anyone know what happened to the 96 or 97 BTCC Biela Audi that was doing some uk club level touring/supersaloon racing 2 or 3 years ago before disappearing off the radar again? Those 4wd A4s always did look and sound brilliant

Was it this one? http://www.supertouringregister.com/register/vehic... or one of it's sister cars http://www.supertouringregister.com/register/vehic...

Ignore the wide arches on the first link and look at the photos of the earlier liveries. They were both driven by an ex-Audi Sport UK team member in various saloon races with a turbo engine. I never got to see the Quattro in action, but I did get to see Yvan Muller in the FWD car at Knockhill in 98. I have never seen car control in the wet like that ever again, he was unbelievable!

Was it the one X-Sport racing had? Yellow front, red rear. Genuine Super Tourer, but running a 16v turbo engine in it?