BMW County Championship

[e21Mark]

I am trying to research what was an Aurora Formula 1 support race back in 1979 & 1980 and was called the BMW COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP.

13 dealerships ran identical BMW 323i's, all of which were prepared by Tom Walkinshaw Racing. Drivers included Brian Muir, Andy Rouse, Win Percy, Nigel Mansell, Tiff Needell & Derek Bell. Even Barry Sheen had a go! As you can imagine, racing was frantic!

Anyway, I am trying to find as much information, no matter how limited, as I can. Does anyone have any race programmes? Photos? Does anyone know if any of the original County cars still exists? There was also a short film made by BMW / TWR to advertise the series. Does anyone have a copy?

Any help and/or information you can give would be very much appreciated.

[GAjon]

My memory is a bit hazy on this, but I did attend one of these meetings at Oulton Park.
Now, I remember it being advertised on Manchester Piccadilly radio and it will have been about 1979 cos I had my Mk3 Cortina, the other races as I recall were Group A &B saloons.
Sorry don't have any further detail but happy to have been reminded of it!

[Lead]

I remember this championship well as it was very often a `destruction derby`. My local circuit is Oulton and I had just started to marshall ( didn`t even have the overalls at that time)when the series visited. I was on duty at Water Tower in the old days when the building was still there and the track funnelled towards Druids. There was an almighty crash involving three or four cars with one stopping right in front of me. I helped Dieter Quester from the car onto the banking where he immediately collapsed in a heap. It scared the life out of me but he was ok after a few minutes. his car was a mess and the battery from the engine compartment was found some 30 yards down the track. This was my first crash - funny how some things stay with you.

[chevronb37]

There is some discussion by Barrie Williams in his autobiography 'Whizzo'. Might be worth looking up.

[tyrrell]

I saw the series when it visited Thruxston it was the last race of the day for obvious reasons great to watch though

[andy97]

I'm reasonably sure that Martin Brundle made his circuit racing debut in the BMW Norfolk entry.

[micron750]

I remember this when they raced at Castle Combe they didn't exactly behave themselves as half the field were damaged at Tower that was in the days when the only spectating areas were Camp up to Quarry but i still have memories of seeing some very bent beamers being towed back lol

[e21Mark]

I'm trying to get some photos of the old style ''open transporters'' that TWR used to take the cars too and from the circuits. It's amazing to think that so many of the cars were returned to road trim and sold as ''used cars''.

[Truckosaurus]

chevronb37 said:

There is some discussion by Barrie Williams in his autobiography 'Whizzo'. Might be worth looking up.

Also mentioned in Tiff Needell's recent autobiog too.

[e21Mark]

I was lucky enough to chat to Tiff about it recently when he saw my car and then took me rounds Brands in a new M3. A thoroughly nice guy.

[iva cosworth]

Glad nobody noticed [and quoted]but my first reply was all wrong.

Anyway,the BMW CC was a support race at the 2nd ever motorsport event i went to in

April 1979,the European Touring car championship race at Brands Hatch.

I had to go and find the programme for the weekend and this was the entry.

1.Peter Lovett......Wiltshire
2.Frank Sytner.......Nottinghamshire
3.Eddy Joosen.......Suffolk
4.Dieter Quester......Norfolk
5.Jeff Allam........London
6.Brian Muir........Kent
7.Stuart Graham......Berkshire
8.Derek Bell.......Sussex
9.David Brodie.......Lancashire
10.Win Percy.........Avon
11.Umberto Grano........Gloucestershire
12.Derrick Brunt.......Hertfordshire

Cant tell you any more as this was a considerable while ago and iirc all my pics were lost

in the post at the time so cant even copy some of them.


Re the first line ,i originally said it was at my first ever race meeting in 1978.Fail.

Edited by iva cosworth on Tuesday 11th October 22:14

[twrbill]

Good luck with the search, i first heard of the championship a few years ago whilst researching TWR related cars. There is a bit of info on the internet, but you've probably gone down that route already. there is a photo on Dick Lovetts site that i came across recently, and i do remember there was a guy selling some memorabilia on ebay a few years ago, including the advert you posted. i bought that. i'll try to find his ebay id and send it to you. he might be worth a try.
i am also currently working my way through 30 years worth of "motoring news", when i get up to 79 and 80 i'll scan the results if that will suit.
how are you doing with the 335 by the way?

[e21Mark]

Hi and thank you, it would be terrific if you could find the eBay sellers i.d as I would love to find as much memorabilia as possible. The 335 is coming along and I hope we are just a few weeks away from the first MOT in over 20 years. I'll be sure to make a video as soon as the engine is ready to fire. I'm so looking forward to hearing the triple Webers and 6 branch!

[twrbill]

hi Mark, after a couple of hours of searching on my pc to no avail, i did a general internet search for bmw cc and came across the first page of your 335 "blog". turns out the stuff i was looking for, you seem to have aquired already, the badge, numbers and press releases. so no new info from me unfortunately.I'll still pass on the m.n. results when i get to them. i have emailed Jeremy Walton to see if he has anything, i presume you've already got his books?
i'll let you know if he gets back to me.

[e21Mark]

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

One thing I have managed to obtain, is a half hour film made on behalf of BMW / TWR about the County Championship. I actually expect a copy to land on the door mat tomorrow morning and am really looking forward to watching it for myself. I'd like to upload it to YouTube but I need to check out if there is still a current copyright in place. Hopefully it will have expired by now. If you're interested I could probably burn you a copy?

There is also some real progress with the 335 I'm restoring. AH Fabrications just need to make me a rad and we'll be looking at firing it up and getting it running as it should.

[twrbill]

that'd be great Mark,
i'd love a copy if the quality's ok. where on earth did you dig that up from.
have you tried to contact paul davis, i think he was the promotions manager for twr back in the day. he used to run a "car experience " company up north somewhere.

i've also contacted a couple of brochure dealers to see if they can locate any "BMW Torque" magazines. it was only usually a couple of pages but i believe it dealt with all bmw uk activities.
keep us informed.

[e21Mark]

A taster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxVtwtos5vc

[e21Mark]

Finally tracked someone down who owns an ex County Car and hope to speak with them this evening.

[twrbill]

Can't wait for the rest of the film. love the commentary, just right for the period and series. almost war of the worlds!

[twrbill]

fantastic film of 80's bmws in close action. thanks for that Mark.
on the question about transporters, they look like "toleman Group" vehicles which would make perfect sense due to the twr/toleman relationship of that time. twr provided bmw f2 engines from 1978 to rad dougall, and also engineered ted toleman's bmws in the touring cars of 78 and 79..