Spotted: 1981 ex-works Vauxhall Chevette HSR

Tony Pond's Dealer Team Vauxhall car up for grabs. Buy it if you fancy reliving the days when men were men and rally cars were RWD...

With the Wales Rally GB at the weekend and a number of hardy PHers in attendance to see if Mr Hirvonen could do anything about a certain handy Frenchman from wrapping up yet another WRC title (he couldn't), we couldn't help but think back to the good ol' days of the RAC Rally.

Take 1981, for example, and some of the names taking part: Toivonen, Vatanen, Alen, Mikkola, Salonen, Blomqvist, McRae (Sr)... and there was even a bloke in the co-driver's seat of a Talbot Sunbeam by the name of Jean Todt. The entry list makes for a fascinating browse...

And at the risk of getting a little (more) misty-eyed, just look at the variety of cars entered: Escort, Stratos, Quattro, Celica, R5 Turbo, Ascona, umm... some FSOs and a Peugeot 505 diesel (yes, really), and those are just a few. In total there were no fewer than 27 different manufacturers taking part. This year there are just six...

Another car which took part in 1981 was this Chevette HSR which H&H will be offering at their Buxton sale on the 7th November with an upper estimate of £70,000.

(A full list of entries can be seen here.)

Tony Pond was at the wheel, and although he didn't prevail (Mikkola won in a Quattro followed by Vatanen in an Escort and Blomqvist in a Sunbeam) he did win the Circuit of Ireland and Manx Trophy events with it, before handing it over to none other than Russell Brookes for the '82 season.

Reputedly the works Dealer Team Vauxhall cars ran with 250hp being sent to the rear wheels, which if it's correct is impressive from an atmospheric 2.3-litre four-pot in 1981. Sadly though, the Audi Quattro revolution had already begun, which ruined the HSR's chances of world domination. As British rally cars go then, the droop snoot Chevettes aren't quite in the firmament with the Minis and Escorts, but they're still very cool...

...and Riggers got to drive one (sort of)

I'm not sure the car I drove was toting 250hp, but the lovingly created replica of the old DTV works car - now part of Vauxhall's heritage fleet - certainly felt as if it was packing more than enough horses from its twin Dell'Orto-fed 2,279cc twin-cam four. Especially considering its - er -rudimentary nature.

Back in the early 1980s, top-level rallying was a rather more down-to-earth affair than it is today. So although a proper roll cage and body-hugging seats are in evidence, the Chevette HSR is still recognisably a road car, with H-pattern shift, normal (ish) dash and a driving position that most mortals would recognise.

In the interests of saving weight, however, it has almost nothing in the way of sound-deadening, which makes it loud with a capital 'Bloody Hell'. It's also quite a swine to pull away in, thanks to a dog-leg gearbox and a cammy engine that gets lumpy and grumpy at idle.

Once you're on the move, though, and you get the revs up high enough, the little Chevette really shifts, its carburettors gargling away merrily, and soon you get a real RAC rally tingle, especially on the narrow hedgerowed lanes I took it down. Get the gearshifts right and you can really bowl along at quite a lick, and even moderately enthusiastic cornering reveals a chassis that's just desperate to be going around corners sideways. Not something we had a go at, of course...

The brakes don't fill you with confidence, mind, and an enthusiastically driven 'normal' Astra looming large in our mirrors reminded us that, however fast we felt we were going, the reality was otherwise.

Given a bit of confidence and commitment, of course, I've no doubt the HSR could be hustled along at quite improper speeds, but that's almost secondary point. Like its rallying contemporaries, the Chevette HSR looks and feels totally spectacular. And the fact that it isn't actually all that rapid really doesn't matter.
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Gary C

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