Group A Ford Sierra RS500

[brown dog]

Originally Posted by KA

Copied across from the '1991 Trakstar Sierra Sapphire 2-litre' thread



Thanks for that Billy- I hadn't realised any of them had ended up as rallycross cars. As you say, the original pair of red/white 'Cartel/NEC' cars in '89 were of Johnson origin, and a new car- in plain white- was built for 1990 (rather than '89).

The car that went to Graham Hathaway appeared as a Trakstar entry in the Donington 1-hour BTCC race early season, Hathaway sharing with Mike Smith, before Graham took over ownership. Gravett shared the new white car with Stig Blomqvist- they famously lost the race (to Rouse I think?) when Stig had a spin coming off the Melbourne loop on the last lap...

I wonder, is the Hathaway car the one that went to Malaysia? from memory, Graham raced an RS500 there in the early 90's alongside a car Graham Goode took out there- think there's a pic earlier in the thread, the Hathaway car is still in Trakstar red/white, rather than the yellow of his original BTCC RS500

I was working for Graham Hathaway in 1992. The Malaysia car was an early rhd DJR car,ex Robb Gravett, which he raced in Malaysia alongside a Black Listerine car of GGR. (they would flip a coin to see who was going to win, no point breaking the cars when there was no other competition!) The car then went back to England and was sold. It was looking a bit tired even at that stage, I remember a huge ripple in the floor just behind the drivers seats from a previous crunch. It was running a mountune engine at the time, and the Harrop 9" diff.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Yes same here; I have a feeling that maybe Kevin Maxted or someone had a Trakstar esque red over white shell on one of his renta Cossies in the early 90's?

Someone definitely did!!

No it wasn't one of Kevins... I seem to think it belonged to someone from Ireland and may have been a prodsaloon, not Group N, but I also seem to remember it cost a lot of money (which is why I'm sure it wasn't a Maxted car!)

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

No it wasn't one of Kevins... I seem to think it belonged to someone from Ireland and may have been a prodsaloon, not Group N, but I also seem to remember it cost a lot of money (which is why I'm sure it wasn't a Maxted car!)

Not a rentacar then! Yes I remember what I thought was this car as a prodsaloon, not Group N too, so that would mean that if it was in England then that could only have been in the Firestone series between 90-92?

[KA]

Originally Posted by brown dog

I was working for Graham Hathaway in 1992. The Malaysia car was an early rhd DJR car,ex Robb Gravett, which he raced in Malaysia alongside a Black Listerine car of GGR. (they would flip a coin to see who was going to win, no point breaking the cars when there was no other competition!) The car then went back to England and was sold. It was looking a bit tired even at that stage, I remember a huge ripple in the floor just behind the drivers seats from a previous crunch. It was running a mountune engine at the time, and the Harrop 9" diff.

That rings a bell- think that rippled floor has been mentioned before on the thread, sounds like the result of a rear-end shunt- probably when Robb tripped over a 1600-class car (Phil Dowsett's Corolla I think?) at Snetterton in '89- he went into the barriers backwards as I remember?

[KA]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

No it wasn't one of Kevins... I seem to think it belonged to someone from Ireland and may have been a prodsaloon, not Group N, but I also seem to remember it cost a lot of money (which is why I'm sure it wasn't a Maxted car!)

From memory, the Maxted 3-doors were usually light blue?

[banger_racer]

Originally Posted by KA

That rings a bell- think that rippled floor has been mentioned before on the thread, sounds like the result of a rear-end shunt- probably when Robb tripped over a 1600-class car (Phil Dowsett's Corolla I think?) at Snetterton in '89- he went into the barriers backwards as I remember?

I think it was Thruxton, it was Dowsett he clipped.

[KA]

Originally Posted by banger_racer

I think it was Thruxton, it was Dowsett he clipped.

Thanks- I had it in my head that it was Snet for some reason

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by KA

From memory, the Maxted 3-doors were usually light blue?

I'd say often, but not always (due to sponsorship I suppose).

[chunterer]

Out of interest how many Cossies did Kevin Maxted have in his 'stable'?

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Out of interest how many Cossies did Kevin Maxted have in his 'stable'?

I lived around the corner from him in Billercay, Essex in 1991/1992. I think he had 3. They were almost always turquoise and his main driver was Ian Khan.

[KA]

Originally Posted by davyboy

I lived around the corner from him in Billercay, Essex in 1991/1992. I think he had 3. They were almost always turquoise and his main driver was Ian Khan.

I definitely remember him running Ian Khan around that time- didn't he run Khan's BTCC Cavalier a year or two later as well?

I've got a vague memory of a couple of 3-door Cossies and at least one Sapphire- just dug out a couple of old programmes from that period, but the only Sierra definitely mentioned in them as a Maxted entry is Khan's

[chunterer]

Yeah I think I remember one or two '4doors' later on too?

I remember Khan out regularly in a 3 door Cosworth and maybe people like John Davis and James Prochowski?

[davyboy]

He ran Ian Khan in the BTCC with the Cavalier a little later on, but in 1991/1992 he was running Cossies in the Group N/Prodsaloon championship. There were definitely two turquoise whaletails raced on a regular basis, Khan was a regular in one berth and a variety of renta-drivers in the other. Those were still the days when the cars were brought to events on trailers... he used to have a pair of turquoise tranny barges with the cars on tow. I'm almost certain he had one or more sapphires later on as well.

[GBRM]

I'm sure we've had this discussion before - Ian Khan won the prod saloon championship in a Maxted whale-tail Cossy in '92; it was lighter than the 4x4 Sapphire of that year (other than Dad I think there was Kevin Maxted, Frank Greenway and Mike Jordan racing them), plus, the car my Dad raced "mysteriously" disappeared!!

[bigears]

I need some info to plug in the gaps in my research.

At the 1989 Birmingham Superprix BTCC round, Mike O'Brien drove in the #17(?) Terry Drury-Sierra RS500.

What is the official team name and what sponsorship did the car have?

He didn't qualify so I haven't got any more information about the car.

Finally, at the 1990 Birmingham Superprix:

Stuart Donnon entered his own Ford Sierra RS500, he did qualify but he spun out after 4 laps. I need to know his official team name, car number and what sponsorship he ran the car with?

Also Dennis Leech entered his own Partservice+Autela sponsored Ford Sierra RS500 but withdrew after engine problems during the first qualifying session.

What official team name and car number did Dennis Leech have?

Thank you.

[KA]

Originally Posted by bigears

I need some info to plug in the gaps in my research.

At the 1989 Birmingham Superprix BTCC round, Mike O'Brien drove in the #17(?) Terry Drury-Sierra RS500.

What is the official team name and what sponsorship did the car have?

He didn't qualify so I haven't got any more information about the car.

Pretty sure O'Brien's car was entered under 'Terry Drury Racing'- it was one of a 3-car squad, the others usually (but not always) being Robin Donovan and Dave Pinkney- each car had a different colourscheme and sponsors, I think O'Brien's carried backing from Swan National and possibly Autoglass, carried over from his previous Holden. (Donovan's was backed by Blue Hawk http://www.gypsum.ie/images/diy/logo_blue_hawk.jpg and Pinkney's by Warranty Holdings http://www.pinkd.co.uk/imagesfullsiz...ierraRS500.jpg )

Can anyone else confirm the sponsors for O'Brien, or even better come up with a pic?

Originally Posted by bigears

Finally, at the 1990 Birmingham Superprix:

Stuart Donnon entered his own Ford Sierra RS500, he did qualify but he spun out after 4 laps. I need to know his official team name, car number and what sponsorship he ran the car with?

Also Dennis Leech entered his own Partservice+Autela sponsored Ford Sierra RS500 but withdrew after engine problems during the first qualifying session.

What official team name and car number did Dennis Leech have?

Thank you.

Dennis Leech ran as #22- the car was either entered under his name, or under that of the sponsor- Partservice Exeter'. There are a couple of pics of the car at Silverstone and Brands earlier in the thread.

I don't know the number of Donnan's car- possibly entered under the driver's name, and not sure about his sponsors- I don't think I ever saw this one race, he only appeared at a few rounds

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by bigears

I need some info to plug in the gaps in my research.

At the 1989 Birmingham Superprix BTCC round, Mike O'Brien drove in the #17(?) Terry Drury-Sierra RS500.

What is the official team name and what sponsorship did the car have?

He didn't qualify so I haven't got any more information about the car.

Finally, at the 1990 Birmingham Superprix:

Stuart Donnon entered his own Ford Sierra RS500, he did qualify but he spun out after 4 laps. I need to know his official team name, car number and what sponsorship he ran the car with?

Also Dennis Leech entered his own Partservice+Autela sponsored Ford Sierra RS500 but withdrew after engine problems during the first qualifying session.

What official team name and car number did Dennis Leech have?

Thank you.

As KA has said, the O'Brien Drury RS500 was one of a team of 3, each carrying different sponsorship. I remember one car carrying prominent Payen (gaskets) logo's, and (again) as KA said, Pinkney's car was predominantly sponsored by Warranty Holdings, and Robin Donovan, Blue Hawk.

Stuart Donnans car was the Ex JQF RS500 that had been driven by Gerrit Van Kowan (Sp?), and once Chris Hogetts (IIRC), was run by Empress Race Developments, and carried sponsorship from Sea Fresh Frozen Foods (the Donnan family business).

[bigears]

Fantastic!

A few more questions:

Who did the engine tuning for the Terry Drury Racing team?

Dennis Leech: What number did he run in 1990 and who is his engine tuner?

Stuart Donnan: What number did he run in 1990 and who is his engine tuner?

Thank you once again.

EDIT>> Found Dennis Leech's number, it is #22

[KA]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

As KA has said, the O'Brien Drury RS500 was one of a team of 3, each carrying different sponsorship. I remember one car carrying prominent Payen (gaskets) logo's, and (again) as KA said, Pinkney's car was predominantly sponsored by Warranty Holdings, and Robin Donovan, Blue Hawk.

Stuart Donnans car was the Ex JQF RS500 that had been driven by Gerrit Van Kowan (Sp?), and once Chris Hogetts (IIRC), was run by Empress Race Developments, and carried sponsorship from Sea Fresh Frozen Foods (the Donnan family business).

Thanks for filling that in- 'Sea something' rang a very vague bell as Donnan's sponsor but I couldn't remember what the heck it was. Didn't know Empress were involved with it though- I don't think they did a lot of BTCC work from memory? (Bob Berridges ex-Rouse Sapphire in '93 the only other one I can remember right now) -I always used to associate Empress with Thundersaloons (I think they were involved in quite a few Thundersaloon projects, including Donnan's RS500)

As you said, it was the ex-JQF car (Yes, Hodgetts had an outing in it late-season, I think after van Kouwen split with the team, and Chris's regular Brooklyn car was out of action for some reason?)

The Drury cars in particular seem to be fairly elusive in terms of pics- out of everyone who has contributed pics to this thread, I think all we've been able to find between us so far is one shot of Tim Harvey in TDR's 1988 Istel car, and a shot of Dave Pinkney's car from his website- So if anyone out there has any....

[KA]

Originally Posted by bigears

Fantastic!

A few more questions:

Who did the engine tuning for the Terry Drury Racing team?

Dennis Leech: What number did he run in 1990 and who is his engine tuner?

Stuart Donnan: What number did he run in 1990 and who is his engine tuner?

Thank you once again.

EDIT>> Found Dennis Leech's number, it is #22

I don't know about the others, but I'd suspect Terry Drury did their own engines- Google lists them as 'Cosworth engine builders', though their website is down- Anyone know if they're still in business?

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by bigears

Fantastic!

A few more questions:

Who did the engine tuning for the Terry Drury Racing team?

Dennis Leech: What number did he run in 1990 and who is his engine tuner?

Stuart Donnan: What number did he run in 1990 and who is his engine tuner?

Thank you once again.

EDIT>> Found Dennis Leech's number, it is #22

Yes, again KA beat me to it, but Terry Drury Racing built their own engines (with large breather systems - sorry, this is an in-joke!).
Dennis Leech was car #22 he also did his own engine building (with a bit of help from Mountune I think).
Can't remember Donnans number (his crash at Birmingham is on youtube somewhere, you should be able to get it from that) and his engines were either the original JQF engine, or new units supplied by Graham Goode Racing.

[KA]

Just looking at some of the pics from the 'David Leslie' touring car race at the Silverstone Classic last weekend- is that a DTM RS500 in the background of that second pic, mixing it with the Minshaw M3 and an ST Honda?
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....&postcount=151

Not exactly the same colourscheme, but...
http://www.zandbak.net/classic/89dtm/010.jpg

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by KA

Just looking at some of the pics from the 'David Leslie' touring car race at the Silverstone Classic last weekend- is that a DTM RS500 in the background of that second pic, mixing it with the Minshaw M3 and an ST Honda?
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....&postcount=151

Not exactly the same colourscheme, but...
http://www.zandbak.net/classic/89dtm/010.jpg

I see your point and that would make it a Ringshausen car then. I believe the team entered the Nürburgring 24 hour race in the very early 1990s, not knowing how it was painted though. Nice mix of cars and time periods at that Silverstone race, though.

Jesper

[KA]

Coincidentally, as we were talking about Terry Drury Sierras a few posts back, look what's turned up at classic car dealer Oakfields- the ex-Kenneth Hansen rallycross RS500. What's interesting, is that the ad states it started life as one of TDR's 1989 BTCC machines,before being converted for rallycross

http://www.classicdriver.de/uk/find/...&dealerid=1337

[davyboy]

That car's had one hard life.