Group A Ford Sierra RS500

[Jesper OH]

A few question to Mr. Smith about the 1989 Trakstar RS500s. These were presumably the 1987 Dick Johnson cars, so, numbered DJR1 and DJR2 – one being the 1988 ATCC car of John Bowe (1987 ATCC car of Dick Johnson?), the other being the Gregg Hansford car of the 1987 ATCC, being used very little during 1988. Both cars were given a major overhaul before delivery to Britain. That is as far as I know the story.
What car did you drive and what car did Robb Gravett drive and, perhaps even more interesting, in what state were the cars when delivered, and how did they match up to the Andy Rouse car? Much has been made about your advantage with exclusive Yokohama tires.

Secondly, not being from those isles, I'm wondering what your cloud was back in the 1980s, Mike. I'm told you were a star on the airwaves and wondering if that detracted from your racing career. Had you given the RS500 full attention I'd think you would have run with the best in the BTCC, but do you aggree? The speed in your Prodrive days should prove you had some talent!

Glad to see you amongst 10-tenths'ers.

Jesper

[KA]

Originally Posted by PAUL S

Here are some of the pics I mentioned of the trakstar RS500 and sapphire together. A chap on flickr had a whole series of photos from when he helped out on the cars, just tried to find his album but no joy yet.

Luckily I saved a couple as they looked good unstaged.

They're really interesting pics on a couple of counts. 1991, either pre-season, or early season.
First, the RS500 in 'Shell' colours with Sean Walker's name on the window. Think we've discussed this on the thread before as Walker never raced an RS500 for Trakstar (he did drive for the Goode and Rouse teams in 1989/90).

When the pics first appeared, I think we talked about a suggestion that the Shell/LuK sponsorship on the car was just a mockup done during negotiations between the team and Walker (IIRC the plan was for a pair of 2-litre Sapphires, but only Gravett's car ever raced. Was Walker intended to drive the second car?).

In the end, we came to the conclusion there was a single appearance in practice for an early-season round (Snetterton?), but Sean didn't start the race and the car wasn't seen again- there's a pic of the car on track on the BRDC Prints website:
http://www.brdcprints.co.uk/lowres/1...n/1/356801.jpg
http://www.brdcprints.co.uk/collection.php?collid=2476

The 1991 rules allowed RS500's in 'restricted' form as well as the new 2-litres, but the only one to race was the Dennis Leech car, until it got shunted at Thruxton

Secondly, that Sapphire in build- Gravett's car pre-season, or is that the intended second car?

I'm hoping Mike might be able to fill in the background to 1991 a little

[VIVA GT]

This talk of Sean Walker reminds me of this picture from 1989.
Sean is still racing well in historics, but I'm not sure what's happened to his young co-driver...
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...Touringcar.jpg

[davyboy]

I believe he's stopped using the Grecian 2000 on his hair

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

This talk of Sean Walker reminds me of this picture from 1989.
Sean is still racing well in historics, but I'm not sure what's happened to his young co-driver...
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...Touringcar.jpg

That car is now actively competing in the Australian historic Group A Touring Car Series, so too is Tim Harvey's Labatt's RS500.

[EmmEss]

RG had DJR1 - but this had to be reshelled after the Dowsett Corolla incident at Thruxton.
I drove DJR2. However, this turned out to have some dodgy suspension components, which chose lovely moments to let go. A rear arm split in 2 at Brands Hatch - just going through Hawthorns at about 150mph. And a front hub carrier let go at exactly the same place later.
Both components appeared to aged and "repaired" by DJR.
I remember all the ridiculous fuss about the Yokos. It reached a peak when our TM Malcolm Swetnam (now with Raikonen Robertson Racing) decided to put just 4 tyres on the grid at Snetterton. "if they're so good, they can win the race on their own." Very funny.
Bear in mind that all Touring Cars were badly affected by the FIA decision to ban 10" wide tyres in 87. So tyre development for 88 onwards became pricey. Putting 500bhp+ through a 9" tyre would always be a challenge for the RS500. Yoko did a great job and produced tyres on demand for us as the seasons developed.
Our speed was down to a good basic build, excellent engine work from Mountune and very good set-up driving by RG. The shells were as rigid as could be and most components were Ford Grp A off-the-shelf. We definitely had a traction advantage in the simplest way - welded diffs.
Where we simply couldn't live with Andy R was on the power circuits like Silverstone - he was running way more power than us or any of his customers. In July 89 we found out why, when a crate of Garrett turbos destined for AR were delivered by mistake to us. We saw that they all had identical welded-up slots in the worm. They had been cut into, scooped out and then welded-up. We sent them back - but informed the scrutineers. Sure enough, Andy's car got sealed at Silverstone GP and by Brands Hatch 2 weeks later he had lost his points. But he appealed and won - because he claimed that the FIA Yearbook rules in French permitted repairs (whereas the English didn't). Clever bugger. He was ruled correct by the FIA. There was no way that these slots were repairs - and I'm afraid that's when I realised what we were up against.
Sean Walker - yes we did try running a "restricted" turbo for him as a customer - but he gave up because the restrictor was crippling the car.
Another ridiculous thing: RACMSA had assured us in 89 & 90 that RS500s were safe until they had the backing of at least 6 manufacturers for their proposed 2-litre championship.
That turned out to be a lie. They in fact went ahead with only 2 manufacturers. The main one being GM, who had them over a barrel. GM threatened to pull out completely if they didn't get "their" 2-litre series.
And just to rub salt into the wound, RACMSA wiped the RS500 from the championship with the ridiculous restrictor.
GM v Ford. Life doesn't change!

[EmmEss]

Jesper: RS500s as delivered fine. And legal.

Me - look I had been into motorsport since I was a kid. My first toy car was a Dinky of a Stirling Moss machine. In 1968 I know where I stood when I heard that my hero Jim Clark had been killed at Hockenheim.
I learned to drive on my dad's lap when I was 9. I rebuilt my first engine at 14 and raced grasstrack throughout my teens.
When I passed my test at 17, I went prodsaloon and rallycrossing. At 19 I was in the European Rallycross Championship and the same year competed in the Tour of Britain rally/race event.
Then my dad contracted cancer and died in 76. I had to make a living - so I edged towards broadcasting. But I held down a staff job with John Webb at MCD - they owned Brands, Snetterton, Oulton and Mallory Park.
In 78 I went fulltime broadcasting, pausing only to do the Willhire 24hrs in 1981. I co-drove with Jim Crawford in a works Talbot Sunbeam.
Then in 84, Stuart McCrudden called me with the Ilford Photo deal for Fiesta Championship. A season of that, then 3 seasons in prodsaloons, 3 seasons of truck racing, 4 seasons of BTCC.
But, inevitably, my broadcasting career took priority. The only time I got paid to drive was for BMW in 88.
Had a ball. Particularly in the damp/wet!

[Craner Curves]

Fascinating stuff Mike. You'd never see a broadcaster of your profile doing anything like that these days.

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by EmmEss

Jesper: RS500s as delivered fine. And legal.

Me - look I had been into motorsport since I was a kid. My first toy car was a Dinky of a Stirling Moss machine. In 1968 I know where I stood when I heard that my hero Jim Clark had been killed at Hockenheim.
I learned to drive on my dad's lap when I was 9. I rebuilt my first engine at 14 and raced grasstrack throughout my teens.
When I passed my test at 17, I went prodsaloon and rallycrossing. At 19 I was in the European Rallycross Championship and the same year competed in the Tour of Britain rally/race event.
Then my dad contracted cancer and died in 76. I had to make a living - so I edged towards broadcasting. But I held down a staff job with John Webb at MCD - they owned Brands, Snetterton, Oulton and Mallory Park.
In 78 I went fulltime broadcasting, pausing only to do the Willhire 24hrs in 1981. I co-drove with Jim Crawford in a works Talbot Sunbeam.
Then in 84, Stuart McCrudden called me with the Ilford Photo deal for Fiesta Championship. A season of that, then 3 seasons in prodsaloons, 3 seasons of truck racing, 4 seasons of BTCC.
But, inevitably, my broadcasting career took priority. The only time I got paid to drive was for BMW in 88.
Had a ball. Particularly in the damp/wet!

Thank you, Mike, for taking your time to answer a lot of questions. Very much appreciate your summary of your life leading up to the RS500 years.

Jesper

[Tim Wilkinson]

RG had DJR1 - but this had to be reshelled after the Dowsett Corolla incident at Thruxton.

Doesn't someone claim to have DJR1, complete with crinkly rear floorpan?

[bigears]

Thank you for your very interesting insight about the BTCC in the late 1980s.

I am wondering if you got my private message I sent to you recently?

Please keep contributing into this thread.

[racer2_uk]

Hi Mike and all,

Mike, I think we all appreciate you coming on here, especially myself as I have DJR1.

I bought the car in '96 and raced it in the Ford Saloon Car Championship which I won in '97, the car was very much as you guy's sold it to Graham Hathaway. I alway's believed RG drove DJR1 but have never had that confirmed before, DJR2 was built as a LHD, driven by Gregg Hansford in '87 and must have been converted prior to you driving it, my car is still clearly stamped DJR1 on a front turret top, has the Harrop "spool" diff, the "repaired" ali rear arm,s, DJR front ARB setup and it's Mountune engine with Bosch management system.

The only part it doesn't have is the re-shell, it still has all the chassis stamping's, the DJR cage and fitting's, the full chassis width welding repair the car had after John Bowe stuffed the front end in '88, the wrinkly floor and the second hand blue XR4i rear quarter that was welded in after the Thruxton crash, not quite a re-shell but one hell of a bump, this was confirmed by Malcolm when he saw the car a few year's ago.

Thanks for giving us an insight into what was going on at the time of the greatest era of touring car's, of course we are biased.


Andy Lloyd


An excellent Steve Havelock shot at Goodwood FOS 2006

[EmmEss]

1991
The workshop pics of the skewered Sapphire - that is the car RG raced in 91. As previously explained, the fact we won the Championship in 90 with RG didn't guarantee us anything. Ford courted us in summer 90 (remember the Ford Credit sponsorship - that was the start of it). But Gulf War 1 caused them to tell us that they were not going ahead with a works 2 litre team for 91. (However, Boreham's total fixation with rallying ensured that touring cars were the first to be removed from the Ford menu).
In Nov 90 we agreed terms with Audi - see previous post. Then they disagreed with the 2 litre rules.
So at the start of 91 Shell encouraged us to get some sort of a deal with Ford. We were approached by a designer who said he could make the Sapphire work. We took him on and had enough funding to build and run one car. Sean Walker asked us to supply him with a drive - hence the restricted RS500. That's what he wanted.
The Sapphire was crap straight away. As a result we had to get rid of the designer and start again. The "mark 2" (thanks to Mark Ellis - who has gone on to a great career in motorsport. Now Chief Engineer Vehicle Dynamics, Red Bull F1) was a lot better and showed a lot of promise.
But we were living like enthusiasts in a world of GM & BMW budgets - we simply did not have the cash to compete. Far from lowering the cost of touring cars, the 2 litre rules greatly increased the costs. Turning 2.5 litre BMW engines into 2 litre costs money. Once GM started going head-to-head with BMW, the sky had no limit. Then Toyota rolled up, followed by Ford, Renault and others - and by the mid 90s a season of touring cars was costing several million pounds per team.
And they were all largely crappy FWD!

[Jesper OH]

Mike, what race was your favorite with the RS500? I seem remember you had a fight with Andy Rouse for a place outside the podium at one 1989 round!?

Jesper

[RF_Racer]

Hi Mike welcome to the forum, I always wondered what happend to you after the 1990 season, now I know

It was these 500+ bhp monsters that got me excited and hooked on motorsport, as a 11 year old I still remember how excited I was when I bought the 1988 season review video tape. I must have watched it so may times.

I still think that these cars should have been allowed to have run atleast until the end of the 1992 season as they did in Australia. Wouldnt it have been great seeing races in the UK between the RS500's and the R32 GTR's, these two cars were just mosters! .. instead we saw rather tame Vauxhalls and BMW's.

[brown dog]

Originally Posted by racer2_uk

Hi Mike and all,

Mike, I think we all appreciate you coming on here, especially myself as I have DJR1.

I bought the car in '96 and raced it in the Ford Saloon Car Championship which I won in '97, the car was very much as you guy's sold it to Graham Hathaway. I alway's believed RG drove DJR1 but have never had that confirmed before, DJR2 was built as a LHD, driven by Gregg Hansford in '87 and must have been converted prior to you driving it, my car is still clearly stamped DJR1 on a front turret top, has the Harrop "spool" diff, the "repaired" ali rear arm,s, DJR front ARB setup and it's Mountune engine with Bosch management system.

The only part it doesn't have is the re-shell, it still has all the chassis stamping's, the DJR cage and fitting's, the full chassis width welding repair the car had after John Bowe stuffed the front end in '88, the wrinkly floor and the second hand blue XR4i rear quarter that was welded in after the Thruxton crash, not quite a re-shell but one hell of a bump, this was confirmed by Malcolm when he saw the car a few year's ago.

Thanks for giving us an insight into what was going on at the time of the greatest era of touring car's, of course we are biased.


Andy Lloyd


An excellent Steve Havelock shot at Goodwood FOS 2006

HI Andy,

I worked for Graham Hathaway in 1992 as a young race car mechanic trying to break into the sport, and did some spanner work on your car in Malaysia when Graham H was running it there alongside Graeme Goodes Listerine car (they were not really racing, they just flipped a coin to decide who was going to win, and swapped the lead a few times to make it look interesting to the spectators!) Anyway, I remember Graham telling me that this car was RG's 1990 championship winning car and ex DJR. I also remember the rear floor behind the drivers seat was still quite wrinkly, and it had the Harrop spool 9" diff fitted. Also reinforcement to the rear beam in the way of doublers as the torque kept cracking the beam. On that particular weekend the Mountune engine expired when a radiator hose burst (possibly caused by a blown head gasket) and by the time Graham realised and switched it off it was cooked.
Anyway, nice to see it has gone to a good home, and looks great restored back in its original livery. A nice piece of history you have there.

Conrad

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by brown dog

HI Andy,

I worked for Graham Hathaway in 1992 as a young race car mechanic trying to break into the sport, and did some spanner work on your car in Malaysia when Graham H was running it there alongside Graeme Goodes Listerine car (they were not really racing, they just flipped a coin to decide who was going to win, and swapped the lead a few times to make it look interesting to the spectators!) Anyway, I remember Graham telling me that this car was RG's 1990 championship winning car and ex DJR. I also remember the rear floor behind the drivers seat was still quite wrinkly, and it had the Harrop spool 9" diff fitted. Also reinforcement to the rear beam in the way of doublers as the torque kept cracking the beam. On that particular weekend the Mountune engine expired when a radiator hose burst (possibly caused by a blown head gasket) and by the time Graham realised and switched it off it was cooked.
Anyway, nice to see it has gone to a good home, and looks great restored back in its original livery. A nice piece of history you have there.

Conrad

As I know the story, the 1990 Robb Gravett car was a DJR replica? Anyway, thank you for the story. Do you have more stories, because http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103941 could need some more!

Jesper

[brown dog]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

As I know the story, the 1990 Robb Gravett car was a DJR replica? Anyway, thank you for the story. Do you have more stories, because http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103941 could need some more!

Jesper

I am only telling this as I remember it Jesper, and it was 18 years ago! The race(s) at Johor in April 1992 that you mention is the meeting I was at, and that looks like me standing in front of the car on the grid. Maybe it was not the Rob Gravett car, but as I remember that is what Graham told me it was, as well as being an ex DJR car from 1988. I have a pretty good memory of stupid little details. Like the cars were kept in lockups at the circuit there, and because of the hot and very humid climate anything that was bare metal (especially brake discs!) all went rather rusty, it was a nasty climate for a race car to be. The pics of the cars on the grid in Malaysia are exactly as I remember them. The only other car that was even mildy in the hunt at that meeting was Leif Norberg's ex- DTM M3, (I believe this was the ex Cor Euser Marlboro car) and looked horrid on orange wheels! The remainder of the field was made up of local $hitter$. The RS500's were quite a bit quicker than the M3, (which in turn was much quicker than any of the local cars) so instead of wrecking their gear over a nothing race, Graeme and Graham would flip a coin to decide the winner, and make it look like a close race.

Conrad

[racer2_uk]

Hi Conrad and all,

It is great to hear these stories from people who were in the thick of it, DJR1 is the car you looked after in Malaysia, it still has the scrutineering stickers on it.
The only change is, it is the RG '89 car not the '90, as Graham raced it a couple of times in '90 against RG in his '90 white championship winning Ford Credit car.

Thanks for your bit of it's history.


Andy

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by brown dog

I am only telling this as I remember it Jesper, and it was 18 years ago! The race(s) at Johor in April 1992 that you mention is the meeting I was at, and that looks like me standing in front of the car on the grid. Maybe it was not the Rob Gravett car, but as I remember that is what Graham told me it was, as well as being an ex DJR car from 1988. I have a pretty good memory of stupid little details. Like the cars were kept in lockups at the circuit there, and because of the hot and very humid climate anything that was bare metal (especially brake discs!) all went rather rusty, it was a nasty climate for a race car to be. The pics of the cars on the grid in Malaysia are exactly as I remember them. The only other car that was even mildy in the hunt at that meeting was Leif Norberg's ex- DTM M3, (I believe this was the ex Cor Euser Marlboro car) and looked horrid on orange wheels! The remainder of the field was made up of local $hitter$. The RS500's were quite a bit quicker than the M3, (which in turn was much quicker than any of the local cars) so instead of wrecking their gear over a nothing race, Graeme and Graham would flip a coin to decide the winner, and make it look like a close race.

Conrad

Thank you Andy for straightening the chassis story, and not least Conrad for contributing the recent RS500 stories. I believe that Gianfranco Brancatelli was racing a black Mach5 RS500 in about 1992-1993?

Jesper

[KA]

OK, based on Andy, Conrad and Jesper's comments, my own memory and some pics I've linked to, I think it runs like this, but hopefully Mike S. can correct or fill in the rest?

After the Cartel/NEC money went away, Trakstar was basically a single-car team for most of 1990- the white car for RG. http://www.brdcprints.co.uk/lowres/1...n/1/356820.jpg
Was this a new car built at Trakstar?

Mike only appeared a few times- not much more than a couple of early-season rounds, the two 1 hour/2-driver races, and the British GP support at Silverstone.

From the pics I've seen earlier in the thread and elsewhere (there are a few on the BRDC Prints archive website), Mike drove an unsponsored car still in the basic 1989 red/white colours for the first couple of rounds,
http://www.brdcprints.co.uk/lowres/1...n/1/356842.jpg
and shared a red/white car with Graham Hathaway at the Donington 1- hour race. Was this DJR1? (Stig Blomqvist had the second seat in the Gravett car).

Graham then bought DJR1 and ran it as a Graham Hathaway Racing entry for about half-a-dozen rounds after Donington, keeping the ex-Trakstar red/white colourscheme, as seen in this Brands shot...
http://www.brdcprints.co.uk/lowres/1...n/1/356824.jpg
...and the later Malaysian pics in the thread Jesper linked to.

After the red/white car was sold to GHR, Mike appeared at the GP meeting in a second white car with Dianetics sponsorship (a resprayed DJR2?)
http://www.brdcprints.co.uk/lowres/1...n/1/356840.jpg
...and shared the Gravett 'Ford Credit' car at the Brands 1 hour race

A slightly off-topic question for Mike about 1990. Were Trakstar involved in some way with Ray Armes' 2-litre 'PG Tags' Honda in 1990? http://www.brdcprints.co.uk/lowres/1...n/1/360725.jpg

I've got a pic I took in the paddock late-season at Brands (the F3000 meeting I think) where the Honda seems to be sharing an awning with the Gravett RS500.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2615/...289a6bba_o.jpg

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by KA

A slightly off-topic question for Mike about 1990. Were Trakstar involved in some way with Ray Armes' 2-litre 'PG Tags' Honda in 1990? http://www.brdcprints.co.uk/lowres/1...n/1/360725.jpg

I've got a pic I took in the paddock late-season at Brands (the F3000 meeting I think) where the Honda seems to be sharing an awning with the Gravett RS500.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2615/...289a6bba_o.jpg

I'm quite sure that Trakstar was the entrant name, according to Autosport, for the 1990 season, as Graham Goode Racing had been during the partly 1989 season. I'm sure Mike can tell some more..

"Tell some more" reminds me of asking why the Trakstar RS500 engines were done by Mountune?
Were the DJR cars even delivered with engines?
Mountune used to run adds in Autosport featuring their latest wins in various catagories including rally, rallycross and circuits. Among their wins I believe the exploids of Stig Blomqvist in the Swedish championship in a Söderqvist Racing Service-RS500 were mentioned. The exhaust of the SRS car and that of the Trakstar cars looked alike, which might not be a coincidence as would Blomqvist codriving with Robb Gravett at Donington in early 1990 wouldn't be either.

Jesper

[PAUL S]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

I'm quite sure that Trakstar was the entrant name, according to Autosport, for the 1990 season, as Graham Goode Racing had been during the partly 1989 season. I'm sure Mike can tell some more..

"Tell some more" reminds me of asking why the Trakstar RS500 engines were done by Mountune?
Were the DJR cars even delivered with engines?
Mountune used to run adds in Autosport featuring their latest wins in various catagories including rally, rallycross and circuits. Among their wins I believe the exploids of Stig Blomqvist in the Swedish championship in a Söderqvist Racing Service-RS500 were mentioned. The exhaust of the SRS car and that of the Trakstar cars looked alike, which might not be a coincidence as would Blomqvist codriving with Robb Gravett at Donington in early 1990 wouldn't be either.

Jesper

The way I tend to identify these cars through various owners is by the size and location of the fuel filler. The SRS cars have unusually large fillers compared to any other version of the race 500s. I believe them to have been originally eggenberger spec cars with some local additions. One was wrecked and the other I think I have traced back to France where it was used as a rallycrosser in the 90s and is now a show car.

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by PAUL S

The way I tend to identify these cars through various owners is by the size and location of the fuel filler. The SRS cars have unusually large fillers compared to any other version of the race 500s. I believe them to have been originally eggenberger spec cars with some local additions. One was wrecked and the other I think I have traced back to France where it was used as a rallycrosser in the 90s and is now a show car.

In this case Its a case of co-excisting cars as Robb Gravett won the 1990 BTCC title, while Stig Blomqvist did the same in the Swedish Group A series ..but likely with the same engine supplier. Your Eggenberger spec. car story might be very likely to be true, regarding the SRS cars - Bertil Engström raced a second SRS car.

Jesper

[brown dog]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

"Tell some more" reminds me of asking why the Trakstar RS500 engines were done by Mountune?
Were the DJR cars even delivered with engines?


Jesper

Going slightly OT here, I was told by someone who worked for DJR at the time, the REAL reason for their DNF during the 1988 Silverstone TT. Although DJR claimed "vapour lock" after the first pitstop as the reason for withdrawal, there was actually nothing wrong with their car. They wanted to go out and kick everyones butts (which they were) but were worried about getting scrutineered so withdrew the car (citing the "vapour lock" reason) My friend who told me this said it was his job to send the turbo exhaust housings away to be laser cut in two, he would then port the hell out of them, and they would be then welded back up. Apparently this was good for a lot more power (hence the reason the cars had more straight line grunt at that event than the other RS500's) I believe this "tweak" also caught on in the UK amongst the cheaters. I have watched the DVD of the Silverstone TT race, and this story does fit. The car appeared to be going perfectly normally, up to the time of its withdrawal. There were no external signs of any problems, such as coolant loss, engine smoke etc. As they say, it is only cheating if you get caught!

Conrad