1980 Willhire 24 hours - Snetterton

[Alan Raine]

The Mayfair team of 3 VW Sciirocco's had an interesting mix of drivers. Stirling Moss, Desiré Wilson, Tony Lanfranchi, Chuck Nicholson, Danny Chau and Juliette Slaughter.

Who's with Ms Wilson. Chis Meek?

[Groupc]

My sincere thanks to Alan for providing the means for these photos to finally see the light of day. Apart from hosting them, he's done a lot of work as the original scans are scratched and pitted to way beyond my photoshop recovery skills.

Julian

[KA]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Hall

Nearly right-they were all journos on Hot Car magazine except for Mike Andrew who ran/owned Performance Car Spares in Hammersmith and the car was a long term press loan Capri from Ford.We had a very faint nod of approval before we started and a distinct nod of disapproval afterwards. Still the car was untouched unlike the Williams BT Capri which rolled comprehensivly in practice and after the result was overturned on appeal we even ended up in the money-yes there was actually a cheque for winning in those golden days.

Didn't Hot Car, and its' later incarnation 'Performance Car' (title changed around 1983-ish I think?) magazine field Willhire entries on a number of occasions, and at least one full-season Prodsaloon effort?

Art Markus used to do a monthly column/feature on the BTCC in the early years of 'Performance Car' under the running title 'Art on A' as I remember

[KA]

Originally Posted by Alan Raine

I have GroupC's disc. Here are a few samples.

There's some great stuff here- I'm sure we'd all like to see more of these...

Originally Posted by Alan Raine

The Brookes Talbot in for repair.

Typical rally drivers.....

[Alan Raine]

The race was won by the ICS and Sports Car Breakers Opel Commodores in the hands of Pete Hall, Phil Dowsett, Martin Carroll, Syd Fox, Hamish Irvine and Andrew Jeffrey.

[GBRM]

More great pictures!!

[Alan Raine]

Into the night.

[rallycrosscraig]

little know fact Andrew won the first and the last of the willhires (the last in an Escort Cosworth)


The race was won by the ICS and Sports Car Breakers Opel Commodores in the hands of Pete Hall, Phil Dowsett, Martin Carroll, Syd Fox, Hamish Irvine and Andrew Jeffrey.

[chunterer]

Good stuff!!

That winning driver line up is full of prodsaloon experts!

Funny I never really got to see the Opel's, as their competitive and likely homologated life ran out in the early 80's just as I got into watching motor racing. It was a very successful model at this level though wasn't it?

I loved the later Monza, but by the time people like Gerry and Tony started running them, the Starion was almost upon us!!

[davyboy]

Did that green/black ICS and Sports Car Breakers Opel Commodore end up in the hands of the late Frank O'Rourke in Ireland ? I've seen vids of a car very similar to that winning races in Mondello.

Fantastic pictures though... really amazing. Thanks Julian/Alan.

[Alan Raine]

A few more showing the novelty of the Willhire.

Morgan, TR7 and Toyota.


Morgan, Ginetta, Toyota and Opel.


Renault 5 and MGB GT V8.


Alfa GTV, the battered Talbot followed by Chris Meeks Panther Lima.

[KA]

These really are brilliant- I'd much rather see a strong Prodsaloon category than all the one-make stuff that supports the BTCC...

[Alan Raine]

Originally Posted by KA

These really are brilliant- I'd much rather see a strong Prodsaloon category than all the one-make stuff that supports the BTCC...

I quite agree, but could you ever put together a Prod Saloons/Sports Car race with so many topline drivers.

A few more..

Jeremy Shaw's Colt Lancer was shared with Barrie Williams, John Cleland and Eddie Jordan!


The 2 Car Alfa GTV team featured John Dooley, John Mysercough, Rob Kirby, Derrick Brunt, Peter Baldwin and Leo Bertorelli.


The Carrolls Transport Capri, seen here checking out the scenery, had Mike Knight, David Piper and Tony Trimmer on duty.


An unusual entry was the Panther cars, Lima for Chris Meek, Peter Clark and Martin Birrane.


The SOS Talisman 2 Car Opel Commordore Team had Paul Everett, Sid Harrison, Jock Robertson, David Da Costa and Steve McHale on duty.

[terence]

Interesting to see the MGB,that car is still being raced today by Jim Bayman.

[Andy Woolley]

I had the great pleasure of competing in the 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986 Willhires. Looking back I would say these were the most enjoyable motorsport experiences I ever had.

Indeed, I first met my wife during the 1980 race (she was keeping the team's drivers well nourished). We married in '81 and are still together so you could say that race was a life changing experience for me.

Cars used were:

1980 - My Ginetta G15 with the G15s of Mark Smith and Bill Hunt (8th overall and 3rd in class)
1981 - as above but 12th overall and 4th in class
1982 - Triumph Dolomite Sprint (single cars only from this year - finished 17th)
1983 - Skoda Rapid - 13th and 1st in class
1984 - Skoda Rapid - finished but can't find results!
1986 - Skoda Estelle 130L - 17th and 2nd in class

Will post some photos soon - happy days!

[terence]

Andy,is it true that in 83 the Skoda only needed a brake pad change?
A very good friend,Chris Conoley used to compete in a Capri in those years.

[KA]

Originally Posted by Andy Woolley

I had the great pleasure of competing in the 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986 Willhires. Looking back I would say these were the most enjoyable motorsport experiences I ever had.

Indeed, I first met my wife during the 1980 race (she was keeping the team's drivers well nourished). We married in '81 and are still together so you could say that race was a life changing experience for me.

Cars used were:

1980 - My Ginetta G15 with the G15s of Mark Smith and Bill Hunt (8th overall and 3rd in class)
1981 - as above but 12th overall and 4th in class
1982 - Triumph Dolomite Sprint (single cars only from this year - finished 17th)
1983 - Skoda Rapid - 13th and 1st in class
1984 - Skoda Rapid - finished but can't find results!
1986 - Skoda Estelle 130L - 17th and 2nd in class

Will post some photos soon - happy days!

Yes please! Although I never got to a Willhire, I watched quite a bit of Prodsaloon racing from 1985/6 on- as you say, happy days!

[Andy Woolley]

Actually, I don't believe we ever changed the brake pads on any of the Skodas that I drove in the Willhires - but then with such a low powered but good handling car we were only using the brakes twice a lap (at Sear and The Esses) as the old Russell chicane layout was 'flat' in those days.

Those Skodas were ever so reliable though. The only problem I can remember was when we graduated to the 130L in '86, which had a 5 speed box, with reverse opposite 5th. In practice I managed to engage reverse while trying to find 4th, which required a gearbox change.

I have a strong memory that, I think was from 1986, of Tiff Needell spinning off in the Porsche 911 as he followed me through Sear. At the time I was sure that I had outcornered a 911 in a Skoda, but on reflection he probably spun because he had to brake mid-corner to avoid hitting me!

The Skodas were all owned and entered by the UK distributor so I was very fortunate to be selected to drive for the team. All I had to do was just turn up and drive at no cost to me. However, my selection might just have had something to do with the fact that I had married Bill Hunt's sister. Bill was at the time Skoda GB's Motorsport Manager.

I had a long lay off from racing from 1990 to 2004 due to family commitments. Now my kids have grown up in recent years I've been racing a Reynard 903 F3 car in the Monoposto Championship. I share the car with Mark Smith who drove in the Ginetta team in the 1980 Willhire and achieved the tremendous feat of finishing the event in his Ginetta in one of the later Willhires when one car had to do the whole distance (either 83 or 84 - I can't remember which year it was).

Snetterton is still one of my favourite circuits though I had a major shunt there on 18 October this year when the throttle stuck open as I braked for Riches. It ended up with me going backwards into the tyre barrier at very high speed - ouch!

Andy Woolley

[chunterer]

Top, top post Andy, many thanks!

Amusing anecdotes like yours help to maintain the forum as one for the true enthusiast's !!

Look forward to hearing more from you!

[d-b]

hi there

anyone got a photo of the Alex Rogan Slick 50 Capri that raced one year?

db

[Andy Woolley]

A little story that I've just remembered from that first Willhire in 1980. We had three Ginetta G15s in the team, belonging to me, Mark Smith and Bill Hunt (that's the white one in one of the pics on this thread).

We lost Bill's car on Sunday morning due to a stub axle failure, which stranded it out on the circuit, so only had 2 cars left. I was driving mine when the ignition light suddenly went on so I headed straight for the pits and handed over ot Mark's G15. Examination revealed that the crankshaft pulley had disintegrated, so the fan belt had come off. We had spare fan belts but no spare pulley so had the commentator make an announcement on the PA that asked if anyone with a Hillman Imp in the car park would mind lending the Ginetta team their crankshaft pulley for the duration of the race. Amazingly some poor fellow came forward and as fast as you could say Ginetta we had removed the pulley from his engine and fitted it to my G15, just in time to take over form Mark when his stint was finished. Hard to believe that folk would be that trusting/generous today isn't it!

Anyway come the end of the race we put the pulley back onto his Imp and said our thanks. The only problem was how to drive my G15 back to London. This problem was solved by removing the pulley from Bill's recovered car and fitting it to mine as his car was returning to London on a trailer.

Driving back to London straight after a 24 hour race wasn't the brightest thing to do but I was supposed to be at work on the Monday morning. It was bloody hard to stay awake but I found that driving very fast produced enough adrenalin to keep me awake. One does these things when one is 25!

Right, now for the pics from the 1980 Willhire:

My G15



My G15 waiting to go out during the night.



Mark Smith's G15



Bill Hunt's G15



And finally the 'Surprising Skoda' 130L in the '86 Willhire - me driving through the old Russell chicane.

[Alan Raine]

1980 - The Renault 5 out for a Sunday drive.




Early morning sunshine.




It's a pity this one's out of focus, but it shows even in a 24 hour race they were still throwing the cars around. I wonder what was of interest to the 4 spectators in the background?

[M Greenslade]

Early Morning Sunshine

All very worrying really as the the Observer in charge (in the blue anorak) is my old mate Martin Shalders (lately known as Black Adder) and next to him 'smoking a fag!' is myself on flags, all 28 years ago!

Are there any onther photos with marshals in ?

Bladders........................

[snett fan55]

Alan,
many thanks for sharing such wonderful pictures.They truly prove what a great series the Willhire was,and it all brings back such great memories,seems as if the weather was always good!The friendships gained and freedom to go wherever we pleased are just a few of the things that will always stick with me,thanks also to Andy Woolley for his interesting reminisces.
A great thread,trouble is I spend so much time here...
Regards to all.

[Alan Raine]

Originally Posted by M Greenslade

Early Morning Sunshine

All very worrying really as the the Observer in charge (in the blue anorak) is my old mate Martin Shalders (lately known as Black Adder) and next to him 'smoking a fag!' is myself on flags, all 28 years ago!

Are there any onther photos with marshals in ?

Bladders........................

Not many I'm afraid, apart from these