Porsche's in rallycross

[chunder]

My fave was him winning the B Final at Lydden in teh ERC round and then feeling the need to let Matti past in A Final coz he felt too old to carry on defending!

On his day a real gem round Lydden, that Xtrac was always one of the quickest cars round Lydden

[gbot72]

Ok, John Smiths Rallycross Porsche history, in installments, as far as I can remember ( it was a long time ago!!)

Please help out with info if any of the pictures give you clues.

Porsche No 1

Two Wheel Drive, seen in this picture on it's first outing with John at Brands Hatch. Also in the picture is John Greasley and one of his cars, not sure if this is a clue to where Smithy bought the car from.

[gbot72]

John used this Porsche for a while, he binned the Spoiler and changed the colours to what you see in this picture.

I have footage from the Rallycross Grand Prix at Brands ( I think it was 1983 ) where John managed to spear the back of Kieth Ripps Fiesta.



Whilst owning this car John bought the ex Colin Richards Porsche which Colin had just convered to 4 wheel drive, which leads us to Porsche No 2

[gbot72]

John Smith Porsche No 2 seen here at it's first outing at Croft.

Unfortunately it spent most of the weekend on the trailer due to teething problems.



John had some success with this car, regularly competing at Brands and Lydden, but it never had the power it needed to compete with the European Porsches.

I believe he famously beat Seppo Nittymaki in the Final heat of the Internations Cup in 1985 to help secure 3rd place for the UK.

[chunder]

I think the middle one was 4wd as I remember, I have some footage of John at Lydden and Swindon in 85 on a video. Other Porsches there were Dennis Atkinson and Gibbo

272 jeremey Crush!! Blimey I am that sad!

[gbot72]

John Smith's Porsche No 1 and 2 appeared at the same event one year. I can't quite remember the reason why, probably down to poor reliability, but both cars were taken to the European round at Lydden.

Only one car went through scrutineering but both appeared on the track at some stage during the day. Whilst one was being raced the other was being fixed!! The only visable difference being the Spoiler and the fact 2 wheels were spinning on one car and all 4 on the other..

Here's Porsche No 2, the 4x4 in action at Lydden.

[rx-guru]

Any clue why I do associate Rod Chapman with one of these 911s?

[rx-guru]

http://www.racehistorie.nl/paul%20fa...0fauchey_m.htm

Pics of the two 911s of André Albers and Paul Fauchey as well as several pics of John Smith during his Ford Escort RS1800 times under the above link.

[gbot72]

John Smith sold Porsche No 1 to an Icelandic racer, but I,m not sure if it stayed in Rallycross.

Porsche No 2 came to a sad end in a startline incident at Brands Hatch. John was involved in a tussle with John Welch off the line, the Porsche ending up catapulting into the Pit wall barrier and being rammed in the side by Mark Rennison in his first outing in the RS200.

The Porsche was too badly damaged. Any useable parts were removed and the shell was cut into pieces and scrapped. This is when Porsche No 3 came along, which has been identified br rx-guru as the ex André Albers car It can be seen in this photo from one of the few outings it had under John's ownership after being converted to 4 wheel drive.

[chunder]

Jos Sterkens bus in the background I reckon too!!

Brilliant pic

Where the hell is that, Lydden?

[WJM]

Originally Posted by chunder

Jos Sterkens bus in the background I reckon too!!

Brilliant pic

Where the hell is that, Lydden?

Actually it looks more like a Dutch license plate. That would perhaps make it the Cees Verkooijen bus? He always drove Japanese cars, I vaguely remember a Nissan Cherry? His sons Ruud and Nelis competed until the mid-nineties in Rallycross, Nelis is now a Rally driver.

[rx-guru]

Originally Posted by chunder

Jos Sterkens bus in the background I reckon too!!

Brilliant pic

Where the hell is that, Lydden?

Yeah, I guess it’s Lydden.

But who the hell is the boy in the car? Young gbot72…?

[gbot72]

Yes, it was Lydden. One of the sunnier days by the looks of it. Smithy used to compete quite alot at Lydden, being his local curcuit.

As for the young boy, well it looks like I'm sitting down to recover from the many trips up and down the paddock collecting water!!

[Stephen H]

Originally Posted by gbot72

John Smith's Porsche No 1 and 2 appeared at the same event one year. I can't quite remember the reason why, probably down to poor reliability, but both cars were taken to the European round at Lydden.

Only one car went through scrutineering but both appeared on the track at some stage during the day. Whilst one was being raced the other was being fixed!! The only visable difference being the Spoiler and the fact 2 wheels were spinning on one car and all 4 on the other..

Here's Porsche No 2, the 4x4 in action at Lydden.

Both of Johns Smiths Porsches, 4wd and 2wd at Lydden 21-9-85. The 4wd was in action on the Saturday in the ERC.

http://file046b.bebo.com/18/large/20...149375894l.jpg

Maybe the 2wd was there for the Sunday event with the Belgium and Dutch racers

http://file046b.bebo.com/9/large/200...148210784l.jpg

[Stephen H]

two more for you

Denis Atkinson 1985-6

http://file048b.bebo.com/20/large/20...149460433l.jpg

J Cavendish 1985-86 - sorry don`t know his first name

http://file048b.bebo.com/10/large/20...149334966l.jpg

[MiniMadness]

Has to be Matti Alamaki's Porsche, I'm sure this had some ridiclous power, although my favourite is his Lancia Delta.

I always remember Rob Gibson's Porsche, didn't he originally race a Porsche 914 ?

[rx-guru]

Originally Posted by MiniMadness

I always remember Rob Gibson's Porsche, didn't he originally race a Porsche 914 ?

Yep, a yellow (surprise, surprise!) Porsche 914 Turbo.

[chunder]

Oh I ahve some pics of that car in a book, was a lovely car. Did he notturbo it??

I remember Waldegaard ran one for Porsche in rallies but it was too frail and underpowered

Gorgeous car though, would love to drive one.

[Gloves]

How about these 4.....The first 2 are easy...Yellow car: Rob Gibson, Black car : John Greasley......The other 2 ????? over to you RX Guru

[rx-guru]

No 21 Dave Wallis!
No 174 Dennis Atkinson?
Although I wonder if Atkinson ever had backing from Allan Franklin’s Car Colours company…

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...y/2porches.jpg

[chunder]

Oh I am not sure about that

Can anyone rememebr a 174 number in rallycross? Dennis laways ran number 6 I think apart from his early days?

[rx-guru]

174 was the starting no of Ron Johnson (TVR and later Alpine A310) for some years.

Dave Wallis had the 6 on his Escort, before Dennis Atkinson took over the 6 for his ex Tony Drummond Escort and later his 911.

[Barrie]

This unloved Porsche my uncle Rob used for a little while was allegedly the old Dave Wallis car. (excuse the pinholes)

[pepsicola]

Originally Posted by rx-guru

174 was the starting no of Ron Johnson (TVR and later Alpine A310) for some years.

Dave Wallis had the 6 on his Escort, before Dennis Atkinson took over the 6 for his ex Tony Drummond Escort and later his 911.

You are quite right the red Porsche bearing the 174 did belong to Ron Johnson it was later sold to Peter Brown. Ron brought the car from an ex Autocross driver who's name escapes me but I do remember it was bright pink when he brought it.

This car came after the Renault Alpine A310 which my father brought and then sold on.

[rx-guru]

Welcome to the forum, pepsicola!

Bright pink? I do not remember all the funny colors used by Bernard Rodemark for his 911s, but perhaps pink as well…?