Austin/MG Metro/Metro Turbo Challenge (split from Grp A Turbo thread)

[VIVA GT]

Finally (also from Silverstone) a rare picture of Nigel Gaymer after an accident at Copse:

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Also on the subject of crashes, I was in the Woodcote Grandstand when Chris Tyrell had his accident, and took these two pictures:

Christ!

I had a dim recollection of his crash but not the extent of it!

The one of the car by the wood ote sleepers a couple of posts back looks horrendous too.

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I've just checked through the Metro racing pictured I've scanned to see if I could find any clues for that mystery car, but couldn't.
I found this picture I took at Mallory Park many years ago, you may recognise this car:

Hi Al,
Loving the picture, thanks for posting.
I'd forgotten we'd been to Mallory with the Metro's, that was '82 and thinking back the one thing I do remember is Paul Taft's sponsor, Roy Dunnett coming over to David in the Mallory paddock and saying, "I can just see you driving a tank David", as the Falklands war had been announced that morning !!!
Isn't it strange, the things you remember, I've no idea how David got on in the race !!
It must be an age thing.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Christ!

I had a dim recollection of his crash but not the extent of it!

The one of the car by the wood ote sleepers a couple of posts back looks horrendous too.

Chris's crash was a big bump, we looked at the car in the paddock later on, the whole shell had twisted. Chris had quite a nasty bump on the head as well and I don't think he was the same again. He carried on working (I bought a Mini Se7en cylinder head from him) but I don't think he ever raced again.

Originally Posted by WOCCOWAYCER

Hi Al,
Loving the picture, thanks for posting.
I'd forgotten we'd been to Mallory with the Metro's, that was '82 and thinking back the one thing I do remember is Paul Taft's sponsor, Roy Dunnett coming over to David in the Mallory paddock and saying, "I can just see you driving a tank David", as the Falklands war had been announced that morning !!!
Isn't it strange, the things you remember, I've no idea how David got on in the race !!
It must be an age thing.

Hi Ron, yes that was 1982. I'm pretty sure that Dave won the race at Mallory that day. I've a couple more pictures of him in that race and he gets progressively ahead of the pack of cars he's with...

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Also on the subject of crashes, I was in the Woodcote Grandstand when Chris Tyrell had his accident, and took these two pictures:

Hi Al,
I have just had a closer look at these photo's and have come to conclusion this is not Chris Tyrrell's crash, the number is wrong on the car, #60 which I think is one of the Graywoolfe cars, possibly that of Chris Taylor, the other car, #37 looks like Tom Shephards, which would make sense if the photo's were taken in 1986, is that possible ?
I have come up with 1986 as they have got Esso door squares and would appear to be pre turbo, ie, no body kit.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by WOCCOWAYCER

Hi Al,
I have just had a closer look at these photo's and have come to conclusion this is not Chris Tyrrell's crash, the number is wrong on the car, #60 which I think is one of the Graywoolfe cars, possibly that of Chris Taylor, the other car, #37 looks like Tom Shephards, which would make sense if the photo's were taken in 1986, is that possible ?
I have come up with 1986 as they have got Esso door squares and would appear to be pre turbo, ie, no body kit.

Oooh!
I've always believed these pictures to be of Chris Tyrell's car as I remember seeing the accident at the Woodcote Chicane and I thought (the old grey cells are diminishing) I'd photographed the aftermath.
I don't think I'd have photographed Metro's in 1986, but then who knows? Does the picture of Nigel (Boot) Gaymers car give any clues of the year. That was from the same roll of film, so I assume from (if not) the same meeting (then it was the same year).
(I'll have to look at the slides when I get a chance to see if there's a date stamp on them).

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Oooh!
I've always believed these pictures to be of Chris Tyrell's car as I remember seeing the accident at the Woodcote Chicane and I thought (the old grey cells are diminishing) I'd photographed the aftermath.
I don't think I'd have photographed Metro's in 1986, but then who knows? Does the picture of Nigel (Boot) Gaymers car give any clues of the year. That was from the same roll of film, so I assume from (if not) the same meeting (then it was the same year).
(I'll have to look at the slides when I get a chance to see if there's a date stamp on them).

Sorry Al, the Boot Gaymer photo is from a different year (British Car Auctions door squares), so pre '86 but post '82 (Unipart), if I had to guess I would say '84.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by WOCCOWAYCER

Sorry Al, the Boot Gaymer photo is from a different year (British Car Auctions door squares), so pre '86 but post '82 (Unipart), if I had to guess I would say '84.

OK Ronnie, thanks for your help.
I'll have to do some researching and amend things...

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Also on the subject of crashes, I was in the Woodcote Grandstand when Chris Tyrell had his accident, and took these two pictures:

The car on the right of the picture is Irishman Michael Cullen Itwas his second Metro race following a run the the Pheonix park event. Cullen went on to be 5 time Irish Touring car Champion , Ferrari Challenge European Champion, F1 Ferrari car owner and BTCC Honda test driver.

[billy bleach]

[QUOTE=davyboy;2458603]There certainly was an MG Metro International Challenge Championship in 1986. It may have supported higher level series at some of the tracks it visited, but it was also a standalone too. The series was run by Roger Dowson Engineering and was the only one make championship endorsed by FISA at the time... how times have changed... almost everything's one make today.

That year it visited :

o Donnington on April 5/6
o Nurburgring on July 12
o Phoenix Park on August 31
o Spa Francorchamps on September 14
o Le Mans Bugatti on September 28
o Montlhery on October 11.

Among the more well known drivers were mini/metro stalwarts such as Dave Carvell, Peter Baldwin, Chris Lewis and Dave Loudon. There were quite a few French drivers including Claude Boissy, Dominique Lenaert, Carlo Gomez, Andre Lechat, Didier Belz, Bernard Guillou and Jacques Lacoste. At the Phoenix Park event that year, Michael Cullen and Irish rally Legend Billy Coleman guested... in fact I think Cullen did a few more rounds of the series too. I noticed that Lawrence Bristow and the evergreen Tony Dron were entries as well. I wonder though, were those cars turbocharged or not. I know its a long time ago, but casting my mind back to the event in the Phoenix Park, I'm not sure that they were you know.[/QUOTE


I think you will find Austin rover Motorsport ran the Metro Challenge in UK and Europe Roger Dowson just entered cars often with factory help

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Weren't the cars built by Roger Dowson Engineering ?

No

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

The car on the right of the picture is Irishman Michael Cullen Itwas his second Metro race following a run the the Pheonix park event. Cullen went on to be 5 time Irish Touring car Champion , Ferrari Challenge European Champion, F1 Ferrari car owner and BTCC Honda test driver.

Ah yes, Michael Cullen, I was partly right, in that it was one of the Graywoolfe cars, owned by Chris Taylor and run by Seacott out of Luton, who also used to run the Clive Faine, Linden Racing cars in the BTCC.

I met Michael on several occasions during the Metro years, a really nice guy.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by WOCCOWAYCER

Ah yes, Michael Cullen, I was partly right, in that it was one of the Graywoolfe cars, owned by Chris Taylor and run by Seacott out of Luton, who also used to run the Clive Faine, Linden Racing cars in the BTCC.

I met Michael on several occasions during the Metro years, a really nice guy.

OK chaps, thanks for all your help on this, I'll have to amend the information in the file where I've stored the images. If we could confirm the drivers & the year, that would be even better.
I must have been confused that, as this accident happened at The Woodcote Chicane it was the Chris Tyrell crash, over the years my old memory has become far more crammed with nonsense!

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

OK chaps, thanks for all your help on this, I'll have to amend the information in the file where I've stored the images. If we could confirm the drivers & the year, that would be even better.
I must have been confused that, as this accident happened at The Woodcote Chicane it was the Chris Tyrell crash, over the years my old memory has become far more crammed with nonsense!

I'm almost certain this was 1986, as the Phoenix park race was '86, perhaps billy bleach can confirm ?

There is some Irish TV coverage of that race on youtube, which is well worth a look, there was a massive crowd watching the event, most of them seemed to be intoxicated, (read pi**ed).
It was certainly an experience, the race programme being governed by the pub opening hours !!

Still not totally sure on the Boot Gaymer year, I think '84 though.
Anyone care to chip in on that one ?

Going back to the crash photo of #34 Metro at Woodcote, I found this picture on Flickr of the car with the title "Terry racing a BRP Metro", which may help someone identify the driver ? I think this photo was taken in '83, judging by the livery on the Malcolm Harrison car just in front.

[mab01UK]

Note: Chris Tyrrell won the Mini Seven Championship 3 times...in 1974, 1986 and 1987.

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Kept this clipping, Chris even appears in this.

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Originally Posted by WOCCOWAYCER

I'm almost certain this was 1986, as the Phoenix park race was '86, perhaps billy bleach can confirm ?

There is some Irish TV coverage of that race on youtube, which is well worth a look, there was a massive crowd watching the event, most of them seemed to be intoxicated, (read pi**ed).
It was certainly an experience, the race programme being governed by the pub opening hours !!

Still not totally sure on the Boot Gaymer year, I think '84 though.
Anyone care to chip in on that one ?

Going back to the crash photo of #34 Metro at Woodcote, I found this picture on Flickr of the car with the title "Terry racing a BRP Metro", which may help someone identify the driver ? I think this photo was taken in '83, judging by the livery on the Malcolm Harrison car just in front.

I have borrowed a load of race result sheets from my brother so can now fill in some of the gaps.
The Nigel Gaymer crash is in fact Paul Gaymer #19 and the year was 1983, Nigel was #20 that year.

Also the #34 car crashed at Woodcote was driven by two different people in 1983, it was driven by Terry Pudwell for the second half of the season, which fits in with the Flickr photo above.
In the early races it was driven by race driver coach John Stevens and it would appear as though it was his accident in the crash photo, I think it must have happened in qualifying on 30th May as he only did 2 laps and didn't race, at the next race 24th June, Terry Pudwell was driving #34.

If I remember correctly the throttle stuck open at the end of the Club straight and he just went straight into the wall.

One other interesting snippet I found was regarding the crowd at Phoenix Park, estimated at over 80,000 on both days !!!

A couple more photo's from '83 to wet your appetite.

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Just uploaded a 1983 Austin Rover promotional video onto youtube, I transferred it from VHS to DVD so it's not brilliant quality and it's very '80's in format but is still worth a look, you even get a glimpse of the Group A Metro turbo and the Rover Vitesse.

Type in 1983 MG Metro Challenge and enjoy.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by WOCCOWAYCER

I'm almost certain this was 1986, as the Phoenix park race was '86, perhaps billy bleach can confirm ?

There is some Irish TV coverage of that race on youtube, which is well worth a look, there was a massive crowd watching the event, most of them seemed to be intoxicated, (read pi**ed).
It was certainly an experience, the race programme being governed by the pub opening hours !!

Still not totally sure on the Boot Gaymer year, I think '84 though.
Anyone care to chip in on that one ?

Going back to the crash photo of #34 Metro at Woodcote, I found this picture on Flickr of the car with the title "Terry racing a BRP Metro", which may help someone identify the driver ? I think this photo was taken in '83, judging by the livery on the Malcolm Harrison car just in front.

TheTerry was Terry Pudwell

[mab01UK]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

TheTerry was Terry Pudwell

Mini 7 - Terry Pudwell 1977-78 Season (Photo: Terry Pudwell)

[mab01UK]

Originally Posted by WOCCOWAYCER

Just uploaded a 1983 Austin Rover promotional video onto youtube, I transferred it from VHS to DVD so it's not brilliant quality and it's very '80's in format but is still worth a look, you even get a glimpse of the Group A Metro turbo and the Rover Vitesse.

Type in 1983 MG Metro Challenge and enjoy.

Here is the link, thanks for uploading the video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY7YMemDczI

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Originally Posted by mab01UK

Here is the link, thanks for uploading the video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY7YMemDczI

Thanks for adding the link mab, I didn't know how to do it !

[WOCCOWAYCER]

Just uploaded another Austin Rover promo video onto youtube, this time from the 1986 MG Metro Challenge, perhaps mab could add the link for me again.

[mab01UK]

Originally Posted by WOCCOWAYCER

Just uploaded another Austin Rover promo video onto youtube, this time from the 1986 MG Metro Challenge, perhaps mab could add the link for me again.

Link added, great video thanks for uploading.

1986 MG Metro Challenge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzoZ1X4P3rs

[R59]

I held spanners once or twice for Shorty (can't say I did much, other than get in the way) when he ran in the BRDC Metro Turbo series. He ran as a sort of team mate to Peter Baldwin.

The arch rivals were Enterprise Racing at the time.

IIRC the one year when the series ran as a European Championship - Peter Baldwin won it.

Thinking of other names from the day... Martin Perrett (?) comes to mind. I may be wrong, bit I think he was sponsored by Bridon Ropes though Might have been Nigel Edwards. I'll have to think hard about more of them... Oh yes, Paul Taft!!

As has been mentioned, cars were built from bare shells - which at the time cost about £400 from RoverSport. Silly cheap! Everything was subsidised by Rover.
There were lots of tips and tweaks, some very very close to the wind. Quite a few would be regularly on the wrong side of the series scrutineer affectionately known as "Mr Milk Carton".

It was very very serious stuff though, plenty of prize money on offer, then the main protagonists moving to the Rover 216GTi series when that started and took the prestige with it.