1980 Willhire 24 hours - Snetterton

[Trevor Scarborough]

Originally Posted by GBRM

Mark didn't take too kindly to being told he was too slow to drive the final stint!!
I'd say the white car is Dad (it has a BRDC badge) and if not then Eric Cook (Dad's soon to be father in law but that's another story!!) and it was their first 2nd and was followed up by 2nd in '81 and '82 to complete the hat-trick.
I think it was 1982 when they stopped having a team of cars and one car only.

Just found this thread too! The three Capris are: Gerry in the plain white one, me in Skid's blue one, and Eric Cook in the striped bonnet (the car, not Eric!). Notice that all three cars have got JJS Veneers as the main sponsor. JJS was a wood-veneering company (Graham can tell you who JJS was, I think his name was Jeff Shoyer or something like that), who was sponsoring Skid for the 1980 season. When he teamed up with Gerry and Eric to do the Willhire, Gerry instantly pounced on this guy and got him to stump up for the whole team! I seem to remember after the race that Jeff got fairly bladdered and proceeded to tear-arse his Porsche or something up and down the main straight after propping up the bar for hours - oh, those were the days!!

On the subject of sponsorship, you may or may not know that Gerry initially was negotiating some dosh from a theatre company who were putting on a play called 'Find the Lady', starring Mollie Sugden. God knows what they thought they would get out of sponsoring a motor race in Norfolk, and I don't think it ever came off, but it goes to show how 'eclectic' Gerry's tastes were, particularly when it came to getting people to part with some money. Perhaps it was the name 'Mark Thatcher' that had got them interested, although at that time Mark was not particularly well-known (notorious?), so it must have have been his family connections. Shame he wasn't really fast enough!

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Trevor Scarborough

Just found this thread too! The three Capris are: Gerry in the plain white one, me in Skid's blue one, and Eric Cook in the striped bonnet (the car, not Eric!). Notice that all three cars have got JJS Veneers as the main sponsor. JJS was a wood-veneering company (Graham can tell you who JJS was, I think his name was Jeff Shoyer or something like that), who was sponsoring Skid for the 1980 season. When he teamed up with Gerry and Eric to do the Willhire, Gerry instantly pounced on this guy and got him to stump up for the whole team! I seem to remember after the race that Jeff got fairly bladdered and proceeded to tear-arse his Porsche or something up and down the main straight after propping up the bar for hours - oh, those were the days!!

On the subject of sponsorship, you may or may not know that Gerry initially was negotiating some dosh from a theatre company who were putting on a play called 'Find the Lady', starring Mollie Sugden. God knows what they thought they would get out of sponsoring a motor race in Norfolk, and I don't think it ever came off, but it goes to show how 'eclectic' Gerry's tastes were, particularly when it came to getting people to part with some money. Perhaps it was the name 'Mark Thatcher' that had got them interested, although at that time Mark was not particularly well-known (notorious?), so it must have have been his family connections. Shame he wasn't really fast enough!

Mark Thatcher? Isn't he the guy who thought a sheet of sandpaper was a page out of his mapbook of the Sahara?

[andycos]

I can just imagine you having Mollie Sugden as a pit girl Trevor

[Trevor Scarborough]

Originally Posted by andycos

I can just imagine you having Mollie Sugden as a pit girl Trevor

They wouldn't let her pussy into the pits!!

[Trevor Scarborough]

Ooops. Bad taste! On the day that Mollie's sad death was announced. What crap timing!!

[Alan Raine]

Originally Posted by Trevor Scarborough

Ooops. Bad taste! On the day that Mollie's sad death was announced. What crap timing!!

She's probably smiling from above

[phoenix]

If anyone has an entry list, results, race report or pictures from the 1983 race, I would be pleased if they got in touch with me.

I raced in a very second hand Honda Civic which was in the same class as the Skoda - in fact the only other car in the small class, I believe - and we shared a garage. Our car was driven to the circuit from West Kingsdown, where it was prepared. The preparation was mainly a hand paint job in dulux and ensuring all the birds and mice nests had been removed, as the car had been stored in a barn for over a year! I'm pretty sure the car was also driven home after the event. We never changed the brake pads during the event and used just the one set of tyres for the whole event (and the drive home!)

I remember very clearly the Skoda actually spent quite a while in the pits in 1983 while the Czech mechanics re-built the gearbox. On track I remember closing in on the Skoda at the rate of about 1 yard per lap! It took me a whole stint to catch it, more or less, and an attempt to dive inside at the esses ended up with me spinning out to prevent contact, so all the effort was wasted.

In theory, we should have won the class with the Skoda being in the pits for so long, but we had our own dramas. At the end of the first stint the driver managed to crash into the armco coming into the pits as he was trying to undo his belts at the same time. This accident destroyed the auxilliary lights that had been fitted for the night driving, broke one headlamp and also damaged the alternator mounting bracket.

We managed to get some lighting sorted out at the various pitstops before darkness fell, but early the next morning the alternator mounting broke completely and we didn't have a spare. We had to make our own shortened fan belt fitting round just the crank and the fan/water pump pulley. I had read that tights could be used for this, so my wife of the time removed hers and we twisted a belt up from them. They were obviously good quality as the 'belt' held for quite a while. As my wife had no other tights with her, she was despatched to the 'sunday market' near the entrance to the circuit to buy some more pairs. I can't remember how many pairs she bought but the quality was certainly inferior as we got through the belts made from them much quicker than we had imagined. Some time in the afternoon a plea for tights was put out over the public address system, and we were delighted to receive a number of pairs - some still warm! - from willing volunteers, including one of the St John's Ambulance ladies. Thanks to them we finished the race somehow, obviously losing out to the Skoda in class and I can't remember if we were dead last or not - but we probably were!

The reason I would like to see the entry list is that I can't remember who my team mates were, as the team was put together in a rather ad-hoc way. I believe one of them was Anthony Reid, who was the mate of one of my friends (Grubby) who was mechanicing for us, but I'd like to be able to confirm that.

Thanks

[RTH]

We did not start doing it until '84

[Tim 27]

Originally Posted by phoenix

Some time in the afternoon a plea for tights was put out over the public address system, and we were delighted to receive a number of pairs - some still warm!

Amazing! Although only sixteen I remember laughing as Norman Greenway made this plea over the tannoy! The request was aimed specifically at the St Johns ambulance ladies as I believe they had to wear tights or black trousers as part of their uniform. Seem to remember dear old Norman chuckling about you putting eggs into the radiator or something?
I still have the programme so will check out who was listed to drive the little Civic. Which one are you Phoenix?

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by Tim 27

Amazing! Although only sixteen I remember laughing as Norman Greenway made this plea over the tannoy! The request was aimed specifically at the St Johns ambulance ladies as I believe they had to wear tights or black trousers as part of their uniform. Seem to remember dear old Norman chuckling about you putting eggs into the radiator or something?
I still have the programme so will check out who was listed to drive the little Civic. Which one are you Phoenix?

I'm the one that span at the Esses - not the one that hit the armco in the pit lane entrance!

Seem to remember now that we did cure a small leak in the rad with some egg whites - worked a treat!

You have a PM...

I team managed Bob Irving's team with the Rover Vitesse in '85 I think it was. Our 'Star' driver managed to make heavy contact with another car at Riches on the first lap! Again we lost all the extra lights, a headlamp and I think the splitter was damaged too. Loved the event - just not that lucky in it!

[Tim 27]

The Civic ran the number 41 and was entered by Doug Wood Racehire.
According to the programme two of the drivers had yet to be nominated at the time of going to press.
The three drivers listed are: Doug Wood, Dave Flether and Tim Wright.
Can you remember how many team mates you had Phoenix?
Can't confirm that one of the TBN's was indeed Anthony Reid I'm afraid.
Tony Dickinson (of special saloon fame), Tim Read, Andy Woolley (already posted on this thread) and Bill Hunt shared the Skoda.
£3.50 for an adult to get in for both days, £1.00 for children, and if you had enough left over you could lash out on a programme for 75p!
Great days!

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by Tim 27

The Civic ran the number 41 and was entered by Doug Wood Racehire.
According to the programme two of the drivers had yet to be nominated at the time of going to press.
The three drivers listed are: Doug Wood, Dave Flether and Tim Wright.
Can you remember how many team mates you had Phoenix?
Can't confirm that one of the TBN's was indeed Anthony Reid I'm afraid.
Tony Dickinson (of special saloon fame), Tim Read, Andy Woolley (already posted on this thread) and Bill Hunt shared the Skoda.
£3.50 for an adult to get in for both days, £1.00 for children, and if you had enough left over you could lash out on a programme for 75p!
Great days!

Thanks for digging the programme out, Tim. Much appreciated.

As I recall, Doug didn't drive in the end - he just took the money! However, I am sure there were six of us driving - to make the event affordable for each of us.

A bargain for spectators too!

[ianhunter]

Well what a memory jerker this thread is! I was car number 25 - the bright yellow Dolomite Sprint in the 1982 Willhire event. Very much an amateur team, we did the whole event on a shoestring and we seemed to pioneer the idea of having a complete car on jacks in the pits for spares! We only had two sets of tyres and brake pads otherwise!

The event was memorable because the car was virtually destroyed at about 6.00 am coming out of the Bomb Hole by one of our drivers (a previous poster? Ooops!) and attacking the armco. We managed to get the car back to the pits and discovered that the wheelbase on the passenger's side was 3" shorter than it was on the driver's side. We attached the back of the car to a telegraph pole and the front to a truck and drove off. We did this several times until we got the two sides to within 1/8th of an inch. The scrutineer said BL never made them that good when new, so we went back into the race and finished!

We were out for about four hours and as we ventured back down the pit lane for the first time we got a standing ovation form all the other teams. Quite emotional.

We actually finished 4th in class (although not classified as we had too few laps) and the engine I had built survived whereas the engine in the other works engined Dolomite didn't!

Afterwards, we realised that the bodyshell was bent like a banana and the front suspension was visible from inside the cockpit! We rebodied the car and after being made redundant pretty much soon after, that car did 12,000 miles in the road before being sold. I wonder where it is now? Would love to know!

I have the official video of the event at home and a number of photos (all prints). Not sure how to post those on here - do I have to scan them in somehow?

Great memories!

Ian

[croydebay]

Dick Adams "Bomacote" sponsored TR7.






On the Willhire (but not 1980) and as she is now. Dick returned her to the works colours that he bought her in but the maroon "Bomacote" livery remains visible in the boot (with long range tank), in the cabin and under the bonnet.

Any further info/pix etc. on this car gratefully received.

Regards Steve ( croydebay@aol.com )

[Andy Woolley]

Just read Ian Hunter's posting about his yellow Dolomite Sprint that did the 82 Willhire. I was one of the drivers in a last minute deal done on very favourable terms (many thanks Ian!) and, by the way, I wasn't the guy that crashed it. I seem to remember that the guy that crashed it was a FF1600 driver and he managed to do the fastest lap in the car but then went off on the next lap. I can well remember the huge efforts made by the team to get the car back into the race. I've got a memory of seeing the left hand front wing on the floor of the garage with two or three guys standing on it to bend it back into shape. I'd never raaced a conventional front engined, rear wheel drive car before. I remember being well impressed at the engine's power but the handling was truly horrible, with traction almost non-existent (compared to my Ginetta G15 anyway). However, I would swear that after being crashed it actually had much better traction out of right handers, which was a real benefit at Snett. I guess if the chassis was twisted in the right way it would actually have helped. The other thing I remember was that the brakes could be overheated quite quickly.

Anyway, it was good to see that Ian is alive and kicking. Someone is going to have to sort out a Willhire reunion event of some sort one day so we can all share these stories and bore each other to death.

Andy Woolley

[smchale]

I've just discovered this site and its stirred up a load of old memories I did 7 Snetterton 24 hour races starting with a Opel in the last of the old multi car sash races, I won the class in 82 driving a Sirocco I bought from Tony Lanfranchi The other driver was Jock Robertson I think we were the first 2 driver team to do the race. John Llewellyn, Nick Staverly and me won the class again in a Sirocco in 83. In 84 I drove with Russell Brooks and John Llewellyn But I had and big accident at Russell on Sunday morning, shame we were class leaders at the time
Drove an Escort turbo in 86 with Bob Sands it fell apart around us but we finished, 87 BMW M3 with Bob Sands Class win, 88 BMW M3 DNF.
82 was the year all the cars in front of us were disqualified so we ended up 2nd overall

[chunterer]

Welcome Steve, glad to read your recollections!

Hope you continue to look in on us and continue posting when you can.

Was it one of the Fina JQF M3's you drove in 1988?

[smchale]

Yes with Robin Brundell, his car won the class in 88 then one of the mechanics broke the seals on the rocker cover and the car was
disqualified

[RTH]

We had the Hexagon M3 in '87 and I spent quite a bit of time comparing notes with Rod Vickery.
As I remember the Bob Sands car did the whole 24hrs on one set of brake pads whilst we had to fit about 6 sets and some discs.

[johngee]

Originally Posted by Andy Woolley

Someone is going to have to sort out a Willhire reunion event of some sort one day so we can all share these stories and bore each other to death.

Andy Woolley

Why don't you make it at the 360MRC (360 minutes = 6 hours - get it?) endurance race at Snetterton on 15th August. http://360motor-racing-club.com/
Whilst we can only afford the circuit time for a 6 hour race (and we're running it 'not for profit!), it's for saloons and GT cars from this period and we're hoping to capture some of the atmosphere of the Willhire races.
We'd love to have some of the drivers and personalities from that era and we'd make you very welcome.

[Peter Mallett]

Sounds like a good idea to me.

[andy97]

Tell your friends & get them to enter as well!

[bigears]

Does anyone still wants any particular results of this race?

I got 1980 Motoring News newspapers and I got it with me now. Thank you.

[gypseywilson]

Originally Posted by bigears

Does anyone still wants any particular results of this race?

I got 1980 Motoring News newspapers and I got it with me now. Thank you.

Yes please, I'm trying to get as much race history of car 11, a red opel commodore as I can.

[XR2racer]

What a great thread.

I want even born when the 80 24hr race took place but remember going to at least three of them as a kid.

My dad raced in a number of the Wilhire 24hrs getting a class win in a Golf (not sure what year but I still have the autosport with the thank you poster!).

He has gione on to be a class winner in 24hr races at Zolder, the Nurburgring, Spa and Silverstone.

I will be driving in my 1st 24hr at Silverstone this year along side my dad and brother and cannot wait.

Whilst Britcar may not be quite the same as the old Wilhire's it certainly keeps us entertained and where else can you find GT2 Ferrari's and Porshes racing against Escort's and Clio's with pro drivers and amateurs alike?

Mike