Group A Ford Sierra RS500

[T-Man]

I would say the Turbo ban was their first step towards the 2.5L V6 reglement aka. Class 1. Would have been really nice to see the Sierra run against the Audi V8.

Yeah, the Ford teams weren't amused by the constant air restrictor and weight changes, but in the end they still had their chance to be the champion in the last race.


About the Kadett, which certainly was allowed to loose a whole lot of weight compared to the other cars, but still it never managed anything higher than a 5th place i think. The Omega started really bad into 1990, showed some promise at the season final at Hockenheim, but when the Evo 500 came up, everything went bad again, as only Oberndorfer and Strycek were able to get any points. even Eggenberger couldn't make this car any better.

[Jesper OH]

From an Lothar Pinske interview from Rallye-Racing 29th November 1989, it's official that Ford won't compete in the 1990 DTM. Right up untill then negosiations seems to have been on among drivers and teams for a 1990 programme before a final decision was taken by Ford.
From what I'm grasping, Pinske cites the uncertainty of the near future. In May 1989 the ONS has told the teams that Turbos would only be allowed for another season, with 1991 being a non-turbo transition year before an international FIA sanctioned ruleset would be implimented for 1992, perhaps allowing turbos back!
Pinske also cites the balasting of the Sierras as a reason for withdrawing, saying that some fans didn't get the message that the Ford were forced to be heavy, and not that Ford simply couldn't produce a lightweight race car! He's even saying that a Ford dealer didn't grasp that. The weight penalty and the utter dominance by BMW at times and Mercedes-Benz at others did not go down well either, as Pinske didn't want Ford to be mere field fillers.

Regarding the future Pinske admits that by the date of the interview Cosworth is working on a 2.5 litre normally aspirated V6 and another two experimental engine configurations is in the pipeline as well. He will also see into a programme to support teams in the new DTT Group N series.

World economics took a turn for the worse shortly after and Ford hasn't been part of DTM since, but continued their rally programme with Sierras and Escorts to the current day Focus', while the Mondeo became a prolific car in various Super Touring Car Championships around the world during the 1990.

Had a look at the DTM RS500 too

1987
Round 9 - 1987.08.09 - Diepholz
Round 10 - 1987.08.23 - Salzburgring / the final
non-championship - 1987.10.18 - Hockenheim / excebition race with 1988 sporting and technical rules introduced.

Wolf Racing and Ringshausen Rennsport introduced the RS500 at Diepholz. Not sure if the Wolf car of Joachim Winkelhock was a proper RS500 at the time, but Manuel Reuters Ringshausen car was. This was an Eggenberger car on loan to help Reuters chances of winning the DTM, with a claimed 430 BHP and 1400 kgs of weight.
At Salzburgring Reuter was back while Armin Hahne took over the Wolf entry and won the first DTM victory of the model. Hahne and Wolf was back for more at the end of the year at Hockenheims non-championship race, dominating the two part event. Technical problems delayed him and he finished only 10th.

Jesper

[T-Man]

Jesper, can you confirm my suspicion, that they actually never used a Sierra RS Cosworth in the DTM ?

From what i see they used the old Xr4Ti for most of the 1987 season and then directly jumped to the RS500. Any clue why ?

[chunterer]

I'd like to say on behalf of us all in Motorsport History; welcome to the forum T-Man!

As with Jesper, KA and others it is very nice to have another member who is clearly very knowlegeable about these cars, and I suspect touring cars in general.

Look forward to reading more of your comments and views.

So from memory was it Harald Grohs, Walter Mertes (and AN Other!) drive the earlier Ringhausen cars in'87? First the Ti's then the Cossies?

Wincklehock, Asch, Manthey drove Wolf RS Cosworths/RS500 is that right?

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by T-Man

Jesper, can you confirm my suspicion, that they actually never used a Sierra RS Cosworth in the DTM ?

From what i see they used the old Xr4Ti for most of the 1987 season and then directly jumped to the RS500. Any clue why ?

Can't confirm it as I'm not totally sure of the Wolf Sierra RS specs. at Diepholz. There's a picture of the Ringshausen car from the same race comfirming it was an RS500, but the Wolf car was not even mentioned in the race report.

Through out 1985-1987 there was probably more XR4Tis in Germany than in any other championship in the world - sometime as many as six during 1986. Wolf, Grab and Ringshausen ran one or two car efforts at events, so had a lot of experience with the old XR4Ti. Theres even some one-off appearances of unknown drivers to me.
With turbo cars being penalised with excessive weight, weighing something like 1300-1400 kgs at the start of '87 (I don't have the precise weights at hand) for any turbo car around and over 2.0 litre, there was little to gain by going the RS Cosworth route in Germany. In terms of power a late XR4Ti and an early RS Cosworth can not have made a lot of difference either, so why not stick with a known quatity instead of a car that was running late in it's development programme.
For any FIA regulated series the difference in weight would have been a solid 150 kgs - 1035 kgs minimum for the 2.0L RS Cosworth against the 1185 kgs for the 2.3L XR4Ti. Don't heard of any RS Cosworth/RS500 ever getting down to the 1035 kgs though. This is to my best believe why no RS Cosworth was developed for DTM.

Just remembering this entry list from the 1987 Donington ETCC race: http://www.racingsportscars.com/cove...987-04-05e.jpg. Have anybody ever heard of the Gerd Ruch Sierra RS Cosworth in the entry list? It was a "Did not arrive" like most other Sierras at that race. Mayby a car ending up in the German endurance championship at the Nürburgring Nordschleife?

Jesper

[T-Man]

Originally Posted by chunterer

I'd like to say on behalf of us all in Motorsport History; welcome to the forum T-Man!

As with Jesper, KA and others it is very nice to have another member who is clearly very knowlegeable about these cars, and I suspect touring cars in general.

Look forward to reading more of your comments and views.

Thanks for the Welcome chunterer.

I've been reading through a couple of threads over here for a couple of months, but only now i decided to contribute, if i can. Sorry if I didn't properly introduced myself

I'm mainly a Group A Touring Car fan, good old years of the DTM, BTCC and ETCC.
A couple of friends and I like those cars that much, that we even want to build them for a racing game. So all those RS500 pictures are worth a lot to us. We really appreciate it.


About the Gerd Ruch Sierra, i highly doubt he could afford one.
If i get the chance to do so, i might ask his brother Jürgen.

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by T-Man

A couple of friends and I like those cars that much, that we even want to build them for a racing game. So all those RS500 pictures are worth a lot to us. We really appreciate it.

There must be at least hundreds of liveries to choose from, so viel Vergnügen

Originally Posted by T-Man

About the Gerd Ruch Sierra, i highly doubt he could afford one.
If i get the chance to do so, i might ask his brother Jürgen.

As said in a contemporary race report, the Sierra part of the entry list at Donington '87 was very much one of fabrication. That was perhaps even closer to the thruth than the author knew!

And then some more DTM RS500s. This time the 1988 entries.

1988

Five regular cars – two each from Ringshausen and Grab and a single Wolf entry.

#4 Ringshausen Rennsport / Texaco / black with red trim / Ronal rims
Klaus Niedzwiedz was the regular of this car, until he had a huge shunt at the Nordschleife at close to 300 kmh. This car could easily have been a write-off. Steve Soper was supping for two rounds while Niedzwiedz nursed a broken arm I think. Soper running #6.

#5 Ringshausen Rennsport / Lui + Texaco / black with yellow trim / Ronal rims
Manuel Reuter was the regular of this car, but missed three rounds over the year. The first two I suspect was simply because the car wasn’t ready, as Ford was hit by strike early in 1988, further causing a lot of privateers missing the opening ETCC race at Monza later in the month.
Reuter was also caught up in one the many crashes at the eventually canselled meeting at the Salzburgring and I assume that’s why he was missing from the following race at Hungaroring.

#18 Grab / Hein Gericke + Speedway / white / BBS rims
Eventual champion Klaus Ludwig was driving this entry in what became his last year in a long as a Ford employee.

#19 Grab / Texaco / white, red, black / BBS rims
Frank Biela being the regular of this entry missing the two opening rounds at Zolder and Hockenheim for the same reason Manuel Reuter did is my guess. For some reason also missed round five at Avus.

#25 Wolf Racing / Würth / white / Ronal rims
Armin Hahne was driver of this car. Only a week after the final meeting it was advertised in Autosport as “The most successful Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth with six wins in the GTC in 1988 driven by Armin Hahne” to quote the full text! This could very well mean that Hahne was using a single RS500 during the 1988 DTM.

#26 Wolf Racing / Plechinger / white with red stripe / Ronal rims
A one-off drive for Herbert Drexler? Only seen and heard of this entry at the Austrian round at Salzburgring. I even think Drexler was Austrian, but can’t find any confirmation of this.

Grab also entered an older Sierra XR4Ti for lady driver Beate Nodes for four meetings during the year.

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

And finally the 1989 DTM entries:

#7 Wolf Racing / Würth / white, red stripe / Ronal Rims
Armin Hahne beginning the year but was involved in a massive crash at round three at Nürburgring. A broken leg kept him out of the cockpit until showing up for the penultimate round at Nürburgring in September. I believe the car was a write-off.
Jeff Allam replaced Hahne at round four at Mainz-Finthen but was a DNS, car number unknown.
Alain Ferté, wearing #8, became a more permanent substitute driving six of the remaining seven events of the year, winning both races at the Nordschleife along the way. Ferté ending 18th in the championship, while Hahne finished 26th.

#25 Grab / Sonax + Borbet / white, red / BBS rims
Frank Biela driving all season, finishing 13th in the championship.

#27 Grab / Sonax / white, red / BBS rims
Rüdiger Schmitt driving all season, finishing 24th in points.

#30 Eggenberger Motorsport / Ford / white, later white with blue Ford stripes / BBS rims
Klaus Niedzwiedz driving all season, finishing 2nd in the championship.

#31 Eggenberger Motorsport / Ford / white, later white with blue Ford stripes / BBS rims
Gianfranco Brancatelli missing the Avus races as his father had just died. Pierre Diedonné doing the sub – not knowing his #. “Branca” ending 9th in the championship, while Diedonné ended 37th.

#32? Eggenberger Motorsport
A third car entered for Zakspeed F1 driver Bernd Schneider for the Norisring street race. This entry might also account for Pierre Diedonné’s precense at the previous race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, but no confirmation.

The Ringshausen team had a combined entry of 15 out of a total 22 possible, missing a couple of mid season races at Avus and the Nordschleife all together.

#44 Ringshausen Rennsport / Lui / black, yellow / Ronal rims
Volker Weidler doing a comeback in the DTM having not raced in the series since his successful Marko Mercedes drive in 1986. Had a miserable season finishing 32nd in the championship.

#45 Ringshausen Rennsport / unsponsored / black, yellow / Ronal rims
Günther Murmann ending his season prematurely – lack of funds? Finished 39th in the championship.

After two and a bit season it was all over in the DTM. 19 victories from 46 races and the '88 title for Klaus Ludwig. During this same stretch Mercedes took 14 victories, while BMW lost with 13, but of course took two titles curtesy of Eric van de Poele and Roberto Ravaglia.

Jesper

[racer69]

Originally Posted by PZR

I'm guessing that Gibson supplied some of his staff to run the car at the Inter Tec race in Japan ( kitted out in 'AIM Motorsports' uniforms ) - unless the guys seen in this grid photo were from elsewhere?:

From Volume 1 Issue 1 of "Motorsport Legends"

Gibson Motorsport used to fly a crew to Asia to oversee the preperation and running of the car

[T-Man]

for the 1988 Season i can add

#20 / Grab Motorsport/ Auto Motor Sport / white, red, black / golden BBS rims
Bernd Schneider drove this car at the Norisring round of the championship
This was most likely Frank Bielas car with just the main sponsor logos replaced

i think i saw a glimpse of Beate Nodes XR4Ti in one of the DTM reviews and it looked like the yellow/blue car, Grab has been used in the previous Year allready.


1989:

Jeff Allam also raced number 8, but actually he didn't qualify the car. Thats what the german TV commentator tells me.

Pierre Dieudonne actually raced a Ringshausen car wearing number #46
As it has all the Lui sponsors, it must have been Weidlers car.


That Herbert Drexler Wolf car interests me, got any pictures of that car ?

[PZR]

Originally Posted by racer69

From Volume 1 Issue 1 of "Motorsport Legends"

"Gibson Motorsport used to fly a crew to Asia to oversee the preperation and running of the car"

racer69,
Thanks for confirming that.

Which of course begs the question: Why were the two Thais in question that slow? All things being equal they should not have finished so far behind the other GT-Rs.

The Japanese press reports of the race mention that the drivers simply "....struggled to get used to the circuit....", but early 1990's FISCO - even though I loved it dearly - was hardly a technical challenge. Race reports don't mention any mechanical woes, and they were on the same tyres as some of the cars that finished way ahead of them too.

Looks to me like the drivers were just a little out of their depth?

[ian beckett]

Prutirat appeared in a number of well prepared cars over a period of time and was always some way slower than others in similar vehicles.I have never come across the other guy Manit,maybe they were just out of their depth??

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by T-Man

for the 1988 Season i can add

#20 / Grab Motorsport/ Auto Motor Sport / white, red, black / golden BBS rims
Bernd Schneider drove this car at the Norisring round of the championship
This was most likely Frank Bielas car with just the main sponsor logos replaced

i think i saw a glimpse of Beate Nodes XR4Ti in one of the DTM reviews and it looked like the yellow/blue car, Grab has been used in the previous Year allready.


1989:

Jeff Allam also raced number 8, but actually he didn't qualify the car. Thats what the german TV commentator tells me.

Pierre Dieudonne actually raced a Ringshausen car wearing number #46
As it has all the Lui sponsors, it must have been Weidlers car.


That Herbert Drexler Wolf car interests me, got any pictures of that car ?

Thanks for clearing up a few ????, T-Man.

In a XR4Ti Beate Nodes contested two full seasons with the Grab team in 1986 and 1987, with a 3rd at Avus '86 being her best result and 11th in points in the standings. At least her '86 car was white, but I think you're spot on that she raced a yellow and blue car during her four '88 outings. This would then be the car that Klaus Ludwig and Steve Soper ran in a few '87 races. There's a picture of Beate Nodes in the DTM Die Historie - war paint and all - and she definitely didn't give anything away to the BMW ladies Anette Meeuvissen and Mercedes Stermitz in the looks department

Wondered why Jeff Allam didn't qualify for the Mainz '89 race only to discover he retired on the first lap of the qualifying race, reason unknown. At 2.250 km and 36 entries I guess there simply wasn't room for the tail enders as only 32 cars started race 1.

I have a long shot side view of Drexler trying to save a flat left rear tyre from the Rallye-Racing Salzburg '88 report, but also a scanner thats on strike! I'll PM you when I got it working.

I mentioned the rims on the 1989 Sierras as I speculated that this might give a clue as to where the cars originated from. BBS would equal an Eggenberger car and Ronals would be a Wolf car? Both Bernhard Grab and Bernd Ringshausen were Ford dealers, but don't know if they build their own cars.

Jesper

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

I mentioned the rims on the 1989 Sierras as I speculated that this might give a clue as to where the cars originated from. BBS would equal an Eggenberger car and Ronals would be a Wolf car? Both Bernhard Grab and Bernd Ringshausen were Ford dealers, but don't know if they build their own cars.

Note that Eggenberger ran a different style of BBS in 1989, although it's probably not that significant.

You raise a point that I've wondered about, Jesper. I always thought that Eggenberger would have had a hand in building the cars used by Grab and Ringshausen, given that in '88 the cars were mostly chauffered by Eggenberger's own team's drivers (Ludwig and Niedzwiedz, then Soper). Of course, it could all just be Ford Europe getting the most use out of their factory drivers.

If the cars were indeed built by Eggenberger, it would seem strange that the Ringshausen cars used Dunlops rather than Eggenberger's Pirellis. Then again, the Moffat car also ran Dunlops, so who knows?

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Note that Eggenberger ran a different style of BBS in 1989, although it's probably not that significant.

You raise a point that I've wondered about, Jesper. I always thought that Eggenberger would have had a hand in building the cars used by Grab and Ringshausen, given that in '88 the cars were mostly chauffered by Eggenberger's own team's drivers (Ludwig and Niedzwiedz, then Soper). Of course, it could all just be Ford Europe getting the most use out of their factory drivers.

If the cars were indeed built by Eggenberger, it would seem strange that the Ringshausen cars used Dunlops rather than Eggenberger's Pirellis. Then again, the Moffat car also ran Dunlops, so who knows?

Grab ran Pirellis at least during 1989, just like Eggenberger, while the Ringshausen (Wolf builds?) cars were on Dunlops rather than the Michelins of the Wolf team it self.

Yes, different style BBS' for the Eggenberger cars - BMW Motorsport used the same style rims. Moffat ran this style of rims at some stage too.

Just checked further up on the Jeff Allam/Wolf story. #7 was changed to #8 from friday to saturday after advise from the organisers, as numbers were unique to a driver, I believe. I also says that driver Win Percy had a riding mechanic in the cockpit for a few practice laps. The team received a DM 5000 fine for the two infringements!
The short notice says Win Percy, but the results says Jeff Allam. Both drivers could have been present of course, but at least Allam had previous experience with Wolf.

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

Had a look at what I've got on Italian RS500s, but it's very incomplete.

1988

Marco Brand and Daniele Vitale sharing an RS500 at a 2 x 1 hour race at Enna-Pergusa on September 25 1988. Two weeks later at Monza Vitale drives solo. As both Brand and Vitale were involved with the Jolly Club Imberti RS500s from the ETCC my guess this is “a” car.

At the same Monza race Maurizio Flamini finishes third. No clues.

On October 23 1988 Roberto Orlandi drives an RS500. In 1986 Orlandi drove at least one race for Jolly Club, so this might be another Jolly Club Imberti RS500.

1989

Gianfranco Brancatelli was entered for the opening round at Monza, but delayed to a 10th place finish. This car looked like a ’88 car but without the Texaco lettering. http://www.monzasport.it/public/gall...llery_2005.htm I can’t link directly to the picture, but try Archivo and Stagione 1982-1989. By the looks of it there’s also an Imberti Jolly Club car present.

Swiss Luigi Bello had a red RS500 on BBS rims.

Bebbe Gabbiani and Romeo Camathias seems to have been regulars, but that’s all I know.

1990

#18 Eggenberger build Team Crypton RS500 for Amato Ferrari. Dark (blue?) with BBS rims. The entry that also raced in a few late BTCC races that year

#12 Wolf build RS500 for Graziano Rossi. White with red bumpers and Ronal rims. Wolf Racing stickers on the rear bumper.

#15 RS500 for Gianfranco Ricci in white and blue with BBS rims and red roll cage. Alpine the main sponsor. Car described as an Eggenberger car, driver as a gentleman driver.

There’s a Schmid present at the opening rounds at Monza. From Autosport that should be German Rüdiger Schmitt, so this might be a Ringshausen car on visit?

All four racing in the S1 category with a mandatory 41 mm restrictor to a 1070 kg weight. “Tango” raced an ordinary RS Cosworth in the S2 category.

1991

Nothing so far!

1992

Luca Canni Ferrari in a University Motors RS500 is the only entry I have so far. From faint memory this car should be one of three Trackstar RS500s! I remember seing the finals at Monza from Rai Uno TV, with Ferrari having planted the car in an Armco barrier clearly showing that this car was running without the spoiler on the boot lit. The car was green and something more running on BBS rims.

As evidenced there’s seriously need of some Italian expert on the CIVT scene.

Jesper

[racer2_uk]

Hi Jesper and all, please get that memory going for us regarding the "Trakstar" sierra's, I don't have much info on them between '89 and '94, especially the Smith car ( 20 ).

Great info, don't stop.

Andy
DJR1

[Jesper OH]

Nordic RS500s

Being Danish let me start by telling that there never was an RS500 based here, but a few visitors and hire cars were raced over the years.

Sweden 1988

Kaj Bornebusch paying a few visits with his ETCC car. A third at Anderstorp on June 12, and a forth at Ring Knutstorp on August 7 accounts for his 22 points and 8th in the final standings.

Bertil Engström in another car. Likely to be a Jan-Åke Söderqvist car. 15th in points.

1989

#2 Team CMS Sweden / Silver and blue / BBS rims
Ulf Granberg racing this car finishing 4th in championship after winning the opening round. Earlier in the threat I assumed this was already a used car when the Simonsen family raced this car in the ETCC in 1988, but KA suggested otherwise: http://tentenths.com/forum/printthre...5&page=4&pp=40
Re-reading the Bathurst annual I surrender, meaning the car only had contested the Silverstone TT and Nogaro ETCC races before arriving late for Bathurst.

#17 Söderqvist Racing Service / Slick 50 / Black / BBS rims
Bertil Engström was the teams main driver during ’89 finishing 6th in the championship.

#18 Söderqvist Racing Service / Slick 50 / Black / BBS rims
Stig Blomqvist winning one round and finishing 7th in championship on a part time basis. He also rallycrossed a Ford RS200 and did some rallying too.

#33 Bornebusch Racing / unsponsored / white / BBS rims
Kaj Bornebusch on a part time schedule finishing 15th in championship. I think Söderqvist were involved here too.

1990

The same four cars back for more action.

#7/18 Söderqvist Racing Service / Yokohama / black and red / BBS rims
Stig Blomqvist winning a very intense championship. Mountune advertised with this and other championship wins around the world late in 1990. The add also mentioned Robb Gravetts BTCC laurels. A very prominent exhaust system protruding from under the right hand door on both cars underlines this.

#6/7/17 Söderqvist Racing Service / Yokohama / black and red / BBS rims
Bertil Engström ending up as scape goat and never featured much during 1990.

#11 Team CMS Sweden / ? / silver and blue / BBS rims
Christer Simonsen, son of the family, racing this year, winning once but otherwise not on pace with Blomqvist.

#19 Bornebusch Racing / ? / white / BBS rims
Kaj Bornebusch again a midfield runner in his few appearences. My dad saw this guy racing a green Porsche 911 back in 1967 and 1968 and stopped racing around this period, only to return to racing with an ex-TWR Rover in 1987.

#36 Ford Motorsport Danmark / Statoil / white and stripes / ? rims
Benny Hall making a one-off appearance at the finals at Ring Knutstorp, since he was there for a round of the Danish group N series anyway. Finished 10th in his four door group N car.

1991

#1 Söderqvist Racing Services / Whirlpool / red and black / BBS rims
Stig Blomqvist

#3 Söderqvist Racing Services / Whirlpool / red and black / BBS rims
BMW convert Lennart Bohlin. As former formula E kart champion, and Blomqvist a former WRC winner, the SRS camp ran as a World Champions Team, but didn’t win the Swedish title.

#6 Team CMS Sweden / ? / silver and blue / BBS rims
Christer Simonsen off the serious pace.

From Finland I only know little

1987 a white and blue Sierra RS Cosworth raced (by Pekka Korkiakoski?)

At some stage Kalle Sarlin, a former customer at Grab in Germany, had a full scale RS500, finishing second at the one-off Nordic Championship meeting at Alastaro, Finland, 1991. Lennart Bohlin finished third in the same event.

The “Korkiakoski” car was the first Cossie to race in Denmark in a round of the Nordic Championship, run as part of Grand Prix Danmark at Jyllands-Ringen. This race run in late August was to be the only races featuring any RS500s over the next handful of years.

In 1988 Ford Denmark hired the Rouse build Ford France car for Thorkild Thyrring, finishing third, winning his class.

For 1989 Thyrring was equipped with the Blomqvist SRS car sporting Goodyear and BP sponsorship. In the wet he was chanceless and finished a distant third. Kaj Bornebusch was visiting but further back, while the star of the race was Danish rallyace Jan Mortensen in his rally spec. RS Cosworth. A couple of group N cars raced along as well. This was the last year for group A as a Danish Championship.

Thyrring was back in 1990, this time in the Bornebusch car, only supported by some more group N RS Cosworths.

1991 saw Jan-Åke Söderqvist entering both his cars. Lennart Bohlin had his usual car, while Jan Mortensen sat in the Blomqvist car.

By 1992 a new Nordic Cup was introduced for a combination of group A and DTM ’91 spec. cars. Four cars were entered for the Danish GP meeting, which was supposed to have been round three.

#2 Kalle Sarlin, Sarlin Racing Team
#3 Lennart Bohlin, Söderqvist Racing Services
#6 Stig Blomqvist, Söderqvist Racing Services, this being a 4x4 Sapphire!
#17 Peter Bjur Boström, entered in his own name but looked like the SRS cars – likely the Blomqvist car of 1991.

Again a lot of loose ends. In these pre-internet times I have most of this info from either Autosport, satellite TV or spectating myself. The local specialist press was of little use.

Jesper

[T-Man]

I somewhat doubt that the Ringshausen cars were build by Wolf.

1988 the Ringshausen car for Niedzwiedz was most likely build by Eggenberger, it still had the complete Texaco livery, Reuters early season car also had a Eggenberger stylish livery, before they turned it into the LUI car.

Ruedi Eggenberger was at all the DTM Races in 1988, watching over "his" Grab and Ringshausen cars. Wolf instead used to do their own stuff, like setting up the turbo and engine for the everchanging air restrictors of that season.

By 1989 things seem to have changed a little, and Ringshausen seems to have become almost a privateers team, regarding they hardly could keep up with the speed of the other cars. Grab took care of the Juniors Biela and Schmitt, while Eggenberger took the definitve leader role in the trio, with Niedzwiedz and Brancatelli. Wolf again did their own thing, they didn't pick one of the Ford works drivers as replacement for Hahne, but took Ferte who won the TT a year before in Rouses RS500. and he wasn't a bad driver either, winning 3 races ... (2 of those on the Nordschleife ...)




For the 1990 CIVT, i don't think I would be suprised to see some old german cars that year, there was hardly any use for them in germany anymore.
Even at Spa that year there were only 3-4 real RS500's

[drbob]

Can anyone fill in the Asian race history of the AIM/ Prutirat R32 (sorry for being off topic)

[malscar]

Originally Posted by KA

I'd seen an Eggenberger car was being advertised by Oakfields, but hadn't realised it was Martin's car...
http://www.motorsportads.co.uk/race-...ars/13355.html

If this car was built in 1988 as per the ad, why has it been restored with a CAMS sticker on the front quarter panel? The Texaco cars only ran here in 1987.

[Jesper OH]

Here's what I have about French Sierras.

To the best of my knowledge France only raced group A for two years, 1987 and 1988. Fabien Giroix and Jean-Pierre Malcher being the champions in BMW M3s.

At best I only got top-10 results and short race reports from Autosport, and mostly top-3 results from Rallye-Racing to base the following upon.

1987

Romain Feitler of Luxemburg was a DNQ for round 5 at Paul Ricard on May 24. At the Spa-Francorchamps 24h later in the year he was driving this Euromotorsport RS Cosworth: http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-08-02-028.jpg

Michel Pincon finished 9th at Charade round 7 on June 28, and 10th at the following race at Croix-en-Ternois July 17.

Finally Roland Guillemet had an 8th place finish at round 8 September 6 at La Chatre. This was in RS500 configuration. This might be the DNS at the Nogaro ETCC final a week later, sharing with Jean-Pierre Castel: http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...%20Nogaro.html

1988

Now it get’s serious. Ford France entered a Rouse build RS500. From earlier in the thread this should be Chassis [Rouse/RSCA 00587]. Alain Ferté was the regular driver, but occasionally joined by brother Michel and car builder Andy Rouse. I even think Andy himself won the opening round, but can’t find any prove of it now. This entry seems to have been the fastest car in French group A 1988 but I suspect a few retirements along the way cost the title.

Longtime BMW entrants Bavaria Automobiles/Dominique Fornage raced an RS500 as well. René Metge and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud were regulars on this car and from the few results I have, was doing a good job against the Ferté France car. The team even had a two car team racing at Spa ’88. This team was back for more 24 hour racing the following year, and did a few rounds with the French Super Production series as well. One of these cars were on sale a few years ago accompanied by a few then and now pictures, which included one or two shots from hillclimbing events in Yacco sponsorship – white with green and yellow stripes.

Guillement (or is this Guillemet) and Barlesi had a 4th place finish at Nogaro round 8 September 10. This must have been a Saturday race, since the ETCC raced their two part race the following day. In this race the entry is a DNS, Roland Guillemet, Laurent Barlesi and Guy Nève listed as drivers then: http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...%20Nogaro.html.

Except from New Zealand were the Mark Petch owned RS500s raced and a Dutch Marlboro ’87 car, I can’t think of other countries or championships were RS500s have been raced as group A tourers. I think Belgium were racing group N during this period, but could be wrong. Switzerland might be a place to look for some more RS500s in their combined hillclimbing and foreign races championship. The eastern block had group A, but only to 1600 cc capacity by 1990 at least. Greece might be a long shot, and then of course Thailand and Malaysia, perhaps other Asian countries, since I know little about the racing scene then or there. Oh, and the WTCC and ETCC entries of ’87 and ’88…

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by PZR

Japanese Group A - 1988 season - Sierras:

#1 - TRAMPIO
#11 - CIESSE PIUMINI / TRAMPIO

The Autosport 1988 ETCC review says the #1 car was an Eggenberger build. http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...rburgring.html tells that the car finished 7th "winning" the privateers battle - not bad!
Interesting to note that the sister #11 car with the Eggenberger sticker at the front bumper. I wonder how much lighter Ruedi Eggenberger traveled, when he went home after the Pasific part of the 1987 WTCC?

Jesper

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Except from New Zealand were the Mark Petch owned RS500s raced and a Dutch Marlboro ’87 car, I can’t think of other countries or championships were RS500s have been raced as group A tourers. Jesper

The Dutch car was driven by either Evert Bolderhay and/or Jeroen Hin. Car was sponsored by Mrlboro and Playboy. Livery was traditional Dayglo Red Marlboro chevrons with Ford RS angle stripes along the rear quarter panels (that were usually on the rally cars) also in Dayglo - absolutely stunning livery...

Not sure who prepared it or whether Hin and Bolderhey drove 2 separate cars. They were up against one or 2 other Cosworths the drivers names I don't know. The main opposition was IIRC, Fred Krabb and Arthur Van Dedem in BMW Holland M3's, (they paired up in certain ETC rounds in '88 - Krabb gave the Prodrive boys a fright at Donington!) Cor Euser in another M3 and possibly John Bosch in another BMW?

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

...and then of course Thailand and Malaysia, perhaps other Asian countries, since I know little about the racing scene then or there.

I know that the Hutomo 'Tommy' Suharto, son of Indonesia's then-president Suharto, ran firstly an ex-TWR VL and later Larry Perkins-built Commodores over in Asia. It wasn't in the JTCC, and I'm pretty sure they were Group A events, so it's likely that they did run a Group A championship over there. Didn't Graham Goode run a car in a championship there in the '90s?