(Super) road saloons - where are they now?

[R59]

Hey Vince - say hello to the Honey Monster for me! I keep looking for his car boot sales down there in Pulborough, but they tell me he's taken to servicing Fiat's in London these days, and chasing across continents with a plethora of local plod chasing after him and his mates.

Did you have any luck with locating your old 'Beam

I've been trying at this end, but not had much luck.

Rob.

[Al Weyman]

Vince, was it you I met in the scrutineering bay (you or whoever were doing the scrutineering as it happens) a year or so ago at Snet? If not you it was another of our old Road Saloon Talbot Sunbeam campaigners.

[tim dodwell]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

Vince, was it you I met in the scrutineering bay (you or whoever were doing the scrutineering as it happens) a year or so ago at Snet? If not you it was another of our old Road Saloon Talbot Sunbeam campaigners.

Al, that would probably be Mike Wright who shared a Sunbeam with Tony Mason. I had many great battles with them. He has been scruting for years now.

[Al Weyman]

yeah that was him, nice bloke.

[R59]

Originally Posted by Razzer

Hi Vince,
good to hear from you,hope you are keeping well, are you still racing ? Please pass my regards on to Joe if I remember correctly he had a very rapid Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo, those were the days !!!!

When boost was measured by the number of jubilee clips required to hold the pipes on the turbo/intercooler!

Ahhh thems wuz the days.

You don't see the old Lancer Turbo's these days.
I missed one at a local garage - he had it as a trade-in, and by the time I was tipped the nod, and rushed round with the required £150 for a 12-month MOT'd unblemished aboriginal Lancer Turbo, in BLACK, it'd gone. Darnit!

[Al Weyman]

I remember one or two very quick ones, Alan Zini had one and gave a drive to Whizzo at Thruxton but I dont even think it survived practice (this was ModProds) they were very unreliable.

[R59]

Alan Zini's was unreliable - it was a furious beasty with big turbo, and more boost than it could handle in reality.

Jeff Robinson's were pretty good. Occaisionally they'd blow a boost pipe off, hence the vast number of jubilee clips! That'd be about it.

Rob.

[sunbeam73]

Originally Posted by R59

Hi again Vince.

You sold your car to Sean Cockrell, who converted it to classic Gp.1 spec, but didn't do much, and sold it to a guy called Ian wallace, who had it stolen off his driveway. 5 months later, it was found complete, but a little damaged, in Luton.

That was back in 2004.

Oh, so you crew chiefed Crasher Collins!! Aka Stiggy!

What you doing next year? I'm supposed to be running two cars!! And we're doing road courses (at last)

Hi Vince & Rob,

Yes, after a foolish attempt at 750mc HotHatch, I converted it to Pre83 Group1 spec and it was a totally different car - excellent balance, power & laptimes. Of course I finally got the hang of driving also and broke several lap records on the way to winning Class D in 2000 & 2001 (4th overall). Absolutely loved that car and vowed never to sell it. Then at the end of 2001 (foolishly again) was persuaded to buy a BMW for the Kumho tyres series. Spent loads, wasted loads of time prep'ing and chasing parts for it. Finally sent it out at Snetterton in Sept 2002 and after the expected abysmal performance with Std engine, gearbox and exhaust sold it to Geoff Steel.

Meanwhile, as you say, Ian did a couple of races with the Sunbeam during which time it was nicked and recovered. I've heard it's still knocking around n someone's garage but in a sorry state. Consdered buying it but no pennies spare.

Miss my 'beam

Sean Cockrell

[sunbeam73]

If this has worked, here's a few pictures of it.







loads more on photobucket!

[sunbeam73]

and my original Toyo SRS Sunbeam:

[Chris Y]

Good memories there, Sean.

There's a particularly familar looking red/yellow Capri.. Wonder what the owner of that one's doing these days...?

[sunbeam73]

Hi Chris,

I think it was Peter Mallett's Capri, there's a good incar video inside it at Snetterton on the Classic Touring Car website.
Might be going off-topic a bit talking about the Group1's !!!

Cheers,
Sean

[Chris Y]

Yeah, I know it was (still is) Pete's Carpi.. I was just trying to elicit a response from him on the subject

[Vince Mitchell]

Good morning everyone, I haven't found my old Sunbeam yet, sorry to hear it could be in a sorry state! With good handling & performance (& some championship wins) you can see why I would love to have it back. Maybe return it to its former glory. I haven't raced in competetion since 1993. When I stopped racing I turn my hand to preparing cars. I worked for Andy Rouse (Valoline Mondeo), then Audi Sport (BTCC A4) & finally RML. I was No.1 mechanic on the LeMans LMP2, Saleens, JWRC Opel Corsa, Ascars, winning many championships. I have now move to Ronda, Spain & work at Ascari Race Resort as workshop manager. Talking about the Lancers, do you remember Terry Kaby? We had some good races, Oulton Park springs to mind. Side by side for several laps. The last time I saw him was at the WRC Cataluyna rally a couple of years ago, he was the Subaru test driver.

[apguy]

I know this is an old thread, but for the attention of Vince and Sean:

I actually answered your wanted ad in The Flyer. Sent an email to the ascari address only to have it answered by an old friend Steve Heath. Blimey that was a blast from the past. He obviously didn;t pass the message to you Vince! Give him an elbow from me.

Anyway, if either of you are interested, both the blue and my white Sunbeam are languishing in a midlands lock-up and are definately available for purchase. (I'm not the owner) Drop me a line if you want more details.

[R59]

I'll prod Steve Lewis at Ascari to get Vince to reply!!

Rob.

[Vince Mitchell]

Good morning, Steve finally gave me the nod, thanks Rob. Thank you for tracking down my old car. I am still interested to know about my Sunbeam, please could you send me some details? If you click on my profile, you will find an e-mail address.

[R59]

I bumped into another former SRS competitor - David Hornsey, now working for the EERC (Britcar), while I was doing some work at Snetterton on Friday.

I'll try and tempt him on here to spill the beans on what he's up to, as I can't remember everything we said!! Too much going on.

[jumboross]

I haven't logged on here for ages, but this seememd a relevant (if now a little old) thread. I bought Tony Pocock's Mk2 Escort. I think he won the 92 or 93 Championship, or certainly class C. Anyway, I was only 19 and couldn't afford the whole car so bought it without the engine! I then was an odd job man for Roland Hayes in exchange for him building me a 1600 pinto for class C out of bits lying around the workshop.

Did Lydden in 1994 and remeber being 4th I think? Then did donnignton 2 weeks later in the p*ssing rain and spun coming out of Goddards and was collected by a quick scirroco driven by a guy who had a converted coach - can't remember his name. There was also a quick white mk1 golf with a St. Georges Cross? Anyway the Escort was written off (in front of Tony Pocock on the pit wall!) and I was out for the season (skint). Tried a comeback in 95 but blew the engine testing at Cadwell and was skint again!

[R59]

Tony's Escort was never a championship winner. Tim Watson won in '93. I was runner up.

Tony's had one pole position with it that I remember - Cadwell for our second visit in '93 - and I was along side him, and ran him to within an inch of the win until I ran out of fuel on the last lap (finishing 7th at the flag!). And IIRC that was it's only win.

Wins in '93 when the way of a few people. Tim won many, Mark Gillam (XR2 - later sold to Ivan Stuparic) won a few, Tony took one, the guy with the Sunbeam TI who's name escapes me won one, and I seem to recall Roger Turner taking one too. I think it was the last year of Andy Pyke's Mk1 Escort too.

Right, 1994 - Tony shared the driving with someone, Bob Ridguard - the man of comfy chair fame!!. It was Bob driving it when the Scirocco collected it.

The white golf was Jon Warburton, who IIRC was class C champ that year.

That was a year of exploding engines for me too. 95 was a year of a re-shell for me, followed by a brilliant "new car" debut in the winter series at a very wet Silverstone.

1995 - was Matt Edwards' year IIRC. Tim ran him close, but there as a fair bit of aggro through the year.

I'll have to dig out my old results folder. Somewhere I should have the championship positions for every year from 1990 to 1997 when I jacked in the SRS series following rule meddling by the BRSCC - I just get a 1760cc Nova working, so I can match the straightline of the HT powered XR2's, and they move the goalposts outlawing most of the cars on the grid!

Still got the Nova, though in a more Mod-Prod spec.

[Al Weyman]

Blimey Rob you have some memory! Roger Turners old ModProd Lada was on display at the CTCRC meeting at Mallory a couple of months ago I think someone (his son??) was hillclimbing it but it still had all the falken tyre stickers on it and looked exactly the same, may have been up for sale can't remember.

[R59]

Mike Bailey was the guy with the Sunbeam Ti that I'd forgotten, and now remembered.

Roger was one quick Lada pilot! The car may not have been the fastest thing on the planet, but in his hands, it flew, especially if it was a touch wet when his many years of rallying helped!!

I was sad to hear that he'd passed away, he could be an awkward ol' cuss, but he was straight as a die in my dealings with him, you could race doorhandle to doorhandle and not swap paint.

I'm still trying to remember the guy in the Scirocco - I can remember him, and his coach, but not his name.

The only Scirocco I really remember, and sometimes wish I didn't was John Martinson's. It may have looked like a VW, but really it was a Caterpillar D9 under that battered exterior.

[jumboross]

It was me (James Ross) driving the ex pocock car in '94 - car no.55. And it was certainly me driving it when I was collected by the Scirroco - I will never forget it I was stationary at the start of the pit straight having spun out of 4th just waiting for one of the 20+ cars coming through to collect me. The Scirocco did. I'll never forget it as it hurt (physically & finacially!) so much. The race got red flagged at that point. Anyway I was also the owner of the car and only made those two races in '94 as I was so skint. I'm sure it was Chris someone in the Scirroco? Chris Bloomfield maybe? What a great series though eh?

[medius]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

Blimey Rob you have some memory! Roger Turners old ModProd Lada was on display at the CTCRC meeting at Mallory a couple of months ago I think someone (his son??) was hillclimbing it but it still had all the falken tyre stickers on it and looked exactly the same, may have been up for sale can't remember.

I grabbed a photo of it:

[R59]

Originally Posted by jumboross

It was me (James Ross) driving the ex pocock car in '94 - car no.55. And it was certainly me driving it when I was collected by the Scirroco - I will never forget it I was stationary at the start of the pit straight having spun out of 4th just waiting for one of the 20+ cars coming through to collect me. The Scirocco did. I'll never forget it as it hurt (physically & finacially!) so much. The race got red flagged at that point. Anyway I was also the owner of the car and only made those two races in '94 as I was so skint. I'm sure it was Chris someone in the Scirroco? Chris Bloomfield maybe? What a great series though eh?

You know what James, you might well be right there.... Nostalgia - ain't what it used to be! It must have been 93 sharing with Bob then, or was it 92 (when I was developing the GTE where I only did a few meetings, but supported my bruv who nearly won class D that year - and would have done if he'd entered one more meeting)

And yes, Chris Bloomfield - that'll be him.

I'm still digging for my results folder. Probably still somewhere at my parent's house (in the loft).

Denis may have copies still being an organised organiser sort of person.... where is he when you need him....