Racing Estates

[Robin Marriott]

I'm new here and wasn't sure where to post this so if it's in the wrong place, apologies.

I recently stumbled across a Skoda Octavia wagon which appeared to be built to quite some spec, as it turns out, it was used in CIVM and was built by Audi Sport Italy.

It got me thinking though, and as I couldn't find a lot of info one where, I thought I'd join here and ask.

Does anyone have any info or pics of racing estate cars, from any form of motorsport.

I can think of another obvious one but any pics and info would still be good o there is one clear, easy to follow thread for reference in the future.

[Tim Wilkinson]

There was a Montego estate that won an MGCC championship a few years ago, and a few that have appeared in the Production BMW championship.

And not strictly an estate, but a Peugeot MPV got built to super-touring regs.

I assume the obvious one is the BTCC Volvo?

[Malcolm Smith]

The 2.0 Litre Escort Estate of Olly Ross, photo below. A favourite with the crowds at Ingliston race circuit in 1984. He also competed in hill climbs, and had 'eligibility' issues with this car, which may have prompted a change to a Fiesta the following year.

[Mike Bell]

I'm sure a Mini Estate was raced long ago, or it may have been a van- or both!

The BTCC Volvo T5R must be most famous.

Williams built the V10 mid-engined Espace F1 for Renault, but it was used for publicity and demos only.

Robin, any pics of the Skoda- sounds like my kind of car....

[bludvl_x19]

Off the top of my head, I can come up with a few: the aforementioned BTCC/ATCC Volvos;
the Holden Sportwagon (Bathurst 12hr)



Skoda Octiva (Targa Tasmania)

[medius]

Adam Gittings raced a Morris Traveller in the 80s with the Classic Saloon Car Club (CTCRC nowadays).

[Robin Marriott]

Here's the Octavia

http://www.clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=246126

The Volvo was the obvious one, yes.

The Peugeot 806 rings a bell too!

[T-Man]

A Volvo 850 also raced in the 1995 24h Nürburgring, but most likely not in proper Supertouring setup.

Biggest thing that was raced in a big race must have been the Peugeot 806 Van in the 1995 24h at Spa.

http://www.supertouringregister.com/picture/1222/

[expaddockrunner]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

I'm sure a Mini Estate was raced long ago, or it may have been a van- or both!

The BTCC Volvo T5R must be most famous.

Williams built the V10 mid-engined Espace F1 for Renault, but it was used for publicity and demos only.

Robin, any pics of the Skoda- sounds like my kind of car....

Like the ford supervan,
The Supervan first appeared at the Easter 1971 meeting at Brands Hatch. A GT40 chassis and its mid-engined 400 bhp Ford V8 gave a standard pressed-steel Mark 1 Transit bodyshell a claimed top speed of around 150 mph. The vehicle had been built for Ford by Terry Drury Racing.[1] Externally the van appeared very like a standard Transit, in Ford's racing livery of white with low horizontal triple blue stripes.[2] The wheel arches were flared to almost cover the wider wheels, but this was barely more noticeable than the extensions fitted to the production long-wheelbase Transit. Aerodynamics of the high-mounted bodyshell were crude though, and although the van was usually demonstrated with drag starts, body lift limited its top speed on a track.
In 1978 the Transit was redesigned as the Mark 2, with quite different looks. Supervan's appearance now looked dated and no longer suitable for promoting the 'New' Transit.
[edit] Supervan 2

In 1984 a new Supervan 2 was constructed. The bodyshell was a fibreglass replica of the Mark 2 Transit, although slightly lowered and fitted with a front airdam, large side air inlets and a high-mounted rear spoiler. The chassis was a Ford C100 Group C car, fitted with a Cosworth DFL engine. It was built by Auto Racing Technology of Woolaston. Supervan 2's debut was at Donnington Park for the first British truck racing Grand Prix. During tests at Silverstone, it was timed at 174 mph.[1]
Supervan 2's promotional lifespan was even shorter than the first Supervan. Just over a year later, the Mark 3 Transit was released, with a very different outline. Supervan 2 retired to the Leyland Motors museum.[1]
[edit] Supervan 3

In 1994, to promote the new Mark 5 Transit, Supervan 2 was rebuilt as Supervan 3.[1] This was the first time that Supervan had been used to promote a new model, rather than a model already nearing its end of life. A seven-eighths scale reduced replica of the new bodyshell was fitted, together with a new engine, a Cosworth HB.[1] The work was carried out by DRL Engineering of Suffolk.[3] This version also had the longest promotional lifespan, appearing in public until 2001.[2] With several liveries in Ford's blue and white over the years, its final appearance was in Royal Mail red, celebrating Ford's new contract to supply their vans, taking over from a long arrangement with Leyland DAF Vans.
In 2004 a refurbishment was announced. The engine was replaced with a more practical Ford-Cosworth Pro Sports 3000 V6 engine, and the 1984 Ford Motorsport blue and white livery was restored. This work was carried out by Sporting and Historic Car Engineers of Bicester.[3]
In 2007 it was suggested that Supervan 3's chassis might be rebuilt into a C100 and used for historic sports car racing.[1]

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by bludvl_x19

Off the top of my head, I can come up with a few: the aforementioned BTCC/ATCC Volvos;
the Holden Sportwagon (Bathurst 12hr)



Skoda Octiva (Targa Tasmania)

Firstly cracking liitle idea for a thread Robin. My, the VRS Estates look truly stunning.....

Reminds me a little bit of the US speed trial hatchback version from last year?

Hmmm, maybe i'll trade in my hatch for a wagon next time I change!!

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

I'm sure a Mini Estate was raced long ago, or it may have been a van- or both!

The BTCC Volvo T5R must be most famous.

Williams built the V10 mid-engined Espace F1 for Renault, but it was used for publicity and demos only.

Robin, any pics of the Skoda- sounds like my kind of car....

Wasn't it Ginger Marshall who raced the Mini estate? I also remember a Mini pick-up with a hardtop in club racing some years back.

More recently an Alfa 156 Sportwagon (diesel too, IIRC) ran in the ARCA Alfa Romeo Championship & I seem to recall a Citroen CX Esate (an ex taxi?) in the Nurburgring 24-Hours.

[Clive Brown]

Ginger Marshall raced both Mini Traveller and Reliant Kitten Special Saloons; does a Reliant Kitten count as an estate car?

I don't think that an A40 would count as an estate car because as far as I can recall, you couldn't open the back up, although it had the profile of an estate car.

[Alan Morgan]

There used to be a drag racing minivan called Earschplittenloudenboomer.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Clive Brown

I don't think that an A40 would count as an estate car because as far as I can recall, you couldn't open the back up, although it had the profile of an estate car.

Mk1 had just the boot section that opened, the Mk2 had the boot and opening tailgate IIRC.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Mk1 had just the boot section that opened, the Mk2 had the boot and opening tailgate IIRC.

Love those Octavia estates! Do they come in those colours? If so the Volvo may have to go.....

Well done remembering Ginger Marshall had the Mini Traveller.

Yup, A40 Farina came first as fixed rear window then as a 'Countryman' estate version- although length same as original.

[GORDON STREETER]

There have been loads of VW camper vans n pick ups that have raced on the continent and at the Pod, also don't forget the Caddy van that races in the UK .

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Love those Octavia estates! Do they come in those colours? If so the Volvo may have to go.....

Well done remembering Ginger Marshall had the Mini Traveller.

Yup, A40 Farina came first as fixed rear window then as a 'Countryman' estate version- although length same as original.

Just beaten me to it re the A40 spec's - been scouring my Observer Book of Automibles etc!

Also found my pic of the Mini pick-up, taken at Snett in 1965. It raced as a 'Minnow Mini' & the hardtop featured glazing, so guess that makes it an estate! The rear screen was reversed, Anglia-style, so one for Gordon...

But if we're talking commercials there has of course been the VW Caddy van in the one-make VW series. Although not strictly a racer, since the Ford Supervans have been mentioned, how about Justin Law's Jaguar XJ220-based Transit as demonstrated at Goodwood FoS a couple of years ago?

[GORDON STREETER]

Digging back into my memory I seem to think that Tony Lanfranchi started racing in a 100E van ? I myself used a Twincam Anglebox van on the road and open practice days at Brands back in the "anything goes" days.
When I worked at Alan Fraser's garage the Comp dept had a rapid Super Snipe estate car that was used as a support vehicle for the big rallies like the Monte
John I didn't need to scour anything as I worked on A40s when they were new

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Digging back into my memory I seem to think that Tony Lanfranchi started racing in a 100E van ? I myself used a Twincam Anglebox van on the road and open practice days at Brands back in the "anything goes" days.
When I worked at Alan Fraser's garage the Comp dept had a rapid Super Snipe estate car that was used as a support vehicle for the big rallies like the Monte
John I didn't need to scour anything as I worked on A40s when they were new

Age before....

When I worked at Lotus we had a Bedford CF fitted with a development 2-litre 907 engine which we used for parts collection. Gave an Elan Sprint-owning friend of mine a good run for his money on the A11 one night, he being unaware of the vans' performance!

...and speaking of Rootes srvice barges, in the later Chrysler days I believe they had an Avenger Esate again with the Lotus 2-lite, as used in the Sunbeam Lotus's they were rallying at the time.

[rbs]

Was Terry van der Zee's 100E an estate or a van?

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Age before....

When I worked at Lotus we had a Bedford CF fitted with a development 2-litre 907 engine which we used for parts collection. Gave an Elan Sprint-owning friend of mine a good run for his money on the A11 one night, he being unaware of the vans' performance!

...and speaking of Rootes srvice barges, in the later Chrysler days I believe they had an Avenger Esate again with the Lotus 2-lite, as used in the Sunbeam Lotus's they were rallying at the time.

How did the Bedford and Avenger Estate handle with the extra oomph?!!!

[Joyce George]

Also the Silverback Triumph Estate raced by John Davies in the Triumph series, IIRC must have been 10 years ago or so.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Age before....

When I worked at Lotus we had a Bedford CF fitted with a development 2-litre 907 engine which we used for parts collection. Gave an Elan Sprint-owning friend of mine a good run for his money on the A11 one night, he being unaware of the vans' performance!

...and speaking of Rootes srvice barges, in the later Chrysler days I believe they had an Avenger Esate again with the Lotus 2-lite, as used in the Sunbeam Lotus's they were rallying at the time.

We are going off topic a bit with vans and support vehicles, but....

I think that Avenger Estate still exists, and it was by all accounts mechanically a Lotus Sunbeam. Not difficult as the normal Sunbeam was just a shortened Avenger! Most works rally teams had fast estates as chase cars, I loved the Granadas on Minilites Ford had late 70s /early 80s. At Ralliart, we had two LWB Pajeros / Shoguns that had highly tuned Starion Turbo lumps and X-trac s/c gearboxes. The waste gate chatter was something to behold, as was the fuel consumption..

[KA]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

...and speaking of Rootes srvice barges, in the later Chrysler days I believe they had an Avenger Esate again with the Lotus 2-lite, as used in the Sunbeam Lotus's they were rallying at the time.

Yes- one of these still survives
http://www.paulwalton.co.uk/talbot.htm

Back to estate cars on track, towards the end of the Supertouring regs, a Japanese team tried the Subaru Impreza in the JTCC- and used the estate rather than saloon version...
http://www.7tune.com/1998-jtcc-syms-...impreza-wagon/

...and from vague memory, in the early 2000s, someone ran an estate in one of the Scandinavian touring car series (Denmark?), although I'm struggling to remember what it was- Renault Megane perhaps?


As we've mentioned rallying, in the early 60's, for some reason related to a loophole in the regulations, Saab once sent Erik Carlsson off to do the Monte in a Saab 95 Estate, rather than the usual saloon...
http://www.modelltoys-austria.at/sho...0-436095-2.jpg

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

We are going off topic a bit with vans and support vehicles, but....

I know we are but it's probably because there are very few estates that have actually raced on tarmac tracks because of possible eligibility issues, although a "saloon" car is open to interpretation as regards seating configuration.
I think that there have been quite a number on the oval and grass track scenes over the years.