Originally Posted by Tim Wilkinson
April '88 -
7th - The new Holden Commodore delays grpA homologation. 500 examples weren't ready due to delays with components, and strikes.
Steve Soper missed round 2 at Oulton Park - he was there but the car wasn't due to ferry strikes.
Pete Hall retires from the BTCC, but intends to keep ICS backing on a Sierra for a younger driver.
James Kaye may hand over his Golf to John Brindley, due to his commitments with Mazda in the Uniroyal championship, and Renault 5 Turbos.
Phil Dowsett is hoping that Toyota will continue to support him, as the Corolla jointly leads the championship with Sytner's BMW.
14th -
Trident Motorsport is to be launched imminently, to run "at least one" Maserati Biturbo. Sponsorship from Campari. The name Roger Eccles is linked with the project, and "there is no doubt that there is considerable potential to be extracted. It should be worth watching" (Autosport). [What else was Roger Eccles involved with?] Was Eccles still doing prodsaloons in the Swinford Merc 190?
Prodrive are due out in the Donington 500 ETC round, with Smith and Sytner partnered by Hoy and Weaver.
Donington 500 – an ETC round, but features a few BTCC regulars (and irregulars) / April 21st news
Sytner teams with Weaver to finish 2nd, Mike Smith and Will Hoy team to 3rd. Goode & Newman retire their RS500 after 47 laps (of 125) with head-gasket failure after Goode ran in the top 5 early on, even up to 2nd at one point. Soper / Dieudonne (78 laps, engine) and Win Percy / Allan Grice (95 laps, brakes) also fail to finish after featuring strongly.
I was there and remember it fairly well. Quite an odd race- the RS500s and the new Nissan dominated but dropped out one-by-one leaving the surviving Schnitzer M3 of Ravaglia/van de Poele (team-mates Lohr/Quester having retired- Ellen being pushed off into the gravel at Redgate by an errant Toyota Supra as I remember) to take the win from the Prodrive pair and a Dutch privateer M3. No-one in the 'big' class managed to make the finish...
The Trident Motorsport Maserati will be run by Tony Gale, Campari’s UK importer has a 3-year option with the team, and ’88 is seen as a development year. The first car is in the UK having been built in Modena, and Nick May and John Lepp have been contracted for the season.
TWR reckon they’ll have a new Holden at Thruxton on May 2nd after it’s homologated on May 1st. [Wishful thinking!]
A grpA Rover Vitesse is advertised for £12k, due to lack of sponsor. Croydon / Orpington home number. Wonder which that one was?
An RST, ex-Longman, last used WTC Silverstone [suggests this is Alan Curnow car]. £9k. Contact number for Chelmsford. [Currently for a coach company in High Easter, I think]
Sounds like the Karl Jones Asquith/Duckhams car which I think was one of the ex-Longman/Curnow/Datapost pair
28th -
TOMs Toyota want to bring a Supra Turbo to the BTCC, but can’t find a suitable vehicle so Phil Dowsett continues in the Corolla for now.
Is it me, or does this suggest there was a certain lack of co-ordination in Toyota's BTCC plans?- Looking back to '86, Toyota GB back Chris Hodgetts and CHMS, who deliver back-to-back titles with locally-prepared cars, only to have the TOM'S car arrive (car supplied directly from Japan as I recall) late in '87.
Toyota GB back MIL Motorsport's Supra plans for '88 (again with cars built in the UK), and we have TOM'S now talking about running a Supra for Dowsett- again, given their relationship to TOM'S in Japan, I'd guess they might have planning on bringing one of the Japanese TOM'S cars over. You'd almost think Toyota GB and Japan weren't talking to each other very much....
John Brindley confirmed in the Demon Tweeks Golf, in place of James Kaye. (see April 7th)
Robb Gravett is confirmed for R3 at Thruxton in the ARE car vacated by Pete Hall. Hall said he wanted someone from a saloon background, but new to grpA.
The Maserati was on its way back to Bologna after the press launch, to be finally prepped and tested by Nick May at Monza, then heading back to Britain for its debut at Thruxton. Stirling Moss had (incorrectly) been linked to the drive in European press, as he’d been at the press launch.
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