Thunder Saloons

[martinlabatts]

from this year btcc display at silverstone where Andy Rouse took the car out for two laps

[Graz]

How close to it's original GpA spec is your Sierra? Gorgeous car.

[martinlabatts]

its the original car from then he used it in the 89/90 btcc

wider arches, rear has bean tubbed to take 13" wide wheels,

carbon doors/bonnet/tailgate/bumper/arches/wings

bigger rear discs, revised rear suspention, different arms.


engine and gearbox is group A spec getrag ect

rolling road tuned a couple of weeks ago, @ over 500 bhp



goodwood 2008


since i imported the car back from new zealand,

its done a few races and tests,

but its just had a full exsternal repaint, and some mech up-dates, roller bearing turbo ect,

the rear harop spool fixed diff has now been replaced with a 9" ford LCD

originally it did have this but was replaced after they blow a few diffs,

lawrence was really pushing the power with bigger turbo from rs200 evo and was getting over 600bhp

the original rouse engine was replaced for this very exspensive mountune unit,

this is still in the car, but i have detuned the engine,

with a smaller turbo, ect for just over 500bhp.

to make it reliable, and hence have gone back to the LCD diff unit,

this i hope will make it more drivable though the bends then the old fixed diff,

and now its at last been on the rollers it should at last have some good power.


roll on 2009

[carrera]

Originally Posted by martinlabatts

whot years do they cover

as my ex bristow sierra raced in thunder saloons 92 and 93? from memory

RT started in 89 and the last issue was June 92.

[carrera]

Had a few PMs regarding RT so just a few points.

The CD will contain copies of RT numbers 1 to 21.

Copy will not be enhanced in any way - you get original quality product to retain the feel of the fanzine.

As well as reports on the Thundersaloon races RT contains results, news, reviews, previews, interviews, pre RT archive going back to 85, etc

RT and its content remain the intellectual property of Andrew Charman and permission should be sought from him to use any RT content.

The copies will be professionally transferred to disc.

CDs will be cased, packaged in bubble type bags and posted Recorded Delivery.

Cost including packaging and postage to UK address will be about £25 per unit. If an order can be placed for 100 or more units the cost inc p&p would be about £10.

Please PM me if you would like a copy.

[R59]

Count me in for a copy - though won't be at Autosnort of Friday. I'll be there on Thursday.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by martinlabatts

its the original car from then he used it in the 89/90 btcc

wider arches, rear has bean tubbed to take 13" wide wheels,

carbon doors/bonnet/tailgate/bumper/arches/wings

bigger rear discs, revised rear suspention, different arms.


engine and gearbox is group A spec getrag ect

rolling road tuned a couple of weeks ago, @ over 500 bhp



goodwood 2008


since i imported the car back from new zealand,

its done a few races and tests,

but its just had a full exsternal repaint, and some mech up-dates, roller bearing turbo ect,

the rear harop spool fixed diff has now been replaced with a 9" ford LCD

originally it did have this but was replaced after they blow a few diffs,

lawrence was really pushing the power with bigger turbo from rs200 evo and was getting over 600bhp

the original rouse engine was replaced for this very exspensive mountune unit,

this is still in the car, but i have detuned the engine,

with a smaller turbo, ect for just over 500bhp.

to make it reliable, and hence have gone back to the LCD diff unit,

this i hope will make it more drivable though the bends then the old fixed diff,

and now its at last been on the rollers it should at last have some good power.


roll on 2009

First off Martin, its great that you've one of the original stars of the BTCC's Group A heyday and I'm sure there's all of us on this thread would want that machine in our garage, however I do have a 'but'. This car's doing the rounds as a representation of a Group A RS500 when its actually not. Maybe you can explain what that's all about because I've been going round trying to explain to the uninitiated I know that the BTCC of the late 1980s was not Thundersaloons.

[andypipe]

This car was one of the original labatts cars. Martin also owns/owned the other

[joss Ronchetti]

Hi Martin,
It would be great to see your Sierra out next season with the Classic Thunder?
How heavy is it? I would love to see how my Sunbeam performs up against it with the new 2.7 we have for this year.

[martinlabatts]

Originally Posted by davyboy

First off Martin, its great that you've one of the original stars of the BTCC's Group A heyday and I'm sure there's all of us on this thread would want that machine in our garage, however I do have a 'but'. This car's doing the rounds as a representation of a Group A RS500 when its actually not. Maybe you can explain what that's all about because I've been going round trying to explain to the uninitiated I know that the BTCC of the late 1980s was not Thundersaloons.

in 1989 team labatts was formed by tim harvey and lawrence bristow,

andy rouse was given the job to run and build the two car team,

for a full two season attack at the btcc

andy did a very good job building and running the cars with them evan beating him a few times and allways running at the front,

the two cars where ran labatts sponcership worth one million pounds for two season deal,

the cars ran different labatts graphics for the 1990 season,

after a few engine upgrades this was all that was needed,

after 1990 season was over the 2litre turbo cars where banned,

and team labatts moved on two bmw 2litre cars,

the two sierra where bought by lawrence bristow and he placed the harvey car on display where it remained for about ten years before i bought it,

the bristow car was upgraded by lawrence in 92 for the thunder saloon championship,

it ran in 93 and 94 with many wins,

with the new championship, came new rules,

the original sierra was moddified with much bigger wheels and hence arch exstentions

full carbon was used for, doors, bonnet. tailgate, rear quarters, front wings, bumpers, bodykit.

the car we have weight @1050 kilos

about 100 kilos lighter then the harvey car, but with much bigger wheels and tyres,

it was repainted by bristow and raced in the thunder saloons in his new sponsers colours,

when i bought the car it had bean painted again, and was not to my liking,

so my delama was do i paint it,

1989 colours , 1990, 1993, 1994

so in the end, personal choice i painted it back to the colour i most liked,

hence its now in its 1990 as last raced in btcc colours,


after all its still the original car, just a bit wider!

p.s when i did the btcc top gear stuff this year, we had both cars where, they decided to use the harvey car for the studio stuff and the bristow thunder saloon for all the track fiming,

they felt no one would evan notice the difference lol

[martinlabatts]

it allways amazes me how a few grahics can make or break a cars looks

this is it from paint shop, waiting for the grapics to be fitted

[Al Weyman]

Thats why I am in the game Martin! Even doing van graphics I get a buzz out of seeing them around the streets for years to come. BTW did you meet Tim with his white Rover at the Top Gear shoot, I am sure he would have got into you about coming out in Classic Thunder.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by martinlabatts

p.s when i did the btcc top gear stuff this year, we had both cars where, they decided to use the harvey car for the studio stuff and the bristow thunder saloon for all the track fiming,

they felt no one would evan notice the difference lol

Did they really think no-one would notice? Interesting that. Your T Saloon looks far wider and more aggressive than the GP A version.

You should bring it over to Ireland for a blast in 09. We have a saloon Libre class you could enter in.

There are a couple of cars I really want to see and never have as yet. One is a Porsche 962 (or 956) and the other is a Gp a Cossie. You could help me tick one off my list!

[davyboy]

Martin, thanks for the extensive reply. I know the Bristow car and its history quite well. I had the privilege of seeing it race in full Group A trim, in the flesh, in period and of course it was fantastic. Here's a picture I took of it at the British GP support race in 1990 I believe. I guess my head-scratching came about from having seen it in thundersaloon spec., passed off as a Group A car with Andy Rouse at the wheel for that BTCC 50 tribute and later on the Top Gear feature. I can understand why you've left it in thundersaloon spec. as you've got the Harvey one in Group A trim, but was confused at those appearances.

Graz... you definitely need to see a Group A Cossie at full chat in the flesh... To this day, touring cars never really eclipsed them.

... anyways, back to thundersaloons and the thread topic.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Graz... you definitely need to see a Group A Cossie at full chat in the flesh... To this day, touring cars never really eclipsed them.

Amen. Maybe Martin will answer my plea to come to Mondello sometime

[G.Walker]

Some Screensport footage of two large thundersaloon races at Brands. An extremely quick red escort at front of field

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...58467632591233

[R59]

Fine footage from 93?

Two races, not one with pit-stop. After it was Foulstonised and ruined.

[ascona i2000]

Hey guys. Being a bit of an Opel nut i have spotted 2 mantas in the various videos on this thread which i cant remember. I remember the stars and striped one and the yellow one but in the oulton park i can see a multicoloured one and then in the brands clip a blueone. Does anyone know or remember who these people were and what spec the cars were, ie 400 etc. One name i can remeber who raced a manta (not 400) is Les Heney but not sure if in thndersaloons or not, and from memory his car was white and red?

[Tim Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by R59

Fine footage from 93?

Two races, not one with pit-stop. After it was Foulstonised and ruined.

First round of '92, Rob. The only Thundersaloon race I saw was round 5 at Brands in '92 - still have the programme to hand and it reviews the first four rounds. (and has a nice piece on the Mazda, and schedules Rod to demonstrate a Nascar, which I don't recall - same as your Belmont, sorry!)

I was surprised to see it was Nick Oatway in the SnS Manta at R1 - a few rounds later it was shared by Don Manley and David Tetley. Were they regulars in it for the year, or was it a one-off?

Manta ideas (guesses).... I have a (marginally) better picture of the Oulton Manta from a magazine article, appears to run with Crest Displays Motorpsort signing. Was this the Ward / Dickinson (ex-Leslie) car?

Also mentioned in the '92 round 5 programme is that Tony Davies had previously shared a Manta with John Goldacre before their Mk5(?) Escort, which debuted at R4 at Snetterton. Maybe the blue one?

My questions - was that Escort ever competitive? And what happened to the Chittenden Escort, as he wasn't at R5 in it.

Also, does anyone have any pictures of the various class B cars, especially the Vauxhalls?

I'm looking forward to the Rolling Thunder re-issues.

[R59]

OK, I was mistook. I thought that 92 was the last year of 2 x driver races, and 93 was the beginning of the end.

I concur with the Manta's.

For i2000's info: Stars & Stripes Manta ran a big block Pontiac V8.
The Ward/Dickinson car was a 400 with a Phase III type (ie: reliable!) engine. Not sure of the full spec of the blue one or who actually owned it.

As for the class B Vauxhalls, there was the Astra 400, later the Mk2 version, obviously in earlier days we had a few Chevette HS/HSR's, and of course 'the' Belmont in it's various guises.

Back to the footage being '92, I would have expected it (the Belmont) at Brands in white, running a BDX engine, with either Mark Hales or Chris Hodgetts driving.

[Rod Birley]

Mike Chittenden's Escort was destroyed at Snetterton when the throttle jammed open going into the first corner. Poor Fred Taylor took the full force of the impact and was sore for quite a while.
I did demontrate a NASCAR, it was the Darryl Waltrip car. Totally unsuited to going around the Indy circuit, but it was fun trying.

[davyboy]

Interesting to see the Prelude has surfaced for sale again.

Ad on racecarsdirec.com

[Stephen Green]

So Mr Thurston is selling your old car Rod!

[peter thurston]

Mr Thurston sold it last september due to financial pressures and the desire to build his own car.

[carrera]

Originally Posted by Tim Wilkinson

First round of '92, Rob. The only Thundersaloon race I saw was round 5 at Brands in '92 - still have the programme to hand and it reviews the first four rounds. (and has a nice piece on the Mazda, and schedules Rod to demonstrate a Nascar, which I don't recall - same as your Belmont, sorry!)

I was surprised to see it was Nick Oatway in the SnS Manta at R1 - a few rounds later it was shared by Don Manley and David Tetley. Were they regulars in it for the year, or was it a one-off?

Manta ideas (guesses).... I have a (marginally) better picture of the Oulton Manta from a magazine article, appears to run with Crest Displays Motorpsort signing. Was this the Ward / Dickinson (ex-Leslie) car?

Also mentioned in the '92 round 5 programme is that Tony Davies had previously shared a Manta with John Goldacre before their Mk5(?) Escort, which debuted at R4 at Snetterton. Maybe the blue one?

My questions - was that Escort ever competitive? And what happened to the Chittenden Escort, as he wasn't at R5 in it.

Also, does anyone have any pictures of the various class B cars, especially the Vauxhalls?

I'm looking forward to the Rolling Thunder re-issues.

Crest Displays so prob John Goldacre.

A blue Manta did appear from Scotland (Alistair Cunningham?) he ran to help Ecurie Ecosse to pick up some extra points in a bid for title honours.

The RT CD has few takers so far, unfortunately not enough to make this a viable project at present.