Group A Rover 3500 SD1/Vitesse - History & Whereabouts

[chunterer]

Great thanks Jesper!!

So in the case of the Vitesse, production would've stopped in either 1986 or maybe as late as '87 so it would've been eligible to compete in Group A until 1991 or '92!!

[DPUZEY]

SD1 production finished in July 1986, so end of 1991, although I don't recall seeing any race in international events after 1988

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by DPUZEY

SD1 production finished in July 1986, so end of 1991, although I don't recall seeing any race in international events after 1988

Yes I think that's right Dave, I can only recall Leech in the UK, the Eurodefi cars in Belgium and Spa specifically (one, the ex Allam/Carvell car possibly totalled?) in 1988.

There was the cars that ran in Scandinavia that were the ex German cars that may have run later than '88?

[KA]

A quick picture diversion- 1985/6 Nissan Mobil 500 pics- 'More Magazine' and 'Whitakers' cars

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...obil500861.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...overNiss85.jpg

http://www.theroaringseason.com/atta...0&d=1308474354

http://www.theroaringseason.com/atta...0&d=1308471510

http://www.theroaringseason.com/atta...9&d=1308471507

http://www.theroaringseason.com/atta...5&d=1308471495

http://www.theroaringseason.com/atta...9&d=1308467653

There are quite a lot more of the black & white and paddock pics, by Nigel Watts in a thread of '1986 Nissan Mobil images' on a forum called 'The Roaring Season'- I think a lot of his Nissan Mobil 500 stuff is also on Flickr

[KA]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Yes I think that's right Dave, I can only recall Leech in the UK, the Eurodefi cars in Belgium and Spa specifically (one, the ex Allam/Carvell car possibly totalled?) in 1988.

There was the cars that ran in Scandinavia that were the ex German cars that may have run later than '88?

Yes,the Dennis Leech car, the Belgian 'Eurodefi' pair, and the Kaj/Eva Bornebusch car seem to have been the last to appear in an actual Group A touring car series in Europe- the Bornebusch car was almost certainly the last Rover seen in the ETCC, when it turned up for the late-season Nogaro race

No idea about the cars in Finland, or the various Portuguese cars, which could have carried on longer....?

The ex-Sawyer-Hoare/Tim Slako car carried on into 1989 in Australia, with a couple of ATCC appearances in Geoff Herbert's ownership

[ken clarke]

Originally Posted by KA

Thanks Ken- From memory, we'd previously speculated whether a spare car was available and used after the Soper practice shunt.

Looking at pics of the #6 car in the race, it looks as if the reshell used the shell from one of the older cars (if I remember correctly what you'd said about black interiors in the early cars, white in the later ones etc).
Would there have beeen one already painted up in Bastos colours as a spare, test hack or show car, or was there some frantic overnight paintspraying involved? Looking closely at the pics of #6, the drivers' names seem to be absent from the front wings

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mendama...57627347703055
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mendama...in/photostream

This was frantic repainting overnight. The car turned up at Donington less engine. The engine & box were fitted at Donington. I was reminded of this recently when Andy Morrison the then team manager came over to see me. We spent a couple of hours or so reminiscing.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by ken clarke

This was frantic repainting overnight. The car turned up at Donington less engine. The engine & box were fitted at Donington. I was reminded of this recently when Andy Morrison the then team manager came over to see me. We spent a couple of hours or so reminiscing.

Crikey bet there's some stories to tell there Ken! Any stuff you'd like to share? Also be good if Andy came on here as well if he likes. Could you ask him pls Ken?

[ken clarke]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Crikey bet there's some stories to tell there Ken! Any stuff you'd like to share? Also be good if Andy came on here as well if he likes. Could you ask him pls Ken?

We made a list of all the cars &what they did during period. Once we have this list finalised we will be able to say which car was where & who bought what, Hopefully!!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by ken clarke

We made a list of all the cars &what they did during period. Once we have this list finalised we will be able to say which car was where & who bought what, Hopefully!!

That'll be good, we await with massive interest!!

I was kind of meaning you might have some anecdotes/stories about drivers, certain races etc. Maybe the engineers had a favourite driver or chassis?

For example maybe there's a story to counteract the Gerhard Berger Brno one when he reckoned he got so fed up with being tailgated by one of the Vitesses during qualy, he decided to torpedoe it?

Sounded a bit extreme to me?!

[ken clarke]

Originally Posted by DPUZEY

Going back to the picture of the crashed #6 car. It has a white roll cage with a bend in the cage just above the bottom of the windscreen. This is the style of the later Matter cages which on TWR cars were white. The #6 car in the race at Donnington I believe to be chassis #8 which was also a Bastos car in 1985 and a 'press car' as I think Chris Harvey drove it in an aricle for 'Fast Car' magazine. From what I can work out the only early car with a Gartrac steel cage that has the inside painted white is chassis #7.

I think the crashed car is possible chassis # 16 as it is a front end crash, chassis #17 was a rear end crash and was no 1 at Zolder.

Definitely was not 016, that was Tom & Win's car & run by me, possibly 015 but I think that was Jeff & Armin's car. I believe Steve was in the third car but not sure if this was a new car or previous years car. I will look at the list & see if I can work out which one was the practice car.

[Spen Again]

Group A SD1 Rovers were awseome, but just ahead of my time so I can't really add anything, unless I did up something good while researching Thundersaloons. One memory I have as a kid (aside from Tony Soper swearing after hitting that tree in an SD1) is a TT international race at Silverstone with GroupA cars, and a (white?) Sd1 head-butting the Silverstone pit wall half-way along the straight, a very odd place to have such a huge shunt. The moment of impact was then used by the BBc in the Grandstand credits for years after, but I cannot find the original footage on youtube and can't remember the year (82-83 at a guess) or the driver. Anyone help?

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Spen Again

Group A SD1 Rovers were awseome, but just ahead of my time so I can't really add anything, unless I did up something good while researching Thundersaloons. One memory I have as a kid (aside from Tony Soper swearing after hitting that tree in an SD1) is a TT international race at Silverstone with GroupA cars, and a (white?) Sd1 head-butting the Silverstone pit wall half-way along the straight, a very odd place to have such a huge shunt. The moment of impact was then used by the BBc in the Grandstand credits for years after, but I cannot find the original footage on youtube and can't remember the year (82-83 at a guess) or the driver. Anyone help?

Hi Spen yes I think that shunted SD1 was Andy Rouse's ICS car at the International Trophy meeting BTCC race in 1984...

I wasn't there but like you I remember the clip being shown in the opening sequence for a long time.

The perpetrator was Peter Lovett's TWR car and the accident also accounted for Phil Dowsett's TDR Alfa and one other car IIRC?

[KA]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Hi Spen yes I think that shunted SD1 was Andy Rouse's ICS car at the International Trophy meeting BTCC race in 1984...

I wasn't there but like you I remember the clip being shown in the opening sequence for a long time.

The perpetrator was Peter Lovett's TWR car and the accident also accounted for Phil Dowsett's TDR Alfa and one other car IIRC?

Alan Greenhalgh's Golf GTi.

[Gavin RS]

Hi Guys

It still amazes me how the information knowledge on these cars just keep getting better. I have learnt such a lot that I never knew about these cars which is great.
I would really love to turn my car into a replica of one of these famous race cars but that would be difficult over in SA as all the dimensions etc of the sponsors at the time would have to be done exactly to spec and looking at some of the photos it would be very hard to replicate them, our rules in Historic racing are very strict as a replica has to be as close as possible to the real thing.The correct wheels would also be another difficulty

My car is just about ready to run so will have to make do as is for now. One thing I do have is a copy of the FIA roll cage specs of the era, so my roll cage will at least be to the correct spec.

Looking forward to more history

Cheers

Gavin

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Spen Again

Group A SD1 Rovers were awseome, but just ahead of my time so I can't really add anything, unless I did up something good while researching Thundersaloons. One memory I have as a kid (aside from Tony Soper swearing after hitting that tree in an SD1) is a TT international race at Silverstone with GroupA cars, and a (white?) Sd1 head-butting the Silverstone pit wall half-way along the straight, a very odd place to have such a huge shunt. The moment of impact was then used by the BBc in the Grandstand credits for years after, but I cannot find the original footage on youtube and can't remember the year (82-83 at a guess) or the driver. Anyone help?

I think the rally driver would have been Tony Pond (not Steve Sopers secret brother). Plus, as chunterer has already confirmed, the SD1 into the pit wall on Grandstand was the Andy Rouse ICS car.

[Al Weyman]

I dont have a link apart from his name (Rodney Gold) but I have seen his name on several sign sites I have visited in the past and he is South African based and quite a big player in the signs and graphics business and has some good kit so it may be worth doing a search on google and seeking him out for a price. He seemed a pretty helpful guy.

[racer69]

Not sure if this pic might be buried in the thread anywhere, but came across this pic while having a flick through the 1984 Bathurst program

I assume this is an early promo shot for the Bathurst entry. Is it even a Group A car?

[Gavin RS]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

I dont have a link apart from his name (Rodney Gold) but I have seen his name on several sign sites I have visited in the past and he is South African based and quite a big player in the signs and graphics business and has some good kit so it may be worth doing a search on google and seeking him out for a price. He seemed a pretty helpful guy.

Thanks.

definately worth a shot

[KA]

Originally Posted by racer69

Not sure if this pic might be buried in the thread anywhere, but came across this pic while having a flick through the 1984 Bathurst program

I assume this is an early promo shot for the Bathurst entry. Is it even a Group A car?

Now that's interesting!! At first sight, it doesn't look like a full Group A car (ride height, wheel sizes and 5-stud rather than centre-lock wheels)
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....postcount=1258

Just had a search back through the thread though and found a mention mention of 1, maybe 2 Mobil showcars built up for JRA before Bathurst, and toured around Australian Rover dealers- Take a look at this description posted earlier in the thread- could this be what's in the pic?

Originally Posted by The Grey Ghost

Interesting side note

My (soon to become) brother inlaw also worked at JRA and bought a mock up version of the Mobil car that went from dealership to dealership prior to and after the Bathurst event.
It was exactly the same as the race cars except for the motor (obvious) and the rear fill points. it had full roll cage, racing seats with 3 point belts, a beautiful set of simmons wheels, brakes, lowered sports suspension and a 5 speed gertrag gearbox, plus all the outside decorations and a 2in exhaust to give it a nice burble at start up, they might have even tweaked the motor a bit, at first glance you couldn't tell the two apart.
When he bought it he paid about half the price of a new one, and they threw in the complete replacement interior as well, it took a couple of months to rebuild, took it for a run a few times and on the road it stuck like the proverbial to the blanket.
The thing is i don't know (or can't remember) if they had 1 or 2 mock ups, if 2, i have no idea where the second one went also i can't remember if my now ex in laws car was the 61 or 60 car .... if it was the 60 car the guy from the Rover club might want to check the details again .... old Tom has been known to do a swifty from time to time.

http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....postcount=1247

[corliss]

Originally Posted by racer69

Not sure if this pic might be buried in the thread anywhere, but came across this pic while having a flick through the 1984 Bathurst program

I assume this is an early promo shot for the Bathurst entry. Is it even a Group A car?

Hi, not what it seems, i was a JRA service engineer at that time and we had to take that car around the dealerships as a sales promo about 2 or 3 weeks after Bathurst, it was a standard 5 speed 3500SE press car with Simmons wheels and a dummy light alloy roll cage, correctly stickered, all a bit embarrassing driving around Melbourne.
Skip

[Axeman55]

Originally Posted by corliss

Hi, not what it seems, i was a JRA service engineer at that time and we had to take that car around the dealerships as a sales promo about 2 or 3 weeks after Bathurst, it was a standard 5 speed 3500SE press car with Simmons wheels and a dummy light alloy roll cage, correctly stickered, all a bit embarrassing driving around Melbourne.
Skip

Thought we had a couple of cars that were used as static displays for promotional photo shoots prior to Bathurst. I believe there was one car up on the Central Coast some years ago.

After Bathurst there was one of these on display in the foyer at the JRA HQ in Moorebank. However, the best display in the foyer was the "Grey Pussy" Jaguar, now owned by Chris Haigh.

[chunterer]

Welcome Axeman, thanks for the input there.

Hope you continue to post with us.

[KA]

Originally Posted by ken clarke

When we collected ch no TWR 020 from Arthur Carter it was white. However when I stripped it, underneath the rear quarter window rubbers was grey & red paint, stripes. so someone must have painted it whitewithout removing the rear quarter windows.

Originally Posted by KA

White with red & grey stripes sounds like the colours Kevin Eaton ran it in
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9000946...in/photostream

Not totally off-topic , but I was looking through some old photos earlier, and found a sightly out-of-focus shot of the ex-Graham Goode Bluebird as raced by Kevin Eaton in '87- also painted white with grey and red stripes- from memory, his MIL Corolla in '88 was in painted in similar colours. I'll post the Bluebird pic in the appropriate thread when I can get my laptop and scanner to talk to each other....

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by KA

Not totally off-topic , but I was looking through some old photos earlier, and found a sightly out-of-focus shot of the ex-Graham Goode Bluebird as raced by Kevin Eaton in '87- also painted white with grey and red stripes- from memory, his MIL Corolla in '88 was in painted in similar colours. I'll post the Bluebird pic in the appropriate thread when I can get my laptop and scanner to talk to each other....

White with red & grey stripes were the colours of Kevins haulage company East Midlands Transport.

[ken clarke]

Originally Posted by Adam43

001 is back up for sale in three weeks http://www.classic-auctions.com/Auct...Car-33536.aspx

Did not sell! I am not surprised, my feelings were the estimate was too high. I would have put its value between £12,500 & £15,000. To make it into the car it was, the Marlboro French production racer would cost a lot of money I just costed mine out, chassis 002 and this one needs the same as mine pretty much. The fact that it is up & running with an MOT test increases its value as of now but I do not believe it does anything for it's value as a TWR car.

This is of course my opinion. Ignore it if you want, most do.