Group A Rover SD1/Vitesse Rally History (sep from main thread)

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by duncs

Sorry guys been without computer for a couple of weeks but sadly will not be there with A379 however 001 is running and should be finished in a couple of weeks ! I am sure not exactly as it was but has 4.5 litre 300 BHP Rovertec engine standard bos plus LSD still in race trim except twin headlamps althouth I might change them to the standard lamps after!
Good to hear we are all still talking about them, When finished I will put some pics up of 001! cheers all!

Duncs

Probably very similar to original spec then...

[MG Rover Sport]

Originally Posted by Sunbmw

That is an awesome poster David, any chance of getting it copied somehow? I would definitely be first in the queue for one with a fist full of dollar!

I wouldn't know where to start getting it reproduced Lee! Does anybody else have any previous experience of this, or any useful suggestions? The size is about 500mm x 750mm if I remember right - can't find my tape meaure at the moment!

[MG Rover Sport]

Originally Posted by duncs

Sorry guys been without computer for a couple of weeks but sadly will not be there with A379 however 001 is running and should be finished in a couple of weeks ! I am sure not exactly as it was but has 4.5 litre 300 BHP Rovertec engine standard bos plus LSD still in race trim except twin headlamps althouth I might change them to the standard lamps after!
Good to hear we are all still talking about them, When finished I will put some pics up of 001! cheers all!

Duncs

4.5 litre? That was never standard fitment I'm sure!

OK we'll wait for the photos of 001 Duncs, but in the meantime how about posting some of A379 VUK to keep us occupied on these cold wet nights?

[MG Rover Sport]

The last four photos look like they have been taken in the Silverstone pitlane at the 1985 Tourist Trophy ETC race meeting. The Computervision liveried rally car B563 AOX was only used twice by the factory, and it's last outing was the 1985 Manx International Rally when Tony Pond / Rob Arthur crashed it and wrote it off!

As the 1985 TT took place on the 7/8 September, and the 1985 Manx the week later on 11-14 September, what was the rally car doing at Silverstone so close to the rally...

...parked in the pitlane for photographic / promotion purposes, along with the No 3 Marlboro liveried car?

...would the TT organisers have let TWR shakedown B563 AOX prior to it's journey to the Isle of Man? I doubt it personally!

Shame we can't read what it states on that piece of paper on the rallycar's windscreen!

[KA]

Originally Posted by MG Rover Sport

The last four photos look like they have been taken in the Silverstone pitlane at the 1985 Tourist Trophy ETC race meeting. The Computervision liveried rally car B563 AOX was only used twice by the factory, and it's last outing was the 1985 Manx International Rally when Tony Pond / Rob Arthur crashed it and wrote it off!

Definitely the 1985 TT- the giveaway is the distinctive paintjob on the 635 in the background of the pic of B563AOX'- it's one of CiBiEmme's ex-Eggenberger cars.
The pic of the Bastos car with '563' just creeping into the edge of the shot also suggests the TT- that white patch on the black sill of the Bastos car (below the race number) is probably an 'Istel-RAC Tourist Trophy' race decal

[MG Rover Sport]

It's about time this thread was back on the 1st page again!...

...so I'm going to let you all know about a link to some absolutely stonking rallying and touring car images posted by ex-Austin Rover Press Officer Scott Brownlee on Flickr. There's a load of Middle East Rally Team Rovers, prototype 6R4s, a Marlboro Rover, a few Bastos ones, etc - pretty much everything that Austin Rover Motorsport were involved in at the time!

Here is the link, ENJOY... http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottbr...th/5530727592/

I have also set up an Austin Rover Motorsport Facebook Group page for anyone that is interested. It's pretty much all rallying at the moment, but please do join us if you share a common interest.

Here is the link, ENJOY... http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?...21165034619555

[chunterer]

Great links there MGRS, many thanks!

[KA]

Originally Posted by MG Rover Sport

It's about time this thread was back on the 1st page again!...

...so I'm going to let you all know about a link to some absolutely stonking rallying and touring car images posted by ex-Austin Rover Press Officer Scott Brownlee on Flickr. There's a load of Middle East Rally Team Rovers, prototype 6R4s, a Marlboro Rover, a few Bastos ones, etc - pretty much everything that Austin Rover Motorsport were involved in at the time!

Here is the link, ENJOY... http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottbr...th/5530727592/

I have also set up an Austin Rover Motorsport Facebook Group page for anyone that is interested. It's pretty much all rallying at the moment, but please do join us if you share a common interest.

Here is the link, ENJOY... http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?...21165034619555

David, there's some brilliant stuff there!

[corliss]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I'm not so sure this proves that the cars are different (but well spotted that man). I too spotted the front number plate difference, but that's hardly a major item to change, and I feel the same about the chrome window strip, that could have been ripped off anywhere in-between the two photographs. Plus, going for the tax disc position, I think that could be an optical illusion due to the angle of the photograph. If you look carefully, in the picture taken (from above) in Belgium you can also see the heated windscreen strip in the corner of the screen below the disc, but this is not visible in the other picture (taken from below) where the disc appears closer to the bottom corner. I think the fact that in both pictures it shows a white B pillar is more conclusive proof that they are one and the same car rather than comparing items such as windscreens (as one is with, one without sunstrip) and numberplates etc. (But honestly, well done for the ideas)

Hi all, in a fit of boredom i started looking back at old posts and came up with something interesting Re the 83 rally cars that seemed to appear and disappear, somebody posed the question (cant find the post) could the car have been an Ex Grp 1 shell pressed into service? The answer has been staring me in the face for a year or two and i've only just recognised it, The Grp 1 cars were built on series 1 cars and the Grp A cars on series 2 shells, apart from a difference in the screen scuttle pressing the only other difference was the front jacking points and tow hooks, S1 cars had a round 2 piece pressing with a single hole, and S2 cars had a flat blade plate with 1 round and 1 oblong hole,, if you look closely at first pic the car has a S1 tow hook, indicating a s1 shell, tow hook was part of front chassis rail, other cars definately have S2 tow hooks (same number plate,,different chassis) i've also pictured the tow hook on my S1 shell to see the difference.
As far as i can see one car was definately a series 1 shell so was probably a Grp 1 shell that was used !
All of the above assumes that i dont need to get down to Specsavers ASAP,
Skip

[corliss]

Originally Posted by corliss

Another one to scatch your heads over,

First Paris Dakar, French entered SD1, no info on driver or how it fared,
anyone know anything about it??



Skip

Way way back i posted a pic of a Rover entered in the Paris Dakar, i have finally found some info on it and it is not what i expected, might be a Rover shell but not what i was expecting! looks like a Range Rover Chassis with a Rover SD1 body!!

[KA]

Originally Posted by corliss

I only started this comment to agree with speculation that more than one car was used for rallying by Tom carrying the same reg no.

Skip

IIRC didn't the reshell of the Walkinshaw rallycar happen in time for Tony Pond's drive on the 1983 Manx (first pic showing it with #60), after it was shunted by Tom in Belgium (car in 2nd pic) . Wasn't there some speculation back in the thread about an ex-race shell being used for this rebuild? Maybe an ex-Gp1 Series 1 shell?

I've got the list of events it did, but not on this PC- I'll have a look and tie the pics you posted up to dates.

This post
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....postcount=1488
confirms the reshell, and as David points out, Tom shunted the car on the Bianchi in Belgium (2nd-4th Sept), and the rebuilt car was out with Pond on the Manx (15th-17th Sept)- a period of about 2 weeks, during which it was rebuilt in 3 days flat, according to Autosport, and TWR would also have been readying race cars for the TT on 11st Sept....

With that timescale, it wouldn't surprise me if a shell already at hand was used, rather than building up a new one

[corliss]

Originally Posted by KA

IIRC didn't the reshell of the Walkinshaw rallycar happen in time for Tony Pond's drive on the 1983 Manx (first pic showing it with #60), after it was shunted by Tom in Belgium (car in 2nd pic) . Wasn't there some speculation back in the thread about an ex-race shell being used for this rebuild? Maybe an ex-Gp1 Series 1 shell?

I've got the list of events it did, but not on this PC- I'll have a look and tie the pics you posted up to dates.

This post
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....postcount=1488
confirms the reshell, and as David points out, Tom shunted the car on the Bianchi in Belgium (2nd-4th Sept), and the rebuilt car was out with Pond on the Manx (15th-17th Sept)- a period of about 2 weeks, during which it was rebuilt in 3 days flat, according to Autosport, and TWR would also have been readying race cars for the TT on 11st Sept....

With that timescale, it wouldn't surprise me if a shell already at hand was used, rather than building up a new one

FJO 450Y with obvious later type 2 hole tow point, then Voila, see earlier photo, single hole.

Pretty good pic of single hole fat type tow point on Dutch car built on early shell

[DPUZEY]

Still looking at the rally cars, does anyone have any photos of Marc Duez on the 1984 Bianchi Rally? He drove a TWR group A Vitesse with the reg number A684NJO, but the livery and spot lights do not match chassis 6 which was used on the Hunsruck and Manx rallies. I can find a poor quality film on You tube.

[Les Dalton]

Bon Jour Everyone,
Les Dalton here in France, a ten minute old newbie.
Re the Rover stories on this thread, way back in 1982 whilst part of the British Army International rally team, I was chosen to drive one of the two cars that was to be entered in the Peking to Paris marathon that year, which was being organised by Wylton Dickson.
Joe Minto and me were to crew one of the cars, and the very experienced marathon crew of John Hemsley and John Skinner were to crew the other.
The car selected for this event was the 3500 Rover SDi, because it was thought that the V8 power and strength of the car would be the best available for a rally of this magnitude, and the two John's had already experienced the incredible V8 Rover engine when they drove the Foden sponsored V8 Marina on the 1974 world cup rally.
The Daily express were to sponsor our entry, and Abingdon were to build the two cars for us.
It is now history, but because of the ridiculous restrictions that were being put onto the route layout by the Soviets, Wylton had to cancel the event, as a consequence, I never even got to sit in the seat.
The first time our car was seen in action, was when Tony Pond took it up the Esgair Dafydd, and then he had that unfortunate bump on the 1984 RAC.
My life's ambition, is to drive the Rover 3500 around our local town circuit over here in France, it is called the Circuit Des Remparts and it takes place in Angouleme every September, it might not beat the 911s or the Alpines, but it would certaily be the best sound of the weekend.
I am attaching the article below on behalf of Philip Young (the marathon organiser) who has been following this thread with interest.
Kind Regards,
Les Dalton.

If you subscribe to ten-tenths, can you update them with the news that A377 VUK Rover SD1 is in fine original health, original shell, original engine box and axle, original suspension, having been rebuilt a bit here and there by Tony Fowkes, and, a member of the Abingdon team who built the car originally. It was acquired for the Unipart rallyteam and I drove it on the Himalayan Rally in 1985.
Finished 10th, having got up to 2nd, when the front nearside Track Control Arm broke on a very remote mountain. Lovely car to drive hard, with 18 hour sections between breaks, it was ideal – the Webers were replaced by two bored-out two inch SUs at Cambridge Racing who did a lot of engines for the works in the early 80s. Its still red white and blue in Unipart livery. Now back on three webers.
Regards,
Philip Young.

[KA]

Hi Les, and welcome aboard!

Thanks for filling in the background to the Paris-Peking story- Although the original 'rallysprint' car has been mentioned quite a few times in the thread, I don't think we'd ever had the beginning of the story- ie the plans for Paris-Peking before it was abandoned.

An article from Rally Sport magazine on that original car
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/william.../wildrover.htm

It later became Ken Wood's 'Golden Wonder Crisps' car in Scotland
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/...7978071325.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3044/...0f53e983bc.jpg

Good to have the note from Philip Young about the Himalayan car as well- there seems to be very little on the web about that event. As I remember, he did it several times with the Unipart team, usually with BL/Austin Rover machinery (Morris Minor, ex-works Healey and TR8, then the Rover)

[terence]

Welcome Les,thanks for your interesting input. As I have lost touch with Philip,could you pass on my best regards,ask him if he remembers the "Carter Years".

[DPUZEY]

When did the homologation for the Vitesse run out?

Also I am still looking for pictures of Marc Duez's works SD1 rally car on the 1984 Bianchi Rally.

[MG Rover Sport]

Apologies all for the lack of any contributions from me over the last few months, but I've been somewhat busy. Glad to see that this topic is still burbling along, and congratulations to you all for keeping it going.

Originally Posted by DPUZEY

Still looking at the rally cars, does anyone have any photos of Marc Duez on the 1984 Bianchi Rally? He drove a TWR group A Vitesse with the reg number A684NJO, but the livery and spot lights do not match chassis 6 which was used on the Hunsruck and Manx rallies. I can find a poor quality film on You tube.

Dave,

I was lucky enough to obtain a photo of the 1984 Criterium Lucien Bianchi entry the other day, but I have been strictly forbidden by the photographer to post anything in public or to send it to anyone else! Sorry, but one of the provisos of getting a copy of it for my records was that I do not distribute it! This is a major shame I know, but maybe within time I might 'work' on the photographer a little more, but for the moment you will have to do with my written findings I'm afraid!

The photo shows virtually a plain white Group A Rover Vitesse rally car sliding out of a right hand corner at night - fitted with the registration number B564 AOX (in a squareish plate just above the nearside headlamp as per this car's other 1984 entries). The car is fitted with six spotlamps in the same configuration as the 1984 Circuit des Ardennes entry - two above the bumper, and four within the cutout of the bumper.

The car is sponsored by Marlboro and Unipart on the bonnet - pretty much like the '564' 1984 Hunsruck Rally entry below - but with Marlboro instead of Daily Mirror. Down the nearside, Unipart is on the upper front wing just below the crew names, and the base of the rear door. AE Hepolite Pistons is on the upper rear door, and Marlboro is on the upper rear wing.

The car is definitely Chassis No 006 as it not only has the six holes in the front panel of the bonnet, but also has a white nearside B post, dented nearside mirror, and black sills as per the Hunsruck entry below.

Hope that has been of interest to you, and if I find anymore - or manage to twist the photographer's arm by placing a huge watermark over the top of the photo! - I will indeed be in touch.

[MG Rover Sport]

This is the other photo I have of the 1984 Criterium Lucien Bianchi entry - taken from the same YouTube video that you mentioned Dave - with what looks like only four spotlamps in place, the two upper ones do not appear to have been fitted yet.

[KA]

Hi David- pity you can't show the photo, but I guess it's the original photographer's right to control the use of their copyrighted images- something that's difficult enough to do in the internet age!

Anyway, that's a useful find, not least because the '84 Bianchi entry is one that I'd overlooked completely.

Is this the Youtube clip you mentioned?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYDiR9Aig9E

Incidentally, there's also a clip from 1983, featuring Walkinshaw in FJO450Y- Can't remember whether we've seen video of that one before? (right at the end of the clip, around 2m10 onwards)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR8zddeZdKI

[MG Rover Sport]

Leave the photographer with me for a few weeks, and I'll see if I can work on him to get his permission, but in this day and age I can understand his caution to be fair.

Yeah that's the 1984 Bianchi clip that the above photo was taken from KA, about the 1:15 mark, just before Marc donuts the big Rover in the dark and the dust seconds later. Here's a couple more screen shots I've taken from the same clip this morning on my Apple Mac - makes it a lot easier...

[MG Rover Sport]

Thanks for posting the link to the 1983 Bianchi clip - not seen that one before. Even if it is only 10 seconds long, it clearly shows Chassis No 006 as it originally appeared showing it's customary white nearside B post. Some more screen shots taken just now...

[DPUZEY]

Definately looks like 006, the paint sprayer must have been very busy!

[MG Rover Sport]

He most certainly will have been Dave!

I've found a couple more photos on flickr of the rally cars, but not sure if they've already been posted or not, so forgive me if they have...

Ken Wood in the Golden Wonder car on the 1984 Skip Brown Rally...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rallysprott/6270051664/

Tony Pond in 006 : B564 AOX again, but this time on the 1984 Manx International Rally...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rallysprott/6291686968/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rallysprott/6289554789/

[MG Rover Sport]

And we have some of the rally cars - again, all courtesy of the Austin Rover Press Office...