Tag Archives: TWR

Championship Dinger UnStuck – Brands Hatch 1000 Kilometers

Thirty years ago this weekend give or take a day or two I found myself at Brands Hatch for the 1000 kms race, only the second Group C race I had seen, thanks mostly to the fact that my mate Sven was racing his Ford Capri in the supporting Uniroyal Production Saloon car race.

Jaguar XJ6, Brands Hatch 1000 kms

My pit pass from the support race got me into the pits prior to the start of the main event and I wasted no time taking pics of the leading runners from Lancia, Porsche and Jaguar who had locked out the first three rows of the grid in Noah’s Ark fashion during qualifying, above is the Tony Southgate designed Jaguar XJ6 driven by recent Formula One returnee Alan Jones who joined TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) regular Jean-Louis Schlesser in the leading TWR entry that qualified 5th, but retired from the event early with engine damage after the throttle jammed open.

Porsche 962C, Brands Hatch 1000 kms

Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass qualified 4th on the grid in the #1 Porsche 962C seen above and finished second in the race experiencing only one problem, a faster than mandated refueling stop, which the team corrected by holding the car in the pits for an additional 10 seconds on the cars final fuel stop.

Lancia LC2 85, Wollek, de Cesaris, Baldi, Brands Hatch 1000 kms

The Lancia LC2’s with 800 hp qualifying motors, against Porsches 720 hp qualifying spec, locked out the front row with the #4 driven by Ricardo Patrese and Alessandro Nannini on pole, but in the final hour when the Lancia’s were running 3rd and 4th team mate Andrea de Cesaris ran into the pack of Patrese’s car damaging the exhaust on the #4 forcing a quick stop for repairs to secure it again which left the #5 Lancia Andrea shared with Brilliant Bob Wollek and Mauro Baldi to claim 3rd one lap down on the leading Porsches.

Gebhardt  JC843, Adams, Taylor, Harrower, Brands Hatch 1000 kms

One car I had been particularly looking forward to seeing in the flesh was the super slippery Group C2 #75 Gebhardt JC843 seen above driven by Nick Adams, Ian Taylor and Ian Harrower, on this occasion the 3.3 litre / 201 cui Cosworth DFL car finished tenth, 46 laps behind the winning Porsche, from 15th on the grid.

Ecosse C285, Wilds, Mallock, Brands Hatch 1000 kms

Winners of the Group C2 class were Ray Mallock and Mike Wilds in the Ecurie Ecosse #79 Ecosse C285 which was similarly Cosworth DFL powered, starting from 14 on the grid Ray and Mike came home 6th, 19 laps behind the winning C1 car, but crucially 11 laps ahead of the C2 turbocharged Carma powered Alba AR6 driven by Martino Finotto, Almo Coppelli and Carlo Facetti.

Porsche 962C, Derek Bell, Brands Hatch 1000 kms

Starting from third on the grid thanks to the efforts of Hans Stuck was the #2 Porsche 962C he shared with local boy “Dinger” Derek Bell who crossed the line less the 12 seconds ahead of the #1 Porsche and in the process Hans and Derek more or less secured their first World Endurance Drivers Championship, this would become Derek’s first drivers championship ever in over 18 years as a professional.

My belated thanks to Sven who got me into see the show.

Thanks for joining me on this “Championship Dinger Unstuck” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be locking at a Formula One Toleman that nearly never ran for the want of a tyre contract. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The Saturday Club – Jaguar XJ220

What better way to show your passion for your work than by attending informal after hours meetings with like minded fellow employees to work on unofficial pet projects ? Such was the enthusiasm of Cheif Engineer Jim Randle and select fellow employees at Jaguar in the 1980’s that their ‘Saturday Club’ generated Jaguars XJ220 super car designed to take on Ferrari, Lambourghini and Porsche in the super car market head on.

Jaguar XJ220

The XJ220 as originally proposed and shown to the public featured a mid mounted quad cam 6.2 litre / 378 cui V12 all wheel drive scissor doors and a projected top speed of 220 mph.

Jaguar XJ220

The XJ220 was further developed into a production model by Jaguar Sport and Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) who ran factory backed racing programmes for Jaguar with the XJS and later XJR models.

Jaguar XJ220

In production guise the XJ220 appeared rear wheel drive and with a smaller but more powerful 3.5 litre / 213 cui twin turbo V6 taken from the MG Metro 6R4 rally programme.

Many customers and above all speculators were not best pleased with the change in specs of the production model and tried unsuccessfully to sue Jaguar for the return of thier deposits. The last XJ220’s were sold for a third of their asking price in 1997, and still fetch a similar price today.

In 1992 works Jaguar racer Martin Brundle recorded a top speed of 212 mph road spec XJ220 which with the catalytic converters removed managed 217 mph at the Nardó Ring in Italy.

Thanks for joining me on this Saturday Club edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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