Andy Rouse in the Esprit was the overall winner of the last round on 10th October, having also won the 15th August race. Pete Hall finished 3rd overall in the first race and 2nd overall in the 18th September race. Here's how Jeremy Shaw reviewed the series in his
Autosport seasonal survey:
When the Donington Racing Club launched their new Production GT Championship at the start of the 1981 season, they purposefully trod a path in the opposite direction to that followed by the other organising clubs. They were quick to realise that the new regulations that were being brought into force elsewhere would render many cars obsolete for racing purposes overnight and correctly reasoned that many competitors could simply not afford to go straight out and buy a new car to meet the new rules. So they founded a series of races that would cater for any car whether currently homologated or not.
It was an immediate success. Grids were over-subscribed more often than not and the racing close in most of the classes. Moreover, the DRC soon became alerted to the fact that rear-engined sports cars were tending to dominate the classes and so decided upon a class re-structure for 1982. There remained four divisions according to engine size but a new rule decreed that rear-engined cars must race in the class above that in which they would otherwise have been eligible. With me? Well, one of the most noticeable changes that this brought about was a re-emergence in competitiveness of the MG Midget which no longer had to strive against the Ginetta G 15s in the smallest category.
The racing, as it had been the year before, was close and interesting, mainly due to a huge variation in machinery that was used. TVRs, Lotus Esprits, Europas and even a Lotus-Cortina (driven by Ervin Machalica), a Saab 99 Turbo, various Triumph TRs, Midgets, Alfasuds; all were there in abundance during the year and virtually every car you could think of, including Graham Richardson's glorious Chevrolet Corvette.
The front of the field saw several fine scraps between a variety of TVRs and Morgan Plus 8s, Steve Cole's trio of wins eventually securing him the class spoils, although Lancastrian John Kent was unlucky that the newly turbocharged engine in his familiar red and white liveried TVR let him down on several occasions. The Lotus Esprit Turbos of Pete Hall and Trevor Lewis looked good but only really came into their own towards the end of the year when the vastly experienced Andy Rouse took over the helm of Hall's ICS car, which, incidentally, Andy prepared at his Southam base. Rouse scored a brace of wins, seeing off the Morgans in the process and boding well for some more Lotus success in the coming season.
Class B saw honours generally shared between Colin Blower's ever-sideways TVR Tasmin and the Lotus Europas of Chris Meek and Peter Taylor, although the impressive Henry Tombs was always on hand and pressing hard in his delightful Triumph TR3A. In the end, uncharacteristic mistakes and mechanical troubles denied Meek the class spoils, which were gratefully accepted by Taylor. It was in this class that perhaps the most variety was seen, other points scorers including an Alfa Romeo GTV6 (Morris Miles), BMW 323i (Adam MacMillan), Saab 99 Turbo (Mike Bennion), BMW 2800 (Simon Riley) and a Triumph TR5 (Michael Hughes).
The battle for the outright series title was fought out between the two leading competitors in the smaller classes: Gary White (Caterham Super 7) and Robert Nettleton (MG Midget). Radlett accountant Gary White looked favourite to take the spoils before the final round, having scored a clean sweep in previous races, although the battle was thrown wide open when his car let him down in that final race. Nettleton, whose only previous defeat came when he had to make a pitstop when one of his doors fell off (!), had only to win his class in the last race to take the crown but he too failed to finish, this time after team-mate Peter Felix spun in front of him and caused him to take violent (and damaging) evasive action. Nettleton's retirement left the well driven Alfasud of Bob Buttery to claim a deserved first class win, having frequently pushed the Midget very hard indeed, while this also ensured White of the overall title.
Sadly, the likes of Tombs's TR3A will no longer be eligible this year as a new regulation demands that cars must be built after December 1971 but the series has been expanded to include a round apiece at both Oulton Park and Snetterton, so it should prove even more popular with competitors.