15 replies to this topic

[proracer1]

I am looking for information on the 1982 Donington Sports Car Championship held in 1982.

How many races were there and what were the classes?


The Pete Hall/Andy Rouse Lotus Esprit Turbo was entered and I am looking for the results and a list of cars that raced against it.

Photos would be great!!!

Jim

Edited by proracer1, 02 August 2011 - 00:56.

[alansart]

Entry for May 30th 1982






Points table with one race to go.

[Tim Murray]

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.

[proracer1]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the information....

Got any photos?

Jim

[David Beard]

Alan, is Antony Raine in the A35 any relation? It's not so common a name...

Edited by David Beard, 02 August 2011 - 18:54.

[alansart]

Alan, is Antony Raine in the A35 any relation? It's not so common a name...

No relation whatsoever. Ironically I think he went into F750 a few years after I left it.

[proracer1]

Does anyone know if Trevor Lewis continued to race the Lotus Esprit or did he switch to another car?

Jim

[proracer1]

How are the points distributed in the 1982 Donnington Production GT Championship?

Does anyone have the results page?

Jim

[proracer1]

Does anyone know how many races that Pete Hall and Andy Rouse entered in this series?

Thanks, Jim

Edited by proracer1, 06 May 2012 - 16:12.

[JockinSA]

Brings back big memories. The programme that is shown was for my first ever circuit race, and because it was oversubscribed for the class D/ classic saloons, those of us who did not get in for the main race were given a consolation with something, cannot remember what, so the 3 classic reserves, myself and 1 or 2 others had our own little get together, with a lot of much faster cars. A real enlightening experience for me but I am told that the three A35,s and myself had a good fight and all finished rather rough and tumble across the line. Thanks for the memory.

[proracer1]

Brings back big memories. The programme that is shown was for my first ever circuit race, and because it was oversubscribed for the class D/ classic saloons, those of us who did not get in for the main race were given a consolation with something, cannot remember what, so the 3 classic reserves, myself and 1 or 2 others had our own little get together, with a lot of much faster cars. A real enlightening experience for me but I am told that the three A35,s and myself had a good fight and all finished rather rough and tumble across the line. Thanks for the memory.

Got any pictures or information on the race?

Thanks, Jim

[JockinSA]

Got any pictures or information on the race?

Thanks, Jim

Unfortunately not, just the memories. When I moved out here to South Africa,not really thinking about the future, all that stuff was consigned to the round filing cabinet. Only got a few pictures of the car as it was raced by my partner at the same time in the BARC/MGOC series. At the time the GT Championship was more lenient on what was allowed on the cars compared to the MGOC series so one was always at somewhat of a disadvantage compared to the MGCC specs that most of the other Midgets ran to. But it was good fun and was good experience for me as it really dumped me in at the deep end in someways, GT's really being a much more "professional" series than what I had been exposed to up to that point. I do remember having the C..p scared out of me in my second race, when being lapped by a Morgan and a Porsche through McLeans, one on either side of me. I just held on and hoped that I could stay where I was on the circuit while these two came past me like I was parked. If I remember rightly the Morgan got the overtake on the Porsche with me sandwiched in between on some arbitrary line, and me thinking "Hang on, hang on don't loose it know."

[Sharman]

Is peter Taylor in the Europa our Peter Taylor i.e. is ot Elansprint?

[proracer1]

Is peter Taylor in the Europa our Peter Taylor i.e. is ot Elansprint?

From the information I have, Pete Taylor is driving a Europa. He tied in points with Chris Meek for first place. Chris Meek won three of the six races for 15 points.

Pete Taylor won one, a second, a third, a fourth and a fifth for 15 points.

Jim

Edited by proracer1, 09 May 2012 - 11:24.

[Sharman]

From the information I have, Pete Taylor is driving a Europa. He tied in points with Chris Meek for first place. Chris Meek won three of the six races for 15 points.

Pete Taylor won one, a second, a third, a fourth and a fifth for 15 points.

Jim

Doesn't answer the question Jim

[proracer1]

Doesn't answer the question Jim

Sorry, can't help....

Jim