20 replies to this topic

[arttidesco]

Looking through my 1989 snaps I came across a couple of pics of the #89 'Celebrity' MG Metro Turbo that was run in the Esso Metro Challenge.



Above from 15th April '89 is what looks like Jerry Mahoney at Oulton Park can anyone with an entry list or race report confirm ?



Not sure who was driving the #89 at Silverstone on the 1st of May '89 either, the name Tony Pond springs to mind but I might be confusing this with another event where IIRC his car experienced a massive flame out causing instant retirement early in a race.

Any qualifying or race results for the #89 at either of these events would be a bonus

Relevant answers maybe used and credited in a forth coming blog.

Thanking you in anticipation of your replies.

Edit date of the Oulton Park meeting corrected.

Edited by arttidesco, 24 March 2012 - 12:30.

[Gatmo]

I'm pretty sure that John Handley, John Rhodes and Barrie Williams all drove the No89 car at various times.

[Tim Murray]

I've looked at the race reports in MN and Autosport. Jerry Mahony definitely drove the celebrity car at Oulton on 15th (not 5th) April. According to MN:

Jerry Mahony, out in the celebrity car, was right on the pace but retired on lap 4 after a collision with Malcolm Bell at Old Hall.

Unfortunately there's no mention in either mag of the driver of the celebrity car at Silverstone on 1st May.

[arttidesco]

I've looked at the race reports in MN and Autosport. Jerry Mahony definitely drove the celebrity car at Oulton on 15th (not 5th) April. According to MN:


Unfortunately there's no mention in either mag of the driver of the celebrity car at Silverstone on 1st May.

Thanks Gatmo and Tim

My typo on the 15th

[Phil Rainford]

I've looked at the race reports in MN and Autosport. Jerry Mahony definitely drove the celebrity car at Oulton on 15th (not 5th) April. According to MN:

Wouldn't believe the idiot that penned that report


PAR

[Tim Murray]

Sorry Phil - I never looked to see who wrote it (until now).

Tis definitely a gem of pellucid prose.

[Alan Cox]

Tis definitely a gem of pellucid prose.

Not a word that featured very often in PAR's Oulton reports, IIRC

[arttidesco]

Sorry Phil - I never looked to see who wrote it (until now).

Tis definitely a gem of pellucid prose.

Maybe you could that copy aside for my future delectation Tim ?

[Phil Rainford]

Not a word that featured very often in PAR's Oulton reports, IIRC

My reports always looked better after Arron had rewritten 95% of the prose


PAR

[Twin Window]

Just received an email from my old pal Robin Bradford;

". . . as I am still insufficiently educated to post myself! Still have my commentary master packs from those days, when I was Austin Rover PR . . . celeb on May 1, 1989 (my 38th birthday, by chance) was the late, great Will Hoy . . . Q5, dnf (not sure why - memory doesn't work that well) . . ."

[Tim Murray]

Maybe you could that copy aside for my future delectation Tim ?

Check your emails, Ralph.

I've just reread the Silverstone report and spotted a mention of Will Hoy. He doesn't feature in Phil's Oulton report or in Autosport's seasonal survey of the Metro Turbo championship, so I'm thinking he probably drove the celebrity car in the Silverstone race.

Edit: beaten (and confirmed) by Twinny and Robin

Edited by Tim Murray, 24 March 2012 - 17:43.

[arttidesco]

Thanks to Tim I have read the aforementioned pellucid report from Oulton

They say good editors are worth their weight in gold Phil

Please thank Robin for remembering the late Will Hoy Stuart, and thank you for passing on his message :-)

Tim check your e-mail in box

Wishing you all a pellucid evening I'll post a link here to the blog when it gets posted in a couple of weeks

[BRG]

At the risk of dispersing the pellucidity of theis thread, what is going on with the rear suspension in the first shot in post #1? Why is the wheel so far up in teh wheel arch? Did these cars have a really stiff rear anti-roll bar or something? Or is to do with hydralasticity?

[arttidesco]

At the risk of dispersing the pellucidity of theis thread, what is going on with the rear suspension in the first shot in post #1? Why is the wheel so far up in teh wheel arch? Did these cars have a really stiff rear anti-roll bar or something? Or is to do with hydralasticity?

I suspect there was a spec stiff suspension kit for the series as they all lifted wheels

[JockinSA]

I suspect there was a spec stiff suspension kit for the series as they all lifted wheels

It was not so much that they had a "stiff" kit, but the way the cones were set up. All of the interconnect system was removed so that each cone became a seperate spring unit in its own right. They also had a retrofit for rear shocks as the standard car did not have the facility for this. The other trick was to limit the amount of droop that was allowed to the wheels so that you could get them to pick up. If my memory serves right, I used to set the rear pressures on my cars at an equivalent of something like a 500 or 600 pound spring. Lots of playing on the front end and back end for wheel geometry as well. Main thing with them was commitment to getting on the power as soon as possible in corners and getting the power down. It was interesting to look at how The homologation papers described parts on the Metro, so that the little bu...... could be built as a Gp A racer. Ended up that there were some quite trick bits went into them.

[arttidesco]

It was not so much that they had a "stiff" kit, but the way the cones were set up. All of the interconnect system was removed so that each cone became a seperate spring unit in its own right. They also had a retrofit for rear shocks as the standard car did not have the facility for this. The other trick was to limit the amount of droop that was allowed to the wheels so that you could get them to pick up. If my memory serves right, I used to set the rear pressures on my cars at an equivalent of something like a 500 or 600 pound spring. Lots of playing on the front end and back end for wheel geometry as well. Main thing with them was commitment to getting on the power as soon as possible in corners and getting the power down. It was interesting to look at how The homologation papers described parts on the Metro, so that the little bu...... could be built as a Gp A racer. Ended up that there were some quite trick bits went into them.

Thanks for your insight into how the Metro suspension was set up JockinSA

[Bloggsworth]

Pellucidity! Whatever next - we can't allow such words, they smack of elitism, of a decent education, we can't have that.

[arttidesco]

Pellucidity! Whatever next - we can't allow such words, they smack of elitism, of a decent education, we can't have that.

An erudite observation if ever there was one, are you a UOL graduate perchance ?

[arttidesco]

Belated thanks to everyone who's pellucid observations above finally made it into today's blog

[D-Type]

I wonder, can one pellucidate? My dictionary had pellucidity but not pellucidate

[WonderWoman61]

Sorry for the resurrection.

Didn't some future F1 Drivers appear in the MG Metro Challenge?

Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot to name a few...