A massive crowd braved the chilly December weather to see Mikael Nordstrom leading the sixth Motaquip British Rallycross Grand Prix from the front row in a confident run with his Ford RS200E. After a fraught last lap, it was Will Gollop who came through to 2nd in his Metro 6R4, just pipping season-long rival Mark Rennison's RS200. This annual event is gaining in popularity, perhaps bourne out by the appearance of Jonathan Palmer, running in John Welch's Xtrac and finishing 1st in the 'B' final, a place in the 'A' final and 'Driver of the Day' award.
Heats
The drivers were fairly well behaved with few dramas, although Paul Dulake did manage to invert his Fiesta at Hoppy's Drop very early in the morning! Thor Holm lost a turbo on his RS200, a feat he would repeat in the first heats, while Orjan Wahlund was having all kinds of issues with his 4x4 Turbo Beetle, the Swedish team having bits of the car spread all over the paddock by lunchtime. Of those that didn't make it to Brands, Rolf Nilsson was the most missed, the amiable little Swede opting to return home with his damaged RS200 after Croft.
With 15 withdrawn entries, all of the reserves were into the meeting and set to battle for the 60 places in Sunday's main event in Saturday's two qualifying heats.
The action started early. In the first start of the afternoon Dave Pritchard and David Flurry found themselves unceremoniously dumped into the barrier next to the start line, the Metro and Mini drivers ending their weekends very prematurely on the spot. The race was won by Roy Clark's Mini, just holding off Guy Williams in the Fiesta.
Vic Moyce took a straightforward win in race 2, the local man doing well to beat Kevin Pease's more powerful Fiesta. Ross Browning made a superb start to the third race to lead home Knut Boberg's Golf, while Mike Jennings was the first 4x4 driver to win as he led home Roger Newbould in race 4.
The next event was to be the fastest of the first runs, Mikael Nordstrom once again reminding us that he really can turn on the form with a splendid 2m46.3s, Pekka Rantanen trailing in a distant and uninspired 2nd. Martin Schanche took the next heat. This looked like a very leisurely run and it must be a measure of the man that even so he was 3rd fastest on 2m46.9s. The real action was behind Schanche, Vidar Sauthon have a good run in his Xtrac Escort and just getting the better of Barry Hathaway's Metro 6R4 on the last lap, Hathaway then having to deal with a certain Jonathan Palmer, the Formula One Grand Prix driver was adapting well to rallycross. "It's great value" he remarked after practice, 16th fastest was his reward and third in his heat.
Sven Lestander headed the next race into the first turn but it was John Welch who burst through to take a good win with the Sphere Drake Xtrac Opel. Heat 8 was a real battle, Dimi Mavropoulos getting his Audi S1 into the lead at the first corner from Olle Arnesson, Michael Shield and the RS200s of Trevor Hopkins and Bengt Wiklund. With the wayward Wiklund once again causing trouble the cars were all pushed into each other with Shield wiping the front off his Metro on the back of Arnesson's Quattro. To everyone's surprise the officials decided to exclude Shield from the race.
The last of the first heats was also pretty impressive, Arild Martinsen leaving the line at such a rate that even Seppo Niittymaki in the Peugeot 205 T16 looked sluggish! The BMW M3 was now fully recovered from its Croft gearbox issues and showing awesome pace. Mark Rennison brought his RS200 into 2nd place with Nittymaki and Will Gollop having a good race for 3rd and catching Rennison towards the end.
For the second heats, the track was drier and saw improvements for nearly all the lesser powered competitors any of them taking up to 6 seconds off their previous best.
The big boys reappeared again in race 15 with Will Gollop taking his Metro 6R4 to a fine win and few fastest time of the day with just 2m38.7s, easily outclassing the subdued Pekka Rantanen. The next run gave us the 2nd and 3rd fastest times as Martin Schanche and John Welch took a 1-2 with the Ford RS200 and Xtrac Opel. Matti Alamaki was in good form for the next race, the Lancia Delta driver having suffered in the first runs with bad spark plugs, but the car sounding just fine as the tall Finn powered to an impressive 4 seconds win over Trevor Hopkins.
The last race of the afternoon saw Seppo Nittymaki hand out a crushing defeat to Olle Arnesson, the Peugeot driver leaving many scratching their heads for an answer to the French car as it took yet another fastest time of the day, just 2m37.1s for the 2 1/2 laps!
2-Wheel Drive Finals
Saturday afternoon was rounded off with a couple of finals for the 2WD boys, the first very straight forward, the second a good race.
The 'B' final saw Ross Browning lead from the lights to flag with his Escort and gain a place in the 'A' final. Gary Baker held an early 2nd place in his repanelled Fiesta before retiring at the end of the first lap and allowing Ivan Moakes to come through in his Escort. Kevin Pease went out on the first lap when the CWP let go in his Fiesta BDG and Roy Clark was out with the front wheels on his Mini looking at each other!
The 'A' final was a reminder to many that 2WD cars can still produce some good racing, even though the cars would have done better had they had lights fitted in the near darkness.
Rob Gibson led through the first lap with Stefan Johansson, Trevor Reeves, an inspired Russ Spink and Anders Norstedt completing the top five. Roger Newbould battled his way past Anders on the first lap but didn't last for long before the Swede muscled his way past again going into the chicane, the Harrogate man finding his Renault immobile and his race at an end as a result of the move. The next time across the finish line Reeves had managed to get his Castrol Fiesta up to 2nd place and was closing in on Gibson, but it was not enough.
Sunday
Sunday started with a 45 minute warm up, the major star of which was Matti Alamaki, the Lancia blowing a turbo in the most spectacular fashion and leaving the North State crew with some fast work to do on a very hot engine. The first runs were appreciably quicker than Saturday, the track having remained dry overnight and even being dusty on Tumbledown Hill.
Mark Rennison had an easy run, the DSRM RS200 easily outpacing the Porsche BiTurbo 4x4 of Mauno Jokinen and bringing the marker down to 2m34.4s.
Surprisingly Vidar Sauthon took the next heat, the Norwegian now running his car with an '88 spec engine and holding off Mikael Nordstrom and Barry Hathaway throughout the slower race. Olle Arnesson made the best start to race 4 before being beaten into the first corner by John Welch and Jonathan Palmer, the STP/Sphere Drake cars then being split again by Arnesson on the run down to the Esses, the Audi driver setting off in vain after Welch and leaving Palmer to fight for 3rd place. Welch took such a hard run at the flag that he had to use the escape road at Hoppy's Drop rather than hit the bank! Arness took 2nd but was unable to match the Kadet's 2m34.5s third-best time. Jonathan Palmer continued in 3rd, the Grand Prix driver still enjoying himself and doing well to hold off Trevor Hopkins' RS200.
John Smith and Will Gollop ran away at the front of the next race, the Xtrac and Metro men running close together until the start of the last lap, when Gollop managed to get ahead in the 6R4. 2m35.4 was Will's reward and good enough for the 4th fastest time overall. John Bowles had his highlight of the year here when he led Matti Alamaki's Delta S4 for just over a lap in his 1600cc Mk2 Escort! The Finn was struggling with a clogged exhaust - full of bits from his turbocharger!
The final run of the heats saw some pretty major drama. Martin Schanche led into the first corner from Sven Lestander, the Swede making a super start in his Sport S1 Quattro and heading Seppo Nittimaki and Pekka Rantanen. Seppo still held 3rd as the cars disappeared from view going up the hill to Druids, despite having a wild trip over the bumps as he tried to pass Lestander going into the Esses.
The race was brought to an abrupt and violent end, however, when Schanche, running on slicks, tried to take Hoppy's Drop flat-out! The Sachs RS200E ploughed straight into the bank, momentarily standing on its nose before spinning to the far side of the track minus its radiator and a good deal of bodywork. Nittimaki arrived on the scene next and promptly locked up solid and slid over the far banking, the Peugeot winding up perched on a pile of tyres with all wheels clear of the ground. Martin was honest enough to admit the accident was the result of driver error.
The re-run went to Nittymaki, the Peugeot driving having all his birthdays come together as he survived his first run trip into the boonies and bounced back to score a stunning 2m31.5s fastest time, the Finn being fully 2.9 seconds faster than Rennison.
Already out on the first heats was Dimi Mavropoulos, the Shell Oils S1 suffering a massive gearbox failure and leaving Dimi to spectate for the rest of the afternoon.
Thor Holm got the second heats off to a good start, the big Norwegian at last having a clear run and heading for 2m25.5s run and 6th fastest on second heats. Anders Carlsson held a brief lead at the start of the next race; the S1 pilot must have been stunned though at the pace of Mark Rennison, the British driver steaming through from the back of the grid and relieving Carlsson of his lead before the cars hit Tumbledown! From there on it was plain sailing for Rennison, the RS driver taking a good 2m32.4s.
Tore H Bratlie made the best start to the third race but the Metro 6R4 was soon passed by Jonathan Palmer and having to work hard to fend off Sven Lestander in the first turn. Palmer took his first rallycross win and an 8th fastest time of 2m37.0s.
Arild Martinsen once again used the power from the BMW M4 4x4 Turbo to launch himself into the lead, this time Dan Andersson, Pekka Rantanen and Will Gollop following thorough. Arild continued in the lead and took a good 5th fastest time from Anderson's battered RS200.
The first attempt to stage a race between Mikael Nordstrom and Olle Arnesson was stopped by the red flags, luckily for Olle as the S1 had found a puncture in the first half lap. The second time the order was the same, Mikael leading the more experienced countryman throughout and taking a very good 2m34.6s for 3rd fastest.
The next race again saw Seppo Nittimaki fleeing the grid at incredible speed and arriving home to take another fastest time, negating Seppo's need to appear for the third races.
Mark Rennison countered quickly, the RS200 pilot racing to an equal fastest time of the day with Nittimaki, with a 2m31.4s and leading Thor Holm's RS200 home, the latter suffering a split radiator.
Jonathan Palmer couldn't back up his first win of the second runs on the third, a tyre parting company with the rim and leading to retirement. Mikael Nordstrom took his RS200 to a good 3rd fastest 2m33.7s, just over a second up on Martinsen, Pekka Rantanen, John Smith and Vidar Sauthon rounding out the quick guys. Dan Andersson drew a real peach of a race next time, the RS driver having a clear run and leaping into a decent 6th place on 2m35.9s.
The next heat was Gollop's from the lights, the Silkolene Metro holding a massive lead over Welch, Bratlie and Lestander to take 3rd fastest time. Welch would be forced to retire the Sphere Drake Opel next lap as Tore H Bratlie barged his way into 2nd, John left with a couple of flat tyres.
Matti Alamaki won the last heat of the day, from Trevor Hopkins and Barry Hathaway but not even a 4th fastest time of 2m34.6s could save Matti from the 'C' final at this late stage, once again the tall Finn having a bad run in England!
Finals
Alamaki really should have been higher up than the 'C' final but that was where he was and the Lancia driver sure looked like a hungry man as he blasted the red car away to lead the race into the first corner. Orjan Wahlund, Barry Hathaway, Bengt Wiklund and Dennis Atkinson trailed the Lancia. On the 3rd lap Wiklund tried to pass Hathaway on the entry to Hoppy's Drop, the Swede somehow managing to survive a trip up the bank that had earlier claimed Martin Schanche's car to eventually pass the Metro driver on the last lap. Orjan Wahlund dropped to 4th place after a massive spin at Druids on the 3rd lap, the flame throwing Beetle Turbo disappearing into a cloud of tyre smoke as the Swede sorted himself out with large doses of throttle. After a mid-race contretemps in the Chicane it was Roger Newbould in the Renault who came through to lead the 2WD boys.
Jonathan Palmer had got the Xtrac well and truly taped now, the Doctor leading the 'B' final away from his centre of the front row grid slot. Vidar Sauthon, Tore H Bratlie and a very wild Matti Alamaki chasing off after the Xtrac. Alamaki was lucky to survive a big sideways moment in the middle of the pack but Sven Lestander and Michael Shield were not so lucky, the Swede's Quattro Sport S1 perched up on top of the Metro's rear end in the first turn. On the second tour Mauno Jokinen made a big error in the Esses and dropped from 5th to 9th in his Porsche, Hopkins and Welch up to 5th and 6th.
Welch, too, was performing tricks the next lap, the Opel managing to ride up on the back of the Shell Oils RS200, the two cars untangling themselves and continuing without losing any places!
The crowd were urging Palmer on to the win but all the time Vidar Sauthon was closing in and the last time through Druids it was very close, before Palmer used all the Xtrac's power to good use and blasted along the knife edge to take the win by a couple of lengths. Matti Alamaki was next up with Trevor Hopkins and John Welch 5th and 6th.
The Grand Prix
Image credit - ParkStreetParrot / Flickr
The Grand Prix itself lined up with Nittimaki on pole, Rennison and Nordstrom completing the front row. As the lights turned green Seppo messed up his start, Gollop was on a flier from the second row but have to give best to the turbo cars. Mikael Nordstrom made a great start from the outside, the black RS200 heading the field into Tumbledown with Rennison and a flying Olle Arnesson coming from the third row next up from Gollop, Nittimaki, Holm and all dumping into one another, John Smith, Arild Martinsen, Jonathan Palmer and Pekka Rantanen.
Round Druids for the first time and Olle Arnesson was already starting the tricks that would lead to his exclusion from the race. The Audi was pushing the back of Rennison's RS200 all the way round the hairpin and the Ford had the body rubbing on the tyres for the rest of the race.
At the front it was still Nordstrom in charge, the Swede driving an excellent race, just fast enough to win without any crazy risks. Rennison tried to find a way past every time on the Knife Edge but Mikael always has the road used to the best advantage. Gollop, too, was getting anxious to make a move, the Metro driver looking several times to edge past Arnesson but having to give best to the Audi.
In the Esses on the last lap Arnesson slammed into the back of Rennison, the RS200 and Audi both running wide in the second part of the corner and in an instant Gollop was alongside Rennison. The Ford driver fought back, hitting the side of the Metro a couple of times going up the hill towards Druids but was not able to displace Will, the crowd were, at this time, going wild!
Image credit - ParkStreetParrot / Flickr
Gollop close up to Nordstrom in the last few yards and eventually finished just 0.7s behind the Swede. Rennison was 3rd and Arnesson 4th but later excluded/ Seppo Nittimaki moved up to 4th in his last ever race, with Thor Holm surviving a very hectic weekend to take 5th from Pekka Rantanen and John Smith, the latter staging a great recovery after being left the victim of the first corner lunacy. Jonathan Palmer retired the Xtrac with mechanical gremlins one lap from home but won an army of new fans and the 'Brands Hatch Man of the Meeting' award for his efforts in the Sphere Drake car.
As the first three stood on the podium one of the happiest faces around was Ford's John Taylor, a Ford winning an event where everyone had expected a Peugeot to win - and a genuine customer car Ford at that!
For Mikael it was simple; "It was too much Englishmen last weekend, now it's Sweden's turn...I hope that next year is starting as good as this one is ending!"
For Gollop too, it had been a good day, new sponsors Silkolene Lubricants and P&O European Ferries in attendance to watch the local driver take his best ever result.
Motaquip British Rallycross Grand Prix Classifications 5-6th December 1987, 4 1/2 Laps;
'A' Final
1. Mikael Nordstrom (Ford RS200 'E')
2. Will Gollop (MG Metro 6R4)
3. Mark Rennison (Ford RS200 'E')
4. Seppo Nittymaki (Peugeot 205 T16E2)
5. Thor Holm (Ford RS200 'E')
6. Pekka Rantanen (Ford RS200 'E')
7. John Smith (Ford Escort RS Turbo Xtrac)
8. Arild Martinsen (BMW M3 4x4 Turbo)
9. Jonathan Palmer (Ford Escort RS Turbo Xtrac)
10. Olle Arnesson (Audi Sport Quattro S1)
'B' Final
1. Jonathan Palmer (Ford Escort RS Turbo Xtrac)
2. Vidar Sauthon (Ford Escort RS Turbo Xtrac)
3. Tore H Bratlie (MG Metro 6R4)
4. Matti Alamaki (Lancia Delta S4)
5. Trevor Hopkins (Ford RS200)
6. John Welch (Opel Xtrac)
7. Dan Andersson (Ford RS200 'E')
8. Sven Lestander (Audi Sport Quattro S1)
9. Mauno Jokinen (Porsche 911 4x4 BiTurbo)
10. Michael Shield (MG Metro 6R4)
'C' Final
1. Matti Alamaki (Lancia Delta S4)
2. Bengt Wiklund (Ford RS200 'E')
3. Barry Hathaway (Metro 6R4 Clubmans)
4. Orjan Wahlund (VW Beetle 4x4 Turbo)
5. Roger Newbould (Renault 5 Turbo BDG)
6. Ross Browning (Ford Escort BDG)
7. Denis Atkinson (Porsche 911 3.3)
8. Trevor Reeves (Ford Fiesta 1840 BDA)
If you have any images from this race then please email us at info@classiccarmag.net,.
'A' Final Full Video (classic commentary from Murray Walker);
Tags:Brands Hatch British Rallycross Grand Prix, John Welch, Martin Schanche, Rallycross, Will Gollop
