Tricentrol British Saloon Car Championship

You Spin Me 'Round - 1980 index


Yet again there was a British champion from a class with no real opposition apart from his teammates. Don't get me wrong: Win Percy was a fine champion, with a well-prepared Mazda and enough speed to get him near the front, though a third overall was his best placing - Dolomites had done better in the past. On the other hand, the Capri brigade was very professional now, the Spice cars dominating most races with some others getting good results - and then we had the eagerly awaited Rover team. They still had to come to grips with Tires and cars, but one victory was promising. The 2300 cc class was, as said, very thin with two and sometimes three Mazdas - and little else, an Alfetta GTV, a Vauxhall, s Dolomite or an Escort from Denmark. The 1600 cc class was better: the 1.6 Fiesta of Longman was disappointing (he entered the 1300 cc class later in season) but two or three Lloyd-Audis (one with Stirling Moss behind the wheel), Morris' Scirocco and Hodgetts and his Toyota made a great spectacle. The 1300 class finally had some Fiestas, of which Curnow became vice-champion but Dooley (Alfasud) and Mowatt (Mini) gave him a run for his money.

There were troubles as usual too; Lloyd was disqualified, and Hodgetts car thrown out as well; the latter having, apart from oversize inlet valves (by a very small margin), a wrong 5th gear ratio - the homologation showed one which was no longer in production! And fifth was never used in the series anyway...

The races:

The cars

Final classification

British Touring Car Championship

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