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Donington

Donington Park GP Circuit, Derby, Great-Britain

Date: 14/9/1986
Track length: 4.020 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted:
Starters: 12
Finishers: 8

Pole position: Rouse in 1.49,24
Fastest lap: Rouse in 1.50,66 = 130,89 kmh

Distance: 12 laps
Average speed: 126,98 kmh kmh
Weather:
Ruleset: Group A
Car info: 1986 Cars

 

When Mark Hales trundled round trailing a thick white cloud of (broken) turbo smoke during practice in order to complete the statutory minimum three laps, the hirsute hack thought it might just be one of those weekends. Instead the Terry Drury-run Duckhams/ Motor RST went on to take his first Class B victory come the race, when the Datapost examples of Alan Curnow and Richard Longman both expired. With turbo failure. It's not been an easy season for the Drury men, but their patience was well rewarded. But therein lies the tale. For with Longman's expiry, so drifted away the West Countryman's title hopes. Instead, Chris Hodgetts kept up his immaculate finishing record, bagging another 10 maximum class points to win not only the C division, but the overall title as well with the Team Toyota/Duckhams Corolla.
A sunny midmorning practice - just one session - saw 12 cars qualifying for what would be (just) 12 laps in the afternoon. Andy Rouse obliged as usual by putting the ICS Sierra on pole, Andy also showing ICS boss Peter Hall the way round to record an all-blue front row, at the cost of a Rover half shaft. Longman duly obliged with the Class B pole, and Hodgetts with the C division. In trouble, however, was Tony Crudgington, his Clausthaler Corolla's management system playing up. This was eventually to cause his retirement in the race, too. Mike O'Brien had oil leaking onto his clutch with his ex-TWR Vitesse, while our fishy friends with the John West Salmon Alfas had low oil pressure (Rob Kirby) and lack of grip (Jon Dooley). Alan Curnow also had his share of woes when an oil line blew out on his Datapost RST. A pleasing note of optimism came from Paul Taft, his Brooklyn/ECS Escort now back with Avon, and a proper Kevlar tyre, and Mike Newman, with 17 inch rubber on the rear of his Burlington BMW. Twelve cars hardly looked a thrilling recipe for 12 laps but, there again, the last two races have proved excellent. And, to keep the tally up, this one was superb, too. Rouse, Newman and Hall put on a thrilling show to keep the crowd on its toes throughout. There was enough action, indeed, to make a commentator hoarse.
Rouse needed little invitation to hustle away at the green light, while Hall was left burning rubber, dragster style. Except with little forward motion. Not so Newman and Taft, both smartly away. Too smartly in Taft's case, and he was docked 10s. Still, this didn't stop Paul taking the fight to Hodgetts' Toyota, leading the red and white Corolla until the Escort lapsed onto two cylinders. Class victory now assured, Chris backed off. To finish first...
You have to start last it seems: Hales was piling through from the back of the grid, while at the front we had some heady action. Round Goddard they came for the first time, Rouse and Newman rubbing shoulders, Hall and Longman also trying to stay intimate. Not for long. Longman was quietly dropped, and then dropped out, leaving the heavy metal kids at the front to bash it out. And try as he might, Newman couldn't quite squeeze the BMW past Rouse at Goddard, although at the Melbourne Hairpin, Mike did manage to nose in front briefly on lap 6. It all looked rather frantic as the cars snapped sideways at the Esses and bundled into McLeans together.
Into lap 12, then, and despite Newman's efforts, the race looked as if it was Andy's. But Rouse wasn't reckoning on the ICS Banzai boss. Taking an inside line for the Esses, Hall found himself with little method of stopping his Rover, and went scything straight past the leading duo and into the sand pit... To emerge the other side spitting dirt but in the lead! However, Andy would have none of this, and bustled past at Melbourne to lead home an ICS 1-2. Newman took it in good humour, although he was a little relieved when Hall had a 10s penalty slapped on him for his agricultural techniques.
So there we had it. An exciting race, and a new champion. Now come on the RAC. The drivers and teams have done their bit to help the series, it's about time there was something concrete from the Belgrave Square administrators for next year's series. (MN)


Touring Cars class A-C
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine
Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)
Engine
Type
Group Distance,
time
Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 1 Industrial Control Services Ltd.
Ford Sierra XR4 TI
Andy Rouse, GB
2320 tc L4 A 12 laps, 22.48,57 1 1.49,24 1.50,66  
2 2 5 Burlington Wallcoverings Ltd.
BMW 635 CSi
Mike Newman, GB
3475 L6 A 12 laps, 22.50,03 3 1.51,28 1.52,01  
3 3 7 Linden Racing/Connels Estate Agents
Rover Vitesse
Mike O'Brien, GB
3532 V8 A 12 laps, 22.58,28 7   1.53,13  
4 4 2 Industrial Control Services Ltd.
Rover Vitesse
Pete Hall, GB
3532 V8 A 12 laps, 22.59,28 2   1.52,15 Including 10 sec penalty for missing chicane
5 1 38 Terry Drury Racing
Ford Escort RS Turbo
Mark Hales, GB
1598 tc L4 B 12 laps, 23.11,19 12   1.54,14  
6 2 31 John West Foods - Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
Alfa Romeo 75 V6
Jon Dooley, GB
2491 V6 B 12 laps, 23.22,71 9   1.54,85  
7 1 66 Team Toyota GB / Duckhams
Toyota Corolla GT AE86
Chris Hodgetts, GB
1587 L4 C 12 laps, 23.37,92 6   1.54,95  
8 3 30 John West Foods - Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
Alfa Romeo 75 V6
Rob Kirby, GB
2491 V6 B 12 laps, 23.49,15 10   1.56,78  
DNF   69 Brooklyn Motorsport / ECS
Ford Escort RS 1600i
Paul Taft, GB
1598 L4 C 9 8   1.55,14 10 second penalty for jumping the start; engine
DNF   44 Royal Mail Datapost
Ford Escort RS Turbo
Richard Longman, GB
1598 tc L4 B 6 4   1.53,25 Turbo
DNF   33 Royal Mail Datapost
Ford Escort RS Turbo
Alan Curnow, GB
1598 tc L4 B 2 5   1.56,17 Turbo
DNF   62  
Toyota Corolla GT AE86
Tony Crudgington, GB
1587 L4 C 2 11   2.35,80 Engine management system