1983 British Saloon Car Championship

The 1983 RAC Trimoco British Saloon Car Championship was the 26th season of the championship. Steve Soper driving a works Rover SD1 built by TWR was initially champion, but after he and the team was disqualified on a technicality, Andy Rouse won his second drivers title in an Alfa Romeo GTV6.

Season overview

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The sporting regulations changed to FIA sanctioned Group A specification, and three different classes competed for honours. TWR expanded their team and ran a trio of Rover Vitesses for Pete Lovett, Jeff Allam and Steve Soper. Austin Rover would also back Roger Dowson Engineering who ran Turbo Metros in Class B whilst Ford supported a semi-works Ford Escort outfit in Class C. GM/Opel entered a single Opel Monza for Tony Lanfranchi. Reigning champion Win Percy would once again drive for Toyota, this time at the wheel of a Supra Turbo. Meanwhile, Frank Sytner raced for the works BMW team.[1]

TWR dominated the season, winning all 11 races. The drivers had the races pretty much their own way until Sytner, who had fallen out with Walkinshaw and left TWR the previous season, protested the legality of the Rover cars to the governing body. In response, Walkinshaw protested Sytner's BMW which led to extended legal wrangling which would drag on until long after the season was over.[2]

Soper beat his more experienced team mates and won the outright championship, while Andy Rouse who had taken over the Alfa Romeo GTV6 run by Pete Hall won Class B after a season long dice with the Metros. In Class C, Alan Minshaw took the class honours in his Volkswagen Golf, seeing off the Ford challenge.

However, six months after the championship was over, Sytner's protest was heard by a Tribunal of Enquiry, chaired by veteran legal counsel Lord Hartley Shawcross. The result was the RAC disqualified the Rover team entirely over bodywork irregularities and engine installation issues, handing the title to Rouse. In response, Austin Rover withdrew from the BSCC immediately as a works outfit to concentrate on competing in Europe, and would not return until 2001 under the guise of MG Rover.[3]

Teams and drivers

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Team Car No. Drivers Rounds
Class A
Hughes of Beaconsfield/Toyota GB Toyota Celica Supra 1   Win Percy1 4–5, 8–11
Team Sanyo Racing with Esso
Hepolite Glacier Racing with Esso
Rover Vitesse 2   Jeff Allam All
3   Pete Lovett All
4   Steve Soper 1–4, 6–11
Gordon Spice Racing Rover Vitesse 5   Gordon Spice 6, 8–10
Dennis Leech Rover Vitesse 6   Dennis Leech 4–8
Burlington Wallcoverings Ltd. Ford Capri III 3.0S 9   Mike Newman 1–2, 7–10
Equipe Esso/Daily Mirror Rover Vitesse 10   Charles Sawyer-Hoare All
GM Dealer Sport Opel Monza 3.0E 11   Tony Lanfranchi 1–3, 5–11
Graham Goode Racing Ford Capri III 3.0S 12   Graham Goode 1, 5, 7–8
Mark Hales Ford Capri III 3.0S 16   Mark Hales 8
Team Colt Cars Mid-West Mitsubishi Starion Turbo 18   Dave Brodie 6–11
Grace International Racing BMW 635CSi 19   Frank Sytner 6–9, 11
Cheylesmore BMW Motorsport BMW 635CSi 20   Hans-Joachim Stuck 8–10
  Jonathan Palmer 11
Brian Chatfield Ford Capri III 3.0S 29   Brian Chatfield 10–11
Class B
Hamish Irvine Mazda RX-7 30   Hamish Irvine 1–5, 7–11
Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
with Hampshires of Dorking
Alfa Romeo GTV6 31   Jon Dooley All
Terry Nightingale Mazda RX-7 32   Terry Nightingale 8
Industrial Control Services Ltd. Alfa Romeo GTV6 34   Pete Hall 1–3
  Andy Rouse 4–11
Unipart with Daily Express MG Metro Turbo 35   Tony Pond 4–11
36   Patrick Watts 8–11
37   Martin Brundle 11
Tom Dodd-Noble Mazda RX-7 ?   Tom Dodd-Noble 4
Class C
Volkswagen Sport Volkswagen Scirocco GTI 60   John Morris All
Royal Mail Datapost Ford Escort RS1600i 66   Alan Curnow All
77   Richard Longman All
Ordibel UK Ltd. Volkswagen Golf GTI 67   Alan Greenhalgh 1–5, 7–8, 10
Brooklyn Motorsport Ford Escort RS1600i 69   Chris Hodgetts All
Julian May Racing Ford Fiesta XR2 70   Jock Robertson 1–4
Ford Escort RS1600i 6–9, 11
Lloyds of Stafford Ford Escort RS1600i 72   Rob Hall All
Lionel Abbott Ford Escort RS1600i 74   Lionel Abbott 2–5, 7
Unipart with Daily Express MG Metro 78   Patrick Watts 2–7
Hughes of Beaconsfield/Toyota GB Toyota Corolla GT 80   Win Percy1 1
Tony Crudgington Ford Fiesta XR2 82   Tony Crudgington 8
Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
with Hampshires of Dorking
Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti 83   Rob Kirby All
84   Andrew Thorpe All
Demon Tweeks Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI 86   Alan Minshaw All
RZ Racing Toyota Corolla GT 87   Andy Driver 3
  Tony Crudgington 5
  Geoff Kimber-Smith 6–11
Terry Watts Talbot Sunbeam Ti 88   Terry Watts 8–9
Jenny Birrell Toyota Corolla GT 95   Jenny Birrell 11
GTI Engineering Volkswagen Golf GTI 100   Richard Lloyd 11

Notes:

1.^  – Win Percy was ineligible for points at round 4.

Calendar and winners

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Overall winners in bold.

Round Circuit Date Class A winner Class B winner Class C winner
1 Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire 20 March   Steve Soper   Hamish Irvine   Win Percy
2 Oulton Park, Cheshire 1 April   Jeff Allam   Jon Dooley   John Morris
3 Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire 4 April   Pete Lovett   Jon Dooley   Alan Greenhalgh
4 Brands Hatch, Kent 10 April   Steve Soper   Andy Rouse   Alan Curnow
5 Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire 30 May   Pete Lovett   Andy Rouse   Alan Curnow
6 Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire 12 June   Steve Soper   Andy Rouse   Chris Hodgetts
7 Donington Park, Leicestershire 25 June   Pete Lovett   Andy Rouse   John Morris
8 Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire 16 July   Steve Soper   Jon Dooley   Richard Longman
9 Donington Park, Leicestershire 14 August   Steve Soper   Tony Pond   Alan Minshaw
10 Brands Hatch, Kent 29 August   Pete Lovett   Andy Rouse   Chris Hodgetts
11 Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire 2 October   Jeff Allam   Andy Rouse   Chris Hodgetts

Championship standings

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Drivers' championship

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Points were awarded on a 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 basis to the top six finishers in each class, with one bonus point for the fastest lap in each class. In races where a class had less than four starters, points would be awarded to the top two finishers (6 & 4 respectively) with one point for the fastest lap. A driver's best nine scores counted towards the championship, dropped scores are shown in brackets. Positions are shown as overall/class.

Pos Driver Class SIL OUL THR BRA THR SIL DON SIL DON BRA SIL Pts
DSQ   Steve Soper A 1/1 3/3 7/5 1/1 1/1 Ret 1/1 1/1 2/2 2/2 68
DSQ   Pete Lovett A 3/3 2/2 1/1 Ret 1/1 2/2 1/1 2/2 Ret 1/1 4/4 63
1   Andy Rouse B 3/1 4/1 5/1 4/1 Ret 7/2 8/1 7/1 61
DSQ   Jeff Allam A 2/2 1/1 2/2 2/2 2/2 Ret Ret 3/3 Ret 4/4 1/1 53
2   Alan Minshaw C (11/5) 12/4 11/3 10/2 11/3 9/3 12/3 12/2 8/1 14/4 (Ret) 45
3   Chris Hodgetts C 13/7 14/6 13/5 Ret 12/4 7/1 Ret 13/3 9/2 11/1 10/1 43
4   Alan Curnow C 9/3 ?/? Ret 9/1 8/1 Ret 13/4 14/4 12/4 13/3 11/2 42
5   Hamish Irvine B 8/1 6/2 5/2 5/2 7/3 6/3 20/2 Ret 9/2 Ret 42
6   Jon Dooley B Ret 4/1 4/1 6/3 Ret Ret Ret 10/1 Ret 18/3 9/2 36
7   Richard Longman C 14/8 9/2 16/8 13/5 10/2 Ret Ret 11/1 11/3 16/6 12/3 35
8   John Morris C Ret 8/1 15/7 11/3 Ret 8/2 10/1 Ret Ret 17/7 16/7 31
9   Tony Pond B Ret 6/2 Ret 5/2 25/5 6/1 Ret 17/3 31
10   Rob Hall C 10/4 10/3 Ret Ret Ret Ret 11/2 15/5 Ret 12/2 Ret 22
11   Rob Kirby C Ret 13/5 10/2 12/4 DNS 11/5 14/5 17/6 13/5 Ret Ret 18
12   Alan Greenhalgh C 7/2 ?/? 9/1 15/7 15/7 17/7 Ret 15/5 17
13   Tony Lanfranchi A Ret 5/4 6/4 9/5 6/5 3/3 7/7 10/6 6/6 6/6 17
14   Charles Sawyer-Hoare A 4/4 DNS 3/3 Ret 3/3 4/4 8/5 8/8 Ret 7/7 Ret 16
15   Hans-Joachim Stuck A 5/5 2/2 3/3 12
16   Frank Sytner A 3/3 2/2 DSQ Ret Ret 10
17   Win Percy C 6/1 9
18   Patrick Watts C ?/? 12/4 14/6 13/5 10/4 Ret 9
19   Mike Newman A 5/5 11/5 7/4 9/9 5/5 DNS 9
20   Patrick Watts B 21/3 Ret Ret 18/4 7
21   Win Percy A 8/4 DNS 6/6 3/3 Ret Ret 5
22   Dennis Leech A 4/3 Ret Ret 9/6 Ret 5
23   Andrew Thorpe C NC ?/? 14/6 16/8 Ret 12/6 Ret 18/7 14/6 Ret 14/5 5
24   Gordon Spice A Ret 23/12 4/4 5/5 5
25   Dave Brodie A Ret 16/7 16/10 Ret Ret 3/3 4
26   Graham Goode A Ret 5/4 Ret Ret 3
27   Tom Dodd-Noble B 7/4 3
28   Richard Lloyd C 13/4 3
29   Terry Nightingale B 22/4 3
30   Jonathan Palmer A 5/5 2
31   Martin Brundle B 19/5 2
32   Jock Robertson C 12/6 ?/? Ret Ret WD DNS Ret Ret 15/6 2
33   Lionel Abbott C DNS Ret DNS 14/6 15/6 2
34   Pete Hall B Ret 7/3 8/3 0
35   Geoff Kimber-Smith C 13/7 18/8 DNS 15/7 Ret Ret 0
36   Brian Chatfield A 10/8 8/7 0
37   Terry Watts C 24/8 Ret 0
38   Mark Hales A 19/11 0
NC   Tony Crudgington C Ret Ret 0
NC   Andy Driver C DNS 0
NC   Jenny Birrell C DNS 0
Pos Driver Class SIL OUL THR BRA THR SIL DON SIL DON BRA SIL Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold - Pole in class
Italics - Fastest lap in class

References

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  1. ^ "1983 Trimoco RAC British Saloon Car Championship - Discussion & Results - Page 5 - TenTenths Motorsport Forum". tentenths.com. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  2. ^ "RAC British Saloon Car Championship - 1983". touringcarracing.net. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  3. ^ Adams, Keith (2011-08-05). "Rover SD1 in motor sport". AROnline. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
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