[KA]

Round 8- Brands Hatch (GP Circuit) 20 July 1984, Race supporting the 1984 British Grand Prix


Another sketchy report- despite devoting much of a 3 page report to this race, Performance Car never actually gave a complete result....As I've said before, they're pretty good reports for background info, but not so hot if you actually want to know the result of the race....
The report was quite good at listing non-finishers, and there are enough pics to give a fair idea of who was actually there- just not where a lot of them finished

Pos.	Cat.	#	Driver	Team/sponsor	Cat.	Car	Grid	Q-time	FL	Laps	Time	Notes
1.	1.	7	Andy Rouse	Rouse/ICS	A	Rover Vitesse	2
2	2	6	James Weaver	CC Motorsport/BMW GB	A	BMW 635CSi
?.	1.	40	Phil Dowsett	Terry Drury Racing	B	Alfa Romeo GTV6
?.	2.	30	Jon Dooley	ARDT/Napolina	B	Alfa Romeo GTV6
?.	3.	??	Hamish Irvine	Irvine	B	Mazda RX7
?	1.	69	Chris Hodgetts	Brooklyn	C	Ford Escort RS1600i
?	2.	66	Alan Curnow	Longman/Datapost	C	Ford Escort RS1600i
?	3.	77	Richard Longman	Longman/Datapost	C	Ford Escort RS1600i
DNF	DNF	14	Win Percy	Hughes of Beaconsfield	A	Toyota Celica Supra	1	1m37.48			8 laps
DNF	DNF.	9	Frank Sytner	Sytner	A	BMW 635CSi
DNF	DNF	4	Dennis Leech	Leech	A	Rover Vitesse
DNF	DNF	13	Charles Sawyer-Hoare	Equipe Esso/Daily Mirror	A	Rover Vitesse
DNF	DNF	33	John Morris	Morris	B	VW Scirocco 1.8						Accident
DNF	DNF	51	Alan Greenhalgh	Greenhalgh/Ordibel	C	VW Golf GTi						hydraulic fluid leak onto exhaust
DNF	DNF	38	Graham Goode	Graham Goode Racing	B	Nissan Bluebird Turbo						Engine
?	?.	16	David Kennedy	BS Automotive/Grundig	A	BMW 635CSi
?	?	23?	Mike Newman?	Burlington wallcoverings?	A	Ford Capri 3.0S						ex-CC/Esso car
?	?	23?	Brian Chatfield?	Chatfield?	A	Ford Capri 3.0S						ex-CC/Esso car
?	?	70	Jock Robertson?	Julian May/Pegasus	C	Ford Escort RS1600i
?	?	41	Paul Smith	Terry Drury Racing	B	Alfa Romeo GTV6
?	?	5	Vince Woodman	CC Motorsport/BMW GB	A	BMW 635CSi

For the first eight laps, this one was a classic encounter- Win Percy had stunned his opponents by putting the Supra on pole- over 1.75 seconds faster than Rouse's Rover, and over two seconds under the lap record....Win wasn't happy about speculation that it might have been a fluke, a timekeepers' error, or the result of a bent car- he admitted they'd used qualifying tyres, but said the team had recorded a series of 1m37 laps, 'admittedly high 37s, but we defiintely did the time. I'll have to go and prove it in the race now'

'Percy's resolve resulted in one of the best saloon car confrontations ever seen at the Kent circuit. He blasted off the line despite the awkward camber of Brands' pole position, to take a narrow lead from Weaver in the BMW, but Rouse soon disposed of Weaver's challenge and latched on to the red-and-white Toyota's tailgate. For eight laps, Rouse patiently probed for a way by, Percy determinedly keeping all doors shut, each trusting the other implicitly, neither putting a wheel wrong. It was vintage stuff and kept the massive crowd on their feet'

On lap 8, however it would all go wrong for Percy, as they came up to lap John Myerscough's Alfasud:
As Myerscough at the end of the 8th lap prepared to brake and turn into the gut-wrenching drop of Paddock Hill Bend, with Rouse closer to Percy than ever, you could almost see Percy size up the situation. He desperately wanted to go by the Alfasud on the outside, maintaining his speed for the power-sapping charge up the hill to Druids, but he daren't leave a gap on the inside. After a rare moment's hesitation, he swung to the inside, leaving the possibly more favourable outside line to the blue Rover. Myerscough saw Rouse ranging up on the outside, and moved over towards the apex of the bend, at the precise moment that Percy was driving through. In an instant, contact was made and the crippled Toyota was sliding down the hill, the outside rear rim shattered, the tyre flapping uselessly. Percy's race was run.

In Class B, Dowsett took the win after a close and entertaining battle with John Dooley- David Kennedy's 635 also getting involved in this until Dowsett made the decisive break. Dooley later had to back off with an overheating V6, but came home 2nd. Hamish Irvine's Mazda RX7 returned to the series, taing 3rd in class despite a chronic misfire

Class C was dominated by Chris Hodgetts, although the Datapost Escort pairing of Longman and Curnow didn't help themselves by colliding- both continued, Curnow finishing 2nd, Longman 3rd, driving superbly to recover from a long delay. Greenhalgh's Golf retired trailing a thick cloud of white smoke- it turned out to be a hydraulic fluid leak spraying onto the exhaust, but the report suggested it might spell the end of Greenhalgh's season, as money was getting short after engine problems at Snetterton, and the team were counting on a result here at Brands.

I'd like to see the entry list for this one, as there are several pics of the pitlane in the report and they pose a few questions. Two Capris appear to be present, seen lined up behind the Leech Rover and Kennedy's 635 in the pitlane- Unfortunately, one is partly obscured by the BMW and is difficult to identify, the other is in CC/Esso colours, with race no. 23. I'm guessing Mike Newman and Brian Chatfield.
There's a second pitlane pic which includes a couple of cars in the background that I can't identify either. Sadly, they're b/w pics and the reproduction is a bit murky which doesn't help...

The pic shows a queue of cars waiting to go out onto the circuit, headed by the Goode Nissan, Rouse's Rover, and a Datapost Escort. Tucked in behind these is a 635 with it's door open, showing sponsorship from 'Direct Tyres', but no visible race number. Further back are the John Morris Scirocco, the Supra and Sytner's 635, and two or three GTV6s (the Drury and Napolina cars)

On the previous page, there's a colour shot of the front quarter of a silver-grey 635 in the paddock (basically a bit of atmosphere as it's cropped to show not that much of the car, but enough sky to show the Vulcan bomber flying over as part of an air display...), carrying similar 'Direct Tyres' logos- The only other visible logos are a Trimoco series decal on the door, and Avon Tyres of the front spoiler. AFAIK it isn't one of the CC Cars, because the paintjob seems wrong- this one's plain silver with some black striping. A prodsaloon maybe, as I can't think of any other BTCC 635s other than the CC pair, Sytner and the blue Grundig car?