nissan 240rs help

[KA]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Type approval would be based on the country [i.e. the UK] rather than the nation [i.e. England, Wales, Scotland or N.I.]. Cars in N.I. required UK type approval too.

That's the bit I can't fathom- I can understand the 240RS not having Type Approval for the UK, but if that was the problem, surely you'd have just as much trouble registering them in Belfast as you would in Birmingham- unless for some reason the N.I. licensing office had some kind of loophole in the regs, or local discretion that didn't apply on the mainland?

[KA]

Originally Posted by dat240

A lot of the 240rs's had N I plates because there was no type approval in england. BBR got around this using the Northern Island registration . This is how I got a copry of the registration papers for my car.

SO apart from the thunder saloon car and the other well known cars, does any body know of any private cars that were being tested/run around the 85/86 season.
The major problem with 240rs registrations is that the same plate appeared on more than one car, when run by BBR, this make tracing chassis numbers rather hard.

Number plate swapping seems to be a pretty universal problem when you're looking into the history of any works rally cars from UK-based teams...

Re: 240RS privateers in 1985/6, I've taken a quick look at the RAC Rally entry lists for those years to get a handle on who was running them at that time (other than the official Blydenstein/Nissan Europe cars for Kaby, Aitken-Walker etc

1985:
#73 David Williams/Wayne Goble (possibly FXI3864)
#75 Nigel Rose/David Deering
Is David Williams the same one who was a major supporter of Richard Burns' early career?

1986:
#50 Williams/Goble
#51 Ian Roberton/Ronald Hill (FIW9125, pics on a link earlier in the thread)
#54 James Prochowski/Chris Wood (FXI1813 in UB40/DEP International colours)

There were quite a few around at National/British Open international level as well- the pics Davyboy linked to on the first page of the thread give a good overview of UK/Irish 240RS runners in the 80's, including Mark Lovell, Simon Davison, James Cullen, John Coyne, Bill Gwynne, James Cullen etc

No idea who this is on a mid-80's UK club event, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladythorpe2/7003874173/
but BXI5030 was used on quite a few Belgian events by Simon Everett around 1984, with 'Tuborg' sponsorship- IIRC he was a regular competitor on Belgian rallies in the early/mid 80s: http://i69.servimg.com/u/f69/11/19/85/42/simon_10.jpg

There were presumably quite a few around in Europe as well as the UK/Irish-based cars?

[chunterer]

Thanks for the Dawson Audi confirmation KA, I knew i'd seen them in yellow sometime!

I've also got a feeling about who may have pedalled 240's in Europe, I think a Greek driver may have driven one, don't think it was Dimi Mavropoulos? Also have a suspicion that the Hungarian driver Ferjancz (sp?) may also have used one as well.

I am also fairly certain that a couple were run by Spaniards at home and in Europe, I know Salvador Servia drove all sorts of cars, and I mainly recall him associated with Mantas later on in he 80's but could he have used a Nissan?

[KA]

I don't know about Dimi Mavropoulos, I tend associate him with Sunbeam Lotuses and Audi Quattros (he used to be a regular in British rallycross with a distinctive black Quattro), but there were certainly a few around in Greece- Nic J. Theocarakis S.A., the Greek Nissan importer usually had at least a couple out on the Acropolis, as well as the neighbouring ERC rounds- George Moschous and Stratis Hatzipanayiotou (My memory's not that good- I'm looking this stuff up as I go!) were amongst the drivers. Works entries for the likes of Salonen, Shekhar Mehta and Mike Kirkland also appeared under the Theocarakis banner on the Acropolis.

Attila Ferjancz could have used one at some point- IIRC, he often had Rothmans sponsorship, on Quattros and Renault 5 Turbos, and I've certainly seen pics of a Rothmans-liveried 240RS somewhere recently

There were certainly a few privateers around on other European events- I've already mentioned Simon Everett on Belgian tarmac rallies, but pretty sure there were others seen on European events (there was at least one other Belgian-based car, and I think I remember Pentti Airikkala having at least one run on a Belgian tarmac rally with a 240RS), and as you say a couple in Spain/Portugal- there was a distinctive black 'Lois Jeans'-sponsored car, driven by a guy named Santinho Mendes around 1984/5, which has been modelled by one of the 1/43 diecast manufacturers: http://i89.servimg.com/u/f89/11/19/85/42/mes_i118.jpg

Further afield, on African events (Safari, Ivory Coast), Mehta, Kirkland, Jayant Shah, Surinder Thatti and Alain Ambrosino were amongst the regular 240RS runners. There were quite often one or two Japanese privateers out on events like the Safari, Acropolis and RAC as well.

I thnk the 240RS was also fairly popular on Middle Eastern events- IIRC, 2wd Group B cars remained eligible there for a year or two after they were banned in Europe, which gave the big Nissan a further lease of life- it was always a bit more in it's element on rough road events where 2wd and lack of horsepower was less of a disadvantage against faster cars, and reliability could pay off.
There's a fairly famous film clip of a guy named Tony Georgiou comprehensively demolishing one in a multiple roll on an event in Jordan in the mid-80's.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjUSH5-JJYw

[andy97]

I remember the Andy Dawson quattros racing Thundersaloons and I think I saw them at Snett and Silverstone (but didn't keep any programmes so can't check). IIRC they were the ex Group B Rally cars - Group B was dead by then and presumably DAD needed somewhere to use them so Thundersaloons was ideal. Probably not the ideal racing car but as a quattro fan I loved them anyway. I wonder where they are now? I expect that they have been returned to Group B rally trim and are now worth a fortune as pukka Group B cars and demonstrated at things like the "Slowly Sideways" events.

As for the 240RS - it may be worth contacting Damon Milnes of Cheshire Classics. He has sold a couple recently and may know what happened to a few of the others.

[KA]

Originally Posted by andy97

I remember the Andy Dawson quattros racing Thundersaloons and I think I saw them at Snett and Silverstone (but didn't keep any programmes so can't check). IIRC they were the ex Group B Rally cars - Group B was dead by then and presumably DAD needed somewhere to use them so Thundersaloons was ideal. Probably not the ideal racing car but as a quattro fan I loved them anyway. I wonder where they are now? I expect that they have been returned to Group B rally trim and are now worth a fortune as pukka Group B cars and demonstrated at things like the "Slowly Sideways" events.

IIRC, one's on display in the museum collection at Beaulieu, I think the other is with an enthusiast/collector in the UK, and as you say, appears at 'Slowly Sideways' events and the like?

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by KA

I think the other is with an enthusiast/collector in the UK, and as you say, appears at 'Slowly Sideways' events and the like?

I assume this is the one? This was at Stoneleigh in 2007.

[gypseywilson]

1985:
#73 David Williams/Wayne Goble (possibly FXI3864)
#75 Nigel Rose/David Deering
Is David Williams the same one who was a major supporter of Richard Burns' early career

It is, David is now doing long distance historic events in a Fangio replica Chevrolet.

[GBRM]

I can't remember the gentleman's name but there was someone non-British European who had put together a register of the 240 rally/race cars and he had contacted Bill Blydenstein before he sadly passed away and had some very good information.
Unfortunately I cant find the link I saved to the website or his email

[VIVA GT]

Is this something that Gerry johnstone could help with?
He was with WBB for donkeys years (but I don't know if he left once the Vauxhall bubble finally burst).
I've just found this via Google & hope I'm not committing any sins by posting it:
Gerry Johnstone Motorsport
210 High Street, Chesterton, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB4 1NX
01954 250104

[GBRM]

I think Gerry had gone to Safety Devices by then - if you're looking for him look for garages in Cottenham
Funny about Bill running Nissans though, Ben told me that when he bought his first ghetto blaster, Bill came home from work and wasn't too happy that Ben had bought something made by the Japanese and slinged it in the bin - 6 months later he was running the Nissan rally team!!