A Wee Piece of History Ian Waugh dips into
his personal treasure trove of mid 90's BTCC Vauxhall memorabilia
and comes up trumps.
Back in the 1990's, I was a
member of the Vauxhall Performance Car Club (it closed towards the
end of the 90's due to problems with the media company who were
running it for Vauxhall, and has since been replaced by the Vauxhall
Sports Car Club). Being an "official" club, it often ran special
events, and in early 1995, the bi-monthly club magazine offered a
visit to Ray Mallock Ltd (RML). who were running the British Touring
Car Championship Cavaliers. Being an optimist, I sent my name in,
hoping I would be one of the names "out of the hat" for the dozen
places on offer. Nothing to lose, as there were no costs to apply
(except the stamp!), and only travel costs if I was successful.
Shortly afterwards,
a large envelope arrived, containing all the paperwork for my visit,
at 6.30pm on Tuesday 11th July, 1995. Success! And so it was that,
at around 5.30pm that day, I guided my Vauxhall Nova SR up a 1.5
mile, single track private road at Castlethorpe near Milton Keynes,
that led to what were, in effect, farm outbuildings! Yes, John
Cleland's 1995 championship win was founded in farm buildings!
Over the next 3
hours or so, the lucky dozen got a glimpse behind the scenes of one
of the most professional, and as it was to turn out, successful
teams in the BTCC. Photographs were allowed, and though it was with
film cameras (Digital cameras were still in the future) I hope you
find these scans interesting. I will try to fill in some background
to them. Although I wasn't taking notes, (it was a fun visit, after
all) we did receive written specs for the cars, which I've included
lower down the page, and much of what was said has stayed fresh in
my mind.
Clicking any of the
thumbnails below will launch the full size images.
Here is John
Cleland's car, with James' in the background. As you can see, space
was not overly generous, making the teams success even more
remarkable. Both cars are missing much of the decals and small items
like mirrors, which were probably regular replacement items.
However, what you might not have figured on being replaced every
race was the front wings!
By 1995, the
Cavalier was the longest serving car in the BTCC, and in fact was
due to be discontinued shortly. The factory would have ceased making
them about 2 weeks after our visit, and the 2 weeks holiday the
workers would take at Vauxhall would see the factory retooled to
make the Vectra, due for public sale in October that year. From
early August until launch, the factory would be building up stock to
ensure availability at launch, so, if it had never occurred to you
before, the Cavalier actually won the BTCC AFTER it had ceased
production! John won his title in an obsolete model.

Now, as the oldest
car in the race series, it was also the narrowest. Thus RML were
keen to exploit the rules regarding the car's width and track to
its' full. So, the front wheels were mounted as far out from the
centre of the car as possible. This meant 2 things as far as the
front wings were concerned:
1/ the wings were "panel beaten" out as
much as could be achieved. I don't have a photo of my own showing
this, but this close up from a publicity photo reveals it clearly.
If you're not sure what has changed, go and look at a Cavalier in
the street!
2/ The other problem
this created was that even with all the flaring, the wings sometimes
came into contact with the tyres during racing, so there was a
possibility of the car failing post race scrutineering, if wings
were used for several races. So, after every race, 2 new wings!
Here's John
Cleland's Cavalier engine bay, and for anyone familiar with the
underbonnet area of the Cavalier road car, not much has been left of
the original! The bodyshells were delivered to RML from Vauxhall
factories as pure production shells, but much refabricating was
executed on them, the inner wings, bonnet shut panel and strut
bracing are all new, (Note the lack of the normal bonnet lock
holes!) and the engine is mounted much lower than in the road car,
to improve weight distribution in cornering.
The remote reservoirs
for the Dynamics front dampers are clearly visible on the sides of
the inner wings/arches.

James Thomson's car
gives an alternative view of the engine bay, and clearer view of the
damper reservoirs. Note the size of the front discs! 14 inches! The
largest wheels ever fitted to production Cavaliers was 15 inches,
and with the caliper in the way, these discs would never have been
possible in a road car. Of course, these are pure race spec items.
Note the 3 colours of paint around the vent holes on the discs. This
paint was temperature sensitive, and changes of colour gave an
indication of disc temperature achieved during race conditions. This
ensured the team could guarantee that they weren't using inadequate
brakes!
Another view of
James' car, showing that, ahead of the windscreen, pretty much the
only parts that were "standard" were visible panels, like bonnet,
wings and bumper, and even then, as I've stated, the wings were
modified. This Cavalier was, of course, subsequently destroyed in
James' accident at Knockhill later that same July.
Here are the
official specifications as handed out during the visit:
VAUXHALLSPORT -
Insight
To enhance your
visit today, the following notes have been
compiled to give you
an added insight into the Vauxhallsport
Race Team.
THE TEAM The
Vauxhallsport BTCC Team is based at the
Ray Mallock Ltd motorsports engineering
facility in
Milton Keynes.
Working from a 12,000 sq ft factory the
race team is
backed by RML's extensive design and
manufacturing
departments employing in excess of 60
highly skilled
personnel.
The race team concentrate on the
preparation and
attendance of all 25 rounds of the
British Touring Car
Championship between April and
September. In addition
to this a large number of special track
tests are
completed to keep the team at the
forefront of the world's
most competitive touring car
championship.
RACE CARS RML
Vauxhall Cavalier 16V - Type VTC 11,
Chassis numbers 022 and 023
CHASSIS
The minimum weight of a FWD is 975 kilos
Based on the standard factory bodyshell,
the RML
Cavalier is fitted with a computer
designed RML
T45 fully welded roll cage
The roll cage protects the driver and
supplies a
rigid platform for the suspension
mountings
SUSPENSION Front
- RML fabricated McPherson Struts, anti roll
bar, Dynamics remote reservoir dampers,
coil
springs, RML lower wishbones
Rear - RML semi-trailing arms, anti roll
bar,
Dynamics dampers
ENGINE
Vauxhall 16V engine developed by Swindon Racing
Engines
Reverse head 4 cylinder 1998 cc unit
develops
290 BHP
The RML Cavalier accelerates from 0-60
mph in
under 4 seconds
The engine has a statutory rev limiter
set at
8,500 rpm
The fuel is housed in a kevlar/rubber
bag tank with
a capacity of 50 litres
ELECTRONICS
Weber Alpha Engine Management System
PI Research instrumentation/ data
acquisition
system
BRAKES
Front - AP Racing calipers, carbon metallic pads
AP 14" racing discs, AP Racing master
cylinder
Rear - Brembo racing calipers, Brembo
pads,
Brembo 10.5" cross-drilled discs
GEARBOX
The Vauxhallsport Cavaliers use an Xtrac 6-speed
sequential gearbox operated by a
column-mounted
shift lever unique to the team
"Push" to change up, "Pull" to change
down
The drivers use an amber up-change
light
mounted in line of sight to assist
with the timing of
up shifts
Apart from moving from a stationary
position, the
drivers do not use the clutch
TYRES Vauxhallsport is a works Michelin BTCC team
Each car is only allowed to use 6
tyres for the
duration of each race including
qualifying.
In dry conditions Michelin Slick tyres
are used.
These do not have any tread to
maximise the
amount of rubber in contact with the
track surface
In the event of rain, Michelin supply
the team with
intermediate or full wet tyres
Each tyre is mounted on Dymag die-cast
magnesium centre lock wheels that
weigh less
than 8 kilos a piece
SAFETY
John and James wear Sparco 3-layer nomex
EQUIPMENT fireproof
overalls over two piece nomex
underwear, fireproof socks and balaclavas
Both drivers wear Simpson full face crash
helmets
equipped with Intercom systems
Each Vauxhallsport Cavalier is equipped
with
Sparco Carbon/Kevlar race seats, a six
point Sabelt
race harness, an SPA 5kg electrically
operated fire
extinguisher system, and a Momo steering
wheel
ENJOY YOUR VISIT
Note the comment
near the top: "Working from a 12,000 sq ft factory" which clearly
this wasn't! The handout was worded to apply after the move of RML
from the Castlethorpe site to the present site at Whittle Close,
Wellingborough. This move took place during the August "lull" in the
BTCC.
A couple of other
photos from the visit:
The team transporter,
you can just about make out the registration number of the lorry, it
is "CAV 16 V". After the Cavalier was retired from racing, this
number was offered for auction within the Vauxhall Performance Car
Club. However, if you look carefully at one scene in the video "BTCC
Cavaliers", the lorry they off-load the press launch Vectra Super
Tourer from is this one, still carrying this plate..
Club members peruse
a Cavalier exhibition car, used for static display at race meetings
or other Vauxhall events. Almost certainly a retired race car or
spare from a year or two earlier, it still has the GSI bodykit that
was fitted to the BTCC Cavaliers in the years before 1995.
Here's a similar
exhibition car at the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port factory Open Day in
May 1993:
Some other info that
was gleaned over the visit, but not related to the photos, included
the fact that they had, early on, had problems with drive shafts
breaking. The shafts had been drilled out so they were in fact
tubes, not solid rods, in order to keep rotational inertia, unsprung
weight and overall weight down, so it was expected that this was the
reason, but, being reluctant to revert to solid shafts, they decided
to investigate further. At some point during the investigation,
someone decided to paint a line along the shafts. After a couple of
standing starts, the line had become a spiral! The fix? Replace the
shafts after each race!
Another surprising
fact about the Cavaliers in 1995 was that they used the Weber Alpha
engine management system that was intended for use on modified road
cars. It was a kit designed to replace carburetors, and had a
programmable processor that, on a rolling road or engine
dynamometer, could be mapped to match the fueling and timing
requirements of almost any engine. Thus, racing engines could be
accommodated too, although the system was never intended for this.
Remarkably, the cost of the system was only £1500 (It was intended
as a mod for road cars, after all!). Compare this to the, as we were
informed on the visit, Zytec system used on the Renault Laguna it
was competing with, which, at a cost of around £75-80000, came to
around half the total cost of the RML Cavalier!
So, a great evening,
with a feeling of being truly privileged to get so close to the
team, and I can honestly lay claim to having touched the steering
wheel of the championship winning car!
As luck would have
it, Oulton Park is my local track, and I was there the day John
finally "got it all together" and took the title he so richly
deserved. And it was no hollow victory! He won in the year when
arguably the competition was at it's fiercest, With Rickard Rydell's
Volvo and Alain Menu's Renault both so close, and many others hot on
their tails too. Back then the championship was packed with great
racers and characters, Will Hoy, Paul Radisich, Andy Rouse and so
many others were household names in an era when touring cars were at
their most prolific. As it was, John didn't win either race that
day, but 2 calmly driven, safe podium finishes saw him secure the
title with one meeting still to go. It started to drizzle as the
second race finished, but it didn't dampen the mood of the crowd, at
least 60% of whom I would guess were ecstatic at seeing "The Man"
take the title at last! Only the hardest hearted Menu or Rydell fans
could have grudged him that title!
However, referring
back to the Ray Mallock visit: A couple of months after our visit,
the club magazine revealed that it had been deemed a success by RML
and the club, and so was being offered again, this time to the new
premises in Wellingborough. Having been lucky enough to take part in
the July visit, I was not expecting to be lucky again, but for the
cost of a stamp, I figured I had nothing to lose. So off went my
application. Imagine my surprise....................
It was on the
morning of Saturday, 20th January, 1996, I was to be found, once
again, at the RML premises, this time the new one. Things were
slightly different regarding the visit this time! The Vectra had
been on sale to the public since October 1995, but the Vectra Super
Touring racer had yet to turn a wheel in public, or even in front of
the press. Thus it was that the team were reluctant to allow
pictures of the cars leak out, and with good reason, for what was
about to greet us was not 2 complete racing cars, possibly slightly
disassembled, but a fleet of cars in various stages of progress. As
a result, the only photo I took that day was the exterior of the
premises:
Incidentally, prior to RML aquiring them, the premises were the location of Cosworth's cylinder head casting operation. Heads for Sierra
Cosworths, Mecedes Benz 2.3 16V and Vauxhall/Opel 2 litre 16V
engines were all cast here. That's right! It's common knowledge that
the Mercedes engine had a Cosworth cylinder head, but the Vauxhall/Opel
16V head was also a Cosworth unit. Ford had rights to use the
Cosworth name, for contractural and historical reasons, but they
made heads for others too, and apparently GM were not particularly
desperate for the Cosworth link to be public knowledge anyway.
However, it does mean that this location has 2 connections with the
Cavalier and Vectra Super Tourers, for the engine fitted to them
used this head!
.
Back to the Vectras
contained within this factory: The reason for there being a fleet
was that RML had won the contract to build the Vectra Super Touring
race cars for all the championships that GM were to contest in 1996!
I seem to recall that contract being officially for 18 cars, but in
fact there were more than 22, as spare cars were needed. In addition
RML would run and maintain the car in the British championship.
The cars were in
various states of build completion when we got there, James
Thomson's car was nearly finished, but John's was still being
fabricated around the engine bay. Why? I'm guessing John's was left
near the end to allow any late mods to be easily included, but at
any rate, the car was bare where the new metal had been added, the
original metalwork of the Vectra factory built shells that were
shipped to RML from the GM factory (The German one, as I seem to
recall it being said that the UK factory did not build saloons, only
hatchbacks. Saloons were used owing to their superior stiffness) was
in primer. James' car had been sprayed in the special booth that
could turn the car through 360 degrees around a longitudinal axis,
so that the sprayer could reach all parts of the car easily. The
cars were actually being worked on at the start of our visit. The
staff were on overtime until 12 noon, and one of them was busy
welding Johns car when we arrived. After noon we had the place to
ourselves (apart from the guide!)
Although I have no
photo's of my own, here is a scan of one from a Vauxhall Sport
newsletter of the era, it gives a pretty good idea of what we saw.
One contentious
point about the Vectra SuperTourer was that it was left hand drive!
2 good reasons given: firstly, as they were building cars for
several championships, they wanted all to be the same for ease of
parts supply and standardisation, and secondly, the steering shaft
would need to pass through the gearbox! That said, the 1998 Vectra's,
built by 888, were right hand drive, so I guess they had a different
engine/gearbox location!
Incidentally, I
mentioned the wheelarch mods to the front wings earlier, the reason
given being the Cavalier's narrow width. However, nothing was said
about this with regards to the Vectra, but take a look at photo's of
them, and you'll see the wheelarches were modded in just the same
way! One minor area where the Onyx 1/43rd scale models of the cars
are wrong, for they show standard Vectra arches.
A couple of things
we didn't expect to see at the site were parked in a standing area
inside the unit. One was John Cleland's 1995 Cavalier, which
apparently was awaiting removal of the livery, and then to be sold
for around £80000! I remember thinking: a/ How could they sell it?
It should be in the Vauxhall museum, and b/ I wish I could win the
lottery! It'd look good in my garage. Leave the livery on!
The other, slightly
more surprising item parked there was Mike Briggs 1994 Opel Astra
saloon, in silver and yellow. Looking a bit tired (it was sagging to
one side) it was nevertheless an interesting item to see. It was the
saloon version, by the way, not the hatch, again for it's superior
stiffness.
Having hopefully
entertained you thus far, let me finish with a couple of John
Cleland anecdotes.
In 1992, the
Vauxhall Sport International Rally, round 1 of the 1992 Mobil1/Top
Gear British Rally Championship, featured a Rally show on Friday
20th March, at the Chester International Hotel (now the Crowne
Plaza) in Princess street, Chester. Hosted by Chris Lord, a motoring
journalist, and editor of the newly founded (and soon to be defunct)
"Rally Car Magazine" The evening was to be a series of interviews
with top rally drivers and drivers from the British Touring Car
Championship. It came as no surprise then, that John Cleland was
present. Among much that was discussed that evening, John revealed
that in the 1989 championship final round, there was a "price on his
head"! A member of a rival team, who had another driver with a
chance of taking the title (in the old Class System era, don't
forget) had been offered a 4 figure sum to take John off the track!
Of course, those of you who remember the final race will know John
didn't get off the start line for a few seconds due to "transmission
problems". Or was he just putting himself so far behind the
"assassin" that said assassin could not fall far enough back in the
race to do his dirty work without arousing suspicion? John wasn't
saying, I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions! Of course, we
didn't know then that history was going to repeat it's intended self
later that same year! Remember the 1992 final race? It's on Youtube!
Also sharing the
stage, was Dave Metcalfe, a man whose name "David" was appropriate,
as he was regularly a giant killer in Rallying, his most impressive
result being later that year,when he brought his 1600cc, normally
aspirated 2 wheel drive Nova home in 4th place on the Manx rally in
September 1992. Only 3 Subaru Legacy's with 2 litre turbocharged 4
wheel drive beat him. Born on 5th May, 1957, David was tragically
killed on 17th December, 1992, just 3 months later. He was driving a
Calibra rally car on the road, testing it apparently, when he was
involved in a head-on collision with another car. I had just come
home from a family funeral (an uncle I never really got on with)
when his death was announced on the local evening TV news. To say it
was a shock is an understatement. John and Dave were my 2 heroes at
the time. Was Dave the best rally driver the UK ever produced?
Sadly, we will never know, but my suspicions are that he was!
My final encounter, as
it were, with John Cleland, was on his final visit as part of the
BTCC at Oulton Park in 1999. As I waited about 2 or 3 cars from
turning left into the Knickerbrook entrance to the track, with my
then 7 year old daughter, we were witness to the attendant trying to
get a a metallic gold Vauxhall Omega to turn right into the
entrance. It's driver seemed reluctant, and as the attendant
continued to urge the driver into Knickerbrook, the window rolled
down, and, even from where I was sitting, I could now see it was
John Cleland, no doubt now explaining to the attendant that he
wished to continue round to the "tradesman's" entrance. By the time
he moved off, I'd wound my window down, and shouted "Good luck
today, John!" (It wasn't a particularly lucky one as it turned out,
with unspectacular results for John, but I think by then, his mind
was on other tthings than the BTCC). He thanked me, and as he drove
on, I could see his passenger, one of his sons (not sure which one,
but doubtless one who is now, himself, a racer) looking back at the
rear of my car. I expect he mentioned to his father that the good
wishes came from a confirmed fan, as the rear of my car should have
been enough evidence:
Ian Waugh, August 2007
All text and images
copyright Ian Waugh 2007. Not to be used without prior permission
|