Rally Discussion and Bar Talk Thread

[AnttiL]

Thanks Norm75 I did not know that part of the back story. Can anyone refer me to an article on Prodrive's rally BMW years. Interested to learn more.
Has Prodrive put any other brands into WRC besides BMW, Subaru and Mini ?

Porsche

[Norm75]

Yes Porsche, they started in 1984 and ran rothmans liveried 911sc with toivenen driving and also I think Jimmy McRae drove them. They also ran metro 6r4 in 1986 (not sure if that was anything to do with the rothmans 6r4 McRae snr drove in RAC) and then rothmans liveried M3 in 87, winning Corsica with Bernhard Beguin driving, but over the next three years M3's were only entered in four or five events, as BMW concentrated on touring cars.

[Rally Power]

Yes Porsche, they started in 1984 and ran rothmans liveried 911sc with toivenen driving and also I think Jimmy McRae drove them. They also ran metro 6r4 in 1986 (not sure if that was anything to do with the rothmans 6r4 McRae snr drove in RAC) and then rothmans liveried M3 in 87, winning Corsica with Bernhard Beguin driving, but over the next three years M3's were only entered in four or five events, as BMW concentrated on touring cars.

Yep, those programs weren’t WRC intended. The 911 was a semi official project as the Gr.B SCRS evolution was made by Porsche at Prodrive request, to be run alongside Rothmans in the MERC by Al-Hajri (84/85 champ) and in the ERC by Toivonen (84 vice champ). Prodrive and Rothmans also entered events in the Irish Tarmac with Coleman and in the French series with Therier or Beguin, plus a few WRC outings (mainly a 2 cars entry on the RAC and Corsica and several Acropolis with Al-Hajri). Besides the units taken by Prodrive, Porsche sold the rest of the 20 evolution cars to other rally teams or private drivers.

Rothmans also financed Prodrive project to run Jimmy McRae on the ’86 British Open (with an extra entry at the RAC), using a Gr.B Metro 6R4 prepared by the team and it allowed Billy Coleman to use a similar car on the Irish Tarmac (after starting the season in the 911).

The M3 started as another limited scale rally program for Prodrive. BMW successfully developed the Gr.A M3 for track use but Prodrive decided to adapt it to rally, running on behalf of BMW importers in France (with Beguin and later Chatriot) and Belgium (with Duez and later Snyers, who also was ERC vice champ with it). Besides Corsica several times (then part of the French series), Prodrive also run the 1000 Lakes with Vatanen in ’88 and a handful of WRC events more, mainly with Duez on his Fina sponsored ’89 short program (luckily, it included Portugal ). Despite not being a purpose designed rally machine and having little tech support from BMW, the M3 became a milestone in Prodrive rally heritage; sold to rally costumers all over Europe, it managed to get a large number of national titles and overall wins.

[KiwiWRCfan]

thanks Rally Power and Norm75 for the detailed historical information. Really appreciated

[GravelBen]

Always loved that classic video of Snijers hustling the M3 around the Manx.

[Norm75]

Always loved that classic video of Snijers hustling the M3 around the Manx.

For viewers in GB that have bt TV, there is a short half hour programme on the bt player added last week about the Irish festival of speed. A rally based event it features Snijers in his M3, and also Coleman driving.

Just to add, Prodrive also ran the M3 in the same period in the British touring car championship, winning it with Sytner.

Having googled prodrives history a little, and Jimmy McRae, it was indeed his rothmans liveried 6r4 that was run by prodrive. But I can't find any info relating to Jimmy ever having driven the 911 in period, although he does drive them on historic events.

[the sniper]

Having googled prodrives history a little, and Jimmy McRae, it was indeed his rothmans liveried 6r4 that was run by prodrive. But I can't find any info relating to Jimmy ever having driven the 911 in period, although he does drive them on historic events.

He did the Oman International in `86 in it according to ewrc: https://www.ewrc-results.com/profile/1128-jimmy-mcrae/

Tbh, I imagined he'd done more.

[Norm75]

He did the Oman International in `86 in it according to ewrc: https://www.ewrc-results.com/profile/1128-jimmy-mcrae/

Tbh, I imagined he'd done more.

Shame this didn't crop up a month or so ago, spoke to Jimmy at Goodwood so could of asked the man himself!

[Zeakiwi]

Paddon and the personal shizz from 2017
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/new...ectid=12104888

[danon]