Willhire 24hr memories - production saloons gp N at its best

[rallycross]

This time of year @ summer solstice always reminds me of the brilliant Willhire 24 hr saloon car race for production saloon cars / group N - basically road cars with roll cage, better brake pads and updated shocks and springs.

Any one else remember these events ?


These races ran from 1980 to 1994 usually with a full grid and most teams used 3-5 drivers some would even run two drivers ( Mike Smith and Lionel Abbot won in 86 in an escort RS turbo S1 with just 2 drivers).

As a teenager coming all the way from Scotland to Snetterton for the Willhire it felt like Le Mans to me.

It was a great atmosphere both in the pits and off track ( remember the dodgems and beer?).

Looking back on it the most amazing thing is production cars could take 24 hours hrs racing with only minimal upgrades but standard engines.

Edited by rallycross on Saturday 21st June 23:42

[carl_w]

rallycross said:

This time of year @ summer solstice always reminds me of the brilliant Willhire 24 hr saloon car race for production saloon cars / group N - basically road cars with roll cage, better brake pads and updated shocks and springs.

Any one else remember these events ?

Bit before my time but I spent ages watching the videos of these a couple of years back when I was putting together a montage of Skid Scarborough as he stood down as president of our car club.

[Drumroll]

Did most of these events as a marshal. Really enjoyed them. At the time endurance racing was new to the UK and nobody was really sure about them. But they attracted some top names and teams.