# 1983 British Saloon Car Championship

The 1983 RAC Trimoco British Saloon Car Championship was the 26th season of the championship. Steve Soper driving a works Rover SD1 built by TWR was initially champion, but after he and the team was disqualified on a technicality, Andy Rouse won his second drivers title in an Alfa Romeo GTV6.

## Season overview

The sporting regulations changed to FIA sanctioned Group A specification, and three different classes competed for honours. TWR expanded their team and ran a trio of Rover Vitesses for Pete Lovett, Jeff Allam and Steve Soper. Austin Rover would also back Roger Dowson Engineering who ran Turbo Metros in Class B whilst Ford supported a semi-works Ford Escort outfit in Class C. GM/Opel entered a single Opel Monza for Tony Lanfranchi. Reigning champion Win Percy would once again drive for Toyota, this time at the wheel of a Supra Turbo. Meanwhile, Frank Sytner raced for the works BMW team.
TWR dominated the season, winning all 11 races. The drivers had the races pretty much their own way until Sytner, who had fallen out with Walkinshaw and left TWR the previous season, protested the legality of the Rover cars to the governing body. In response, Walkinshaw protested Sytner's BMW which led to extended legal wrangling which would drag on until long after the season was over.
Soper beat his more experienced team mates and won the outright championship, while Andy Rouse who had taken over the Alfa Romeo GTV6 run by Pete Hall won Class B after a season long dice with the Metros. In Class C, Alan Minshaw took the class honours in his Volkswagen Golf, seeing off the Ford challenge.
However, six months after the championship was over, Sytner's protest was heard by a Tribunal of Enquiry, chaired by veteran legal counsel Lord Hartley Shawcross. The result was the RAC disqualified the Rover team entirely over bodywork irregularities and engine installation issues, handing the title to Rouse. In response, Austin Rover withdrew from the BSCC immediately as a works outfit to concentrate on competing in Europe, and would not return until 2001 under the guise of MG Rover.

## Teams and drivers

| Team | Car | No. | Drivers | Rounds |
| Class A |||||
| Hughes of Beaconsfield/Toyota GB | Toyota Celica Supra | 1 | Win Percy | 4–5, 8–11 |
| Team Sanyo Racing with Esso Hepolite Glacier Racing with Esso | Rover Vitesse | 2 | Jeff Allam | All |
| Team Sanyo Racing with Esso Hepolite Glacier Racing with Esso | Rover Vitesse | 3 | Pete Lovett | All |
| Team Sanyo Racing with Esso Hepolite Glacier Racing with Esso | Rover Vitesse | 4 | Steve Soper | 1–4, 6–11 |
| Gordon Spice Racing | Rover Vitesse | 5 | Gordon Spice | 6, 8–10 |
| Dennis Leech | Rover Vitesse | 6 | Dennis Leech | 4–8 |
| Burlington Wallcoverings Ltd. | Ford Capri III 3.0S | 9 | Mike Newman | 1–2, 7–10 |
| Equipe Esso/Daily Mirror | Rover Vitesse | 10 | Charles Sawyer-Hoare | All |
| GM Dealer Sport | Opel Monza 3.0E | 11 | Tony Lanfranchi | 1–3, 5–11 |
| Graham Goode Racing | Ford Capri III 3.0S | 12 | Graham Goode | 1, 5, 7–8 |
| Mark Hales | Ford Capri III 3.0S | 16 | Mark Hales | 8 |
| Team Colt Cars Mid-West | Mitsubishi Starion Turbo | 18 | Dave Brodie | 6–11 |
| Grace International Racing | BMW 635CSi | 19 | Frank Sytner | 6–9, 11 |
| Cheylesmore BMW Motorsport | BMW 635CSi | 20 | Hans-Joachim Stuck | 8–10 |
| Cheylesmore BMW Motorsport | BMW 635CSi | 20 | Jonathan Palmer | 11 |
| Brian Chatfield | Ford Capri III 3.0S | 29 | Brian Chatfield | 10–11 |
| Class B |||||
| Hamish Irvine | Mazda RX-7 | 30 | Hamish Irvine | 1–5, 7–11 |
| Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team with Hampshires of Dorking | Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 31 | Jon Dooley | All |
| Terry Nightingale | Mazda RX-7 | 32 | Terry Nightingale | 8 |
| Industrial Control Services Ltd. | Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 34 | Pete Hall | 1–3 |
| Industrial Control Services Ltd. | Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 34 | Andy Rouse | 4–11 |
| Unipart with Daily Express | MG Metro Turbo | 35 | Tony Pond | 4–11 |
| Unipart with Daily Express | MG Metro Turbo | 36 | Patrick Watts | 8–11 |
| Unipart with Daily Express | MG Metro Turbo | 37 | Martin Brundle | 11 |
| Tom Dodd-Noble | Mazda RX-7 | ? | Tom Dodd-Noble | 4 |
| Class C |||||
| Volkswagen Sport | Volkswagen Scirocco GTI | 60 | John Morris | All |
| Royal Mail Datapost | Ford Escort RS1600i | 66 | Alan Curnow | All |
| Royal Mail Datapost | Ford Escort RS1600i | 77 | Richard Longman | All |
| Ordibel UK Ltd. | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 67 | Alan Greenhalgh | 1–5, 7–8, 10 |
| Brooklyn Motorsport | Ford Escort RS1600i | 69 | Chris Hodgetts | All |
| Julian May Racing | Ford Fiesta XR2 | 70 | Jock Robertson | 1–4 |
| Julian May Racing | Ford Escort RS1600i | 70 | Jock Robertson | 6–9, 11 |
| Lloyds of Stafford | Ford Escort RS1600i | 72 | Rob Hall | All |
| Lionel Abbott | Ford Escort RS1600i | 74 | Lionel Abbott | 2–5, 7 |
| Unipart with Daily Express | MG Metro | 78 | Patrick Watts | 2–7 |
| Hughes of Beaconsfield/Toyota GB | Toyota Corolla GT | 80 | Win Percy | 1 |
| Tony Crudgington | Ford Fiesta XR2 | 82 | Tony Crudgington | 8 |
| Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team with Hampshires of Dorking | Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti | 83 | Rob Kirby | All |
| Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team with Hampshires of Dorking | Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti | 84 | Andrew Thorpe | All |
| Demon Tweeks Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 86 | Alan Minshaw | All |
| RZ Racing | Toyota Corolla GT | 87 | Andy Driver | 3 |
| RZ Racing | Toyota Corolla GT | 87 | Tony Crudgington | 5 |
| RZ Racing | Toyota Corolla GT | 87 | Geoff Kimber-Smith | 6–11 |
| Terry Watts | Talbot Sunbeam Ti | 88 | Terry Watts | 8–9 |
| Jenny Birrell | Toyota Corolla GT | 95 | Jenny Birrell | 11 |
| GTI Engineering | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 100 | Richard Lloyd | 11 |